Carly Googles

Who first said "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"?

2012-01-31T10:51:00.001-08:00

Search: all work and no play

Why: I guess, like an idiot, I assumed it originated in The Shining, but in "Downton Abbey" (I'm on board), in an episode set in 1913:

Mary: You know what all work and no play did for Jack.
Matthew: You think I'm a dull boy anyway, don't you.

Answer: The sentiment is so old that nobody is sure who said it first! In 2400 BC Egypt, the sage Ptahhotep wrote something that some people think* is related to the proverb:

One that reckoneth accounts all the day passeth not a happy moment. One that gladdeneth his heart all the day provideth not for his house. The bowman hitteth the mark, as the steersman reacheth land, by diversity of aim.

(*I don't see it.)

In English, the first recording is from 1659 in James Howell's Proverbs in English, Italian, French, and Spanish and in his Paroimiographia the same year.

In 1825, Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth expanded the proverb:

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,
All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.

She's from Clever-Clever Land. So are the businessmen who say things like:

All work and no play makes jack - and plenty of it.

Source: Phrases.org.uk, Wikipedia

The More You Know: The phrase also appears in a billion other things I've seen or read, like:

"Araby" by James Joyce (1914)
Big Sur by Jack Kerouac (1962)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
"The Simpsons," "Treehouse of Horror V" (1994), kinda

Do giraffes have horns?

2012-01-27T12:27:00.001-08:00

Search: giraffe horn

Why: Corbett has a screensaver on her TV (wut) that is a stylized slideshow of jungle animals. One looks something like this:

What are those things?

Answer: Sorta! They used to, anyway (says Science). Giraffes are in the scientific group Pecora, which also comprises cattle, sheep, goats, antelope, and deer - all of whom have antlers.

Antlers are made of protrusions of bone which are shed and regrown each year.

The things that giraffes have, however, aren't antlers, but permanent outcroppings of cartilage called ossicones. They are in different places on the skull than antlers usually are, and they are permanently covered in both skin and fur (whereas antler velvet wears off over time). Giraffes are born with them. In evolutionary biology, this kind of thing is called a spandrel, an adaptation that once served to support some other function. In this case, the ossicones would have supported the antlers.

The way science sees it, male giraffes used to be like their antelope and deer cousins with antlers up top. They used them during mating season to fight and show dominance.

The thing is that giraffes got taller and their necks grew so long that it wouldn't have been good for them to go bashing their heads into each other anymore. (In the meantime, some extinct forms of giraffes like sivatheres had both long necks and horns:

Maybe that's why they're extinct.)

So now, since they don't have antlers up top, giraffes use these little horns at the backs of their heads to bash into each other.

They sort of wrap their necks around each other like so and go apeshit.

It's kind of embarrassing.

Source: White Souse, All Experts, Wikipedia

The More You Know: I just want to show you this awesome carousel at Jardin des Plantes in Paris, the Dodo Manège. All the animals on it are endangered or extinct! Sivathere:

Keep your eyes peeled for a dodo and a meiolaniid and an elephant bird!

What is the medical term for "dry heaving"?

2012-01-23T12:17:00.001-08:00

Search: dry heave

Why: It's a topic close to my heart / esophagus, because maybe I puked as recently as yesterday. In 6 Weird Signs That You're Way Too Stressed Out:

Dry-heaving (or retching, in medical terminology) is one way that stress can rear its ugly head, more often as a sign of anxiety.

What! Surely not, no. It's much too onomatopoeic.

Answer: "Retching"! Get serious! Doctors be cray cray.

Retching is the reverse movement (peristalsis) of the stomach and esophagus without vomiting. Sometimes this is called the dry heaves.

But maybe it is an onomatopoeia. It comes from

Lithuanian imitative kregeti, "to grunt"
German khrækijanan, "to clear one's throat"
Old English hraca, "phlegm" - and hræcan "to cough up"

Oh, retroactive warning: Chandler, don't read this.

Source: eMedicineHealth, EtymOnline

The More You Know: I couldn't find medical terms for "throat clearing" or "lump in the throat." Maybe someday, science can come up with a solution. Ahem.

Where did Big Ben get its (his?) name?

2012-01-20T13:52:00.001-08:00

Search: big ben

Why: On reddit, You won't find the answers at the bottom of a wine glass:

That's Prague, but that clock there is reminding me of that other clock.

Answer: No one is sure, not even Parliament! But there are two theories:

It was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, First Commissioner for Works, whose name was [allegedly] inscribed on the first bell.
It was named after Ben Caunt, a champion heavyweight boxer of the 1850s.

Big Ben is the bell, by the way - not the clock (which is the Great Clock) nor the tower (which is the Clock Tower). Officially, Big Ben is called the Great Bell. It first tolled July 11th, 1859.

Source: Parliament.uk,

The More You Know: Some facts complied by Diamond Geezer:

The Clock Tower is 11 storeys high. There are 334 steps up to the belfry. There is no lift.
Each clock face is made up of 312 pieces of opal glass.
Each dial is just over 7m in diameter, and is cleaned once every five years by abseiling technicians.
The tip of the minute hand travels approximately 190km each year.

