Words
associated with the right side are generally complimentary or have
signified something desirable, but those pointing to the left are quite the
opposite. For example, even in modern
times, everyone tries to get up on the "right" side of the bed and
hopes to stay on the "right" side of one's boss; that is, if the
person is in his/her "right" mind.
In Latin, the word for "right" is dexter, from which
has come the English word dexterous or dextrous; meaning
"skillful". An ambidextrous person should be even more
skillful, since he is described as having two "right hands. On the other hand, the Latin sinister
is the left hand, that is, the wrong hand. The French word for "left" is gauche
(GOHSH), which indicates awkwardness or lack of social graces. English also has favored the right over the
left. The word "right"
developed from Old English riht, which meant "to lead straight; to
guide; to rule." Left
evolved from Old English lyft, which meant "weak". English prejudice against the left can be seen in such terms as
"two left feet", meaning "awkward", and "left-handed
compliment", which is not considered as a compliment.
Excerpts from The Story Behind the Word by Morton S.
Freeman; iSi Press; Philadelphia; 1985;
pages 228-229. http://wordinfo.info/unit/3777/ip:2/il:D
"Drop-dead gorgeous" seems to have been with us since just 1985. A piece about Michelle Pfeiffer in Time
in February used that term. The phrase
struck a chord and there are many references to it in newspapers and journals
from very soon after that. It didn't arrive
out of the blue. The term "drop dead", meaning excellent had been
around since at least 1962. In The
New York Herald-Tribune, January 1962, we have: "Fashions from Florence not drop-dead. For almost the first time in history Simonetta
failed to deliver an absolutely drop-dead collection." It got picked up as an
intensifier for various things, as here from the Washington Post, July
1980: "For drop dead chic
food, Harborplace has a sushi and tempura bar." The use of the word dead in English idioms is
an example of how difficult a language it is to learn for non-native speakers.
That's perhaps what could be expected from a language that has nine different
ways to pronounce 'ough': through - oo; though
- o; thought - awt; tough - uff; plough - ow; thorough - uh; cough - off; hiccough
- up; lough - ock. Even supposing
someone understood the word 'dead' (and there are at least 31 meanings for dead
just as an adjective), that doesn't help in understanding idioms. These rely on a knowledge of context that goes
beyond the dictionary; for example, how is it that people who are "dead
from the neck up" or "dead to the world", can be alive and well?
Why is a "dead shot" to be
admired when a "dead loss" isn't? Go into an English pub at closing time and
you'll be asked, "are those drinks dead"? You might even hear someone claiming to be
"in dead earnest".
The origins of the DeVilbiss Corporation date back to 1888 when Toledo, Ohio physician Dr.
Allen DeVilbiss developed a spray atomizer to provide an easier way to apply
medicines to patients' throats. His
invention was so successful that by 1890 he had retired from medical practice
and established a company, DeVilbiss Manufacturing Company, to produce the
atomizers in the old Lenk Winery on Toledo's north side. There were other members of the family adept
at invention, too, since Allen DeVilbiss' son, Allen, Jr. invented a
springless, automatic scale in 1897, establishing the DeVilbiss Scale Company a
few blocks from his father's company. A
couple of years later he sold the scale company, and the name was changed to
Toledo Scale. Dr. DeVilbiss' other son, Thomas, also was active in product
development and in 1907, the younger DeVilbiss, an inventor in his own right,
experimented with the spray gun. Thomas was also credited with adding
perfumizers to the company's product line.
By 1926 the company name changed to The DeVilbiss Company as their
product lines continued to expand to include air compressors. When Thomas DeVilbiss died in 1928, Allen
DeVilbiss Gutchess, grandson of Dr. Allen DeVilbiss, succeeded him as president
of the company. Howard P. DeVilbiss,
another third-generation member of the family, also joined the company at about
this time. During World War II the
Company was involved in production of military products, including protective
coatings for things ranging from helmets and planes to tanks. Research and development also continued, with
the design of hosing meant to withstand high temperatures to spray plastic on
ship hulls to retard barnacle growth. As
the company moved into the post-war years it continued to expand and diversify.
The atomizer division began separate
operation, moving to Somerset, Pennsylvania in 1951, where they expanded again
in 1965. In 1951 DeVilbiss also acquired
Globe Products Company, of Cleveland, a manufacturer of spray gun tips. In 1957 the company purchased the Newcomb-Detroit
Company, a firm involved in the manufacture and installation of industrial
finishing equipment, renaming it Newcomb-DeVilbiss. In 1958 this acquisition was consolidated with
another company, the Peters-Dalton Division of Detroit Harvester to form a new
wholly owned subsidiary, DeVilbiss Metal Fabricators. On January 1, 1970 the DeVilbiss Company was
merged into Champion Spark Company. Prior
to 1969 Champion had acquired 85.6% of the outstanding DeVilbiss common shares.
