DAILY BRIEFING

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DID YOU KNOW ?

UNDERGROUND
    
Resistance movement or clandestine operation.    
Long before there was any real underground railway, it existed in    
1830s American metaphor to describe the network of rat-lines for    
escaped slaves making their way north in the hope of freedom. The    
country was abuzz with the rapid expansion of the steam railroad,    
so the disparate groups called themselves the Underground Railroad;    
guides were "conductors" and safe-houses designated "stations or    
"depots:' and so forth. The term resurfaced during World War I1    
when it was used by the Americans of any resistance group in    
occupied Europe that ran similar rat-lines to smuggle Allied    
personnel back to the UK or onwards to Spain or Switzerland.    
Immediately after World War I1 the term was put to use describing    
the avant garde of any sector of the arts, and in the New York of the    
so-called Swinging Sixties "velvet underground attached to the    
liberated sexual sub-culture of the city before becoming the name of    
one of the most influential American rock bands of that decade. In    
modern Britain it can also describe what is otherwise known as the    
black economy, off-record work and transactions conducted beyond    
the grasp of the Inland Revenue.    

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DID YOU KNOW ?

YO-YO
    
Toy.    
Aficionados of this intriguing device still debate its ultimate origins,    
but it can be stated with certainty that the yo-yo came to America    
from the Philippines, where it once served as a weapon. Those who    
dislike the idea of such a brutal history for a toy should check the    
earliest references in the OED, especially the extract for "Philippine    
Craftsman:' which noted: "Sumpit (blowpipe),pana (arrow), and    
yo-yo are names very generally used throughout the islands"; an odd    
grouping of terms indeed if the yo-yo had no lethal applications.    
The early Filipino stone yo-yo, perhaps meaning "come-come," as in    
"return," could be dropped onto prey or foe by a man hiding in a tree,    
or hurled on the horizontal, with shattering effect, and then reeled in    
for another go.    
The non-lethal variety was launched to great success in 1928 by    
the American-Filipino Pedro Flores and his Yo-Yo Manufacturing    
Company of Santa Barbara, California.    

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

ZAP or ZAPP
    
Kill.    
Although this achieved popularity through American comics of    
the 1920s, the trail dates back to perhaps the 16th century and is    
decidedly military.    
The OED presents an intriguing quote from 1600 demanding that    
castle ramparts be "zapped," this based on the Italian zappere, "to    
inflict death and destruction with explosives," as dug in with a zappa,    
or "spade," by the kind of engineer we now call a "sapper." The Italians    
have been talking about "zapping" people for centuries, and it is    
perhaps not too difficult to figure out which particular group of    
Italian "businessmen" might have been responsible for putting "zap"    
into American slang in the first place.    

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

BLACK BOX
   
Inboard flight recorder    
Something of a misnomer today, as flight recorders are painted bright    
orange so they will stand out at a crash site, the term originated    
during World War 11, when it described any piece of innovative    
equipment put through trials on active service and painted black to    
reduce the enemy's chances of finding it should the plane be shot    
down. When civilian flight recorders emerged in the late 1950s the    
term was simply transferred to general use.    

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FOLLOW UP TO BLACK BOX  PART 1

DAVID Warren, the inventor of the black box flight recorder, has died in Melbourne nursing home aged 85.
Aviation experts and friends said Dr Warren had persisted with his invention despite being snubbed by Australian authorities.

The British government snapped up the device, which records cockpit conversations and instrument data and is now standard piece of equipment for commercial aircraft globally.
Dr Warrens biographer, Janice Peterson Witham, said lessons learned from black boxes found in plane wrecks had saved untold legions of lives by identifying human error and equipment failure. In 1994 a black box revealed why an Aeroflot Airbus 310 had plunged into the siberian countryside, killing 85 people. The pilot had handed the controls to his 15-year-old son.

In 1934, when Dr Warren was 9, his father, Hubert, died in a plane crash. Dr Warren was raised in Sydney, moving to Melbourne in 1951 to work at the aeronautical research laboratories, now the Defence Science and Technology Organisation.

