# Debunk this email!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-this-email/338319
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 4, 2006, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-this-email/338319 "2006-01-04T01:24:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Carnick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnick)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2006, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-this-email/338319/1 "2006-01-04T01:24:13Z")
Grandma just forwarded an email to me with “fun facts” (what else are grandmas for?). Are any of these real? Have fun!
> [@](#):
>
> In George Washington’s days, there were no cameras. One’s image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are “limbs,” therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the \_expression, “Okay, but it’ll cost you an arm and a leg.”
>
> * * *
>
> As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year (May and October)! Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool. They couldn’t wash the wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term “big wig.” Today we often use the term “here comes the Big Wig” because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy.
>
> * * *
>
> In the late 1700s, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining. The “head of the household” always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor Occasionally a guest, who was usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. They called the one sitting in the chair the “chair man.” & nbsp;Today in business, we use the expression or title “Chairman” or “Chairman of the Board.”
>
> * * *
>
> Personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee’s wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman’s face she was told, “mind your own bee’s wax.” Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term “crac k a smile” In addition, when they sat too close to the fire, th e wax would melt . . . therefore, the expression “losing face.”
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> * * *
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> Ladies wore corsets, which would lace up in the front. A proper and dignified woman, as in “straight laced”. . . wore a tightly tied lace. \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* \*\*\*\*\*\*
> Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the “Ace of Spades.” To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead.
> Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren’t “playing with a full deck.”
> \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*= \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*
> Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what the people considered important. Since there were no telephones, TV’s or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs, and bars. They were told to “go sip some ale” and listen to people’s conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times. “You go sip here” and “You go sip there.” The two words “go sip” were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and, thus we have the term “gossip.”
>
> * * *
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> At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and quart-sized containers. A bar maid’s job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the drinks coming. She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in “pints” and who was drinking in “quarts,” hence the term "minding your “P’s and Q’s.”
>
> * * *
>
> One more: bet you didn’t know this!
> In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired ro und iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem…how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a “Monkey” with 16 round indentations.
> However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make “Brass Monkeys.” Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts m uch more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, “Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.” (All this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn’t you.)
> If you don’t send this fabulous bit of historic knowledge to any and all your unsuspecting friend s.
>
> Your floppy is going to fall off your hard drive and kill your mouse.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2006, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-this-email/338319/2 "2006-01-04T01:33:36Z")
Here is the earlier version: [“Life in the 1500’s”](http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/1500.htm) . I guess everybody wised up to that crap so they wrote a new edition.
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### Author:  [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-this-email/338319/3 "2006-01-04T01:34:20Z")
Here you go. A point by point refutal:
[http://www.takeourword.com/TOW190/page1.html](http://www.takeourword.com/TOW190/page1.html)
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2006, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-this-email/338319/4 "2006-01-04T01:36:11Z")
AFAIK, these are all fictional, and a few of them are ridiculous. (“You go sip there”? Who would say that?)
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-this-email/338319/5 "2006-01-04T01:48:41Z")
> [@Dragwyr](#):
>
> Here you go. A point by point refutal:
> [Take Our Word For It, page one - Spotlight](http://www.takeourword.com/TOW190/page1.html)
The didn’t have the “brass monkey” one, but [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.htm) got it.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2006, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-this-email/338319/6 "2006-01-04T03:49:15Z")
If you’d like to look for actual origins - and come to an understanding of why anybody familiar with slang can see instantly that these are nonsense - you can check out the [index to word origins](http://alt-usage-english.org/concordance_interface.shtml) and look up most of these individually along with hundreds of others.
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2006, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-this-email/338319/7 "2006-01-04T06:25:52Z")
I smacked my forehead so hard after the first one that I saw stars.
It’s cheeper to paint a desk than to paint a leg.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2006, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-this-email/338319/8 "2006-01-04T08:44:03Z")
I agree; this kind of wilful stupidity is painful to read; in any sane universe, it ought to be painful to commit.
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### Author:  [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2006, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-this-email/338319/9 "2006-01-04T10:52:29Z")
I dunno, it sounds like the guy who wrote it was having some fun. Maybe he was trying to develop a stain-test for idiots.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2006, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-this-email/338319/10 "2006-01-04T11:20:29Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> I agree; this kind of wilful stupidity is painful to read; in any sane universe, it ought to be painful to commit.
Actually, it’s kind of fun. Observe:
> [@](#):
>
> Did you know that “buck,” the slang term for a dollar, comes to us from Jesus Christ? It’s true!
> Jesus taught us to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.” From this, “bread” became slang for “money.” Later, people started calling it “dough.” (“Got any dough?”) The final iteration is a playful inversion of the homonym “doe,” “a female deer.” (“Sorry, ain’t got the bucks.”)
I made this up and occassionally release it into the wild. Unfortunately, I usually only talk to bright people and have never had the heart to lay it on the sort of credulous person that would assure that it would wind up forwarded all over the land.
> [@Zebra](#):
>
> It’s cheeper to paint a desk than to paint a leg.
No, see, it makes sense. Remember, it’s not just painting – it’s painting _and_ sculpting.
This is why we say that financially ruined people are “busted.” In the olden days, before photography, the most common way that images of the destitute would be recorded for posterity was the _bust._ Sculptors did them for free.
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### Author:  [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-this-email/338319/11 "2006-01-04T13:25:12Z")
Oh come on, it’s not entirely hogwash. It is true, for instance, that there were no cameras in George Washington’s days.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [January 4, 2006, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-this-email/338319/12 "2006-01-04T13:46:39Z")
> [@Billdo](#):
>
> Oh come on, it’s not entirely hogwash. It is true, for instance, that there were no cameras in George Washington’s days.
[Yes, there were](http://brightbytes.com/cosite/what.html). 🙂