DAILY BRIEFING

[rufusredtail]

CLOSE QUARTERS
Proximity.
Known in the 1600s as "close fights:' the 18th-century close or closed quarters could be anything from a makeshift partition hurriedly erected from grating to permanent wooden blockhouses built on the decks of early ships, which came in very handy if there was a risk of being boarded. The defenders could man these with muskets to create a withering crossfire on their own decks to convince any boarding party that withdrawal would be the healthy option. By the time close quarters were in play the enemy was virtually face-to-face, so when the term moved ashore it was understood to mean "close proximity.

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW

YACHT
Light craft.
The modern yacht evolved from the kind of vessel favored by pirates, hence its name deriving from the Dutch jachten, "to hunt:' The word entered English in 1660 with the restoration of the monarchy, when the States General of Holland presented Charles II with Mary, a hundred-ton , eight-gunner yacht for him to move swiftly and safely about English territorial waters.

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

CURFEW

Restriction of movement after dark.
After the Norman invasion of England in 1066, William the Conqueror required civilians to stay in after dark. Night patrols enforced this regulation by calling "Couvrefeu!" "Cover the fire!" which became "curfew" in English. All candles and fires were to be extinguished and everyone was to go to bed.

[Smithy]

DID YOU KNOW ?

A Leopard Never Changes Its Spots

The phrase a leopard never changes its spots means that its impossible for one to change their character, even if they will try very hard. The expression, sometimes also used as ?a leopard cant change its spots, is used to explain the idea that no one can change their innate nature.

Examples in use:

Starman: Do you think he'll ever stop lying to us ??     Smithy:   I doubt it; after all, a leopard never changes its spots.? ?

The teacher tried to be kind to her students, but a leopard cant change its spots, she was still very mean.?

Interesting fact

This meaningful phrase dates as far back as the Old Testament. It was used in Jeremiah 13:23, where the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah had originally said: Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard its spots??. "A leopard never changes its spots" derives directly from that phrase and is still used today.

[Freddy]

FFS Grow Up. Has it occurred to you that the reason this forum is so quiet and so few of its members contribute is because of the childlessness that exists within a small % of members.
Do you really think the majority of members are the slightest bit interested in pathetic little feuds and think it clever to weave a dog into what might otherwise have been a reasonably interesting and informative post.

[Gerry]

FFS Grow Up. Has it occurred to you that the reason this forum is so quiet and so few of its members contribute is because of the childlessness that exists within a small % of members.
Do you really think the majority of members are the slightest bit interested in pathetic little feuds and think it clever to weave a dog into what might otherwise have been a reasonably interesting and informative post.

Sorry but I don't understand your beef here. A good post and interesting.

A conversation between 2 long term members here as an example. I do remember a bit about what that might be about but nothing really to concern me.

Can't see the issue to be honest. Also can't see any bearing on the forum. I belong to a few and they are all quiet. Most people nowadays seem to be joining Facebook groups.

[Smithy]

FFS Grow Up. Has it occurred to you that the reason this forum is so quiet and so few of its members contribute is because of the childlessness that exists within a small % of members.
Do you really think the majority of members are the slightest bit interested in pathetic little feuds and think it clever to weave a dog into what might otherwise have been a reasonably interesting and informative post.

You has lost me there Freddy ...is there something......  you know so you can enlighten us all 

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

BOCHE
German.
Since  the  Middle Ages  the  French  have  used  caboche  to describe anything round and heavy.
The word survives in English as "cabbage'.' In French slang, caboche or tete de boche described
anyone stupid and clumsy, and both these terms had been  used for the Germans long before World War
I in French slang dictionaries of the 1880s, by which time the truncated form, boche, was in
fashion. HUN and JERRY.

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

BY THE GRACE OF GOD AND A FEW MARINES

Explanation of lucky accomplishment.
Although  General  MacArthur  never  actually  made  the  "I  shall return" speech, he did indeed 
return  to the Philippines in October 1944 to oversee their liberation. Among the first ashore was
Battery B of the  11th Gun  Battalion,  three of whose finest  PFCs -  Frank Pinciotti, Shelby
Heimback, and Walter Dangerfield -  decided to put up a large sign announcing: "By the Grace of God
and the Help of a Few Marines  MacArthur  has Returned  to the Philippines:' This started a rash of
similar signs, some of them parodies on the first and far tOOJisque to explore here, but the
Marines' sign was nothing new. Brigadier  Albertus  Wright Catlin  (1868-1933)  was one of  the
most celebrated officers of the US Marine Corps, and his World War I exploits  were well known. On
June 6, 1918 he and his command fought a valiant action  in the woods at Belleau, abutting  the
River Marne, during which he was invalided out and returned to the US to write of his adventures in
a blockbuster entitled With the Help of God
and a Few Marines (1919).