Trivia...Word and Phrase Origins

[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!