Is the song in "Never Let Me Go" for real?

2012-01-18T15:45:00.000-08:00

Search: judy bridgewater

Why: We watched the movie last week, and the very next day, I received the audiobook in my mailbox. How Kathy H. acquires the tape is a bit different this time around, but here's what she says about it:

The album's called Songs After Dark and it's by Judy Bridgewater.
What made the tape so special for me was this one particular song: track number three, 'Never Let Me Go'.
It's slow and late night and American, and there's a bit that keeps coming round when Judy sings: 'Never let me go ... Oh baby, baby ... Never let me go ..."

There's some other stuff about how she's sitting at a bar in a purple dress with a cigarette, but it's not on Google Books, so you will just have to imagine it.

Answer: No! Well, it's a real song, but Judy Bridgewater isn't real, and the song isn't... "real." In fact, the version in the book isn't even the same as the one in the movie. The one in the book has lots of business about a "baby" (and Kathy H. dances to it pretending to hold a baby - one she can never have), but the one in the film is all about saying "never (never) never (never)" and so on.

Hmm? But as a promotional thing, the studio sent out thumb drives shaped like cassette tapes with this on the clever:

Source: The Star

The More You Know: Coincidences(?) of note:

Never Let Me Go author Kazuo Ishigiro is a fan of American jazz singer Stacey Kent, and even wrote 4 songs for her 2007 album Breakfast On The Morning Tram, which also includes a song called "Never Let Me Go" (though Ishiguro didn't write that one - it's an old song - and it's also not the one in the book / film).
The "Never Let Me Go" in the movie was written by Luther Dixon, who also wrote "Sixteen Candles" and "Mama Said."
Judy Bridgewater is posing like the woman on the cover of Bringing It All Back Home (1965) by Bob Dylan, who - in the 70s - regularly sang with Joan Baez a song called "Never Let Me Go."

What's the Road to Damascus?

2012-01-18T12:35:00.000-08:00

Search: road to damascus

Why: In The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides (our very first Book Club book, and Orlando just confessed he is way behind in it):

Michael Zipperstein had come to Brown thirty-two yeas earlier as a New Critic. He'd inculcated the habits of close reading and biography-free interpretation into three generations of students before taking a Road to Damascus sabbatical, in Paris, in 1975, where he'd met Roland Barthes at a dinner party and been converted, over cassoulet, to the new faith.

It's one of those things that I see all the time, but I don't know what it means. I live in a whirled I don't even understand.

Answer: It's the road that Saul the Christkiller was on when he realized he wanted to be Paul the Apostle! Pre-Damascus Expy, Saul hated Christians and generally just wanted all of them dead. He even voted to stone Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He was headed to Damascus to do some good ol' persecuting when suddenly, he was enveloped by a bright light!

He fell to the ground and heard a voice say, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Who could it be?

I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Wait, what?

Anyway, that day on that long and winding road, Saul's life took a great big turn. He converted - he was no longer Saul the Destroyer to Paul the Spreader of Good News, eventually suffering persecution of his own. He wrote lots of words that are in the New Testament, and he also taught us that what you hate today may be something you love tomorrow. Kind of like my journey with avocados.

Luv u

In lit'rature, a "road to Damascus" can represent a religious conversion or a profound change in attitude or belief. Damascus is the capital Syria.

Source: Daily Bible Study, Double-Tongued

The More You Know: But what o what is cassoulet? It's a bean stew or casserole! It has meat in it, usually pork. Make your own.

Why is Rock Paper Scissors also called Roshambo?

2012-01-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

Search: roshambo

Why: Somebody said it on the teevee last night. I can't be sure who.

Answer: It's named after Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau! Whom? Why, the commander-in-chief of the French Expeditionary Force who helped George Washington and the Continental Army during the American Revolution! What a pal! But the thing is that nobody really knows why "Rock Paper Scissors" is associated with him. Oh well. Maybe it's just that his name has 3 syllables.

So instead of the real answer, here are some facts & theories about the origins of Rock Paper Scissors:

The first written record of the game is from 200 BC in Japan, where the name is Jan-ken-pon (or just Jan-ken). Ken means "fist."
Or it actually originated in the Chinese Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 CE), called Shoushiling.
The "game" (wut? it's not a game!) is based on 2 older games:

San sukumi ken, something about "the freezing aspects of a snake, frog, and slug with fear"
Su ken, a numbers+competing game with fingers, maybe just like the ancient Greek / Roman game Morra)

It started in Africa, where early man invented tools.
It was an ancient Scandinavian pastime that spread to Europe.
It was a traditional Celtic game that spread to Europe in the 6th century BC via settlers in Portugal, where it was called Pihedra, Papelsh e Tijhera.

