Origins of Everyday Things

Origins:

Are you curious about the origins of everyday things?

Of course you're not. That's why you are a Happy Woman.

Occasionally, however, you may have to entertain and these tidbits might even make you look clever! (As long as you don't write them on the palm of your hand with a laundry marker.)

Here are a few origins graciously supplied by Charles Panati:

The Hot Dog: Bet you didn't know the history of the hot dog begins 3,500 years ago with the Babylonians. No of course you didn't.

Diners: The origins of the American Diner and a smidge of Dinerese. If you have to learn another language this is probably the easiest.

Language: From the Bow wow theory to the Sing Song theory this is excerpted from Language: Sanskrit to Surnames,Panati's Browser's Book of Beginnings. You might want to have someone read and explain this one to you.

The Suburbs: If you are lucky enough to live in one, you might want to know how they got started:Levittown as Anywhere USA.

Jive Talk: Ok it's not the BeeGees type but it's still pretty interesting for all you hep cats. (If you don't know what a hep cat is then you are just not going to dig this).

Toothpaste: "The first toothpaste mentioned in recorded history was devised by Egyptian physicians about four thousand years ago." But you knew that didn't you?

Standard Shoe Sizes "Until the first decade of the fourteenth century, people in the most civilized European societies, including royalty, could not acquire shoes in standard sizes" Oh, don't even pretend you knew that.

CHARLES PANATI, a former physicist and for six years a science editor for Newsweek, is the author of many non-fiction and fiction books, including six works on "origins." He's considered the country's leading authority on the origins of just about everything.

Discover the fascinating stories behind the origins of over 500 everyday items, expressions, and customs such as Kleenex, Barbie dolls, and the Boy Scouts; Slinky, the can opener, and Mother Goose; Tupperware, nail polish, safety pins and Uncle Sam... more

To purchase these books go to amazon.com barnes and noble.com or chapters.ca