Papeete
June 7, 2008 –
I bet you didn’t know what/where this was/is either! Stats are great. Website stats are the greatest. Mine tells me where my visitors come from, even down to the city. So, whilst looking at all the different places my humble site gets visited from, using a world map. I spy a solitary dot in the middle of the South Pacific. What’s this I ask myself? On further investigation, I see it’s a visitor from Papeete in Tahiti. Ahh Papeete, I wish I knew it well. It looks lovely – perhaps one for the tour list? I wonder if my accountant will allow that business expense. hehehe.
Interesting things (I love this stuff!)…
Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled ‘Gentlemen only…Ladies Forbidden’… and thus the word GOLF enterted into the English language.
In the 1400′s a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have ‘the rule of thumb’.
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, then person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
In Shakespeare’s time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes, the mattress tightened making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase… ‘goodnight, sleep tight’.
It was accepted practice in Babylon 4000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride’s father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.
In English pubs, ale was ordered by pints and quarts… So in olde England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them ‘Mind your pints and quarts and settle down!’. It’s where we get the phrase ‘Mind your P’s and Q’s.
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 the whistle to get some service. ‘Wet your whistle’ is the phrase inspired by this practice.
This here blog thing started as a way to express my saucy self. But do you know what? There's more to me than the saucy bits! So herewith you will find all sorts of thoughts, anecdotes, ideas, funny things (lots of them), deep and meaningfuls - a mixture of everything really, just like life. I hope you like it here. I like it here. It's cosier if you are here too so stay a while - and make a comment when you feel the need; I like that x
4 Responses to “Papeete”
Driving on the Left.
Hangover from feudal days when it was accepted practice for knights to keep there sword arm between them and anyone travelling the other way. kept in Britain and former colonies mainly to annoy the French
By matt on Jun 8, 2008
Ohh thanks Matt. Re. annoying the French, I think it also annoys all ‘right sided’ drivers. I had a Dutch client the other day who commented ‘Why do you English have to do everything differently?’ ‘Ahh’ I said. ‘That is precisely what makes us English’ :)
By Rhia on Jun 8, 2008
I realise you probably had your tongue firmly in your cheek when giving the above derivation of the name GOLF for the “ancient round-white seed planting ritual†but for your interest I append the following information.
The term “golf†is commonly thought to derive from the Dutch “kolf†which was a name for a club (or stick) used in an early game called “kolvenâ€. But the Dutch game “kolven†is a very different in concept from golf usually being played in a walled enclosure and involving hitting posts. The only similarity is in striking a ball with a stick. Also golf is recorded in the literature much earlier this Dutch game.
It could also be derived from a Scottish dialect word “guwf†– the verb “to strike†(in the sense of a blow with the hand).
The Romans played a cross-country game called “paganica†(from paganus – rustic or country man) involving a bent stick and a leather ball stuffed with feathers (as were the early Scottish golf balls). However there is no obvious derivation of the term “golf†from this source.
The earliest written reference is in 1457 in a statute of King James II (of Scotland) which decreed that “Fute-ball and Golfe be utterly cryed downe†because they interfered with the practice of archery necessary for the defence of the realm! A further statute in 1491 (James IV) indicted them as “unprofitable sportsâ€. Nevertheless James IV played golf – his accounts show expenditure on “golfe clubbis and ballisâ€. A case of one law for the rich and one for the poor perhaps? Incidentally Mary Queen of Scots is the first woman recorded as playing golf – so if you take up the sport then watch your head!
By Mister P on Jun 9, 2008
Thank you Mr P! – my erudite friend xx
By Rhia on Jun 9, 2008