Source: The Straight Dope, Wikipedia

The More You Know: Some variations on RPS:

In Japan - chief of village, (kills) tiger, (eats) mother of chief (beats chief)
In Indonesia - elephant, (crushes) person, (crushes) ant (crawls in elephant's ear and drives it crazy)
In Myanmar - general, gun, raising hands
In Vietnam - hammer, nail, wrapping

Also! this creature called the side-blotched lizard has this weird mating behavior that peeps call the "rock-paper-scissors strategy." The boy lizards are either orange, yellow, or blue, and it plays out like this with the ladies:

Orange-throated males are the biggest, blue-throated the middle, and yellow-throated the smallest.

Orange ones beat blue.
Blue beats yellow.
Yellow ones are small and their coloring mimics that of females. While the orange ones are fighting the blue ones, the yellow ones sneak in and steal their wimmens away!

NSFW.

I want to see a picture of Grace Kelly's bridesmaids

2012-01-09T11:48:00.000-08:00

Search: grace kelly wedding

Why: Valerie posted this: "Closing Bridal Store, Priscilla of Boston, Spray Paints Designer Gowns and Outrages Women"

Priscilla of Boston, a designer wedding dress shop owned by David's Bridal that once outfitted Grace Kelly's bridesmaids, is closing all 19 locations after 65 years, and they have lots of gowns to dispose of. But rather than donating them to a good cause or taking them to sample sales, the Edina, Minnesota store employees spray-painted the expensive gowns pink and threw them in the trash so no one could wear them.

Rude.*

Answer: Here they are!

Nice hats, ladies. It was 1956. She never acted again.

Princess Grace's wedding dress was designed by Academy Award–winning costumer Helen Rose, who also designed for Betty Grable, Judy Garland, Carmen Miranda, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, and Marilyn Monroe for films in the 1940s-50s - and Elizabeth Taylor for 2 films and one real-life wedding (to Conrad Hilton, Jr., her first husband of 7 / first wedding of 8).

Real wedding / fake wedding

Source: Google Images

The More You Know: Were you also curious about Grace's bridesmaids wearing such a light color? They weren't just summer whites. Some bridesmaid history:

The Western bridesmaid tradition is thought to have originated from Roman Law, which required ten witnesses at a wedding in order to outsmart evil spirits (believed to attend marriage ceremonies) by dressing in identical clothing to the bride and groom, so that the evil spirits would not know who was getting married. In Victorian wedding photographs, the bride and groom are frequently dressed in the same fashion as other members of the bridal party.

Men still do that.

*The store said: "Priscilla of Boston has always donated quality bridal gowns to a variety of charitable causes. We do not, however, donate unsaleable dresses that are damaged, soiled or in otherwise poor condition." Then they destroyed the dresses. The also said, "It had something to do with the contracts with the labels." A retail analyst theorized: "For some retailers, they're really concerned with their merchandise getting counterfeited, so that's one reason why they would want to go ahead and destroy these items." A few dresses survived, and David's Bridal agreed to donate them to their 'charitable partners.' Womp womp.

What's the origin of the term 'hat trick'?

2012-01-08T20:16:00.000-08:00

Search: hat trick

Why: We were watching some show on the Food Network, and I think Rachael Ray said something about cooking a "hat trick." I was like

but not really, because I don't really know what it means. All I know is that in my first soccer game ever (c. 1994) I scored a hat trick... and also a 4th goal. You're welcome, MJCC Girls 10 & Under Rec Team.

Answer: It comes from cricket! The OED says:

The feat of a bowler who takes three wickets by three successive balls: originally considered to entitled him to be presented by his club with a new hat or some equivalent.

Lol, "takes three wickets." Get out of here, cricket. In 1858, player H.H. Stephenson took 3 wickets in 3 balls in Sheffield.

A collection was held for Stephenson (as was customary for outstanding feats by professionals) and he was presented with a cap or hat bought with the proceeds.

Look at those chops on front-n-center.

Anyhoo, hockey players / teams / fans / announcers adopted the term from cricketery.

In the 1940s, a Toronto haberdasher used to give Maple Leaf hockey players free hats when they scored three goals in a game.

But mostly, fans just throw throw hats onto the ice. In the early 20th century, this was especially nice to see because a classier breed of men wore classier hats. These are from a long time ago:

Nowadays, they usually donate the gross cast-offs to charity.

Source: Ask! Yahoo, WiseGeek, Wikipedia

The More You Know: On an unrelated note, Aaron Carter was also on the Foot Network show where Rachael Ray was talking, and I'm just gonna throw it out there that I do not believe that he likes girls more than he likes boys.

^ I don't know why that thing had to have 100 spaces before and after it, but it did. Sry.

What's a doubting Thomas?

2012-01-04T14:29:00.000-08:00

Search: doubting Thomas

Why: In The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides:

"Mitchell," Phyllida continued, "with your interest in religious studies, I'd think India would be a perfect fit. They've got everything. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Jains, Buddhists. It's like Baskin Robbins! I've always been fascinated by religion. Unlike my doubting-Thomas husband.

Answer: Someone who needs proof! It comes from the Apostle Thomas, aka Didymus Thomas or "Thomas the Twin," who required physical proof of Jesus' Resurrection before he would believe it.

