Did you know that ....

In the 1400's a law was put in pace in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have the expression 'The rule of thumb.'

GOLF: Many years ago a new game was invented in scotland and was ruled for ' Gentlemen Only - Ladies Forbidden ' and hence the game of GOLF was invented.

Sleep tight.-In Shakesperean times a mattress was secured on bed post ropes. When these ropes were pulled the mattress tightened making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase - 'Sleep tight.'

DRAG - In Shekesperean England only men were allowed to act and would become famous for dressing as women for acting parts. The scrips would state D.R.A.G. = Dressed Roughly As Girl.

Friday 13th - October 1307 - the King of France and the Pope turned against The Knights Templars and rounded them up and mass murdered and butchered these holy people and was a very dark day in the history of the church.

13 - is unlucky because there were 13 at the last supper and it was always claimed the unlucky one was Judas as he betyrayed Jesus. UNTRUE: The 13th was Mary Magdelena - the bride of Christ who attended the supper and the Church of Rome in its manic craze to destroy any semblance of the female wrote her out of the story and blamed Judas instead.

Honeymoon: In Babylon 4,000 years ago a month after a wedding the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink - and Mead is a wine / beer made from honey and the period was called the Honey Month which eventually became the Honermoon.

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Chow down : 'Chow down' was first used by the U.S. military during WWII. 'Chow' is a Chinese breed of dog, that became a western slang term for food due to the Chinese's reputation for eating dog meat.

Hair of the dog that bit you This term for a hangover cure is another medieval saying, originating from the belief that once bitten by a rabid dog, the victim would be cured by applying the same dog's hair to the wound. The first use of it being applied to drinking was in John Heywood's 1546 tome A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue.
Off the record This American phrase was first attributed to President Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, who was recorded in The Daily Times-News saying "he was going to talk 'off the record', that it was mighty nice to be able to talk 'off the record' for a change and that he hoped to be able to talk 'off the record' often in the future."
A sight for sore eyes Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels, first used this phrase in A complete collection of genteel and ingenious conversation, 1738, with the line "The Sight of you is good for sore Eyes."
A stone's throw This term for 'a short distance' is a variation of 'a stone's cast', first used in early editions of the Bible, but it fell out of use. Writer John Arbuthnot revived it in The History of John Bull, in 1712.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder This sweet saying came from the Roman poet Sextus Propertius' Elegies:"Always toward absent lovers love's tide stronger flows." In 1832, the modern variant of the phrase was coined by a 'Miss Strickland' in The Pocket Magazine of Classic and Polite Literature.
The Acid Test This term came from the California Gold Rush in the 19th century, when prospectors and dealers used acid to distinguish gold from base metal - if the metal dissolved in a mixture of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid, it was real.

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An apple a day keeps the doctor away Was this catchy rhyme a proverb from Pembrokeshire, or Devon? The earliest recording of the phrase in 1866, states "Eat an apple on going to bed, And you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread" is from the former. But in 1913, Elizabeth Wright recorded this phrase from the latter: "Ait a happle avore gwain to bed, An' you'll make the doctor beg his bread; or as the more popular version runs: An apple a day Keeps the doctor away."
Cool as a cucumber Despite sounding like a modern-day phrase, Cool as a cucumber actually first appeared in John Gay's Poems, New Song on New Similies, in 1732: "I ... cool as a cucumber could see The rest of womankind."
Busy as a bee Chaucer coined the term in the Squire's Tale, from his Canterbury Tales, around 1386-1400.

As happy as Larry This saying has Australia and New Zealand origins, but who is 'Larry'? There are two contenders. The first is late nineteenth-century Australian boxer Larry Foley, who never lost a fight. The other is a deriviation of the Australian/New Zealand slang term 'larrikin', meaning a rough type or hooligan.
Bring home the bacon This phrase is often attributed to the story of Dunmow Flitch. In 1104, a couple in Great Dunmow, Essex, impressed the Prior of Little Dunmow with their love and devotion so much, that he awarded them a flitch [a side] of bacon.
Ball and chain This rather crude description of a wife refers to the ball and chain strapped to a prisoner's leg in American and British prisons in the early 19th century.
Barking mad The most probable meaning for this phrase is a reference to rabid dogs, barking in their madness. A more interesting (but less likely) tale is that 'barking mad' originates from the east London suburb of Barking, where there was an asylum for the insane during the medieval period.

Basket case Originally, this term was used by the US military after WWI, referring to soldiers who had lost arms and legs and had to be carried by others.

Bee in your bonnet This phrase was first recorded in Alexander Douglas's Aeneis, in 1513: "Quhat bern be thou in bed with heid full of beis?". It has been speculated that the bonnet could refer to the protective headgear beekeepers wear.
Beat around the bush Beat around the bush evolved from "beat about the bush", a term used in birdhunting to rouse the prey out of the bushes, and into nets. Grouse hunters still use beaters today.
Two peas in a pod Referring to the fact that two peas in a pod are identical,this phrase dates from the 16th century, and appeared in John Lyly's Euphues and his England, in 1580: "Wherin I am not unlike unto the unskilfull Painter, who having drawen the Twinnes of Hippocrates, (who wer as lyke as one pease is to an other)."
Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth Although this phrase was thought to be British, referring to the upper classes born into privilege, the first recorded use was in America in 1801, in a speech made in U.S. Congress: "It was a common proverb that few lawyers were born with silver spoons in their mouths."

A man after my own heart This saying comes from the Bible (King James Version): Samuel 13:14: "But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee."
Cut of your jib Sir Walter Scott brought this phrase into common use in 1824, but what actually is a jib? This triangular sail is used on sailing ships, and as each country has its own style of 'jib', the 'cut of your jib' determines where a boat originates from.
Namby Pamby 'Namby Pamby' was a nickname invented in the eighteenth century by poets John Gay, Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift to mock the English poet and playright Ambrose Philips. Philips, a tutor to King George’s grandchildren, gained notoriety for the sycophantic poems he wrote about his charges, often using babyish language such as “eensy weesy”– and his rival poets gave his own name the same treatment.