I bet you didnt know that

Wossack

Esel wrote: »

"Swinging the lead" = skiving.

olden times, sailors discerned the depth of a body of water by dropping a lead weight off the ship, and counting the number of equally spaced knots on the attached line. Lazy sailors are said to just 'swing the lead in the air' and called out a fictitious number as the depth

Capt'n Midnight

Esel wrote: »

"Swinging the lead" = skiving.

Back in the days before power tools and JCB's one of the handiest jobs was holding the string with a weight on it to provide a vertical line.


The Myles na gCopaleen bureau of invention needless to say has devised a machine (overleaf) for a person who is too incredible lazy to swing the lead themselves.
cf. pp214 Best of Myles, The Myles na gCopaleen Catechism of Cliché

Ipso

Wossack wrote: »

olden times, sailors discerned the depth of a body of water by dropping a lead weight off the ship, and counting the number of equally spaced knots on the attached line. Lazy sailors are said to just 'swing the lead in the air' and called out a fictitious number as the depth

Swinging seems like more work than dropping a weight in the water.

tayto lover

Handshakes were originally meant to make sure that the person you were meeting wasn’t carrying a concealed weapon. The hand clasp proved that your hand was empty and shaking was meant to dislodge any weapons hiding up the sleeve.

Ipso

I read before that saluting comes from back in the day from hand movements involved when knights used to raise their visor to make their eyes visible.

Realt Dearg Sec

Ipso wrote: »

Swinging seems like more work than dropping a weight in the water.

Also if you were that lazy why would you swing it in the air either? Just make up a number and do nothing whatsoever...

The olde English word for the innards and offal of an animal is their 'umble'. When butchering meat, the finest cuts were reserved for the table of the gentry and elite classes and the hierarchy of meat would then descend with the class of those destined to eat it.

The poorest and most humble servants used to make pies with left over gravy from the lords table and the remaining offal and innards that no one else wanted. This was called umble pie.

So when you're eating (h)umble pie, you're having something no one else wants - at least in a figurative sense.

Ipso

Also the cooked version of the animal had the fancy Norman word like poultry, beef and pork. While the Saxon plebs raised chickens, cows and pigs.

sentient_6

tayto lover wrote: »

Handshakes were originally meant to make sure that the person you were meeting wasn’t carrying a concealed weapon. The hand clasp proved that your hand was empty and shaking was meant to dislodge any weapons hiding up the sleeve.

I was under the impression it was offering forward your sword hand as a sign of peace or truce. Ie you can't draw your sword off your left hip with your right hand.

enfield

The 'pincers' on a earwigs bum is for folding his wings.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Wossack wrote: »

olden times, sailors discerned the depth of a body of water by dropping a lead weight off the ship, and counting the number of equally spaced knots on the attached line. Lazy sailors are said to just 'swing the lead in the air' and called out a fictitious number as the depth

Cut and run is another old nautical expession. To cut a ships anchor loose instead of hauling it in to facilitate a speedy get away

DEFTLEFTHAND

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Cut and run is another old nautical expession. To cut a ships anchor loose instead of hauling it in to facilitate a speedy get away

So many expressions have nautical origins. Warships used to display several flags to confuse the enemy into inaction, until the rules of warfare stated they had to fly their actual flag and only that flag, and that's the origin of the expression 'showing one's true colors'.

Ipso

enfield wrote: »

The 'pincers' on a earwigs bum is for folding his wings.

Are you sure it's not for piercing ear drums :cool:

Greybottle

Ipso wrote: »

Also the cooked version of the animal had the fancy Norman word like poultry, beef and pork. While the Saxon plebs raised chickens, cows and pigs.

In the middle ages French was the language of the upper classes, it was a display of education and supposed better standing.

So the name for the cuts of meat comes from French and the animal from Anglo Saxon

Poulet = Poultry
Boeuf = Beef
Mouton = Mutton
Porc = Pork


The hand shake was popularised by the Greeks and Romans and led to the Romans and subsequently all of Europe initially driving on the left.

You drove on the left so you could raise your right hand and show you were carrying no weapon and could shake hands if necessary. Easier to shake hands from the chariot if you drive on the left.