When Jesus reappeared and had Thomas touch his wounds, Thomas became the first person to explicitly acknowledge Jesus' divinity, saying "My Lord and my God."

Source: Phrases, Cliches, Expressions & Sayings, AnandTech

The More You Know: Due to his name, some people think Thomas was Jesus' twin.

Greek Didymus: In the Gospel of John ^[11:16] ^[20:24] Thomas is more specifically identified as "Thomas, also called the Twin (Didymus)."
Aramaic Tau'ma: The name "Thomas" comes from the Aramaic T'oma, "twin" (תאומא).

Or maybe he was the twin of Judas. Who knows.

Do pigs really have curly tails?

2011-12-31T17:10:00.000-08:00

Search: piglets tails; pigs curly tails

Why: On Reddit, What about a pig?

Only the pretend pig has a curly tail.

Answer: Some do! But not all. Do:

Donut:

Baby pigs are cute, y'all.

Source: Google Images, AnswerBag, Question Master

The More You Know: But why do some pigs have curly tails? Theories:

The Chinese have been domesticating pigs for over 7,000 years. In 3486 B.C., emperor Fo-Hi of China decreed that swine should be bred and raised. After domestication, pigs were bred to have curly tails and lop ears.
Domesticated pigs have curly tails, but wild hogs have straight tails with tufted tips.
Or... some pig breeds have curly tails while others do not. (Pot-bellied pigs have straight tails.)
The curly tail was an evolutionary answer to pig fights. During fights, pigs will often bite one another's tail, causing serious injury. A curly tail is harder to grasp and bite.
Because they are born in the spring!

^ Have I used that picture before? I think I have.

I want to see some pictures of Sofia the First

2011-12-30T16:10:00.001-08:00

Search: sofia the first

Why: On the Washington Post, "Disney's Newest Princess Is a First":

I guess Disney's decision to stop making princess movies was a half-truth. The fairytale film company is introducing a new Disney princess, Sofia the First, who for the first time will be a little girl. The younger princess is meant to attract preschoolers and be a positive and educational role model in her TV movie and series. According to a Disney GM, Sofia will have “plenty of pretty dresses and sparkly shoes," but "what makes a real princess is what’s inside, not what’s outside."

And that second link goes to NYTimes and this:

I can't tell if she's hot or not.

Answer: This is the only other picture I can find!

I thought at first that it wasn't real because Disney woodland creatures have evolved a little more than that, but it turns out they are tru-life throwbacks. Look here:

The show is set in the storybook world of the classic Disney Princesses and introduces Sofia, a little girl with a commoner’s background introduced to royalty when her mom marries the King. Sofia moves to live in the King’s castle and learns what it means to be a real princess, learning traits like kindness, forgiveness, generosity, courage and self-respect with the help of “Sleeping Beauty” characters Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. And amidst the education, she has to fend off an evil wizard Cedric, who wants the amulet Sofia has which was given to her by the King.

Those are the fairies. She will run into other familiar faces, too!

With the help of the three familiar fairies in charge of the Royal Training Academy — Flora, Fauna and Merryweather of Disney's classic "Sleeping Beauty" and, on occasion, classic Disney Princess characters including Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White — Sofia learns that looking like a princess isn't all that hard but behaving like one must come from the heart.

OH MY GOD I CAN'T WAIT

Source: DVDDizzy, NexyAnne, Disney Consumer Products

The More You Know: EnigmaWing drew this imagineering of what Sofia will look like all growed up:

Just you wait, fellas!

What's the song on the GoPro HD commercial?

2011-12-29T11:42:00.001-08:00

Search: "and we'll go somewhere new" best buy

Why: I just saw it. Has a little space robot.

Answer: "Elephants & Little Girls" by Loch Lomond! They are from Portland.

Source: TVCF blog

The More You Know: Lyrics go like:

And we'll go somewhere warmer
And we'll go somewhere new (la la la la la)
Now we're having fun
Now we're living life

What is "12 Days of Christmas" about?

2011-12-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

Search: colly bird

Why: I recently learned that it's spost to be "four colly birds," not "calling birds." (THANKS AGAIN, FARMVILLE.)

The what!

Answer: For starters, the 12 days are December 25th-January 6th, the date of the Epiphany. Folks have been celebrating the Epiphany and the days leading up to it since at least the 4th century (except for a brief spell in the 17th century when Oliver Cromwell did away with Christmas).

Onward: There are symbols, and there are other "symbols" that are religious.

A Pear Tree

A symbol of fertility, like Eve's apple(?) - except this time, the pear represents male virility. On Christmas morning, a maiden could walk backward around a pear tree three times, and then she would see the face of her future husband in its branches.

A Partridge

A "lusty suitor"- especially a red one - very fertile and supposed to produce a lot of offspring.

For the religious folk, partridge = Jesus and pear tree = the cross, or tree = God.

Turtle Doves

Symbols of love, as they are said to mate for life. Astarte, the Phoenician goddess of love, was hatched from an egg that was warmed by two doves.

