Puzzle to Puzzle you
While visiting a small town in the United States. I lost my overcoat in a bus. When I reported the matter to the bus company I was asked the number of the bus. Though I did not remember the exact number, I did remember that the bus number had a certain peculiarity about it. The number plate showed the bus number was a perfect square and also if the plate was turned upside down, the number would still be a perfect square—of course it was not? I came to know from the bus company they had only five hundred buses numbered from 1 to 500. From this I was able to deduce the bus number. Can you tell what was the number? Answer
Showing posts with label Politics and Military. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics and Military. Show all posts
Why are military guards, some garden fences, and people on strike all called “pickets”?
A picket line, of course, is a group of union people exercising their right to protest, while a military picket is a guard on duty to protect the perimeter of an encampment. The word picket comes from the early French settlers, who made fortified stockades from sharpened tree trunks, which they called piquet, meaning “pointed sticks.” It lives on in the pointed slats of picket fences and in the actions of union strikers.
Labels: Politics and Military
Why do we say, “Lock and load” when preparing for the inevitable?
The expression “lock and load” comes from American G.I.s during the Second World War and refers to loading the M1 rifle for imminent combat. The phrase means to insert a full ammunition clip into the rifle, then lock the bolt forward, forcing a round into the chamber ready to fire. The original order was “load and lock,” but after John Wayne reversed the order to “lock and load” in The Sands of Iwo Jima, the expression stuck.
Labels: Politics and Military
What is the meaning of the battle cry “Give no quarter”?
In battle, to give no quarter means to take no prisoners. In this case, the word quarter has no numerical value but rather refers to the antiquated use of the word for a dwelling place or area, such as the Latin Quarter or a soldier’s living quarters or barracks. To grant or give quarter would mean to show mercy and provide prisoners with shelter. “No quarter asked and no quarter given” means this is a fight to the death.
Labels: Politics and Military
Why does “sally forth” mean to go forward with a new venture?
Today it implies less danger, but to “sally forth” was originally a military term meaning to suddenly rush forward. The Latin derivation of sally is salire, meaning “to leap.” Castles and fortresses had closely guarded openings in the walls designed for mounting a quick counterattack against a siege. These were called sally ports, from which the defenders would vigorously rush, or sally forth, into battle.
Labels: Politics and Military
What orbital advantage did Cape Canaveral have to cause NASA to choose the Florida location for its first space launches?
Cape Canaveral was chosen as a launch site not only because NASA needed the booster rockets to fall harmlessly into the ocean but also, and more importantly, because the earth moves from west to east at 910 miles an hour. This Florida location allowed them to fire a rocket to the east with an added velocity push of 17,300 miles an hour from the spinning of the earth.
Labels: Politics and Military
How did a telegram bring the United States into the First World War?
In 1917, the British intercepted a cable from the German foreign minister to their Mexican ambassador proposing an alliance whereby the Mexicans would reacquire Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico if that country would join Germany in an attack from the south on the neutral Americans. The British made the telegram public on March 1, and the outcry forced the United States into the war a month later.
Labels: Politics and Military
Why did First World War fighter pilots wear long silk scarves?
The dashing image of First World War fighter pilots wearing long silk scarves had nothing to do with fashion. The open-cockpit biplanes were very primitive with no rear-view mirror, so the pilot depended entirely on his own vision to avoid or mount an attack. The scarf was used to wipe grease from his goggles and to keep his neck from chafing against his collar as he constantly turned his head while watching for the enemy.
Labels: Politics and Military
Why is the control area of an aircraft called a “cockpit”?
When the hideous sport of cockfighting was legal, the birds were taken to a pit in the ground where they fought to the death. These fights were quick and bloody, and for this reason, the “cockpit” became the designated name of the room on a warship were surgeons attended the wounded and dying. During the First World War, pilots, like the roosters, were inserted into a confined space to do battle, and so they named that space the cockpit.
Labels: Politics and Military
Why when waking up do we say,“Rise and shine” or “Shake a leg”?
“Rise and shine” comes from a 1916 United States Marine Corps manual that instructed noncommissioned officers to enter the privates’ barracks in the early morning and use the phrase to wake the men. While rise means “get up,” shine means “make sure your boots and brass are ready for inspection.” The Royal Navy used “shake a leg” to warn any women who might be sleeping in a hammock to show a leg or suffer the embarrassment of being rousted with the men.
Labels: Politics and Military
Where does the disciplinary order “toe the line” come from?
“Toe the line” is the same as “toe the mark” and means “follow the rules or pay the consequences.” In many sports, such as foot racing, the athletes were required to stand with their toes against a scratched line to ensure a fair start. As punishment in the navy, no matter what the weather, young trainees were forced to stand for hours with their toes touching a seam on the ship’s deck, and this too was toeing the line.
