Odd factoids

[guitarpete247]

The word Pandamonium comes from the awful sound of the 1970's instrument of torture used by the police. They were transported in panda cars and only played 2 notes. They were the notorious pandaharmonium.

 

[Drago]

The police force was originally formed by ex members of the band, the police. Tired of the disorder and crime about which they had been singing their catchy pop choons they decided to do something about it. Bassist Bob Peel became the leader of the force.

 

[guitarpete247]

And who invented the Stinger then?

 

[Dave7]

The origin of names/terms for our currency is interesting. eg.......
Before the Romans used salt as payment they used garden peas. Peas were little known then and very valuable. So people would often accept a pod of peas as wages......or several pods for executive jobs. They obviously had to 'shell' the peas but got to keep them all regardless of quantity. Hence they came to be paid in 'shellings' which came to be anglocised as 'shillings'.

In the 18th Century ladies of lesser virtue would dis-robe (strip) to earn extra money. They would charge three pennies to bare their breasts. Hence they came to be called their 'three penny bits'. Horrible London louts adopted this and workers were often heard shouting "oye darlin', show us your threepenny bits"

In early currency there were nine shillings to the pound. Paper hadnt been invented so the earliest "pound notes" were made of very thin copper and these (similar to today) were kept in gentlemens back pockets. Occasionally they were sat on and bent.....hence "bent as a nine bob note".

Feel free to add any you know of but they have to be as genuine as my examples.

 

[classic33]

I think you've got the "bent as a nine bob note" bit wrong, in part.

Copper can look a dark brown, due to oxidation. They got bent in the back pockets, as you say, but they'd be removed and looked at in disgust. After which a small pile of them may just be left on the seat they were on.

Women when travelling, sometimes kept their notes in their underwear, in a small "pocket", one on either side. This usually totalled twenty bob. Half a knicker being ten bob. Later the K would be dropped from the spelling.

 

[classic33]

The "dot" over the letter "i" is called a tittle.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

The "dot" over the letter "i" is called a tittle.

The "cross" through the "t" is called a tattle. Hence going through one's handwritten notes to dot the i's and cross the t's was known as "tittle tattle". The phrase would come to mean gossip as most handwritten notes were just that.

 

[MiK1138]

If your lungs were spread over an average sized tennis court, you'd be dead.

Your Right, because the Groundsman at my tennis courts would kill me for spreading offal over his beloved courts Dead x 2

 

[NorthernDave]

It's a popular misconception that popular band 'The Kaiser Chiefs' were named after a football team, but actually they were named in honour of Han Gruber who was the cook to German Emperor Wilhelm II.
Sadly there was a mistake with the artwork for their first CD which they couldn't afford to change and the name stuck.

 

[classic33]

The "cross" through the "t" is called a tattle. Hence going through one's handwritten notes to dot the i's and cross the t's was known as "tittle tattle". The phrase would come to mean gossip as most handwritten notes were just that.

Where does "lose the battle", the last part of a well known saying come from in that case.

How many have been lost because the "I's" were not tittled or the "T's" were not tattled.

 

[bruce1530]

if tittle tattle was not tittled or tattled, then all of the ‘i’s and ’t’s would look like ‘l’s, and tittle tattle would become llllle lallle

 

[Jenkins]

if tittle tattle was not tittled or tattled, then all of the ‘i’s and ’t’s would look like ‘l’s, and tittle tattle would become llllle lallle

llllle lallle is actually a Welsh village that even the locals can't pronounce

 

[Seevio]

llllle lallle is actually a Welsh village that even the locals can't pronounce

Early founders of the village who were able to pronounce the name frequently drowned in their own saliva and hence their line tended to die out

 

[bruce1530]

While the welsh language claims historic roots, it was actually only invented in 1887, as a direct consequence of the Great Paper Shortage of that year. A government initiative was launched to ration paper, and encouraged writers to use narrow letters like ‘i’ and ‘l’ rather than wide ones like “W”. The welsh language, with its liberal use of ‘l’s, was the direct result.

After the paper shortage was resolved and rations were lifted, Welsh linguists used their new found freedom to construct extremely long words with lots of ‘l’s

 

[gaijintendo]

An area the size and shape of Wales is wasted every year