Random Thursday

Today we'll finish the Pop Culture section of The Little Book of Answers by Doug Lennox and then start the Customs section! Should prove to be interesting as always!

(image borrowed from Wikipedia)

Muslims were the ones to create coffee after they were forbidden to drink wine. They started using coffee as a replacement for wine in 1524. It was said that an Arab herder noticed his goat acting skittish after eating some berries from a particular bush. After trying some himself, he became energized. This took place in a region of Abyssinia known as Kaffa which helped to name the beloved drink.

That was interesting! I don't think I ever heard the coffee origin story! I mean besides the one the Chameleon Brothers told in Rocko's Modern Life! LOL! Perhaps that explains why I don't want to try coffee again!

(image borrowed from Wikipedia)

The phrase "Keeping Up with the Joneses" was actually based on a comic strip that ran in 1913 to 1931 that told the story of a newly married man in Cedarhurst, New York. It was originally titled, "Keeping Up with the Smiths" but it was later changed because the cartoonist thought "Joneses" sounded better.

(image borrowed from CBS News)

"Ahoy" was the first greeting used when the telephone came about because the first telephone system was in the maritime state of Connecticut and "ahoy" was used by sailors. Alexander Graham Bell answered with the Gaelic "hoy" but it was Thomas Edison who started answering with "Hello" which was an exclamation of surprise from the Middle Ages and this is the one that caught on more than the others.

Now I feel like putting more surprising emphasis to my "hello" when I answer my phone! LOL!

(image borrowed from Depositphotos)

"Good-bye" and "So long" have interesting histories of coming into being. "Good-bye" is a derivative of an early English greeting "God be with you" though the pronunciation of that came out as "God be with ye." After time it soon came out in an abbreviated form which we use today as "goodbye." "So long" came to Britain when soldiers who had spent time in Arabic-speaking countries came to visit. There the expression of goodwill is known as "salaam" and since this was a new word for Englishmen when they said it, it came out as "so long."


Those were intriguing stories!


(image borrowed from Birchbox)

In some cultures shaving is forbidden. Though not entirely sure how it came to be that those in the West started shaving "in the morning" but the shaving in general part traces back to Alexander the Great. Before he seized power, European men grew beards but Alexander wasn't able to grow much beyond some peach fuzz but he would scrape off what he had every morning with a dagger. Since his warrior men didn't want to offend him they too started to shave off their beards and soon this became a custom.

The question was posed as "when did men start shaving every morning?" yet the answer never really stated that Alexander the Great did this every morning, just that he did it! So I guess we're to assume that he and his warriors were shaving every morning!