As a chemist, in 1953 he helped investigate crashes of the first jet-powered aircraft, the Comet. Tests on fuel proved that was not the cause; the long time electronics whiz wondered whether a tape recorder in the cockpit could provide clues to future crashes.
Dr Warren told the Age in 1998 that his colleagues thought the idea was fantasy and there was no response from government. He made a prototype in 1957 , using a flame and trauma proof wire recording element.

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PART 2

The Department of Civil Aviation told him Australian aviation had a good safety record and did not need the black box. The defence Department said it would extract " more expletives than explanations:. The pilots union feared pilots chat would be monitored. But a visiting British aviation official was impressed and invited Dr Warren to London.
A British company S. Davall and Sons , started manufacturing the device. In 1976 the international Civil Aviation Organisation made the black box standard equipment. In 2002 Dr Warren recieved the Order of Australia. Ms Witham said Dr Warren was proud of the device, but never bragged about it . "He had a lot of disappointments and disillusionment. He had many detractors in Australia, and he just kept going. I think that's the lesson that we all take, that when you really believe in something, you never give up."

A childhood friend, Macarthur Job, of Mount Dandenong a former air crash investigator said "It was an extraordinary wonderful concept. He was an innovator, and a thoroughly good fellow." Julian Walsh, director of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s safety division, said the travelling public owed a great deal of gratitude" to Dr Warren "and his perseverance and his tenacity in pushing his idea'".

[Sofa_King]

Part 3 

Black Box
Believed by some to exist only in ancient greek mythology, but known by a few select men to exist in the open world.

According to most theories, the black box is a blackened lock box containing precisely one thousand condoms. This box, only opened once every thirteen years to a certain individual of superior strength. Once opened, the Black Box opener, or the Jehosaphat, must use every single condom in a 24 hour period. If he does not complete the task, his sexual organs will implode violently, effectively killing him. If he successfully completes the task he will be blessed with a c##k of magical size and powers. The length will be precisely 6 inches, when folded in half, before getting up. Also, the victorious Jehosaphat will have complete control over his crotch region. Erection and Ejaculation can be achieved at whim and are at his total control.

[Sofa_King]

Part 3 

Black Box

Believed by some to exist only in ancient greek mythology, but known by a few select men to exist in the open world.

BTW...... Below it a Picture I took when I opened the Black Box 5 years ago. 
Just in case a few haven't noticed ,with the help of 327 ladies for Pattaya Soi 6  .......I'm still alive and no implosion accrued 
If anyone wants to attempt this feat of endurance, so they can obtain the Magical Man Wand of Beelzebub and become a Jehosaphat ...then PM me and I will put your name on the list...you'll only have to wait 8 years   

[Sofa_King]

DID YOU KNOW ?

COCK & BULL STORIES

One of Stony Stratford’s many claims to fame is as the place of origin of the term 'Cock & Bull Story', recognised throughout the English-speaking world.

This dates back to the late 18th/early 19th centuries, at the height of the great coaching era, when Stony Stratford (which is located on the old Roman Road of Watling Street, latterly the A5) was an important stopping-off point for mail and passenger coaches travelling between London and the North.


Travellers on these coaches were regarded as a great source of current news from remote parts of the country - news which would be imparted in the town's two main inns, The Cock and The Bull. The two establishments rapidly developed a rivalry as to which could furnish the most outlandish and scurrilous travellers' tales. It's a fine tradition was resurrected some years ago by the COCK & BULL STORY SOCIETY. To pay homage to Stony Stratford's unique provenance, as the home to The Cock & Bull Story (a term familiar throughout the English-speaking world), by positioning the town as THE UK CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE for the origination, perpetration and dissemination of the totally preposterous. Above all - by the adeptest manipulation of the English language - to have fun.


The society has been re-launched recently as The Cock and Bull Society, complete with website (www.cockandbull.org.uk), newsletter (available by emailing clayton@cockandbull.org.uk) and various events in and around the town.

http://www.stonystratford.gov.uk/Visit_The_Area/History/Cock_and_Bull_Stories

[urleft]

DID YOU KNOW ?

COCK & BULL STORIES

One of Stony Stratford’s many claims to fame is as the place of origin of the term 'Cock & Bull Story', recognised throughout the English-speaking world.

