Curious+Facts


 * //The Etymologicon: //**


 * Cold shoulder **– cold shoulder of mutton was the sort of leftovers given to unwelcome house guests
 * Winging it ** – actor learning lines in the wings
 * To heckle ** – originally the process of removing knots from wool, by combing. In eighteenth century Dundee, workers who carried out the task, hecklers, were political radicals and would interrupt their colleague responsible for reading out the daily news
 * To hector ** – from the Trojan warrior who would challenge anyone to a fight
 * Bite the dust ** – a direct translation of a quote from //The Iliad// in which a character talks of the death of Hector
 * Humble pie ** – a meal made using the "umbles" – innards – of deer and only eaten by the lowliest servants
 * Pavilion ** – from the French for butterfly, //papillons//, which was the name given to the tents erected at medieval tournaments and jousts, because they resembled the insect's wings
 * Film buff **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">– from buffalo, the leather from which was worn by 19th century New York firemen who attracted crowds of fans when putting out fires. These aficionados became known as buffs, and the use spread to other experts
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Pidgin English **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – from the pronunciation of "business" by Chinese traders encountered by British merchants in the 19th century
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Rolling stone **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – a seventeenth century gardening implement – similar to a modern roller – used to flatten lawns. The proverb about it gathering no moss, which inspired Sir Mick Jagger and other musicians who used it in their lyrics, gave the phrase a more dynamic image than its prosaic origin suggests
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Nazi **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – an insult in use long before the rise of Adolf Hitler's party. It was a derogatory term for a backwards peasant – being a shortened version of Ignatius, a common name in Bavaria, the area from which the Nazis emerged. Opponents seized on this and shortened the party's title Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, to the dismissive "Nazi"
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Let the cat out of the bag **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">– In medieval markets, piglets were sold in bags – **a pig in a poke** – but a common con was to switch the valuable animal for a worthless cat or dog: buyers were either **sold a pup**, or, if they discovered the ruse, **let the cat out of the bag**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">The proof of the pudding **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – from an older meaning of "proof", meaning "test"
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Champion **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – from the Latin for field, //campus//. The best soldiers in the field were called //campiones//, hence champions
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">In the doghouse **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – from Peter Pan. In JM Barrie's 1911 novel, Mr Darling forces the dog to sleep in the kennel, and as a result the children disappear. As penance, he takes to sleeping there himself.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Through the grapevine **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – from the "grapevine telegraph", a phrase which emerged during the US Civil War, for an unofficial, word of mouth network along which news was passed, either because Confederate soldiers passed it on while drinking wine after dinner, or because slaves discussed it while picking grapes from vines.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Hoax **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – from hocus-pocus, which was used by Protestants to ridicule the rite of consecration carried out in the course of Catholic mass, which includes the phrase "Hoc est corpus meum" ("This is my body")
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Average **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">– from an old French term //avarie//, meaning "damage done to a ship". Vessels were often co-owned and when repairs were carried out, owners were expected to pay an equal share – the average.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Castor oil **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – originally the name of a liquid used as a laxative which was extracted from the glands of a beaver – or //Castor,// in Latin. It was not until the mid-eighteenth century that it was discovered that the same effect could be got from the oil produced by the seeds of //Ricinus communis//, which became known as the castor oil plant.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Bizarre **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">– from the Basque word for beard, //bizar//, because when bearded Spanish soldiers arrived in remote Pyrenean villages, locals thought them odd.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Serendipity **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – word coined in 1754 by Horace Walpole, son of the first prime minister, after reading a book about the island of Serendip – now known as Sri Lanka
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Sardonic **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – referred to those from Sardinia who, in ancient times, were characterised as unfriendly. The Mediterranean island also gave its name to **sardines**, which were found in its waters
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Dog days **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – the name for the hottest, sultriest part of the summer which coincides with a period, during July, when Sirius – the dog star – cannot be seen as it rises and sets at the same time as the sun.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Pass the buck **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – from the horn of a deer (buck), which was commonly used as a knife handle. The phrase emerged in nineteenth century America, from when poker players would signify the dealer for each game by stabbing a knife into the table in front of him
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Shell out **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – from the awkward process of getting a nut out of its shell. Artillery **shells** are so described because early grenades looked like nuts in their shells.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">In a nutshell **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – Pliny, the Roman writer, claimed there was a copy of The Iliad so small it could fit inside a walnut shell
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Grocer **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">– one who buys in gross
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Kiosk **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – Turkish word for palace, which gradually becomes less grand as its use as it moves westward across Europe. In Italy it refers to a pagoda-like garden structure
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Bigot **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> – old English for "by god", to describe someone who asserts their own saintliness, while being a hypocrite
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Upshot **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">– the decisive, final shot in an archery contest which decided who had won
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Soon //–// **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">was the Anglo-Saxon word for "now" – far more immediate than its current use