It is impossible to lick your elbow.

[Braveheart 0]

I THOUGHT THIS WAS VERY INTERESTING - ESPECIALLY THE LAST BIT

 

In the 1400's a law was set forth that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have "the rule of thumb".

 

Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"...and thus the word GOLF entered

into the English language.

 

The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV was Fred and Wilma Flintstone

 

Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than for the US Treasury.

 

Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

 

Coca-Cola was originally green.

 

It is impossible to lick your elbow.

 

The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000

 

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

 

The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.

 

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king in history:

Spades - King David

Hearts - Charlemagne

Clubs -Alexander, the Great

Diamonds - Julius Caesar

 

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

 

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

 

Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?

A. One thousand

Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?

A. All invented by women.

 

Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?

A. Honey

 

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. Hence the phrase......... "goodnight, sleep tight."

 

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 beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.

 

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down." It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"

 

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.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow.

[Soi7 1]

[The Mook 105]

A VERY cool post.

[Mallard 0]

Yeah that was great. As soon as I read the title I tried to but no luck. Perhaps I'll have my arm amputated just to prove you wrong.

[dave_boo 0]

I was under the impression that "Mind your P's and Q's came from the hand set printing press days when not doing so resulted in the lowercase versions being incorrect. I could of course be wrong.......

[Badtz 0]

Great post. I love trivia~!

Edited April 3, 2006 by Badtz

[MIGHTYONE 309]

Excellent Post.

 

However I need to know who 2 people are?

 

"Living the life of Riley" - Who the Fcuk is Riley

 

"Happy as Larry" - Who is Larry

 

[Braveheart 0]

Excellent Post.

 

However I need to know who 2 people are?

 

"Living the life of Riley" - Who the Fcuk is Riley

 

"Happy as Larry" - Who is Larry

 

Ask and ye shall receive.

 

“What is the origin of the phrase, life of Riley (or Reilly)?”

 

[A] There are several explanations for this phrase, all of them centring on popular music.

William and Mary Morris point to a comic song written by the vaudevillian Pat Rooney in 1890 in which the hero of the song, a hotel-keeper named Reilly (or Riley), describes what he will do when he strikes it rich: New York “will swim in wine when the White House and Capitol are mine”. A version made famous by burlesque performers Ned Harrigan and Tony Hart has these lines in the chorus:

Well, if that's Mr. Riley

They speak of so highly.

Why, faith, Mr Riley,

You're looking quite well.

It was revived and updated in 1915 as a patriotic war song under the title Are you the O’Reilly? as an attempt to cash in on the success of It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary, and contained the chorus line “Gor blim me, O’Reilly, you are looking well”.

H L Mencken suggested as an alternative possible source The Best in the House is None Too Good for Reilly, which was written by Lawlor and Black at about the same period as Pat Rooney’s song.

On this side of the Atlantic, it is firmly believed that the song is of Anglo-Irish origins, and that the popularity of the phrase dates from a music-hall song My Name is Kelly written by Pease in 1919, which has the line “Faith and my name is Kelly, Michael Kelly, But I’m living the life of Reilly just the same”. Pease is here using a phrase which he obviously expected his audience to recognise, but we have no earlier recorded use.

Eric Partridge also thought the phrase is British and that it was taken up in America only in the 1930s, which would make the various US songs irrelevant as sources. But we just don’t know the truth of the matter. The spelling of the name is as variable as that of the Irish surname itself, but Riley now seems to be preferred.

 

 

“Who is Larry and why is he happy?”

 

[A] A neat question, but American readers in particular will need some background before I can address it. The phrase happy as Larry seems to have originated as either Australian or New Zealand slang sometime before 1875. This date is earlier than that given in most dictionaries, but H W Orsman, editor of the Oxford Dictionary of New Zealand English, has traced it to a New Zealand writer named G L Meredith, who wrote in about 1875: “We would be as happy as Larry if it were not for the rats”. Unlike other odd phrases—the Australian happy as a boxing kangaroo in fog time and the New Zealand happy as a sick eel on a sandspit come to mind—it was meant positively: extremely happy or content.

There’s a suggestion that it comes from the name of the nineteenth-century Australian boxer Larry Foley (1847-1917), though why he was especially happy nobody now seems able to say. Perhaps he won a lot of contests? (He was certainly one of those who originated gloved boxing rather than bare-knuckle fighting in Australia and his name is still remembered there.) But this origin is far from certain and the early New Zealand reference renders it less so, without ruling it out altogether.

Dr Orsman’s suggestion is that it is more likely to come from an English dialect source, larrie, joking, jesting, a practical joke. Another possible link is with the Australian and New Zealand term larrikin for a street rowdy or young urban hooligan, recorded from the late 1860s but known especially in both countries from the 1880s onwards in reference to a specific subculture. Like other groups before and since, the larrikins had their own dress style, in their case very neat and rather severe. The word may well have come from English dialect larrikin for a mischievous youth, once common in Warwickshire and Worcestershire, which itself is closely related to larrie. Either of these sources could afterwards have been reinforced through a supposed connection with Larry Foley.

 

I cannot take the credit for these answers. The answers come from the World Wide Words website: World Wide Words

 

They have lots of shit.

 

Glad you enjoyed.