Religious: two turtle doves = Old and New Testaments

French Hens

Hens symbolize motherly devotion, and the fact that they're specifically French signifies a new breed of chicken, the old (Roman) mixed with the new (Oriental).

R: The gifts of the Magi (gold, frankincense, and myrrh) or the 3 theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity)

Colly Birds

Colly = collie = coalie = coal = black birds... = crows. Blackbirds were a delicacy in Medieval tymez, and one guy made a pie for Twelfth Night that was 9 feet in circumference.

R: the Four Gospels or the Four Evangelists

Golden Rings

Not rings for fingers, but the rings on the pheasant's neck! Another Medieval delicacy, this one somehow related to Jason, the Argonauts, and the Golden Fleece. Only the very rich and royal get to order the pheasant.

Hey girl.

R: The Pentateuch (5 Books of Moses) and/or rings = eternity (5 rings = 5 eternities)

Geese a-Laying

Geese have been popular in folklore for a long time, symbols of fertility and protection and the soul and all sorts of other things. After people ate all the boars to death, they started eating Christmas goose instead.

R: 6 days of Creation

Swans a-Swimming

Swans can both fly and swim, and they are therefore a link between the natural and supernatural worlds. Maybe they are even immortal. They are a symbol of royalty in Britain.

R: Take your pick - 7th day of Creation/rest, 7 deadly sins, 7 Sacraments, 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit, 7 spiritual Works of Mercy, 7 Chipmunks Twirling on a Branch Eating Lots of Sunflowers on My Uncle's Ranch...

Maids a-Milking

Before refrigeration was a thing, fresh milk was a rare treat, but people ate cheese til the cows came home. An old Christmas game called "Yawning for the Cheshire Cheese," wherein the person with the longest and most awesome yawn won some cheese. Truth be told, I'm playing it in my cubicle right now, but the prize is self-loathing and something very close to minimum wage. Anyway, when an 18th century maid was asked to "go a-milking," it was a proposal for either marriage or a roll in the hay.

R: The 8 Beatitudes of Jesus what.

Ladies Dancing

Dances were called caroles (like Christmas carols) and were considered sins of the flesh. The Church tried to ban them, but was unsuccessful because a) a lot of the people dancing weren't even Christian in the first place and b) this isn't 1984 West Virginia. The best they could hope for was that people danced left-to-right, the virtuous way, and not right-to-left, the evil way.

R: 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit or 9 Choirs of Angels

Lords a-Leaping

Only men could do the leap dance, and they did so to rile themselves up for purposes of fertility and also for war. During Twelfth Night celebrations, British "morris dancers" lined up in two teams and leapt about with swords.

This style of dance eventually fell out of fashion except at faires and festivals and whatnot.

R: 10 Commandments

Pipers Piping

Did you know that shepherds were playing the bagpipes the night that Jesus was born? No shit! Shepherding is boring, so the pipes get a lot of mileage in the fields. Over time, they even became the unofficial instrument of Scottish battlefields - so much so that they were banned in Ireland. French nobility played the musette bagpipe during Twelfth Night ordeals.

R: 11 Faithful Apostles (all the ones except Judas)

Drummers Drumming

Town watchmen ("waits") walked around at night til dawn, patrolling the streets, playing the tabor drums, and singing. Around Christmastime, they were nicely rewarded. This eventually stopped - I assume because people were trying to sleep and drums are just awful - but drums came back as people marched into battle. A skilled musician could play the drums and the pipes, called the whittle and dub.

R: 12 Tribes of Israel, 12 Prophets, 12 Points of Doctrine in the Apostle's Creed...

Source: Brownie Locks and the 3 Bears, HubPages

The More You Know: In elementary school, we learned "Twelve Days of Christmas" in French. The only part I remember was that the "partridge in a pear tree" in that version was un cochon dans un pull - a pig in a pullover. Wut.

Fun fact: I know the words to "Frosty the Snowman" in French, but not English. Tonka tonk tonk tonk

Who is Steve Reeves?

2011-12-19T12:44:00.000-08:00

Search: steve reeves movie

Why: The first time I ever looked at a call-back script for The Rocky Horror Picture Show in, like, 1997, part of "Sweet Transvestite" said something like this:

Or if you want something visual
Like a movie?
That's not too abysmal
Like a MOVIE?
We could take in an old Steve Reeves movie
Who the fuck is Steve Reeves?

I AltaVistad and Asked Jeeves about it a few times over the years, but I never found nothin.

Answer: He was a bodybuilder and actor who played (among other roles) Hercules!

He died in 2000.

Source: SteveReeves.com,

The More You Know: Another fun version goes like this:

Or if you want something ~~visual~~ sexual
That's not too ~~abysmal~~ intellectual
We could take in an old Steve Reeves movie
Who the fuck is Steve Reeves?

What song is Mavis singing in "Young Adult"?

2011-12-16T16:44:00.000-08:00

Search: get some records by the Status Quo

Why: We watched that movie last night. She plays it on Repeat and sings along about a million times, and then [spoiler alert] someone else sings it later. It is the new "Anyone Else But You."

