[Northkeep] Did you know where these expressions came from?

[Michael Coone]

there are few more   ...

in times of Rome ... new road was built and guards would be placed on the
road ... because roman roads where 16ft across they used Pikes to block the
road...roman pikes where 18 ft ... when the tax was payed for using the
road the pike would be turned and thank Rome for the first turnpike ...

being piss poor comes from the dark ages when it was easier to distill
ammonia from Pee then from plants ... to keep out foren objects ... the the
leather tanner insisted on metal pots for the pee ... this lead to 2 terms
..."piss poor" was your only form of income was taking the piss pot to the
tanner .,... and "so poor that you don't have a pot to piss in" ... means
you could not even be piss poor ...

dirt poor referred to not having money to put a floor in your house ... the
other side of this was where rich people had slate or stone floors that
would get cold in the winter ... so they would put hay on the floor ...
they called hay thresh .... to keep the hay from going out the door they
invented the threshold to keep the straw in and cold out ...

with smiting comes so old saying that most know .... strike while the iron
is hot ... this really is easiest way to work metal but the time do this is
limited ....
to many irons in the fire ....can lead to 2 things ... the iron can slow
the heating of all of your stock or you burn the metal and have to clean
the forge

bacon used to be the most costly cut of pork ... to have a good job means
you can afford to "bring home the bacon" .... it was also common to offer
the best to your house guest .. so when you would have someone over you
would pull out the bacon and slice it up .... and over the evening you
would eat it and talk ... this lead to the term "chewing the fat" for
sitting around talking ....

loose lips sink ships ... had little to do with people talking ... but it
did get that meaning at the end of the privateer times in England ... if
the sailors would talk about the cargo or route in port it was sure to get
out .... but the lips(small movable walls about 2 ft tall) where also part
of cargo hold that could be placed in holes in the floor or shelves to keep
the cargo from shifting in hard seas .... if all the cargo rolled to one
side the ship could role over and sink ...

in the 1500s ... the rich land holders of England found that sex on
horseback at full gallop was a rush ... they called this a Flying F#*K
....and to not give one meant that "the most fun thing on the planet" is
not worth doing with you....  ...

Felemid MacPhail
MKA Mike Coone

On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 7:56 AM, Chuck Kaun <jack_a_lope31 at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> Actually a loose cannon was one that was not securely chocked so that when
> fired, the recoil could throw it across the ship and kill people or take
> out the ships structure.  The other reason to fasten down these cannons is
> they could start moving around in heavy seas and cause damage.
>
> Karl
>
> > to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to prevent them from
> > rolling about the deck (and becoming a very dangerous 'loose cannon')? >
>
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