Originally Posted by Pony
maybeeeee
maybeeeee
OK, here goes....maybeeeee
Doctors falsely pronounced people dead in the old days, a "wake" was held to give the "dead" a chance to wake up.
They also used to bury the "dead" with a string in the coffin tied to a bell. If the person woke up he could ring the bell and get "saved by the bell".
Dead ringer would be someone that resembled one who recently died. (ringer because of the bell) <-guess
And Graveyard shift was someone who sat up all night in the cemetery either looking for grave robbers or listening for the bell.
Dingdingding PLUS half a ding (clever I am...)
Graveyard shift was indeed created to listen for the bells attached to strings fastened on the corpse's fingers in case they awoke in the coffin.
Saved by the bell and dead ringer are pretty much the same thing...guy wakes up in the coffin, saved by the bell or guy wakes up in the coffin and is a dead ringer.
Having a wake is related to the above definitions.They used to drink out of lead mugs and the lead would leech into the beverage causing people to drop and be declared dead.I guess (according to the email and one webpage I visited) 1 out of every 25 buried corpses were not dead in England and they found scratch marks inside of the coffins
You got everything but the dead ringer, well done matey
Pretty close for useless trivia I read somewhere years ago...
Amazing that I remember that stuff but I can't remember peoples names or what I had for lunch yesterday.
You had a big bowl of Robert with your friend Macaroni. Might have been the other way around.
Behold my signature~!!
Pippa~!!
The horse does not eat cucumber salad.
I think everyone in my world, the normal world, knows that Mark Levin and Hannity are relevant only to the angriest, most bitter Americans. (Alec Baldwin)
I got the same email as Belle and then hit the net for confirmation of the ones I posted.Some pretty neat stuff for expressions we use everyday
Get thrown in the Clinker (go to prison). There was a prison in London named Clink. I have a picture of the sign somewhere.
Again, I have to say that it amazes me that these sayings have been passed along for such a long time.
Belive it or not, when I was in high school I took advanced English Literature. One of our test scores was learning and reciting in front of the class the prelude to Canterbury Tales.
At that time, I thought it was some kind of insane punishment from the literature teacher, but now I know that it's just a part of history that we shouldn't let die.
I admire the Welsh for keeping their old language alive.
Prelude to Canterbury Tales in Olde English
Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
1
The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
2
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
3
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
4
Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
5
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
6
Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
7
Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne,
8
And smale foweles maken melodye,
9
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
10
(so priketh hem nature in hir corages);
11
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
12
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
13
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
14
And specially from every shires ende
15
Of engelond to caunterbury they wende,
16
The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
17
That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.
18
good gravy it's like Smoothbob on ecstasy
I love to interpret Smooth's posts.
Y'all didn't have to learn it in Canadia?good gravy it's like Smoothbob on ecstasy
Not at all.We were too busy throwing U's into colour and neighbour and spelling center likes this...centre
"Throwing good money after bad" - the decision we had to make between getting the old furnace fixed or just buying a new one.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
