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Date Posted: 08:43:57 02/23/11 Wed
Author: BC
Subject: Re: "Why do we say it?" ..
In reply to: BC 's message, ""Why do we say it?" .." on 13:44:34 02/22/11 Tue

Good morning Brittany! :)
I thoroughly enjoy investigating "behind the scenes" in regards to the meanings of words and the origins of phrases!
- also found a copy of Barnhardt's "Dictionary of Etymology" which is "kinda cool"! :)

re: gemstones ...
- the color of Amethysts are beautiful aren't they?!

I like Opals
- which was the type of stone in my high school graduation ring btw ...
- that ring now lies somewhere on the bottom of a riverbed in Lewis Co., TN
While hiking with friends, we stopped to skim rocks across the "Little Buffalo River" ...
- when I flung a rock, my ring was a little loose
- both the rock and my ring simultaneously went sailin' into the air ...
across the water ...
and, down into the river ...
never to be seen again :(

speaking of "stones" ...
- specifically, the "Stone of Blarney"
found in the "B" section of "Why Do We Say It?" ...
"blarney" ...
- why are soft words and sweet words sometimes sometimes referred to as "blarney"?! :)
- according to the book ...
"In the castle of the little village of Blarney near Cork there is an inscribed stone in a position that is dificult of access - and there is a popular saying that anyone who kisses the 'Blarney Stone' will ever after possess a 'cajolin tongue' ..."
"There is, too, a legend regarding the first to ply this art..."
"In the year 1602, Cormack MacCarthy found he could no longer hold the castle of Blarney against the British and was forced to conclude an armistice by which he agreed to surrender the fort to them."
"But, though the British emissary, Carew received from MacCarthy many soft words and sweet promises, he never got the castle."

here's a link re: "The Blarney Stone"
http://www.blarneycastle.ie/pages/stone

Last edited by author: Wed February 23, 2011 15:02:21   Edited 1 time.

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Replies:

[> Re: "Why do we say it?" .. -- BC, 17:48:37 02/24/11 Thu

- found under "C" ...
- what is the reason a person who divulges a secret is sometimes said to have let the "cat out of the bag"? ...

"... because it was once the custom for farmers to bring a young 'piglet' to market in a bag..."
"Sometimes, however, a farmer would substitute a cat for the pig..."
"If the townsman was foolish enough to buy this 'pig in a poke' without looking inside, he was cheated out of his money..."
"But, if someone 'let the cat out of the bag'...
"the deceit was then discovered."

Last edited by author: Thu February 24, 2011 17:50:19   Edited 1 time.

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