Fw: Ten things you may not know

[Guest guest]

> > Ten things you may not know

> >

> 1. 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. That's where the phrase, " goodnight, sleep tight " came from.

> >

> 2. The sentence " The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog " uses every

> letter in the alphabet. (Developed by Western Union to test telex/twx

> communications.)

> >

> 3. The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year

> because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the

weight

> of all the books that would occupy the building.

> >

> 4. The term " the whole 9 yards " came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the

> Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber

machine

> gun ammo belts

> measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the

> pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got " the whole 9 yards. "

> >

> 5. The phrase " rule of thumb " is derived from an old English law which

> states that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your

thumb.

> >

> 6. The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the Army for the

> " General Purpose " vehicle, GP.

> >

> 7. The first toilet ever seen on television was on " Leave It To Beaver. "

> >

> 8. 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 wine, and because their

> calendar was lunar based, this period was called the " honey month " or what

> we know today as the " honeymoon. "

> >

> 9. In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts So in old England,

> when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their

> own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase " mind

> your P's

> and Q's. "

> >

> 10. 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.

>

>