Random Thursday

Shockingly, we are slowly nearing the end of the Animals chapter in Dave Lennox's The Little Book of Answers! I can't believe how quick that went! The next chapter should prove to be interesting though, but sadly, that's a really short one too! There's a total of 4 more chapters after this one and after that I have another little book of oddness I found in the clearance section of B&N, so we'll be getting into that one afterwards!

(image borrowed from The Spruce Eats)

Pumpernickel bread has a strange history of origin! It was in the winter of 1812 when Napoleon and his army were leaving Russia where the only available food for them was stale, dark bread. Even though they were dying from hunger, Napoleon always made sure his horse was fed and this led the soldiers to grumble, "pain pour Nicholl" which translates to "bread for Nicholl." When the saying was anglicized it became "pumpernickel."

That's definitely an odd factoid! But at least the horse didn't starve! Lol. I hate when the animals die.

(image borrowed from Scoobypedia-Fandom)

A "red herring" is a fake clue that would lead detectives off course of a criminal investigation. The name came about when police officers would train police dogs with smoked herring. When herring is smoked, it turns red. Young dogs were trained to follow the scent when trainers would put the herring in one spot or another. Prisoners soon learned of this and if they would escape, they would grab herring and toss it in another direction to throw the dog off their trail. 

That's new to me too! I couldn't resist going with this picture of Red Herring from A Pup Named Scooby Doo! And it makes sense too that that was his name as Freddy always thought he was the culprit and Mystery Inc would get off track whenever dealing with him.

(image borrowed from Science)

Cows are generally left on their own throughout the day but come to the barn for a milking twice a day. The expression, "until the cows come home" came about in the 16th century, at this time most people were familiar with the cycles of farm life. The expression was used commonly when parties went on long into the night and ended in the morning...at the time when the cows came home for a milking.

I honestly never knew where that expression came from...or what it really meant! Lol.

(image borrowed from Thrillist)

When someone has a wasted life, it is said that he has "gone to the dogs." This expression came about in prehistoric China when dogs weren't allowed in the city because of hygiene and safety reasons. Garbage also wasn't allowed to be disposed of in the city, so it was tossed outside where dogs would eat it. When there were criminals to be dealt with they would eventually be tossed outside the walls as well and have basically "gone to the dogs."

I don't like learning about dogs being mistreated like this. I know, different times, different cultures, but it makes me sad. I can't even watch Homeward Bound 2 anymore because of the mistreatment of dogs. I still cry just thinking about that one!