STORYHEART SUNDAY UK BLOG

During this last week some announcements have been made regarding the Olympics so I thought I'd touch on some sporting events, as well and add some information about another UK phrase.

For those of you who do not know, the next Olympic Games will be held in London, well England, but the main arena's will be in London.

I hope to be able to attend taking as they are all within tube (Subway) ride from my family's house.

This this week it was announced that "Women’s Boxing is in the 2012 Olympic Games".
Let's hope they manage to sort out some of the "wonderful" scoring decisions before then.

At the same time it was announced that Golf and Rugby 7's will be in the 2016 games.

While I had doubts when tennis came back into the games, I also have the same feelings re Golf. It is not a team sport, and I can not see some of the golfers turning down a multimillion event, just so they can play at the Olympics. But we will see, the Ryder Cup manages it, so perhaps the Olympics will do the same.

I am however, really pleased to see the rugby 7's... not to be mistaken with the normal 15 a side game. The sport is already has a world wide tournament, with an atmosphere more like a circus. A little like the Beach Volley Ball with the music, but with people in the crowd dressing up and having fun. Currently teams from every continent taking part in the World 7's Tournaments, it is very exciting game and if you get a chance try to catch it on TV (Sentanta) if you get a chance.


This by the way is the 2012 Emblem.



Of course the USA are a little down that Softball and Baseball are out of the games, bun honestly... are they really "world sports"? And I mean world as in Globe not as in "World Series".

If you want to find out more about the 2012 games, check out

http://www.london2012.com


ENGLISH PHRASE:

The phrase 'daft as a brush' is used more so in the North of England than the south and describes "someone who is known to do and say silly things".

But where does it come from?

It seems that children were first used as sweeps since the skilled child was small and could easily work his way vertically through the confined space, clearing blockages and removing the build up of soot by hand. While in training the apprentice was sometimes dropped head first down the chimney which caused severe cerebral damage.




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?

STORYHEART SUNDAY UK BLOG - CAN'T SEE THE WOODS FOR THE TREES

Can't See the Woods for the Trees

When I used this expression the other day at work, I thought it must be one of those fairly modern idiom. I was quite surprised when I checked around for today's UK blog and found that the saying thought to be around 500 years old.

Firstly though what is it's meaning?

"Can't see the woods for the trees" or sometimes used as "can't see the forest for the trees" is a phrase used on both sides of the pond, as well as the other side of the world UK, America and Australia). If someone can't see the wood for the trees, they are unable to understand what is the big picture because they are giving too much attention to details.

"Mark is so focused on product details that he can't see the forest for the trees when it comes to the overall needs of the company."

Also reminds of "don't sweat the small stuff (things)"

So where does the phrase come from?

UNABLE TO SEE THE WOODS FOR THE TREES - From "Heavens to Betsy" by Charles Earle Funk (Harper & Row, New York, 1955): "Too beset by petty things to appreciate the greatness or grandeur; too wrapped up in details to gain a view of the whole. In America we are likely to use the plural, 'woods,' or possibly to substitute 'forest,' but 'wood' is the old form and is preferable.

Actually, the saying is at least five hundred years old, and probably a century or two could be added to that, for it must have been long been in use to have been recorded in 1546 in John Heywood's 'A dialogue Conteynyng the Nomber in Effect of all the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue.' He wrote 'Plentie is no deinte, ye see not your owne ease. I see, ye can not see the wood for trees.' And a few years later, in 1583, Brian Melbancke, in 'Philotimus: the Warre Betwixt Nature and Fortune,' wrote: 'Thou canst not or wilt not see wood for trees.'

The saying has cropped up repeatedly from then to the present, becoming, in fact, more frequent with the passing years."

UK VIDEO

I also thought I'd share with you a a video I made some time ago, about my England, the sound on Youtube sounds a little like it's underwater, but I hope you enjoy it, and for those people from Across the Pond I hope it brings back memories.



Barry




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?

STORYHEART SUNDAY UK BLOG - MORE OLD ENGLISH SAYINGS

I have been asked to share some more old English Phrases and origins of them. So that will be today's blog.

GOLF

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 language.

SAVED BY THE BELL/DEAD RINGER

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."

CAT LET OUT OF THE BAG

In the Royal Navy the punishment prescribed for most serious crimes was flogging. This was administered by the Boatswain's Mate using a whip called a cat o' nine tails. The "cat" was kept in a leather or baize bag. It was considered bad news indeed when the "cat was let out of the bag. " Other sources attribute the expression to the old English market scam of selling someone a pig in a poke (bag) when the pig turned out to be a cat instead.


NO ROOM TO SWING A CAT

The entire ship's company was required to witness flogging at close hand. The crew might crowd around so that the Boatswain's Mate might not have enough room to swing his cat o' nine tails, hence "No Room to Swing a Cat"


CUT THROUGH THE RED TAPE

Solicitors kept their clients papers in a file folder tied with red ribbon to prevent the papers from falling out. Of course, when they wanted to get at the papers, they would have to cut through the red tape.

GETTING A SQUARE MEAL

Your dinner plate was a square piece of wood with a "bowl" carved out to hold your serving of the perpetual stew that was always cooking over the fire. The kettle was never actually emptied and cleaned out. New ingredients were simply added to the muck. You always took your "square" with you when you went traveling.

UPPER CRUST

Visitors to the Anne Hathaway's cottage (near Stratford upon Avon) are given this explanation while looking at the bread oven beside the fireplace in the kitchen: "The bread was put, as a raw lump of dough, straight into the bread oven. No bread tin, it just sits on the floor of the oven. The oven is heated by the fire and is very hot at the bottom. When the bed is done baking and taken out to cool, the base of the loaf is overcooked black and also dirty. The top of the loaf is done just right, and still clean. The bottom of the loaf is for the servants to eat, while the upper crust is for the master of the house.






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?

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?