A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall another good email!

Another goodie from an email just now!

VERY INTERESTING STUFF!

In the 1400's a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb Hence we have "the rule of thumb"

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Many years ago in Scotland , a new game was invented. It was ruled "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"..and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

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The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

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Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S . Treasury.

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Men can read smaller print than women can;
women can hear better.

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Coca-Cola was originally green.

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It is impossible to lick your elbow.
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The State with the highest percentage of
people who walk to work:
Alaska
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The percentage of Africa that is wilderness:
28% (now get this...)

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The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
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The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $ 16,400
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The average number of people airborne over the U.S.
in any given hour:
61,000
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Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

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The first novel ever written on a typewriter:
Tom Sawyer.

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The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.

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Each king in a deck of playing cards represents
a great king from history:

Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar
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111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
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If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has
both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.
If the horse has one front leg in the air the person
died as a result of wounds received in battle.
If the horse has all four legs on the ground,
the person died of natural causes.

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Only two people signed the Declaration
of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock
and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed
on August 2, but the last signature wasn't
added until 5 years later.

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Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?

A. Their birthplace
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Q. Most boat owners name their boats.
What is the most popular boat name requested?

A. Obsession
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Q. If you were to spell out numbers,
how far would you have to go until you
would find the letter "A"?

A. One thousand
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Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes,
windshield wipers, and laser printers
all have in common?

A. All were invented by women.

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Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?

A. Honey
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Q. Which day are there more collect calls
than any other day of the year?

A. Father's Day
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In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on.

Hence the phrase......... "goodnight, sleep tight."

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It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000
years ago that for a month after the wedding,
the bride's father would supply his son-in-law
with all the mead he could drink Mead is a
honey beer and because their calendar was
lunar based, this period was called the honey
month, which we know today as the honeymoon.

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In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and
quarts... So in old England, when customers
got unruly, the bartender would yell at them
"Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down."

It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"

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Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.

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At least 75% of people who read this
will try to lick their elbow!
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Don't delete this just because it looks weird.
Believe it or not, you can read it.......

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

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YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2007 when...

1. You accidentally enter your PIN on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't even have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.

Thank God my Coke still isn't green.

I love things like this Lynne, here's another one I got today that I thought was good and sort of fits in with yours.

LIFE IN THE 1500'S

The next time you are washing your hands and complain
because the water
temperature isn't just how you like it, think about
how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500s: These are
interesting.

Most people got married in June because they took
their yearly bath in May,
and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they
were starting to smell,
so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the
body odor. Hence the customtoday of carrying a bouquet
when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.
The man of the house had
the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the
other sons and men, then
the women and finally the children. Last of all the
babies.
By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose
someone in it.

Hence the saying, Don't throw the baby out with the
Bath water..

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with
no wood underneath.
It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all
the cats and other
small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it
rained it became slipperyand sometimes the animals
would slip and fall off the roof.
Hence the saying. It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the
house. Thi s posed areal problem in the bedroom where
bugs and other droppings could mess up
your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a
sheet hung over the
top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds
came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something
other than dirt. Hence thesaying, Dirt poor. The
wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in
thewinter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on
floor to help keep
their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more
thresh until, when youopened the door, it would all
start slipping outside.
A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence
the saying a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a
big kettle that alwayshung over the fire.

Every day they lit the fire and added things to the
pot. They ate mostlyvegetables and did not get much
meat. They would eat the stew for dinner,
leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and
then start over the nextday.

Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for
quite a while.
Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge
cold, peas porridge in the
pot nine days old.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel
quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang up their
bacon to show off. It was asign of wealth that a man
could, bring home the bacon.
They would cut off a little to share with guests and
would all sit around
and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with
high acid content
caused some of the lead to leach onto the food,
causing lead poisoning death.

This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the
next 400 years or so,tomatoes were considered
poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the
burnt bottom of the
loaf, the family got th e middle, and guests got the
top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The
combination would sometimesknock the imbibers out for
a couple of days. Someone walking along the roadwould
take them for dead and prepare them for burial.

They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple
of days and the familywould gather around and eat and
drink and wait and see if they would wake up.Hence the
custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started
running out of places
to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would
take the bones to a
bone-house, and reuse the grave.

When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were
found to have scratchmarks on the inside and they
realized they had been burying people alive. Sothey
would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it
through the coffinand up through the ground and tie it
to a bell. Someone would have t o sit outin the
graveyard all night (the ....graveyard shift.) to
listen for the bell;thus, someone could be, saved by
the bell or was considered a dead ringer.!

And that's the truth...Now,
whoever said History was boring! ! !
Educate someone. Share these facts with a friend

quite and education!