Answer: "The Concept" by Teenage Fanclub! It's from their 1991 album Bandwagonesque - which, btdubs, was SPIN's 1991 Album of the Year, not Nevermind.

Lyrics go like:

She wears denim wherever she goes
Says she's gonna get some records by the Status Quo
Oh yeah

Still she won't be forced against her will
Says she don't do drugs but she does the Pill
Oh yeah

I didn't want to hurt you,
Oh yeah...

Source: Sing 365

The More You Know: That movie was pretty good. There are some things that really bothered me about it, but I'll wait to tell you what they were after you've seen it. I hope you'll agree that Patton Oswalt was the true star.

Well, owl be.

When will "Happy Birthday" be in the public domain?

2011-12-15T15:10:00.000-08:00

Search: happy birthday

Why: You know what's a weird song to have stuck in your head? "Happy Birthday."

It's famously annoying because a) everyone knows and uses the song in real life, b) it's copyrighted, and c) the royalties are absurdly expensive for such a dumb song. Because of that, we end up with tons of scenes like this:

Answer: 2030! In the US, anyway. In the "EU," the copyright will expire in 2016. The rights are held by Warner/Chappell Music.

Source: Wikipedia, Yahoo! Answers

The More You Know: According to the Guinness Book of World Records, "Happy Birthday" is the most recognized song in the English language. The reason the Guinness World Records thing started was to settle bar bets. The first question Hugh Beaver, managing director at Guinness Breweries, had was:

Which is the fastest game bird in Europe, the koshin golden plover or the grouse?

Answer still unknown.

How did the whole Tooth Fairy thing get started?

2011-12-14T14:44:00.000-08:00

Search: tooth fairy history

Why: In Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk:

In Africa, people don't believe in the Tooth Fairy. Instead, they have the Tooth Mouse. In Spain: Ratoncito Pérez. In France: La Bonne Petite Souris. A tiny magical rodent that steals teeth and replaces them with spare change. In some culture, the lost tooth must be hidden in a snake or rat burrow to prevent a witch from finding and using the tooth. In other cultures, children throw the tooth into a roaring fire, then, later, dig for coins in the cold ashes.

I'm learning.

Answer: For starters, people throughout history have fretted over proper disposal of baby teeth. Concerns and customs:

A witch could control you if she had a piece of you, like your hair, clothing, fingernails, or teeth.
After you died, you would want your body to be whole. If you didn't properly dispose of them, your soul would be forever restless until you found each of them.
You could throw them in a fire, toss them over a roof, or feed them to an animal. If an animal ate your baby tooth, your new adult tooth would come in looking like the tooth of that animal, whether a dog or a pig or a mouse. If you fed your baby teeth to a mouse or rat, your new teeth would come in sharp and strong.
If your parent buried your baby teeth in the garden, your new adult teeth would grow in strong and straight.
Children's teeth were good luck in battle, so Vikings created jewelry out of them.

The thing about the Tooth Mouse La Bonne Petite Souris came from a fairy tale written by French fairy-tailor Madam d'Aulnoy in 1697. It involves an evil king, a pregnant queen, a mouse-cum-fairy, an ugly prince, a beautiful turkeyherd (that's a thing!), and I think rabies? I'm not sure. Anyhoo, the mouse saves the princess. In one version, the mouse hides under the king's pillow and then knocks out all his teeth. Voilà!: tooth mouse.

The modern American Tooth Fairy didn't appear until the early 1900s. She is just a standard run-of-the-mill "good fairy" who happens to specialize in teeth. She was the star of a 1927 play, but the first children's story about her wasn't written until 1949. In the 1980s, she became a cartoon, a toy, a sleeping bag, Bella's changepurse...

One of the main reason all the silliness perseveres is because children like rites of passage. Another reason is because it distracts kids from the fact that body parts are falling out of their faces.

Source: 123ToothFairy, The Straight Dope

The More You Know: I am going to type out the rest of this passage because it's interesting and I want you to read it:

By first believe in Santa Claus, then the Easter Bunny, then the Tooth Fairy, Rant Casey was recognizing that those myths are more than pretty stories and traditions to delight children. Or to modify behavior. Each of those three traditions asks a child to believe in the impossible in exchange for a reward. These are stepped-up tests to build a child's faith and imagination. The first test is to believe in a magical person, with toys as the reward. The second test is to trust in a magical animal, with candy as the reward. The last test is the most difficult, with the most abstract reward: To believe, trust in a flying fairy that will leave money.

From a man to an animal to a fairy.

From toys to candy to money. Thus, interestingly enough, transferring the magic of faith and trust from sparkling fairy-dom to clumsy, tarnished coins. From gossamer wings to nickels... dimes... and quarters.

In this way, a child is stepped up to greater feats of imagination and faith as he or she matures. Beginning with Santa in infancy, and ending with the Tooth Fairy as the child acquires adult teeth. Or, plainly put, beginning with all the possibility of childhood, and ending with an absolute trust in the national currency.

I don't know about all that, but I do know that Sadie left this by her bed on the night of her first loss.

I hope the witches don't get hold of her.

