Origins

  • In 1865 the first speed limit was introduced in Britain: 2 mph in town and 4 mph in the country.
  • In the 1400's a law was set forth in England 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 were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
  • The first novel ever written on a typewriter was Tom Sawyer.
  • 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.
  • The phrase open-sesame is a butchering of the original phrase: Open says me.
  •  Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades - King David, Hearts - Charlemagne, Clubs -Alexander the Great, Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
  • Houses had thatched roofs. thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the pets-dogs, cats - and other small animals, mice, rats, and bugs lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."
  • There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. So, they found if they made beds with big posts and hung a sheet over the top, it addressed that problem. Hence those big four poster beds with canopies.
  • The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor".
  • The wealthy had slate floors which would get slippery in the winter when wet. So they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed at the entry way, hence a "thresh hold." 
  • The first time men and women used seperate toilets was in 1739 at a Paris ball.
  • Ice cream cones were first served in 1904 at the World's Fair in St. Louis.
  • Rubber gloves were used for the first time in surgery in 1890.
  • The first sport to have a world championship was billiards in 1873.
  • Austria was the first country to use postcards.
  • The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's Gum.
  • The first mosque in the US was built in 1893.
  • Sugar was first added to chewing gum in 1869 by a dentist.
  • The first telegraph message, tapped by Samuel Morse, was "What hath God wrought?"
  • In 1935, Iceland became the first country to legalize abortion.
  • Captain Cook was the first man to set foot on all continents except Antartica.
  • In 1776, Croatia became the first country to recognize the America as an independent state.
  • Beethoven's 5th was the first symphony to include trombones.
  • Leonardo Da Vinci invented an alarm clock that woke the person by tickling their feet.
  • Numbering houses on London streets began in 1764.
  • Paper was invented in the 2nd century by a Chinese eunuch.
  • The drinking straw was invented in1886.
  • Carbonated soda water was invented in 1767 by Joseph Priestly, the discoverer of oxygen.
  • Screwdrivers were invented to help knights put on armor.
  • Smoke detectors were invented in 1969.
  • The wristwatch was invented in 1904.
  • The strawberry as we know it today was created just 250 years ago by the accidental crossing of two wild varieties.  Till then, only the tiny wild berry existed.