Posted on 11/20/2011 5:11:29 PM PST by Jim Robinson
As it happens, I can provide this one! I figured it out while reading up on the making of bowstrings. It turns out that "tow" is a name for a grade of linen fibers. I'm sure it's a low grade, as we still call burlap bags "towsacks" around here.
Take it with a lot more than just one grain of salt:
http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/1500.asp
I’ve never found the definitive reason a jon boat is called a jon boat. It bothers me.
LOL!
The Schlitz in Pearl's pants made Bud wiser.
Nope a Chamber pot is larger and has a lid. A Thunder mug is smaller with no lid, One you get out of bed to use the other is for those who could not get out of bed. Before Bed pans.
” The streets also served as sewers.”
Hence the term, zuccoti park is a cesspool of despair.
Slop jar contents were also collected for use in gun powder manufacture. In a final step black powder is “corned” by moistening it into a paste, then it is dried and ground into grains of the various sizes. Black powder corned by moistening with stale urine gets an extra boost from the nitrate content.
Down south there is a phrase, “I’m fixin to go to town.” meaning “I am about the go to town.” The phrase ‘fixin’ or ‘fixing’ came from the fact that going to town was a relatively uncommon event, especially for the country people. They might go to town only every two or three months. During that interval, it was not uncommon for the wagon to be used for gathering food, repairing fence, or other jobs on the farm and it was not uncommon for the wagon to be in disrepair. In order to repair the wagon it had to be ‘fixed’. Thus when someone came to the home where a wagon was in the process of being repaired, the phrase, “’fixing’ to go to town”. ‘Fixing’, originally meant repairing, has taken on the meaning of ‘about’ or ‘preparing’.
isn’t a canopy like a small pot of p*ss?
No kidding.
A “tow head” is a very blonde - close to white - haired child. The meaning of “tow” in this case is made of flax or hemp. It is said to have come from German origin - “touw” meaning flax (which is yellow) or hemp fiber prepared for spinning.
Thanks folks. I can now tell my German heritage mother the answer to our question. :)
In the middle ages piss was also used to wash clothing as well as for tanning. Played a large part in everyday life.
The "dead" in dead ringer is from the form of dead that has a different meaning, as used in "dead reckoning".
LOL! At least you didn’t make a typo——
And now she is sadder,
Bud Weiser.
“Black powder corned by moistening with stale urine gets an extra boost from the nitrate content.”
Human and animal urine was used to make the saltpeter third of the black powder recipe, sulfur and carbon were the other two thirds.
I made my first batch while I was still in Cub Scouts, LOL
Back then encyclopedias had all kinds of neat stuff to learn, and I read them like some kids read comic books.
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