Why do Clocks run clockwise? Read Online Free PDF Page A

tankard, or drinking cup, while “Boedel” meant property or house WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 15

    hold stuff. By the eighteenth century, “kit” had become a synonym for tool kit. For example, the knapsacks carried by soldiers that held their eating utensils and nonmilitary necessities were often called
    “kits.” “Boodle” became slang for money, especially tainted money.
    By the nineteenth century, “caboodle” had taken on connotations of crowds, or large numbers.
    Yet the slurring of meanings occurred even before the two terms became inseparable. The Oxford English Dictionary quotes from Shelley’s 1785 Oedipus Tyrannus , “I’ll sell you in a lump the whole kit of them.” In this context, “caboodle” would seem more appropriate than “kit.”
    By the mid-nineteenth century, “kit” had found many companion words in expressions that meant essentially the same thing: “kit and biling”; “whole kit and tuck”; “whole kit and boodle” and “whole kit and caboodle” were all used to mean “a whole lot” or “everything and everyone.” The Dictionary of Americanisms cities a 1948 Ohio State Journal that stated: “The whole caboodle will act upon the recommendation of the Ohio Sun .”
    16 / DAVID FELDMAN

    The expression “kit and caboodle” was popularized in the United States during the Civil War. The slang term was equally popular among the Blue and the Gray. Although the expression isn’t as popular as it used to be, it’s comforting to know that old-fashioned slang made no more sense than the modern variety.
    What Is the Purpose of the Ball on Top of a Flagpole?
    We were asked this Imponderable on a television talk show in Los Angeles. Frankly, we were stumped. “Perhaps they were installed to make the jobs of flagpole sitters more difficult,” we ventured. “Or to make flagpole sitting more enjoyable,” countered host Tom Snyder.
    By turns frustrated by our ignorance and outwitted by Mr. Snyder, we resolved to find the solution.
    According to Dr. Whitney Smith, executive director of the Flag Research Center in Winchester, Massachusetts, the ball may occasionally be combined with a mechanism involved with the halyards that raise and lower a flag, but this juxtaposition is only coincidental.
    Much to our surprise, we learned that the ball on top of a flagpole is purely decorative.
    Actually, the earliest flaglike objects were emblems—an animal or other carved figure—placed atop a pole. Ribbons beneath these insignia served as decoration. According to Dr. Smith, the importance of the two was later reversed so that the design of the flag on a piece of cloth (replacing the ribbons) conveyed the message while the finial of the pole became ornamental, either in the form of a sphere or, as the most common alternatives, a spear or (especially in the United States) an eagle.
    George F. Cahill, of the National Flag Foundation, believes that a pole just isn’t as pleasing to the eye without something on top.
    Spears don’t look good on stationary poles, and eagles, while visually appealing, are more expensive than balls or spears. Cahill adds another advantage of the ball: “On poles that are car WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 17

    ried, a spear can be a hazard, not only to individuals, but to wood-work and plaster, and eagles are cumbersome and easily breakable.
    So, the ball gives the pole a safe and rather attractive topping and finish.”
    We speculated that perhaps birds were less likely to perch on a sphere than a flat surface, thus saving the flag from a less welcome form of decoration. But Cahill assures us that birds love to perch on flagpole balls.
    We may never have thought of these balls as aesthetic objects, but objets d’art they are.
    Why Does Wayne Gretzky Wear a Ripped Uniform?
    Hockey players don’t tend to make as much money as, say, top basketball players, but surely the biggest star in hockey can afford an unmangled uniform. Can’t he?
    Actually,