Fun useless facts. Did you know?...
Why is someone who has barely made it said to have done so "in the nick of time?"
In Medieval times, sticks were used as counters, a sort of primitive version of the beads on an abacus. Schools adapted this crude tool for taking attendance. As long as you made it by the time the person taking attendance reached your name, you received a notch on the stick used to record your presence. That was the nick of time.
Why is stopping at nothing "going whole hog?"
"Going whole hog," for example, dates from the medieval Crusades. The crusaders had contempt for the Moslem dietary laws forbidding the eating of pork. They said that since Moslems used pigskins to make water bags and made use of other parts of the animal as well, why not use the whole hog and also eat the creatures? Eventually the expression going whole hog came to mean setting no limits when referring to
anything.
The following has not been substantiated as true, but makes fun reading - credit is at the end
Why do brides carry a bouquet?
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and were still smelling pretty good by June, although they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the b.o.
Why do we have the saying, "don't throw the baby out with the bath water"?
Baths equaled a big tub filled with hot water. In medieval times, 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. The water was then so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.
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