Useless Saturday info
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Please keep it light hearted enol. No serious stufs hey! :)
We are trying to make the technical information more visible in the Active Topics section. So we are trying to combine all the humour posts into a single thread. This will then more or less always stay on the active topics page if you keep appending your jokes onto this single thread. Your assistance will be greatly appreciated
Please keep it light hearted enol. No serious stufs hey! :)
We are trying to make the technical information more visible in the Active Topics section. So we are trying to combine all the humour posts into a single thread. This will then more or less always stay on the active topics page if you keep appending your jokes onto this single thread. Your assistance will be greatly appreciated
- KOBUSL
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Useless Saturday info
CANNON BALLS!!! DID YOU KNOW THIS?
It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon on old war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the problem. The storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen.
Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others.
The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called, for reasons unknown, a Monkey. But if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make them of brass - hence, Brass Monkeys.
Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey.
Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. And all this time, most folks thought that was just a vulgar expression?
It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon on old war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the problem. The storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen.
Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others.
The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called, for reasons unknown, a Monkey. But if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make them of brass - hence, Brass Monkeys.
Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey.
Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. And all this time, most folks thought that was just a vulgar expression?
Word te vinnig oud en te stadig wys.
- Hoppy
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Re: Useless Saturday info
In the second world war, the 50 pound canon was one of the most popular weapons, but it had to be hand - loaded using a cradle with a gunner on either side, but when the going got rough, you could load it much faster by hand, but if you dropped the rear end of the shell to fast, the sharp end of the barrel would take your two middle fingers clean off. Once healed, you were "safe" and a faster gunner, so when you see someone again showing you a sign without two middle fingers, you know where the term "Safe my Mate" originated.
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Re: Useless Saturday info
Very interesting , I enjoyed hearing where the sayings originated from.
- jacques kotze
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Re: Useless Saturday info
Wondering where does "son-of-a-gun" originates from . . . .
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Re: Useless Saturday info
Hanks.
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- KOBUSL
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Re: Useless Saturday info
British English
It is claimed that in British naval slang this term refers to a child of questionable parentage conceived on the gun deck, hence 'son of a gun'. The term possibly predates this claimed origin, and Snopes.com lists it as being part of the English lexicon since at least 1708,[1] although British warships, such as the Mary Rose, had carried gun decks since at least the times of Henry VIII in the 16th century. It was also necessary to record in the ships papers the father of the child. As the parentage was uncertain the senior non commissioned officer "The Gunner's Mate" was ascribed as the parent. It is also claimed that the saying has its origin in the supposed practice of women travelling on board ship and giving birth on a sectioned off portion of the gun deck. For instance, Admiral William Henry Smyth wrote in his 1867 book, The Sailor's Word-Book:
"Son of a gun, an epithet conveying contempt in a slight degree, and originally applied to boys born afloat, when women were permitted to accompany their husbands to sea; one admiral declared he literally was thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage."[2]
[edit]American English
Apollo 12 Astronaut Pete Conrad said, upon seeing the Surveyor 3 just prior to touching down on the Moon: "Hey, there it is! There it is! Son of a gun, right down the middle of the road!"[citation needed]
An urban legend sometimes states that a story reported in the October 7, 1864 The American Medical Weekly about a woman impregnated by a bullet that went through a soldier's scrotum and into her abdomen was the origin of the term "son of a gun." The story about the woman was a joke written by Dr. Legrand G. Capers; some people who read the weekly failed to realize that the story was a joke and reported it as true.[3]
It is claimed that in British naval slang this term refers to a child of questionable parentage conceived on the gun deck, hence 'son of a gun'. The term possibly predates this claimed origin, and Snopes.com lists it as being part of the English lexicon since at least 1708,[1] although British warships, such as the Mary Rose, had carried gun decks since at least the times of Henry VIII in the 16th century. It was also necessary to record in the ships papers the father of the child. As the parentage was uncertain the senior non commissioned officer "The Gunner's Mate" was ascribed as the parent. It is also claimed that the saying has its origin in the supposed practice of women travelling on board ship and giving birth on a sectioned off portion of the gun deck. For instance, Admiral William Henry Smyth wrote in his 1867 book, The Sailor's Word-Book:
"Son of a gun, an epithet conveying contempt in a slight degree, and originally applied to boys born afloat, when women were permitted to accompany their husbands to sea; one admiral declared he literally was thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage."[2]
[edit]American English
Apollo 12 Astronaut Pete Conrad said, upon seeing the Surveyor 3 just prior to touching down on the Moon: "Hey, there it is! There it is! Son of a gun, right down the middle of the road!"[citation needed]
An urban legend sometimes states that a story reported in the October 7, 1864 The American Medical Weekly about a woman impregnated by a bullet that went through a soldier's scrotum and into her abdomen was the origin of the term "son of a gun." The story about the woman was a joke written by Dr. Legrand G. Capers; some people who read the weekly failed to realize that the story was a joke and reported it as true.[3]
Word te vinnig oud en te stadig wys.
