There was quite a few comments on my yesterdays blog, so maybe a sequel is in order; but not today, though. Keep tuned in for the continuing sega of Carney and Willy Bub when they decide to go on a fishing trip together. But for today, I have a couple of other subjects I want to talk about. The first subject is paper and plastic drinking cups. Why are they tapered, you know, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom? I have and have seen a lot of glasses that have straight sides. I never had any trouble drinking from them. Well, a little reseach tells me that it is a space saving design for marketing and storing. The taperd shape allows them to be stacked (nested together) and that saves space on the display shelf and for shipping which both save money. It is like the old saying, if you want to know why something is like it is, just follow the money trail.
As you probably know, I like to try to find the origins of saying that we now use but have no idea what they originally mean. Today I am going to look into the origin of the saying that describes someone who just had their 10 minutes in the spot light and disappeared into obscurity shortly after. The phrase is "Flash in the pan". As in, he was just a flash in the pan. Now, be honest, what is the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear this phrase. I suppose for a cook it would be the ignition of a grease fire in his frying pan, but for people who have ever fired an old style flint lock rifle, another definition comes to mind.
The saying came from the gun powder in the pan that ignites (flashes) when the hammer holding the piece of flint strikes the plate creating sparks. The first thing that happens is a flash of the powder in the pan (the area holding a small amount of gun powder) which is suppose to enter through a hole in the side of the barrel and ignite the main charge of powder firing the rifle. If, for some reason like the hole being plugged with burnt powder, the gun will not fire and there will only be a flash in the pan and nothing else. OK, you all keep your powder dry and have a great day, you hear?
If you've ever found (or seen) a really old bottle, the bottom of it might be rounded... you couldn't set it down on a table. Isn't it interesting how designs evolve because of convenience... and cost.
ReplyDeleteBack when all bottles where blown, the bottoms had to be flattened by or they all would have round bottoms. Some things are for convenience but most for cost.
Deletenot familiar with that one.
ReplyDeleteIt was used quite a bit in the northeast USA.
DeleteI don't think I could have told you the original meaning of "flash in the pan" I somehow knew what meant.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea what it meant. That is why I have this big yellow and green book that has all that trivial information in it.
DeleteLearned something new...could have never guessed the origin of that phrase.
ReplyDeleteMe too, like I said, I thought it had to do with a grease fire in a frying pan.
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