Labels: Politics and Military
Why is a single-minded person said to be “zeroed in”?
Before the modern era, rifle gunsights were aligned to hit a target at a known distance. Therefore, with the guesswork removed, any adjustment from a set position would be zero. The same principle applies to artillery batteries, which adjust their fire to a fixed point or “ground zero,” a term still used with satellite- and laser-guided bombs and missiles. Like the single-minded person, they’re zeroed in.
Labels: Politics and Military
Why is someone who doesn’t live up to expectations called a “flash in the pan”?
On a pioneer flintlock rifle the hammer struck a flint to create a spark that ignited a small amount of priming powder in what was called the pan. This ignition then set off the main charge of gunpowder, causing a small explosion that fired the bullet through the barrel. When the powder in the pan didn’t ignite properly it created a flash, but the rifle wouldn’t fire. It looked good, but it was only a “flash in the pan.”
Labels: Politics and Military
Why do we say that a guilty person must “face the music”?
To “face the music” comes from the military “drumming out” ceremony for disgraced soldiers. This ritual called for only drums to accompany the dishonoured as he was stripped of his rank and colours in front of his assembled unit. For cavalrymen, this humiliation was enhanced by having the offender sit backwards on his horse so that while leaving he could still see, as well as hear, the drums and the band. He was forced to face the music.
Labels: Politics and Military
Why are foot soldiers called “infantry”?
The word soldier is from the Latin word solidus, meaning a gold coin, because it cost money to raise an army of mercenaries. The word infantry is from infant, with a Latin derivative meaning “non speaking,” because, like children, well-disciplined soldiers never talk back or challenge orders. Curiously, another use of the word soldier is in reference to an army ant, due to the fact that other than humans, ants are the only creatures on earth to go into battle in formation.
Labels: Politics and Military
Why is an all-out fight called a “pitched battle”?
One of the meanings of the word pitch is “to set things in order.” For example, when you pitch a tent, you are using a military expression for lining up the tents in rows. Unlike a skirmish or a surprise attack, a pitched battle was one in which the two sides lined up in formation facing each other until the order was given for the carnage to begin. The two disciplined sides held their ranks as they approached and then met each other in what was called a pitched battle.
Labels: Politics and Military
Why do we say “deep six” when we mean to eliminate or destroy something?
During the Watergate scandals, John Dean said that John Erlichman told him to shred some sensitive documents and then deep six the briefcase by throwing it into the river. “By the deep six” is a nautical term referring to sounding the water’s depth and means six fathoms (eleven metres or thirty-six feet). In the navy, to deep six something meant to dispose of an item by tossing it overboard into deep water where it couldn’t be found.
Labels: Politics and Military
Why doesn’t an “ovation” signify a “triumph”?
A triumph was a Roman celebration of a military victory over an enemy of the state. The victorious commander rode a chariot in a grand parade with his entire army and the booty and slaves he had won. An ovation was a less elaborate honour for a general who had won victory without bloodshed, perhaps by treaty or reason. He was denied a chariot and either walked or rode a horse during a less imposing ceremony.
Labels: Politics and Military
Why are armoured battle vehicles called “tanks”?
In ancient India, large pits were dug to collect the monsoon rains and were called tanken. In the seventeenth century the concept was brought home to Britain and was introduced in English as “tank,” a place to store water. In 1915, when the British designed a heavily armoured combat vehicle, they built them under the cover of building water tanks and shipped them to the front in crates marked “Tanks.” They were introduced at the Battle of the Somme.
Labels: Politics and Military
Why is someone who exposes political corruption called a “muckraker”?
When President Teddy Roosevelt called the reporters who exposed political and corporate corruption “muckrakers,” the term caught on and is now used to describe tabloid journalism. Muck is manure, and the word was borrowed from John Bunyons’s book Pilgrim’s Progress, wherein a man — even though he had been promised a celestial crown — constantly kept his eyes and his muck rake on the filth of the floor instead of looking only to his halo.
Labels: Politics and Military
Why do we call someone seeking political office a “candidate”?
In ancient Rome, someone seeking election would appear in public wearing a white robe to symbolize his pure character. Candidate comes from candidatus, meaning a man wearing pure white. Not fooled by the white toga, the Romans said that politicians needed to make three fortunes while in office: the first to pay back the money borrowed to buy votes, the second to bribe officials when eventually tried for misconduct, and the third for retirement.
Labels: Politics and Military
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Fantastic Facts!
1. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
2. The “sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
3. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to Suppress a sneeze; you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
4. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from History. “Spades” King David; “Clubs” Alexander the Great;” Hearts” Charlemagne; “Diamonds” Julius Caesar.
5. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987, 654,321
6. If a statue of a warrior on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle.If the horse has a all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
7. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common?Ans. All invented by women.
8. Honey is the only food that doesn’t spoil.
9. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
10. A snail can sleep for three years.