MEANINGS BEHIND WORDS/SAYINGS (Part 4)

Here's some fun for the day…...

TRIVIA:
What color is known as 'vert' on a coat of arms?


BRAIN TEASER

There was a green house. Inside the green house there was a white house. Inside the white house there was a red house. Inside the red house there were lots of babies. What is it?

JOKE:  
Q:  Why didn't the melons get married?
A:  Because they Cantaloupe.

QUESTION TO PONDER
Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?

COMIC FUN:

TRICIA'S TWEET OF THE DAY:
We might be experiencing some problems in life - not realizing that we create them by what we choose to think about.

MEANINGS BEHIND COMMON WORDS

Here's a look at the history/meaning behind some common words:


The word..

Dunce

Until modern times, few teachers hesitated to put a dunce cap on the head of a slow or rebellious student.   Generations of Americans followed that practice for years.   Not many realized that a latter-day dunce took that title from a famous scholar.

Scottish-born John Duns Scotus founded the school of scholasticism called Scotism, which opposed the followers of Thomas Aquinas.   Admirers and contemporaries in the 13th century called Scotus the Subtle Doctor.

Generations later in the 16th century, many scholars who revered him resisted new waves of learning.  Their opponents ridiculed followers of Duns Scotus, or Dunsmen, frequently and loudly.  So much noise was made that anyone judged incapable of accepting fresh ideas came to be called a dunce.

This makes me think of that fairy tale about the princess that wasn't the brightest bulb in the forest.   

"….Dunce upon a time in a corner far far away…..a princess of little wit tried to climb a mountain dew….."



The word..

Deadlock

Wrestling was a highly developed sport at least five thousand years ago.  Sculpture from temple tombs near the Nile indicate that ancient grapplers used many of the holds still in vogue.  

No one knows precisely when the sport became prominent in Britain.  But by the time noblemen became engrossed with chivalry, many commoners were wrestling fans.

It was not unusual for a burly yeoman to make a special move.  By means of it he could hold an opponent indefinitely, but was unable to force submission.   Because it killed action, a hold of this sort was called a deadlock.  Spreading from the ring, it came to label a stalemate of any kind.

I'm often at a deadlock in certain decisions.   Should I get White Castles or McDonalds?  Ah, the difficulty of such decisions.




The word..
Phony

When you say that a piece of jewelry or a work of art is phony, you owe the label to early Irish sharpers.  One of the favorite ruses of those men was the 'fawney rig' - given that name from Irish for a finger-ring.

A con artist using this stratagem put a ring, or fawney, in a public place.  Sooner or later someone would come along and pick up the piece equipped with imitation stone.  Appearing from nowhere, the swindler persuaded or frightened his victim into paying him to keep quiet about the find.  Making off with hush money, the sharpers would leave the victim holding a fawney that seemed valuable but was actually worthless.

So many persons were defrauded that anything fake came to be called fawney.   The original Irish word was fáinne, in England it became fawney, and it was finally Americanized to phony.

If you've ever had lunch meat that says it's first name is Oscar, but it really spells it OsKar…..then that's phony boloney.  


The word...

Potluck

Medieval gentry usually had plenty of rich food, frequently serving four or five kinds of meat at a meal.  However, families in the lower economic classes had no such abundance.  Often a struggle was required to get enough food to prevent hunger.

In order to stretch her food, the wife of a commoner would keep an iron pot on an open fire. She threw all her leftovers into it each day, and kept it simmering much of the time.  If a relative arrived unexpectedly, they were likely to have to eat from the pot without knowing what odds and ends had gone into it.

This early and literal form of taking potluck came to name the act of eating any meal for which the host or hostess has made no special preparation.  

The other day, my Revere wear cooking pot went to Speedway and while it was buying donuts it found $25.   That's an entirely different kind of potluck.


TRIVIA ANSWER:
Green
BRAIN TEASER ANSWER:
Watermelon

Until next time…….