“Playing the spoons” originated in Ireland as “playing the bones,” in which the convex sides of a pair of sheep-rib bones were rattled in the same way.
Dice are also called bones frequently at craps probably because they were at one time made out of the anklebones of hoofed animals.
While Kathy Reichs’s earlier books did not have themed titles (i.e. Monday Mourning, Death du Jour), all her titles since the TV series became a hit have included the word “Bones.”
The minstrel song “Dem Bones” (Toe bone connected to the foot bone / Foot bone connected to the leg bone / Leg bone connected to the knee bone …) is based on Ezekiel 37:1-14, where the prophet visits the Valley of Dry Bones and prophesies that they will become alive by God’s command.
Jeff Smith’s comic book Bone recounts the adventures of three cousins – Phoney Bone, Smiley Bone, and Fone Bone in the Valley. The name “Fone Bone” is clearly a reference to Mad Artist Don Martin, who often used the name “Fonebone” for his characters, and the design of Smiley Bone is based upon Pogo’s Albert the Alligator (Fone Bone himself is reminiscent of Pogo hisself).
George R.R. Martin’s award-winning short story “Sandkings” was first published in the now-defunct Omni magazine.
During development, Omni was called Nova, but to avoid confusion with the PBS show NOVA, the magazine’s title was changed before the first issue debuted in 1978.
In one alternate history Superman story, Supes lost all his super-powers and became a new hero, Nova, equipped with a special gadgety cape.
An urban legend claims Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name, spaced no va, literally translates to “it doesn’t go”. This has since been debunked. As noted by Snopes.com, the legend would be akin to Americans not buying a dinette set called Notable because they thought it meant they had no table.
The same has been said of the British General Motors product, the Vauxhall Nova, which had to be sold as an Opel Corsa in Spain. In fact this too is a myth, with the Spanish market offering being known as a Corsa from the outset. There was also a Nova kit car designed and built by ADD from 1971. It lost a court case with GM Vauxhall over the use of the name, after it was shown that GM’s Chevrolet had a prior claim.
The Russian word for a main railway station, vokzal, is thought to have originated in a visit to Britain by a delegation charged with establishing Russia’s first railway. Legend has it that they mistook the name of the station at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens to be generic. The word may also come from the station at Pavlovsk Palace in St. Petersburg, where there was a summer pavilion named after Vauxhall.
Madison Square Garden got its name from the original location in Madison Square, New York. The Garden has been moved three time before establishing itself at its current location on 8th Avenue in 1968. It also is not square.
Nor is it much of a garden.
The famous Boston Garden sports arena was built by Tex Rickard, the builder of MSG and a top boxing promoter, and originally named “Boston Madison Square Garden”. It was eventually replaced by the building now named TD Garden, after its name-rights sponsor, originally Toronto Dominion Bank. The majority of the seats in the new Garden would actually be outside the walls of the old one.
Toronto-Dominion Bank was formed by the merger of the Bank of Toronto and the Dominion Bank. Bank of Toronto v. Lambe is an early Canadian constitutional law decision which established that federally chartered banks are subject to provincial taxation.
Donny Osmond played Joseph in the Toronto revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technical Dreamcoat for over 2,000 performances. Andrew Lloyd Webber was so impressed with his performance that he had a commercial DVD released of the show starring Osmond.
During the War of 1812, an American invading force burnt Toronto, at that time known as York, the capital of Upper Canada. In retaliation, the British burnt Washington, the capital of the United States.
The War of 1812 was officially ended by the Treaty of Ghent, signed on Christmas Eve 1814. The last major battle, however, was fought more than two weeks later, in New Orleans. This is usually attributed to the slow communications of the time, but the British were in fact bent on regaining control of the North American interior. They did not recognize any of the transactions made by Napoleon Bonaparte and thus considered the Louisiana Purchase null and void.
The 1st Duke of Lancaster and founder of the royal House of Lancaster, John of Gaunt, was a younger brother of Edward, the Black Prince, and effectively served as regent for his nephew, Richard II. His sobriquet came from the fact that he was born in Ghent, which was spelled Gaunt in English at the time.
Black Prince Edward is entombed at Canterbury Cathedral with his arms and armor on display. His shield is made of wood covered with canvas and gesso, with his heraldic charges (lions, fleur-de-lys) crafted of leather.
The New Vaudeville Band had their one and only hit with “Winchester Cathedrel.” They were a group of session musicians brought on by the song’s composer, Geoff Stephens. Stephens offered the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, who played music in a similar retro mode, a chance to be the New Vaudeville Band on tour, but they refused. The Bonzos later started moving toward rock as people kept saying they sounded like the New Vaudeville Band.
The Winchester Round Table has been dated to the late 13th century and was probably created for an Arthurian-style tournament during the reign of Edward I. The current paintwork was done in the time of Henry VIII for a state visit by HRE Charles V and features the colors of the Tudors (green and white), their heraldic rose, and a depiction of Henry himself, enthroned at the head of the table.