9 June
2017
8 June
2017
How did that come around? – Mind your P’s and Q’s
Ever wondered why do we say “mind your P’s and Q’s” to mean “be on your good behavior”? Well, I for one, never had a clue. So, started another research – and I am liking to get to know the origins of phrases and words enough that I have started a separate section in my blog dedicated to this.
My first instinct was that it came from trying to keep everything prim and proper by neatly separating your similar looking letter p’s and q’s. Well, turns out it is not “mind your p’s and q’s”. It is “P’s and Q’s”. Those are difficult to get confused with when you read, write or type.
Some people think – which is mostly denounced – it stands for your “Please”s and “Thank You”s. Even I agree that it is too far fetched.
Turns out the most popular theory goes back to the 17th century. In fact, to the bars of England. All beer and ale was served in pint size containers and quart size containers. While there is reference in literature to suggest that it started as a lingo with the barmen, it is not quite surely known whether it was used to warn somebody who has imbibed too much to behave himself or it was used to keep a proper tally of the alcohol consumption itself.
Well, while it is not accepted by everybody, most seem to believe that it was from the bars of the 17th century England came the saying “mind your P’s and Q’s” meaning to mind one’s manners.
Who knew?
7 June
2017
That be my wife. Dealing with me :-)
Photo courtesy: Natasha
The backstory is that this weekend Sharmila and I, after much postponement, finally sat down at our breakfast table to look at ticket prices for some trips for the girls. But moment we sat down, I noticed thru the corner of my eye that the elusive Goldfinch was at the bird feeder.
With great alacrity I jumped out of my seat to go get my camera. And with equal amount of alacrity, Natasha fished out her iPhone camera to capture the look on Sharmila’s face 🙂
7 June
2017
The meme cup brimmeth over…
In case you were wondering what all these memes are about (like you do not have anything better to do), I need to tell you about an ex-colleague of mine from DC area – Karen Hawk. Sharp as a whip and with a biting sense of humor that is guaranteed to bring the floor down, I got to know her – oh! about five or six years back.
Her daughter worked in our company already. And then one day, we hired her mother (Karen) to keep our office straightened out and above all keep me honest whenever I was in the DC office.
Next time I was in DC, I walked into our office and went straight to her cubicle. There was this elderly lady sitting at the desk – her work area extremely well organized. But what caught my eye was the poster that she had hung just behind her. It read “My Tiara is giving me a Headache”. I looked at it, I looked at her and then I burst out laughing. “I can work with you the rest of my life”, I remember telling her.
Unfortunately for me, I left that company. She still works there and keeps in touch with me. In these days of much circulated jokes, once in a while when she finds some new gems, she shoots them my way. This week, she sent me a few. And I promised her that I will convert them into memes and feature them on my blog.
So, here goes the next one… And thank you, Karen, for keeping me smiling!!! You indeed are one of my most memorable colleagues!!
6 June
2017
Always ready to lend a helping hand…
6 June
2017
How did that come around? – To get away “scot free”
I was reading a social discourse which talked about a certain category of folks getting away “scot free”. Which got me thinking about where could this phrase possible have come from. Of course, it means to “get away without penalty or unpunished” but how do you put a Scot in that?
Some amount of research showed that actually, this has nothing to do with the Scots. Apparently, “scot” refers to taxes. Specifically, 12th century England municipal taxes. And the Anglo Saxon word was “sceot”. But there were similar words at that time – Swedish “scatt”, Danish “scat”, Icelandic “scattur” – all meaning tax. In fact as recently as in 1921, the US Senate Committee on Finance hearings transcripts read “[The common laborer]He is scot free at 40 cents an hour”.
So “scot free” meant escaping without taxation. And all of us agree taxation is an unnecessary punishment 🙂
And that is how “scot free” came around to mean “get away without penalty”.
5 June
2017
From the bartender’s corner – Comoco
5 June
2017
From the bartender’s corner – Spider Bite
3 June
2017
From the bartender’s corner – Mamie’s Sister
3 June
2017
Sometimes all you need is somebody to run with…
Still under the weather. Thought will go for a run and try to shake it off. Instead, within a few miles, the run started to shake me up. After some time the cramps were getting a little too painful to enjoy the run. Turned around and headed back to the starting point.
Just as I started the fourth mile, ran into Indrani. Turned around once again and joined her in her 5 mile run. Running with somebody else was distracting enough that I forgot about the pains. By the time we finished, I had completed six miles already.
And then went back to the trail by myself one last time to put in four more miles to make it a full ten miles.
It would be interesting to see how the body retaliates now 🙂
