Now You Know, Volume 4. Doug Lennox

for freedom from prison called “bail”?

      A bailiff is a sheriff’s deputy, a subordinate magistrate with jurisdiction over a strictly defined area. He or she has responsibility over the custody and administration of prisoners. To the early English, bailiff meant “village” and derived from bail, which described the palisade or wall around a community or castle. Bailey came to mean any wall enclosing an outer court, and because the Central Criminal Court in London stood within the ancient bailey of the city wall, it took the name Old Bailey. Monetary bail for restricted freedom is simply a reference to the bailiff’s office.

      Bail, the root for bailiff, originally meant a “horizontal piece of wood affixed to two stakes,” as in the case of the wicket in the game of cricket.

       Why is support paid by one former spouse to another called “alimony”?

      The court often orders the chief provider of a divorcing couple to pay an allowance to the other. This sum of money is called alimony because it literally keeps the recipient alive. In Latin alimony means “nourishment” or “sustenance.”

      The term palimony was coined in 1979 to apply to the separation of film star Lee Marvin (1924–1987) from a long-time live-in lover. Palimony applies the same rules to an unmarried couple who have coexisted equally and contributed to the couple’s success.

       Why is land called “real estate”?

      Real estate is a piece of land that includes the air above it, the ground below it, and any buildings or structures on it. The term was first used in 1666 England. In 1670 the word realty surfaced to mean the same thing. Real means “actual” or “genuine,” and estate, of course, means “property.” Real estate became a legal term to identify a royal grant of estate land from the king of England.

      In England a real-estate broker or realtor is called a land agent.

       ODDS & ODDITIES

      The odds of being the victim of a serious crime in one’s lifetime are 20 to 1.

      The odds of being murdered are 18,000 to 1, with the chance of being the victim of a sharp or blunt instrument being six times greater than from a gun for which the odds against that occurring are 325 to 1.

      The chance of dying from an assault of any kind is 1 in 16,421.

      The odds of getting away with murder are 2 to 1.

       Why are private detectives called “gumshoes”?

      Around the beginning of the twentieth century a popular casual shoe was manufactured with a sole made of gum rubber. They were very quiet and were favoured by thieves who used them during burglaries and other crimes and consequently became required footwear for the detectives hunting them down. The term gumshoe stuck with private detectives as it aptly described the stealthy and secretive nature of their work.

       Why are informers called “whistle-blowers”?

      A whistle-blower is an insider who secretly reveals nefarious or scandalous wrongdoing by an organization or a government. The reference is, of course, to a referee or umpire who calls a foul during a sporting event. It was introduced to our vernacular in 1953 by the American writer Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) in his Philip Marlowe detective novel The Long Goodbye.

      The most famous whistle-blower of the twentieth century was Deep Throat, who revealed the criminal inner workings of the administration of President Richard Nixon (1913–1994) during the Watergate break-in affair. In 2005 the identity of Deep Throat was finally made public. He was W. Mark Felt (1913– ), the former assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation during Nixon’s presidency.

       Why do we threaten to read the “riot act” to discipline children?

      In law a riot is “a violent disturbance of the public peace by twelve or more persons assembled for a common purpose” and may be committed in private as well as public places. The Riot Act, which carried real weight and is the one we still refer to in the expression, became law in England in 1714. It authorized the death penalty for those who failed to disperse after the act had been formally read to those assembled. Thankfully, there have been modern revisions to that act, though the consequences to those who disobey the order to disband can still be severe. Children beware!

       What is the unique story behind the Victoria Cross?

      The United Kingdom’s Queen Victoria created the Victoria Cross in 1856 to recognize individual acts of gallantry by soldiers and sailors of the British Empire. The new medal came on the heels of, and was inspired by, the heroics of the Crimean War fought by Britain, France, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire against Russia between 1854 and 1856. To this day each Victoria Cross is forged from the melted-down metal of Russian cannon captured during the Crimean War. Unlike some other British medals, the Victoria Cross can be awarded to any member of the military regardless of rank. To date, at the time of this writing, 1,355 people have received the medal.

       Who were the first and last Canadian recipients of the Victoria Cross?

      On August 9, 1945, navy pilot Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray became the ninety-fourth, and last, Canadian to win the Victoria Cross. He was awarded the medal posthumously for bravery during an attack on a Japanese destroyer on the final day of World War II. The first Canadian to receive the medal was Lieutenant Alexander Roberts Dunn, who won his for bravery during the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854 at the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War.

      Canada’s last living Victoria Cross recipient was Ernest Alvia “Smokey” Smith, who died at his home in Vancouver in August 2005. Smith, who won his medal in Italy in October 1944, single-handedly saved his company from a German counterattack by three tanks, two self-propelled guns, and thirty infantrymen.

       Why is someone of key importance to a team leader called a “right-hand man”?

      The term right-hand man refers to someone indispensable to the person in charge and derives from the military. Today, when soldiers line up on a parade square, they are copying the alignment employed when armies used to face, then approach, each other in lines for mortal or pitched combat. The tallest or “right-marker” is the first called into position, and all others line up in a sequence of diminishing height to his left. The right-marker is the anchor and reference for all verbal commands off whom the other soldiers react both on the parade square and during battle.

      A line of soldiers is called a “pitch.”

       Why, when we want someone to hurry, do we say “on the double”?

      In civilian life “on the double” means to do something in a hurry. In the military, where the expression originated, it is usually a clear command most commonly barked by a drill sergeant ordering his men to do a task “on the double,” meaning to “stop walking and start running.” Just as bugles were used to relay drills to soldiers in the field, drums were utilized on ships to summon sailors to their battle stations. Double was an early reference to increase the drumbeat appropriately to convey urgency to all hands.

       What is a “Mexican standoff”?

      The classical Mexican standoff occurs when three people level guns at one another in such a way that if one gunman shoots a member of the trio the person not being shot at will in all likelihood kill the first shooter. In other words, a stalemate