What's the origin of the word kerchief?

2011-12-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

Search: kerchief etymology

Why: In Rant: The Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk:

Before thenabouts, Rant and me was just-neckerchief scouts. If all your folks could buy you was the yellow kerchief for round your neck, you was the bottom rung of Cub Scouting.

That word seems incomplete.

Answer: It's from the French word for "cover"!

couvrechief (couvrir, "to cover" + chief, "head") -> courchief -> curchef

Source: EtymOnline

The More You Know: I was going to tell you about the different colors of scout neckerchiefs and what they mean, but it turns out that they don't mean anything - they're just to differentiate between and personalize troops. Instead, here's a short list of the GLBT hanky code:

Black	S&M
Red	Fisting
Dark blue	Anal sex
Light blue	Oral sex
Yellow	Watersports
Brown	Scat
Green	Hustler/Prostitution
Orange	Anything, anywhere, any time (but not necessarily anyone)
Purple	Into piercing
Grey	Bondage

There is a lot to remember.

Medium blue	Uniform fetish	Police uniforms or uniforms worn by other authority figures
Teal	Cock and ball torture
Khaki	Military sex (Uniform fetish)	Likes wearing military uniforms
Olive drab	Military person	Left: A military top; Right: a military bottom

Be careful what you're putting out there, boiz.

How many US presidents were also cheerleaders?

2011-12-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

Search: famous male cheerleaders

Why: Matt and Chandler were talking about it, I think because Rick Perry was a cheerleader.

Answer: At least 4! Probably not more - after all, cheerleading wasn't even a thing until 1898. (Women didn't get into it until 1923.) There have only been 20 presidents since then, and one of them was in a wheelchair... but guess what:

George W. Bush was head cheerleader at Phillips Academy in the ‘60s and also cheered at Yale.

Ronald Reagan cheered on his basketball team at Eureka College in IL.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was nearly a star for the West Point football team, but when he stopped playing due to injury, he joined the cheerleading team instead. One source says he was also on the squad at his Abilene, KS, high school.

Franklin D. Roosevelt cheered for Harvard football in 1904, notably rallying the crowd for a particularly heated game against Brown. (He wasn't diagnosed with polio until 1921, when he was 39.)

Source: Mental Floss, The Smoking Jacket

The More You Know: Some say that the guy made the tackle that blew out Eisenhower's knee was Jim Thorpe. It probably wasn't, but what can ya do.

Other dudes who were cheerleaders: Michael Douglas, Samuel L. Jackson, Steve Martin, Jimmy Stewart, my dad.

Why do people "knock on wood"?

2011-12-11T13:08:00.000-08:00

Search: knock on wood origin

Why: Friday night, Sam told Mike to knock on wood at the bar. He tapped on a tree. Later, Melia knocked on our kitchen cabinets.

Answer: First, some history!

16th c. - Latin phrase absit omen, "far be that omen from us," cited in John Heywood Jablowme's collection of proverbs
c. 1850 - English scholarly journal Notes and Queries publishes:

There probably is some old English expression for averting evil, but it does not come to mind; "I touch wood," "Bar omen," "Bar ill-luck," seem clumsy.

(in the UK, people say "touch wood")

1905 - The Syracuse Herald publishes:

Neglecting to knock on wood may have been responsible for the weather's unseemly behaviour today.

The actual origin is unknown, but a popular theory looks to pre-Christian tree spirits in Ireland. They live/d in sacred trees like the ash, hawthorn, holly, and oak, and people "knocked on wood" either for good luck or to thank them for their good luck. Or: the sound you made knocking would prevent the Devil from hearing an unwise comment you just made. Or: it had something to do with the wood of the Christian cross (but probably not)

Also:

It wasn’t always wood that was lucky: in older days, iron was also thought to have magical properties, and to touch iron was an equivalent preventative against ill-fortune.

Source: Phrases.org.uk, World Wide Words

The More You Know:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

(etc.)

The "darling buds of May" are not from the month, but from the May Tree, aka the Common Hawthorn.

In Ireland a hawthorn standing alone in open ground is known as a fairy tree and there is a strong superstition that to cut one is unlucky. Even in recent years roads in Ireland have been rerouted to avoid uprooting hawthorns. It is also considered unlucky and an omen of death to cut the blooms and bring them into a house. This may well have come about from the unpleasant aroma, which is like decaying flesh.

Grimm.

I want to see Jack Nicholson in the original "Little Shop of Horrors"

2011-12-09T10:40:00.000-08:00

Search: jack nicholson little shop

Why: On Buzzfeed "25 Celebrities You Never Knew Were In Classic Movies":

19. Jack Nicholson in 'Little Shop of Horrors'

Answer: Well, this is something:

That was from 1960. The original film concept is thought to be based on a 1932 story "Green Thoughts" by John Collier.

Source: YouTube

The More You Know: Here's Bill Murray playing the sameish character in 1986. This one was directed by Frank Oz.

Why did Angelea get disqualified from America's Next Top Model?

