An entertaining email, to be sure, but at least three are not true: Brass Monkey, Save Face, and Gossip. I didn’t have the time to look up the rest.
I did know most of these.
Cool...thanks for sharing.
“balls to the wall”
First time I heard that expression it was a Navy guy saying it.
And he wasn’t a pilot.
” Did you know the saying “God willing and the creek don’t rise” was in reference to the Creek Indians and not a body of water? It was written by Benjamin Hawkins in the late 18th century. He was a politician and Indian diplomat. While in the south, Hawkins was requested by the President of the U.S. to return to Washington . In his response, he was said to write, “God willing and the Creek don’t rise.” Because he capitalized the word “Creek” it is deduced that he was referring to the Creek Indian tribe and not a body of water.”
I read a long site a day or so ago, disputing this. Gave lots of examples, and sited lots of research.
Thanx. This will keep my smartass liberal sister-in-law busy for quite a while fact checking all this stuff.
The only one up there that I know to be true is the 27 feet of ammo and the expression “the whole nine yards.” But it only applied to the P-51 Mustang. Other aircraft had differing amounts.
And the most common use of the phrase was after a young pilot got caught sneaking onto the base after a night out with his English girl friend. To a common question, “well, did you get into any trouble?” The usual reply was, “yea, they brought me up in front of the old man and he gave me the whole nine yards.”
bookmark
This stuff is almost as bad as the ‘pluck yew’ email that makes the rounds every couple of years.
The Las Vegas triple-A baseball team has a nickname of the “Las Vegas 51’s.” Now, is this a reference to Tin-Foil Hatness (as in Area 51), or a reference to being one card short of a full deck?
I always thought “balls to the wall”, or “balls out”, referred to the governor on a steam engine running full speed. Pretty sure “losing face” is wrong, as it has been used in Asian cultures for ages. Fun to talk about these things anyway.
I thought ‘balls to the wall’ was in reference to ball speed governors for steam engines. The balls spin and centrifugal force makes the balls go out and this action can be used to limit a throttle.
Most fighters of the day in WWII fired .50 BMG ammunition. The average ammunition load per machine gun was 300 rounds per gun. For example, the P-51 Mustang carried 4 - .50 M1 machine guns and a total of 1260 rounds or 315 rounds per gun.
The base of the .50 BMG is .804" in diameter.
315 X .804" = 253".
253" / 12" = 21'.
So, a belt of 315 rounds of .50 BMG ammunition is actually, at minimum, 7 yards, not 9.
Calculations for .30-06, which is the other commonly used aircraft ammunition, comes up with a similarly different number than 9 yards.
Some of these are dubious. And the expression is actually STRAIT-laced, as in “strait jacket.”
1887 Webster`s Dictionary “gossip [AS, goddsibb . fr. god God + sibb related, a relation
1. archaric. a. a godparent.
b. A friend; crony.
2. An idle tattler; a newsmonger,,, “
“gossiping 1. one who gossips
2. Now Dial. a. A christening or christening feast
b. A meeting of friends...also, a merrymaking
“gossipred” [sic] “1. Hist. Spiritual relationship between sponsor and sponsored”
2. Rare. Gossip, chatter
The wax on the face was to cove the scarring of smallpox.
Heavens to Betsy
Who is Betsy and what do heavens have to do with her ?
That was fun! Thanks!