Now You Know, Volume 4. Doug Lennox

Spanish word for a “hunting lace” or a rope was lazo, which gave cowboys the lasso.

      “Laced mutton” was an old expression for a prostitute.

       Why do we call women’s underwear “bloomers”?

      In the mid-nineteenth century, Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller (1822–1911) revolutionized women’s wear by designing and wearing a clothing style that did away with voluminous dresses and tightly laced corsets. She suggested that women wear a jacket and knee-length skirt over a pair of trousers tucked into boots. The cause was taken up by magazine editor and feminist Amelia Jenks Bloomer (1818–1894) and was given a boost by the new pastime of bicycling. There was a lot of resistance before the new dress became acceptable and took the name of its most visible advocate, Amelia Bloomer.

      Bloomers soon became applied to just the trousers and eventually to any sort of long underwear.

       Why is a light, short overcoat called a “jacket”?

      A short coat is called a jacket for the same reason that Jack is used generically to mean any male stranger (“hit the road, Jack”). It was the French who began using Jacques this way as a reference to any common or unsophisticated male. The word took on the meaning of a peasant or ordinary man’s outerwear in France and spread throughout Europe, arriving in England as jacket during the thirteenth century.

      As a nickname for John, Jack is used as an endearment like “buddy” or “mate” and has been since the days of Middle English. During this same time, Dicken became popular as the original nickname for Richard until it evolved into Dick, while Robin was an endearment for Robert before it became Rob.

       Why do we say that someone well dressed wore his or her best “bib and tucker”?

      In the seventeenth century, bibs were introduced to protect men’s clothing from the consequences of their own bad table manners. Women did the same, but their bibs were fancier and were made of lace or muslin with frills to frame their faces. Because these bibs were tucked into the tops of low-cut dresses, they were called tuckers. On special occasions both men and women brought their own bibs and tuckers to the banquet and, just like their clothing, these made a fashion statement.

       How did the bowler hat become an English icon?

      The caricature of an Englishman used to include an umbrella, a briefcase, and a bowler hat. Although this is an outdated image, it still recalls a class system that defines the British character. The first bowler was designed in the mid-1800s by London hatters James and George Lock as a protective riding hat for Thomas William Coke. The headgear became synonymous with property owners and consequently the gentry or well-to-do. The hat got its name from Thomas and William Bowler, the hat-makers who produced Coke’s prototype.

      Americans call this hat a derby, probably because it was so prevalent within the wealthy compound at major horse races.

      Winston Churchill (1874–1965) was one of the last of his generation to make the bowler high fashion.

      London’s trademark black high-roofed taxicabs were designed so that gentlemen wouldn’t have to remove their bowlers.

       Why is a type of woman’s underwear called a “G-string”?

      Although our prehistoric ancestors wore leather loincloths that have been excavated from more than 7,000 years ago, underwear as we know it didn’t become “normal” until the thirteenth century when it was tied at the waist and knees. The ancient Greeks didn’t wear underwear, though their slaves sported a kind of loincloth. The G in G-string stands for “groin” and was first used to describe the loincloths worn by North American Natives. As women’s wear, G-strings first appeared in the 1930s when they were the exclusive attire of strippers.

       Why is a lie or a deception called a “falsehood”?

      A falsehood is a lie or a distortion of the truth and derives from a time before men wore hats. They used hoods to cover their heads from the elements, and these hoods were designed with fur or something else to indicate an individual’s rank within the community. If a con man wished to deceive you, he put on a hood designed to be worn by a person of substance such as a doctor or a lawyer. This tactic enabled him to gain enough trust to set up an illegal scam. The con man did this by wearing a “false hood.”

       Why do we say someone has been “fired” when he or she is forced out of a job?

      Being fired is usually unpleasant, and even though it’s sometimes a disguised blessing, it never reaches the cruelty of its medieval Celtic origins. If a clan leader wanted to get rid of a petty criminal without killing him, or if someone was found guilty of stealing from his employer, especially from the mines, he was taken to his home along with all his tools and placed inside after which the house was “fired” or set on fire. If he escaped, he was banished from the clan.

       Why is a useless conclusion to an argument called “moot”?

      If, after an argument, it is concluded that the point made is irrelevant, it’s called moot. Moot is an Old English word that means “an assembly of the people for making judicial or political decisions.” That’s how the word took on the meaning of a discussion or a debate. By the sixteenth century, moot had developed the specific meaning within the legal profession of a “hypothetical discussion on a legal point as an intellectual exercise.”

      Just as arguments at an original moot or town meeting were of little consequence, the conclusions of an academic exercise among lawyers carries no weight in the real world and so it, too, is irrelevant or moot.

       What is “trial by combat”?

      Today “trial by combat” is generally used as a reference to lessons learned through experience, such as a soldier who has seen action, but the term was, in fact, from a legitimate legal process also known as “judicial combat.” In medieval Christian cultures it was agreed that God decided the outcome of trials, a belief that rooted such proceedings in the legal theory of “ordeals”: torture tests that God would see you through if you were innocent.

      Trial by combat was practised by the nobility and by military courts under the guise of chivalry while commoners were tried by ordeal. The court determined a just outcome by sentencing the plaintiff and defendant to a trial by combat, a legal fight, often to the death, with the survivor or victor to be chosen by God. Trial by combat, or judicial combat, was usually the settlement of one man’s word against that of another. Most of these duels were fought over a question of honour and were most frequently performed in France up until the late sixteenth century.

      In 1833, twenty-three-year-old John Wilson killed nineteen-year-old Robert Lyon of Perth, Ontario, in what was the last recorded mortal duel in Canada. Wilson later became a judge in the Ontario Supreme Court.

       Why do we sometimes say “fork it over” in place of “hand it over”?

      The expression “fork it over” has a connotation of urgency to it and is often used dramatically during a criminal holdup. In fact, the expression does have origins in a long-forgotten underworld. Of course, the phrase can also be employed with humour when asking for a financial payment for goods or services rendered or for the repayment of a loan. The “fork” in question is a reference to “fingers,” which were the original dinner forks, especially for thieves