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GENEALOGY FUN FACTS AND MORE
NEW 28 FEB. 2013
A: WHEN BUTTONS WERE INVENTED, THEY WERE VERY EXPENSIVE AND WORN PRIMARILY BY THE RICH. SINCE MOST PEOPLE ARE RIGHT-HANDED, IT IS EASIER TO PUSH BUTTON ON THE RIGHT THROUGH HOLES ON THE LEFT. BECAUSE WEALTHY WOMEN WERE DRESSED BY MAIDS, DRESSMAKERS PU THE BUTTONS ON THE MAID'S RIGHT! AND THAT'S WHERE WOMEN'S BUTTON HAVE REMAINED SINCE
Q: WHY DO X'S AT THE END OF A LETTER SIGNIFY KISSES? A: IN THE MIDDLE AGES, WHEN MANY PEOPLE WERE UNABLE TO READ OR WRITE, DOCUMENTS WERE OFTEN SIGNED USING AN X. KISSING THE X REPRESENTED AN OATH TO FULFILL OBLIGATIONS SPECIFIED IN THE DOCUMENT. THE X AND THE KISS EVENTUALLY BECAME SYNONYMOUS.
Q: WHY ARE PEOPLE IN THE PUBLIC EYE SAID TO BE "IN THE LIMELIGHT"? A: INVENTED IN 1825, LIMELIGHT WAS USED IN LIGHTHOUSES AND THEATRES BY BURNING A CYLINDER OF LIME WHICH PRODUCED A BRILLIANT LIGHT. IN THE THEATRE, A PERFORMER "IN THE LIMELIGHT" WAS THE CENTRE OF ATTENTION.
Uncle Sam was real too. His name was Sam Wilson (who was one of Johnny Appleseed's boyhood friends.) He did not wear striped pants and did not have a long white beard, but he did wear a top hat. Wilson's nick name was Uncle Sam. During the War of 1812 when Wilson began supplying meat to troops stationed around Troy, New York the meat was stamped "U.S." for United States. An imaginative worker in Wilson's store told a government inspector that the initials stood for "Uncle Sam". Soon all federal supplies were said to belong to "Uncle Sam".
John Chapman, AKA Johnny Appleseed, not only lived, he really did tramp through the Ohio Valley planting trees. Johnny was a well-liked nursery man who kept moving his nurseries west to keep abreast of the receding frontier. He may very well have liked to walk barefoot, but the fact is he probably didn't need to; he was so successful that by the end of his life he had accumulated more than 1200 acres of land.
Ring-a-ring o-roses A pocket full of posies A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down. The rhyme first appeared in an 1881 book, Mother Goose, though in oral tradition it is MUCH older. It is about the Great Plague of London in 1664-65. In the rhyme, "ring - o - roses" refers to the circular rosy rash that was one of the early symptoms of the plague. The phrase "pockets, full of posies stands for the herbs people carried in their pockets, hoping for protection against the disease. "A-tishoo! A-tishoo! / We all fall down." tell of the plagues fatal sneeze, which preceded physical collapse; literaly, the victim fell down dead.
The rhyme first appeared in an 1881 book, Mother Goose, though in oral tradition it is MUCH older. It is about the Great Plague of London in 1664-65. In the rhyme, "ring - o - roses" refers to the circular rosy rash that was one of the early symptoms of the plague. The phrase "pockets, full of posies stands for the herbs people carried in their pockets, hoping for protection against the disease. "A-tishoo! A-tishoo! / We all fall down." tell of the plagues fatal sneeze, which preceded physical collapse; literaly, the victim fell down dead.
In the fourteenth century the "Black Death" claimed the lives of at least a quarter of all Europeans.
A favorite of the English since the days when Henry VIII aimed for the bull's-eye, darts has recently blossomed into a pastime of choice among Americans. According to the National Sporting Goods Association, the number of American darters more than doubled between 1985 and 1995, to almost 20 million, putting darts ahead of tennis, baseball, and soccer in popularity. If your ancestor went to sea in the 1800s, he may have applied for a Seaman's Protection Certificate to protect him from imprisonment by Great Britain and other powers. This program lasted from 1796-1897. The applicant presented proof of citizenship and paid a fee of 25 cents. Every three months a list of seamen was sent to the Secretary of State, Washington, D.C. stating each seaman's age and physical description. Write the Archives Division, National Archives & Records, Washington, D.C. 20408. Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things Charles Panati The words "Mary had a little lamb,' were the first words of recorded speech. Thomas Edison spoke these words into his newest inventions, the phonograph on November 20, 1877 This rhyme was written by Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale of Boston, editor of the widely read Ladies Magazine. She was also the editor of Juvenile Miscellany. When she was told of a true story, which a pet lamb followed its young owner into a country schoolhouse, she composed the rhyme and published it in September-October 1830 issue of the children's magazine. It is regarded as the best four lines of verse in the English language. January - Cold Moon February - Hunger Moon March - Crow Moon April - Grass Moon May - Planting Moon June - Rose Moon July - Thunder Moon August - Green Corn Moon September - Harvest Moon October - Hunting Moon November - Frosty Moon December - Long-night Moon From the book Extraordinary Origins of Everyday things by Charles Panati: Sing a song of six pence, A pocket fill of rye, Four and twenty blackbirds, Baked in a pie. A sixteenth-century Italian cookbook "The Manner of Cuisine of What Meat For What Affair", offers a recipe for actually baking live birds between crusts of a pie. If the instructions are followed, the book promised, "the birds may be alive and flie out when it is cut up." The purpose of such a pie was to create a "diverting Hurley-Burley amongst the Guest."
This rhyme was written by Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale of Boston, editor of the widely read Ladies Magazine. She was also the editor of Juvenile Miscellany. When she was told of a true story, which a pet lamb followed its young owner into a country schoolhouse, she composed the rhyme and published it in September-October 1830 issue of the children's magazine. It is regarded as the best four lines of verse in the English language.
Sing a song of six pence, A pocket fill of rye, Four and twenty blackbirds, Baked in a pie. A sixteenth-century Italian cookbook "The Manner of Cuisine of What Meat For What Affair", offers a recipe for actually baking live birds between crusts of a pie. If the instructions are followed, the book promised, "the birds may be alive and flie out when it is cut up." The purpose of such a pie was to create a "diverting Hurley-Burley amongst the Guest."
A sixteenth-century Italian cookbook "The Manner of Cuisine of What Meat For What Affair", offers a recipe for actually baking live birds between crusts of a pie. If the instructions are followed, the book promised, "the birds may be alive and flie out when it is cut up." The purpose of such a pie was to create a "diverting Hurley-Burley amongst the Guest.
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