- Sun Chaser
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Re: Useless Saturday info
Very interesting stuff.
About the son of a gun myth,where the bullet went thru the scrotum and impregnated the woman.I watched that one on Mythbusters, it was busted, they couldnt get any trace of seaman to stay on the bullet, so probably it was a joke.
About the son of a gun myth,where the bullet went thru the scrotum and impregnated the woman.I watched that one on Mythbusters, it was busted, they couldnt get any trace of seaman to stay on the bullet, so probably it was a joke.
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- Mud Dog
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Re: Useless Saturday info
Early aircraft's throttles had a ball on the end of it, in order to go full throttle the pilot had to push the throttle all the way forward up to the wall of the instrument panel. Hence "balls to the wall" for going very fast. And now you know the rest of the story.
During WWII , U.S. airplanes were armed with belts of bullets which they would shoot during dogfights and on strafing runs. These belts were folded into the wing compartments that fed their machine guns. These belts measure 27 feet and contained hundreds of rounds of bullets. Often times, the pilots would return from their missions having expended all of their bullets on various targets. They would say, “ I gave them the whole nine yards, ” meaning they used up all of their ammunition.
In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted.(Artists know hands and arms are more difficult to paint.) Arms and legs are 'limbs,' therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, 'Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg.' (Not sure how true that one is. )
As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year (May and October). Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool. They couldn't wash the wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term 'big wig'. Today we often use the term 'here comes the Big Wig' because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy. (This one sounds even less likely to be true, anyone that could only manage 2 baths a year would be more likely to put a loaf of bread to better use. )
During WWII , U.S. airplanes were armed with belts of bullets which they would shoot during dogfights and on strafing runs. These belts were folded into the wing compartments that fed their machine guns. These belts measure 27 feet and contained hundreds of rounds of bullets. Often times, the pilots would return from their missions having expended all of their bullets on various targets. They would say, “ I gave them the whole nine yards, ” meaning they used up all of their ammunition.
In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted.(Artists know hands and arms are more difficult to paint.) Arms and legs are 'limbs,' therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, 'Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg.' (Not sure how true that one is. )
As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year (May and October). Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool. They couldn't wash the wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term 'big wig'. Today we often use the term 'here comes the Big Wig' because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy. (This one sounds even less likely to be true, anyone that could only manage 2 baths a year would be more likely to put a loaf of bread to better use. )
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And be yourself ..... everyone else is taken!
Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers ... what you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.
Don't take life too seriously ..... no-one gets out alive.
It's not about waiting for storms to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.
And be yourself ..... everyone else is taken!
- Hangover
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Re: Useless Saturday info
Hahaha interrestant
Hangover(A.K.A die speelding)
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1976 FJ45 4x4
1UZ-FE 4.0vvti
2" OME Suspension lift
1.5" Shackle lift
35" Geo MT's
Custom Bullbar
Lockright Locked rear
York OBA
20" LED bar
Nighthawk 100W spots
Dakar
2013 3.0D-4D 4x4 Hilux Dakar