Purchased by Illinois Tool Works in
1990, DeVilbiss continues to set the standard for spray finishing through its
research and development, innovative product line, and commitment to customer
service. Other diversified aspects of
the original company product line continue the DeVilbiss name with such
companies as DeVilbiss Air Power Co., and DeVilbiss Health Care unit of Sunrise
Medical. http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/cac/ms/page45387.html
Watches in advertisements in the 1920s were usually
set at 8:20. Hamilton Watch Company
clocked in at 10:10 at least far back as 1926.
Rolex used 10:10 in the early 1940s, and Timex appeared to have begun
the transition in 1953. Andrew Adam
Newman
Read about the iPhone in
commercials usually set at 9:42 at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/business/media/28adco.html?_r=0
An American pastime was born on Dec. 21,
1913, when the New York World published the first “word cross,” created by
journalist Arthur Wynne, in its Sunday Fun section. Can you solve the original
puzzle? Link to the original puzzle and
answer at http://www.parade.com/240596/viannguyen/the-crossword-puzzle-turns-100-get-a-free-printable-copy-of-the-first-puzzle/
Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft (1914–2005) was an American voice
actor and singer with a deep, booming voice. For 53 years, he was best-known as the voice
of Tony the Tiger in more than 500 television commercials for Kellogg’s Frosted
Flakes. Ravenscroft was also the
vocalist of the song “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” in the Christmas
television special based on the Dr. Seuss classic How the Grinch Stole
Christmas!, although his name was accidentally left off of the credits, leading
many to believe (erroneously) that the cartoon’s narrator, Boris
Karloff, sang the song. He
also sang “No Dogs Allowed” in the Peanuts animated motion picture Snoopy Come
Home. http://www.last.fm/music/Thurl+Ravenscroft
When Thurl Ravenscroft was unintentionally uncredited in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Theodore Geisel
(Dr. Seuss) himself tried to rectify the issue by writing letters to various
journalists explaining the oversight and asking if they mention the movie and
song, that they give Ravenscroft proper credit. He also called
Ravenscroft and apologized for the mix up.
Over his 65 year career as a voice actor, Ravenscroft accumulated quite
the portfolio besides the Tony the Tiger voice and singing in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He lent
his vocal talents to such films as Dumbo,
Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, 101
Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Horton Hears
a Who!, The Hobbit (cartoon), The Brave Little Toaster, and many, many
more. He also can be heard even today on numerous rides in Disney Land
and Disney World, including the thePirates of the
Caribbean, Tiki Room,
and Haunted Mansion rides. http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/12/the-guy-who-did-the-voice-for-tony-the-tiger-also-sang-youre-a-mean-one-mr-grinch/
The ten best books of 2013 selected by the editors of The New York Times Book
Review http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/books/review/the-10-best-books-of-2013.html?src=me&ref=general
Ask John Cage
in 1956, as the sculptor Richard Lippold did, to make a film and you take your
chances. The composer was adamantly, and
with increasing daring, using elaborate chance processes to create all his
work. Still, Lippold, who was a close
friend and neighbor of Cage, thought the composer would be just the person to
edit a mass of footage shot during the three-year process of his making “The
Sun,” a huge, geometric sculpture involving more than two miles of pure gold
wire and now hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. But at one point Lippold became concerned
about Cage’s unwavering nonjudgmental attitude toward his chance systems, the
sculptor saying that he would really rather reserve the right not to use some
frames of his work upside down, backward or overexposed. Cage responded: “Oh Richard, you have a
beautiful mind. It’s time you got rid of
it!” That anecdote comes from a study of
Cage and film by a young scholar, Richard Brown, who will introduce a newly
discovered and restored copy of “The Sun, Variations Within a Sphere No. 10” --
or at least 14 of its original 20 minutes-- shown for the first time in the
U.S. on Dec. 14, 2013 in the Billy Wilder Theater of the Hammer Museum. Cage’s
film will be part of a program by the Center for Visual Music call “New
Restorations and Discoveries.” The
evening will include three early German animated films by Oskar Fischinger,
whom Cage briefly assisted in Los Angeles in the 1930s, along with other
historic gems. Mark Swed http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-the-sun-20131211,0,2977942.story#axzz2nTAkzuBh
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