This dates back to the late 18th/early 19th centuries, at the height of the great coaching era, when Stony Stratford (which is located on the old Roman Road of Watling Street, latterly the A5) was an important stopping-off point for mail and passenger coaches travelling between London and the North.


Travellers on these coaches were regarded as a great source of current news from remote parts of the country - news which would be imparted in the town's two main inns, The Cock and The Bull. The two establishments rapidly developed a rivalry as to which could furnish the most outlandish and scurrilous travellers' tales. It's a fine tradition was resurrected some years ago by the COCK & BULL STORY SOCIETY. To pay homage to Stony Stratford's unique provenance, as the home to The Cock & Bull Story (a term familiar throughout the English-speaking world), by positioning the town as THE UK CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE for the origination, perpetration and dissemination of the totally preposterous. Above all - by the adeptest manipulation of the English language - to have fun.


The society has been re-launched recently as The Cock and Bull Society, complete with website (www.cockandbull.org.uk), newsletter (available by emailing clayton@cockandbull.org.uk) and various events in and around the town.

http://www.stonystratford.gov.uk/Visit_The_Area/History/Cock_and_Bull_Stories

I understand they have elected a chief spokesman and have the headquarters for the most outlandish cock and bull stories: 

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

G.I.

American serviceman or woman.
"G.I:' has been variously interpreted as standing for "Government
Issue" or "General Issue" but it more likely stems from "Galvanized
Iron;' which was stamped on the trash cans that once proliferated in
military camps of the early 1900s;
In A Dictionary of Soldier Talk (1984) by Colonel John Elting,
the first reference to G.I. is dated to 1906 in the line "Bucket, G.I., on
strap near axle under body;' which Elting found in documents
relating to cavalry maneuvers at Fort Kansas that year. Many items
were made of galvanized iron and stamped with G.I., which came to
stand for anything or anyone considered solid and reliable. As these
items were general issue, it is easy to see how the confusion arose.

[Sofa_King]

DID YOU KNOW ?

OK


Millions of people all over the world use the word OK. In fact, some people say the word is used more often than any other word in the world. OK means all right or acceptable. It expresses agreement or approval. You might ask your brother, "Is it okay if I borrow your car?” Or if someone asks you to do something, you might say, “Okay, I will.” Still, language experts do not agree about where the word came from.

Some people say it came from the Native American Indian tribe known as the Choctaw. The Choctaw word okeh means the same as the American word okay. Experts say early explorers in the American West spoke the Choctaw language in the nineteenth century. The language spread across the country.

But many people dispute this. Language expert Allen Walker Read wrote about the word OK in reports published in the nineteen sixties. He said the word began being used in the eighteen thirties. It was a short way of writing a different spelling of the words “all correct.” Some foreign-born people wrote “all correct” as “o-l-l k-o-r-r-e-c-t,” and used the letters O.K. Other people say a railroad worker named Obadiah Kelly invented the word long ago. They said he put the first letters of his names -- O and K -- on each object people gave him to send on the train.

Still others say a political organization invented the word. The organization supported Martin Van Buren for president in eighteen forty. They called their group, the O.K. Club. The letters were taken from the name of the town where Martin Van Buren was born — Old Kinderhook, New York.

Not everyone agrees with this explanation, either. But experts do agree that the word is purely American. And it has spread to almost every country on Earth.

Then there is the expression A-OK. This means everything is fine. A-OK is a space-age expression. It was used in nineteen sixty-one during the flight of astronaut Alan Shepard. He was the first American to be launched into space. His flight ended when his spacecraft landed in the ocean, as planned. Shepard reported: "Everything is A-OK.”

However, some experts say the expression did not begin with the space age. One story says it was first used during the early days of the telephone to tell an operator that a message had been received.

There are also funny ways to say okay. Some people say okey-dokey or okey-doke. These expressions were first used in the nineteen thirties. Today, a character on the American television series, “The Simpsons,” says it another way. He says okely-dokely.

[rufusredtail]

DID YOU KNOW ?

