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[hercules]

excellent

[rikki_essex]

 

[Vamps]

Very good, I was aware of some of them, always interesting the 'old sayings'....

[Iain]

You have all heard the saying 'Daylight robbery'     well that stems from back in the day your house was taxed by how many windows it had so, if you had a lot of windows, you paid a lot of tax..

Then people started to board up or brick up there windows to pay less tax and in return robbed themselves of daylight

 

[Darth Loo-knee]

The saying "Up to scratch" A phrase used in pugilists' fights. A line was scratched on the ground to which the contestants had to put their forward foot before the fight could begin 

[hotel21]

Theres lots to do with guns, in this modern society which now hates them wth a passion.

Going off half cocked? -- In flintlock pistol days, it took more effort to pull the mainspring back to full cock and ensure a better fire than pulling it back halfway where a misfire was more lokely - going off half cocked.....

Could make your effort a flash in the pan - The priming powder was in a 'pan' that accepted the spark gererated by the firing mechanism if it performed correctly.  If you were careless in priming the weapon, it became a 'flash in the pan' without a bullet being expended.

If you were careless and let moisture get into your priming powder, it became damp and would not fire.  The Zullu's would have you and you would be too late to learn the lesson of keeping your powder dry...

Before said Zulu's (or other heathen of the accepted day) made their charge, you had to load your weapon.

Bullets, before the current lead/copper/brass/whatever crop were made in waxed paper whereby the bullet and charge were contained within.  If the said Zulu charge was inevetable, you had to take your paper 'bullet' and bite off the lead and paper part and force it down the barrel after pouring the powder charge down - bite the bullet time....

There are a few more, just cant remember them offhand....

[zvi]

Excellent 

[jerry]

Theres lots to do with guns, in this modern society which now hates them wth a passion.

Going off half cocked? -- In flintlock pistol days, it took more effort to pull the mainspring back to full cock and ensure a better fire than pulling it back halfway where a misfire was more lokely - going off half cocked.....

Could make your effort a flash in the pan - The priming powder was in a 'pan' that accepted the spark gererated by the firing mechanism if it performed correctly.  If you were careless in priming the weapon, it became a 'flash in the pan' without a bullet being expended.

If you were careless and let moisture get into your priming powder, it became damp and would not fire.  The Zullu's would have you and you would be too late to learn the lesson of keeping your powder dry...

Before said Zulu's (or other heathen of the accepted day) made their charge, you had to load your weapon.

Bullets, before the current lead/copper/brass/whatever crop were made in waxed paper whereby the bullet and charge were contained within.  If the said Zulu charge was inevetable, you had to take your paper 'bullet' and bite off the lead and paper part and force it down the barrel after pouring the powder charge down - bite the bullet time....

There are a few more, just cant remember them offhand....

seem to recall that the origin of the phrase "the whole 9 yards" related to length of machine gun belts that fed guns in US planes in WW2. Certainly appears an American phrase, although I also heard that this was rubbish as the phrase didnt become popular until 1960s :-/-though it is still supposedly derived from a military useage (Vietnam conflict?). Like Qi on here somedays isnt it? Methinks Id be Allen Davies though

[iggy21uk]

Great addions

Thanks - Live & Learn