2011-12-07T22:47:00.000-08:00

Search: angelea disqualified facebook

Why: In the all-star(!) season finale(!!) at the final judging(!!!), they announced that this was a special re-shooting of the ending in LA because after the original ending, they found out that Angelea was disqualified from winning. I don't really get it. And why?

CW only says this:

After production wrapped on the current cycle of America's Next Top Model, we learned information that made Angelea ineligible and she was subsequently disqualified from the competition. As a result, new scenes were filmed to address this for the audience during the finale.

Answer: Rumor has it that she posted about the original ending on Facebook! One source says:

I told earlier that it was going to be Angelea the disqualified girl 'cause she posted on her Facebook something about she loosing and 5 minutos after her Facebook account it was deleted.

and another says:

An insider from ANTM says that before the cycle Angelea leaked the finale 3 on her facebook. Apparently Angelea won the cycle during the ACTUAL finale but after looking into the leak the producers decided to re film the finale in LA with the other 2 finalist and name Lisa as the winner
Source(s):
REAL SCOOP

So according to one of them, she wrote on Facebook that she lost - which is against the rules, fine - but to according to another, Angelea won. That is goddamn ridiculous.

A third source is on board with the Facebook thing, but says only that Angelea revealed that she was in the Top 3, which was also not allowed.

The real inside scoop is that I will be at a party with Tony Croll this very weekend, and with enough eggnog, I might built up the liquid courage to ask him about this. Stay tuned.

UPDATE 12/8/11 - This is the Facebook status that she allegedly posted

I am winner!!! I know it.support me and f*ck angelea haters!!! Look at me now b*tch".

Classy as hell.

Source: The CW Lounge, RealityTV.About.com, Gather

The More You Know: Here is a quote from Angelea that I have had on my Facebook profile for a long time because it is one of the funniest things I have ever heard a human being say:

"I don't want, like, people to think that, y'know, I'm just this ghetto-ass ghettofied, you know, no-class bitch who don't care."

Thanks, Rich at fourfour, for another great season!

Catch Angelea Preston on Twitter here.

What's the song in the new iPod Touch commercial?

2011-12-04T15:51:00.000-08:00

Search: take me to your best friend's house

Why: It was on last night during "Saturday Night Live."

Answer: "Tongue Tied" by GROUPLOVE!

Source: Lyrics Hall

The More You Know: The words go like:

Take me to your best friend's house
Go around this roundabout
Oh yeah
Take me to your best friend's house
I loved you then and I love you now
Oh yeah

Don't take me tongue tied
Don't wave no goodbye
Don't...

What's the origin of hanging Christmas stockings?

2011-12-02T14:19:00.000-08:00

Search: christmas stocking history

Why: Look who is starring in my blog today!

I don't know the genesis of this (unless it's the same as the clog thing - but even then, I'm not sure how that started).

Answer: There are a few different theories. One says that the clogs came first (from Holland) and the stockings were an American extension. (But still - why the clogs?)

Another tells the tale of a poor nobleman who wants to marry off his daughters:

There was a kindly nobleman whose wife had died of an illness, leaving the nobleman and his three daughters in despair. After losing all his money in useless and bad inventions, the family had to move into a peasant's cottage, where the daughters did their own cooking, sewing, and cleaning.

When it came time for the daughters to marry, the father became even more depressed as his daughters could not marry without dowries, money, and property given to the new husbands' families.

One night, after the daughters had washed out their clothing, they hung their stockings over the fireplace to dry. That night, Saint Nicholas, knowing the despair of the father, stopped by the nobleman's house. Looking in the window Saint Nicholas saw that the family had gone to bed. He also noticed the daughters stockings. Inspiration struck Saint Nicholas. He took three small bags of gold from his pouch and threw them one by one down the chimney, and they landed in the stockings.

The next morning when the daughters awoke, they found their stockings contained enough gold for them to get married. The nobleman was able to see his three daughters marry and he lived a long and happy life.

Santa gave these poor girls money so they could pay their husbands' families to marry them. Heartwarming! Also, why did the wife die? It's not like she would have been bringing in much income in the land of dowries.

Source: The History of Christmas, Creative Homemaking,

The More You Know: Illustrator Thomas Nast drew Christmas stockings as early as 1881.

There are early mentions of stockings in 2 famous poems. A Visit from St. Nicholas (which you probably call The Night Before Christmas) was first published in 1823. As it was published anonymously, nobody is quite sure who the author is, but let's say it was Clement Moore. Either way:

The stockings were hung from the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there

Santa Claus and His Works by George P. Webster was published in 1869.

And Eliza, just think how bright her eyes will twinkle

When she looks in her stockings and finds Rip Van Winkle.

Wait what? That doesn't even make sense.

And also:

Find on Christmas a horse or a gun or a sled,

All ready for use when he gets out of bed.

But see he has worked quite enough for to-night,

He must fill all the stockings before it is light.

and

Then will fill up the stockings with candy and toys,

And all without making the least bit of noise.

When the labors of Christmas are over he goes

Straight home, and takes a full week of repose;

Santa is so busy. I don't know how he does it.