Trivia...Word and Phrase Origins

[wings421]

SH!T

From what I've heard, in the early days of the colonies, they used to ship cow manure from Europe to use as fertilizer in the lowest part of the ship (for smell suppression). As they sailed west to the new world someone would go to the lower deck to retrieve something in the hold and of course they would need to take a lantern to see in the dark. All of the gas from the manure would have built up by then and when the flame and the gas came in contact an explosion would occur.

So, after a few times of this happening, they learned that the manure needed to be well ventilated. Placarded on the side of each container of manure had the words

Ship
High
In
Transit

Take it for what its worth, probably just a joke, but it sounded good to me.

 

[flyboyike]

FU CK

In medieval England you needed the King's permission for dang near everything, including copulation. The equivalent of the "Do Not Disturb" sign back then actually read "Fornication Under Consent of the King". No, this is not a joke.

 

[mullet]

Mind your P's & Q's.
Pints & Quarts...in other words, don't get snockered.

 

[Whine Lover]

The popular phrase: "Don't hit that Monkey in the Head" is derived from people who, upon seeing monkeys being hit in the head, would exclaim..."Hey, don't hit that Monkey in the head!"

"No Soap....Radio".


YKW

 

[JP4user]

FU CK

In medieval England you needed the King's permission for dang near everything, including copulation. The equivalent of the "Do Not Disturb" sign back then actually read "Fornication Under Consent of the King". No, this is not a joke.

Here is another explanation:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/f-word.html

WARNING CRUDE CONTENT!!!!

 

[Dangerkitty]

FU CK

In medieval England you needed the King's permission for dang near everything, including copulation. The equivalent of the "Do Not Disturb" sign back then actually read "Fornication Under Consent of the King". No, this is not a joke.

Sorry but that IS a joke and it is not true.

No one really knows where that word comes from, but the most credible evidence comes from the German word ficken which means to rub or strike.

I bet you think Mr. Rogers was a decorated war veteran with an arm covered in tatoo's. Thats why he wore sweaters all the time.

 

[FedEx1]

I was in Powell's Books in PDX and found The Dictionary of Idioms. Great bathroom reading. Has origins and meanings of every saying you can think of.

 

[flyboyike]

I bet you think Mr. Rogers was a decorated war veteran with an arm covered in tatoo's. Thats why he wore sweaters all the time.

Who the FU CK is Mr Rogers?

 

[Rik717pilot]

Gorilla; Absolutely correct about the cannon ball "monkey". Also the scuttlebutt is the correct term for the water cask on deck for the hands, which carries over to the water cooler of the modern day office, or its evolved equivalent.

 

[freightdogfred]

The Crapper

American doughboys, passing thru England on their way to the front during WW1 noticed the inscription "T.Crapper-Chelsea" on the porcelain tanks on trains. These tanks were part of Thomas Crapper's "Siphonic waste discharge" system, for which he held 6 patents. Apparently, the doughboys coined the word "crapper" for the entire system.

 

[Four Strings]

The Real McCoy

During prohibition a man named William McCoy was smuggling alcohol from the islands in the Caribbean. During that time others were mixing various alcohols such as rubbing alcohol with soda, etc to mask the taste (supposedly the origin of the mixed drink). If you were buying alcohol on the black market you would ask if it was “The Real McCoy” and not a bottle of rum filled with rubbing alcohol.

 

[HighSpeedClimb]

OK.. Why the hell do the Mil guys always say No-Joy when they don't see traffic? Where did that one come from and how do we get rid if it!

 

[cheyflyer]

What about "Turn In The Barrel" such as "not me...its your turn in the barrel this week".

 

[Terry Hunter]

"keeping up foreign relations"

Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and, therefore, they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking the yew" (or "pluck yew").

Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset
and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the
defeated French, saying, "see, we can still pluck yew!"

 

[Beaker]

Misuse of the Parrot phrase

Early transponders were called "parrots" - hence "squawk your parrot" became just squawking....

While instructing simulated AR over western OK, a student of mine tried to sound cool on the radios. He wanted the other plane to squawk standby for TCAS & ATC purposes now that we were the new tanker. He was trying to say "strangle your parrot," a term he'd picked up somewhere.

What did he broadcast?


"Choke your chicken." At least it wasn't over the ATC frequency. I had some fun with that one when teaching new instructors.

 

[Mr Wu]

Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and, therefore, they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking the yew" (or "pluck yew").

Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset
and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the
defeated French, saying, "see, we can still pluck yew!"

Doubtful, as the english version of your "bird" is a "V" sign.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

He was trying to say "strangle your parrot," a term he'd picked up somewhere.

He probably picked it up in an official brevity code listing. "strangle parrot" is precisely how a request to have someone squawk standby should be made.

And "No Joy"? That is listed as the proper way to indicate that "I have been unsuccessful".

 

[plattsburgher]

Out in left field

Don't bet the rent check on this because it is not fact checked but I have read:

In the days when Babe Ruth was the most famous player and when baseball was the most important game around everyone wanted to see the Yankees play. Since he batted left handed he was more apt to hit out into right field and those who got there late were "out in left field".

 

[Rik717pilot]

Four Strings,

The original "Real McCoy" relates to a freed slave after the civil war who invented an efficient and safe oiling method for rail road steam engines wheel and running bearings which were having a terrible time keeping these running bearings properly lubricated. Once the idea was viewed by many, there were the knock offs. But only the "Real McCoy" did the job, hence the expression.

 

[Rik717pilot]

Oops!