NEAT-O
WHY
A HONEYMOON IS SO NAMED
Today, the honeymoon is a time of great joy for newlyweds,
and also a time of great envy for those who wish they too
were vacationing to exotic and distant lands. Back in the
day, however, the term was much more sardonic (for those of
you who haven’t been reading my newsletter, that means
sarcastic).
There are two explanations for the word. The first posits
that the father of the bride gave as his dowry a month’s
supply of mead (an alcoholic drink made from honey, water,
and yeast) for its pro-fertility and pro-virility properties.
To increase the likelihood of childbirth, it was expected
that the first month of marriage should include a daily draught
of the honeyed stuff. Since a cycle of the moon is about a
month long, this period of mead-drinking became known as the
honeymoon.
The second, and more cynical explanation is that the first
month of marriage is all sweet tenderness (like honey), and
love—like the moon—is no sooner full than it begins
to wane. Thus, a honeymoon used to refer to the love struck
(but ephemeral) period of time directly following a marriage,
when the lovers were not yet at each other’s throats.
Source: www.wikipedia.org.
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WELL
I'LL BE!
THE ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS YOU NEVER ASKED
What’s the difference between virgin and
extra virgin olive oil?
Olive oil that is obtained solely from the olive on the tree,
using only mechanical or other physical means (that is, no
chemicals are used to treat the oil, and the oil hasn’t
been mixed with oils from other sources) is classified as
virgin. It cannot have an acidity
(as measured by the International Olive Oil Council, or IOOC)
of more than 2%. Extra virgin olive
oil differs only in that it cannot have an acidity of more
than 0.8%.
Another classification—now obsolete—is first
press. A century and more ago, olive oil was
pressed by means of a hydraulic screw or press. The paste
that was left after the first press tended to degrade the
quality and taste of the remaining oil, so the first press
was thought to be the best. Modern methods use centrifuges
to extract the oil, so there is no longer any need for multiple
presses.
Pure olive oil is oil that has been
refined and mixed in with virgin oils. Over 50% of oils produced
in the Mediterranean are of such poor quality that this refinement
is necessary to produce an edible product.
Source: www.oliveoilsource.com.
Why do we call a touchdown a touchdown?
The term “touchdown” as used in American football
comes from its predecessor (or “inspiration,”
depending on who you’re talking to), rugby. In rugby,
most points used to be scored by kicking goals; however, if
a team managed to go beyond the goal line and touch the ball
down to the ground, he was given a try.
A try is so named because it allowed the team who touched
the ball down to “try” to kick at the goal without
interference from the other team. A success converted the
try into a goal. Today, a rugby try is worth four points,
and has eclipsed the goal as the primary method of scoring.
American football did away with the requirement of touching
the ball down behind the goal line, but this ritual is still
sometimes practiced by triumphant wide receivers.
Source: www.wikipedia.org
Now THAT is a touchdown
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