FUNK

Cowardice,failure, or petulant sulk.
"Funk" has been around since the 17th century when it described
thick smoke or any offensive smell. The above applications were
influenced by terms such as the French funkier, "to give off smoke;'
and the Flemish in de Jonke siin, "to be in the smoke;' both understood
to mean a state of panic. The definitions in the heading were cemented
by the term's adoption into 19th-century military slang, in which
"funk" was the smoke of battle and a funk-hole was a dug-out to
escape it. Come World War I, "funk-hole" was used of any deep recess
dug into the forward wall of a trench to provide refuge in the event of
a gas attack, this serving at other times as a good hiding place to avoid
going over the top or simply to be alone with one's thoughts. The term
hence metaphorically came to mean cowardice.
By the 1950s "funky" had made another leap to describe a
particular style of music, most likely for the smoky atmosphere in
the bars where it was played.

[Sofa_King]

DID YOU KNOW ?

Slapper

Slapper used to mean a large object or a strapping, or overgrown person. Anne E. Baker’s Glossary of Northamptonshire Words (1954) explains that the term referred most frequently to an overgrown woman. In its modern sense the term found its way into the 1990 Bloomsbury Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, which describes slapper as a working-class term from East London and Essex meaning ‘prostitute’ or ‘slut’. It’s possible that the word may have its roots in the Yiddish schlepper, meaning an ‘unkempt, scruffy person; gossipy, dowdy woman’ but its etymology is unclear.

Oy vey 

[Sofa_King]

DID YOU KNOW ?

 A dog and pony show

 These days, your meaning of the phrase is the usual one: an elaborate briefing or visual presentation, usually for promotional purposes. Writers in recent decades have applied dog and pony show pejoratively to military briefings, political speeches and photo opportunities as well as to sales pitches.
To find the origin, we have to go back to the small towns of the middle west of the USA at the end of the nineteenth century. From the 1880s, reports start to appear in local newspapers of the arrival by rail of small travelling troupes of performers billed without any hint of sarcasm as “dog and pony shows”. The earliest example I know of:
The dog and pony show of Prof. Morris drew big houses at the matinee and at the evening performance yesterday. All who went, old and young, seemed delighted.
Omaha Daily Bee (Nebraska), 23 Sep. 1885.

The most famous was that run by “Professor” Gentry (actually four brothers), but many others existed, including those of Sipe & Dolman, the Harper Brothers, Stull & Miller, and the Norris Brothers. They were in truth small circuses, many of them running on a shoestring, with no more than a band and a ringmaster in addition to the animal acts, which did consist only of dogs and ponies. The Gentry operation was bigger than its rivals and around 1894 it had some 40 ponies and 80 dogs in each of two troupes (later it would grow into a full-scale circus).
This later description gives something of the atmosphere:
Arrived upon the populous and festive scene of the Dog and Pony Show, he first turned his attention to the brightly decorated booths which surrounded the tent. The cries of the peanut vendors, of the popcorn men, of the toy-balloon sellers, the stirring music of the band, playing before the performance to attract a crowd, the shouting of excited children and the barking of the dogs within the tent, all sounded exhilaratingly in Penrod’s ears and set his blood a-tingle.
Penrod, by Booth Tarkington, 1914.

The term dog-and-pony show later came to be used dismissively of any small-scale or mom-and-pop operation, in the same way that dog and pony shows were thought to be cut-down versions of “proper” circuses, with their limited repertoire (the idiom one-trick pony comes from them, too):
The published record presents a picture of the latest performance in one ring of the American broadcasting circus. The institute is not a Ringling Brothers production in its own chosen subject field, but it is not an itinerant dog and pony show either.
The Survey, published by Survey Associates, the Charity Organization Society of the City of New York, 1940.

However, the literal term continued in use in parallel with it right through into the 1950s; it was sometimes the name for one part of a larger circus, perhaps designed as a sideshow for the children, who were allowed to ride the ponies and pet the dogs.
It was in the 1960s that the term began to appear in print as a metaphor for some event that was more pizzazz than substance, like the tinsel and glitter of a circus ring. An early example of this figurative sense:
Mr. Ally said his agency does not do speculative presentations either. They will sit down with a prospective client, however, and talk about the agency and the client’s problems. “But the dog and pony show we will not do.”
New York Times, 4 Oct. 1967.

The pejorative sense was almost certainly helped along by the implication that participants were like the performing animals at a circus; it’s likely that the idiom putting on dog also had some influence on its popularity.