I’m sure no-one cares but, as children, we were told that “bloody” was a corruption of the exclamation “By My Lady!”.
We didn’t believe it either.
The mailbag item being referenced is “Who was Typhoid Mary? (14-Aug-2000)”
Er, nice try, Arnold, and I do appreciate the help, really I do, but I think the Mailbag Answer being referenced is:
What’s the origin of the British slang word “bloody”?
I’m sure you’re right, CKDextHavn. I’m an idiot. I just saw the expression “Bloody Mary” in the “Typhoid Mary” column, and since it was on the front page, I assumed that’s what the person was referring to. I’ll go hit my knuckles with a ruler now.
Don’t, um, hit your knuckles so hard that they’re bloody…
On a completely unrelated note (mostly I’m too lazy to open a new thread) are any of those in the SDSAB on the SDMB? IOW, do they have registered accounts? The only one I know of is ChiefScott, and he was a guest contributor.
The Straight Dope Science Advisory Board, like the illuminati, keeps its membership list secret… mainly to avoid unwanted solicitations. Most of the SDSAB post (or used to post) on the Message Boards, so you recognize such luminaries as Alphagene, DavidB, Ian, Jill, Tubadiva, etc. Other SDSAB, like Ken and Dogster and McCaff, used to post fairly often on the old MBs but have found that there is life outside Straight Dope and so don’t hang around here much. Still others like Doug (our bug guy) and Karen (our penguinist) tend to have specialty areas, and do post here from time to time.
Hope that helps.