STORYHEART SUNDAY UK BLOG - OLD ENGLISH SAYINGS

So what to write about this week? The weather... well anybody who has seen any of Wimbledon Tennis this week will see the UK is having the sun that the east coast of the USA isn't getting.
Or perhaps about Sport?
Running Marathons (as in the picture). The fact that in the USA Soccer finally hit the head of the sports pages as the US Team not only beat Italy but then went on to beat the current world champions Spain to reach a final game against Brazil. The fact that the British and Irish Lions Rugby tourists lost the second game (of three) against South Africa, in a brutal match that ended up with 5 of the Lions players needing hospital treatment, and that loss to the very last kick of the game.



Instead it has been pointed out to me that I have been a little lax in blogging about more of the old English Phrases and origins of them. So that will be today's blog.


SON OF A GUN

After sailors had crossed the Atlantic to the West Indies, they would take the native women on board the ship and have their way with them in between the cannons. Some of the women the sailors left behind would have boys, who were called sons between the guns.

PATENT LEATHER

After the Patten shoe which the young women wore in the buttery. When the cream spilled on their shoes, the fat would tend to make the leather shiny.

MINDING YOUR Ps & Qs

Ale was served at local taverns out of a "tankard" ... you were charged by the angle of your elbow ... half-way up... you drank a pint, all the way up... you drank a quart. Since the Quart cost so much more than the Pint, you were warned to "Mind your Ps & Qs"

It has also be related to a short hand way of saying... "Mind your please and thank you's"

WET YOUR WHISTLE

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 to blow the whistle to get some service.

FROG IN YOUR THROAT

Medieval physicians believed that the secretions of a frog could cure a cough if they were coated on the throat of the patient. The frog was placed in the mouth of the sufferer and remained there until the physician decided that the treatment was complete.

RULE OF THUMB

An old English law declared that a man could not beat his wife with a stick any larger than the diameter of his thumb.







Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
Across the Pond
http://acrossthepond-storyheart.blogspot.com/
http://across-t-pond.com


OTHER SUNDAY UK BLOGSABOUT

THE GRAND NATIONAL
WHY UK DRIVES ON THE LEFT
MOTHERS DAY ACROSS THE POND
ABOUT THE UNION JACK
ENGLISHMANS VIEW ON BASEBALL
WHAT IS BOXING DAY
BRITISH TV TRANSPLANTS
WHO WAS SAINT GEORGE?
BOBS YOUR UNCLE
SWEET FANNY ADAMS
EUROPE'S GOT TALENT - WELL PERHAPS
GOBSMACKED, BOBBIES AND AN ARM AND A LEG
BIG BEN... OR IS IT?
THE USA NEEDS A CITIZENS CHARTER
FROM CHARIOTS TO NASCAR
WHAT IS FATHERS DAY?