New Home

enfield wrote: »

The 'pincers' on a earwigs bum is for folding his wings.

I stand to be corrected, but AFAIK they do not have wings, and the pincers are used as a form of defence. I've been pinched often enough!

Provided that you're talking about these guys...

368100

New Home wrote: »

I stand to be corrected, but AFAIK they do not have wings, and the pincers are used as a form of defence. I've been pinched often enough!

They do have wings but not all types of earwig fly....those that do only fly short distances. I don't think the pincers are related to folding wings though!

kingchess

Candie wrote: »

So many expressions have nautical origins. Warships used to display several flags to confuse the enemy into inaction, until the rules of warfare stated they had to fly their actual flag and only that flag, and that's the origin of the expression 'showing one's true colors'.

You really nailed your colours to the mast with that post .

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

The phrase 'to give out', in the sense of complaining or scolding, is only used in Ireland and is a direct translation of the Irish language expression 'tabhair amach'

Maybe this should be in 'obvious things you just realised' but I was amazed when I found that we were the only ones who used it.

Quazzie

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

The phrase 'to give out', in the sense of complaining or scolding, is only used in Ireland and is a direct translation of the Irish language expression 'tabhair amach'

Maybe this should be in 'obvious things you just realised' but I was amazed when I found that we were the only ones who used it.

It's the same for "Thanks a million"

New Home

Quazzie wrote: »

It's the same for "Thanks a million"

Another question - isn't the direct translation from Irish "A thousand thanks" ("míle buiochas" - sp.?), though? Because if that's the case, other languages have that expression, too.

Ipso

I remember an interview with an English professor, he said that one thing he found strange about Irish peoples use of English is the way that when we ask for something we sometimes say "you wouldn't help me with this".
He said it was a very negative attitude, I wonder if it's another carry over from Gaelic.

server down

Generally on the naming of meat you can tell that the Norman nobility ate more of something if the name of the meat is different from the name of the animal. So venison (deer), beef (cow), and mutton (sheep) and most of the meats of the pig derive from French, but chicken is the meat and the animal.

The nobility probably did eat chicken but peasants kept chickens too so the English word survived on the plate.

Realt Dearg Sec

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

The phrase 'to give out', in the sense of complaining or scolding, is only used in Ireland and is a direct translation of the Irish language expression 'tabhair amach'

Maybe this should be in 'obvious things you just realised' but I was amazed when I found that we were the only ones who used it.

I only discovered this when I moved to America. I was giving out to the students about some hames they made of some assignment and said "I'm not giving out to you" (I was, I just wanted to make them feel OK about it) and they looked at me in a state of total confusion. I realised I had been using the phrase regularly for ages (it was a writing course focused on argument so I was differentiating between a constructive argument and just giving out to people...I didn't even realise they didn't understand at the time).

It's amazing the things we take for granted in how we speak.

Same with "I'm after..." as in, "I'm after making the dinner". Americans find me saying that hysterical. I actually did know that was an Irishism, but I don't notice myself doing it until I'm after doing it.

Its like a whole tense that only Irish people know.

Ipso

Your man, for referring to someone else is another one they love.

Realt Dearg Sec

Ipso wrote: »

Your man, for referring to someone else is another one they love.

My wife was living in Ireland for nearly ten years without realising that "your one" only refers to a woman. I only noticed when she was using it to refer to a man.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Another uniquely Irish tense is 'do be', for example 'I do be going'.

Kat1170

Round manhole covers are round so the lid cannot fall down the hole. Square ones can fall down the hole diagonally.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

enfield wrote: »

The 'pincers' on a earwigs bum is for folding his wings.

While they have small and rarely used they indeed have forewings, but the pincers, or forceps to use the correct term, are used to fend off predators, to catch prey and have a role to play a in a mating ritual.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Noel gallagher suffered from premature greyness. He was 27 when oasis were signed . Creation the label ordered him to dye his mop. Its only recectly that he's given up this practice

Noo

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Noel gallagher suffered from premature greyness. He was 27 when oasis were signed . Creation the label ordered him to dye his mop. Its only recectly that he's given up this practice

I was thinking "wow he was the same age as i am now, what have i achieved". Then I remembered im actually 30.