In the late 18th century, while traveling in the South, Benjamin Hawkins, a US diplomat/politician, was requested by the then US President to return as soon as possible to Washington DC. In response, Hawkins allegedly wrote, "God-willing, if the Creek don't rise". With the word "Creek" capitalized, it referred to the Creek Indian tribe and not a body of water.
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Before the camera's advent, a person's image was "immortalized"/"memorialized" through either painting and/or sculpture. Painters/Sculptors based their fees on the number of limbs (arms & legs) to be painted/sculpted, and this was true whether the painting/portrait or sculpture was for one person or for a "group" painting or sculpture. Because of this "per limb" fee that some paintings of George Washington and other famous figures showed the subject standing behind a desk with one arm behind the person's back while others showed both arms and both legs. And it is from this old way of painters'/sculptors' charging fees that the expression "it costs an arm and a leg" originated.
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As incredible as it sounds, years before indoor plumbing became popular, men and women took a bath twice a year only (usually in May and October). Therefore, women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made of wool, and to clean a wig, a loaf of bread was carved out, the wig was placed inside the shell of hollowed out bread, and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term "big wig". Today the term refers to someone who is [or who appears to be] powerful and wealthy.
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In the late 1700s, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining. The head of the household always sat in the chair while everyone else sat on the floor to eat. Occasionally if/when a guest, usually a man, came, he would be invited to sit on the only chair in the house during the meal. Since the chair was intended for someone in-charge and/or important, the person sitting on the chair was referred to as the chairman. Today, the term/title "the chairman" or "the chairman of the Board" is applied to the person in-charge and/or is the head of the group/organization.
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Years ago, personal hygiene was not top priority. As a result, many men & women developed severe acne which left scars. To smooth out the complexion and camouflage the blemishes, pock marks, and scars, women spread bee's wax on their face, and if/when a woman began to stare at another woman's face, she was told to 'mind your own bee's wax' [meaning: "How dare you stare! Why don't you just mind your own business!"] And often when a woman smiled, the wax would often crack, hence, the term "crack a smile". In addition, when one sat too close to the fire or heat, the wax would often start to melt the bee's wax, thus, the expression "losing face" or "to lose one's face".
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Ladies of yesteryears wore corsets [just as modern women wear a body-shaper or girdle], and for a woman to be considered "dignified and proper", she had to wear a tightly-laced corset. Thus the term, "straight-laced".
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Common entertainment in days of yore included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the 'Ace of Spades'. To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead. But since most games required 52 cards, the people who had only 51 cards were considered dumb & stupid or dumb because they were not "playing with a full deck".
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Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what the people considered important. With no telephones, TVs, radios or other social communication media, the politicians sent and instructed various assistants (spies, actually) to local taverns, pubs, and bars to 'go sip some ale' and listen to/eaves drop on people's conversations. The two words 'go sip' were eventually combined to today's term 'gossip'
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At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from either pint- or quart-sized containers. A bartender's job was to keep the drinks coming and to also pay close attention and remember who was drinking in 'pints' and who was drinking in 'quarts,' hence the phrase "mind your P's and Q's".
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In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons which fired round iron cannonballs. Ships kept a good supply of cannonballs near the cannons. To prevent them from rolling about on the deck, the cannonballs were stored on a square-based pyramid with a bottom-most layer (or base) of 16 cannonballs -- i.e., a supply of 30 cannon balls stacked pyramid-style in a small area right next to the cannon. To prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others, a metal plate was used. The metal plate had 16 round indentations to hold each of the 16 cannonballs at the base/bottom-most/base layer of the pyramid. The base metal plate holding the 16 base/bottom-most layer cannonballs was called a monkey Also, since iron balls rust quickly, the monkey [bottom plate] was made of brass. However, when chilled below a certain temperature, brass contracts much more and much faster than iron. Consequently, when the temperature dropped and became way too cold, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come right off the brass monkey [metal plate]. Thus, the term "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey". –Contributed by Ralph
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