The Origin of Everyday

Sunday

“Sub rosa” means “under the rose” and means in confidence or secret. It relates to a story in Greek mythology where Harpcrates, the god of silence, was given a rose by Cupid so that he would not reveal certain indiscretions committed by Venus.

Monday

“R.I.P.” is “Requiescat In Pace”, which roughly translates to “May he/she begin to rest in peace.” It is originally more of a request to a higher power for the care of the deceased’s soul than a declaration that the body is at rest.

Tuesday

“Sui generis” means “of its own class” and means something unique.

Wednesday

“Tabula rasa” means “scraped tablet” or “clean slate” and often describes the human mind before being shaped by experience, learning, and influence. It can also refer to a project which can go in any direction, being unfettered to preconceived notions.

Thursday

“In loco parentis” means in “in place of the parents” and refers to someone assuming duties usually reserved for a parent, typically regarding supervision or care.

Friday

“In vitro” means “in glass” and refers to anything in laboratory conditions (such as in glass test tubes) rather than in a human, animal, or natural setting.

Saturday

“Subpoena” means “under penalty” and refers to things you must produce in a legal matter with a penalty if you don’t. “Subpoena duces tecum” is typically for documents and tangible items, while “subpoena ad testificandium” is for your own testimony in a matter.

This week’s facts cover several fun, specialized, older, and lesser-used units of measurement.

Sunday

The British and Irish sometimes give human body weights in “stones.” One stone = 14 lbs., or 6.35 kg.

Monday

The length of a “league” varied widely in Europe, but was generally a distance of 3 miles in English-speaking nations. This unit famously appears in the title of the Jules Verne adventure novel “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” but the deepest known point anywhere in the world’s oceans (in the Mariana Trench) is “only” about 2.27 leagues down.

Tuesday

Horse heights are traditionally measured in “hands”, a unit based on the average width of the human hand and equal to 4 inches.

Wednesday

“Fathom” is a traditional unit for water depth, and is equal to 6 feet, or 1.83 meters.

Thursday

A “jiffy” is quick, but how quick depends on your field. For physicists, it is how long light takes to travel a millionth of a millionth of a millimeter. In 1 second, there are about 300 thousand billion billion jiffies. In electrical terms, it is one cycle of an alternating current. The US uses 60Hz, where a jiffy would be 1/60 of a second, or 1/50 in other parts of the world. In the computer world, a jiffy is 1/10 of a second. But in any event, if you’ve ever said you’ll be “back in a jiffy,” you were probably lying.

Friday

“Morgen” is German and Dutch for “morning”, so equaled the amount of land that one man behind one ox could till in the morning. This approximate unit was used in early New England and was an official unit in South Africa until the 1970s.

Saturday

A “bushel” is a unit of dry capacity equal to 32 dry quarts. Want more? There are four pecks in a bushel, and two bushels is called a “strike.”

Sunday

Reflective “mirrors” of polished obsidian go back about 8,000 years to Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), but the now-familiar mirror, first made of glass with a layer of silver applied to it, was first developed by German chemist Justus von Liebig in 1835.

Monday

The term “smoke and mirrors” to refer to illusion and manipulated appearances only goes back to the 1970s, when political reporter and author Jimmy Breslin described “blue smoke and mirrors” in the perception of political power when writing on the Watergate affair.

Tuesday

Centuries before they were a carnival staple, the original “hall of mirrors” was built in France’s Palace of Versailles. At a time when mirrors were extremely expensive, the 357 mirrors placed in that room were one way King Louis XIV showed off his wealth and opulence.

Wednesday

Race car driver Ray Harroun was the first to put a rear view mirror on his car in 1911, but he claimed that he got the idea from seeing one on a horse-drawn buggy years before. His adaptation spurred this addition on other vehicles, which was marketed as a “cop-spotter” decades before the invention of the radar detector.

Thursday

In Lewis Carroll’s time, a mirror was also called a “looking glass,” hence the title “Through the Looking Glass,” his sequel book to “Alice in Wonderland.”

Friday

There always seems to be a one-way mirror in Hollywood portrayals of a crime suspect being questioned by police (often while a “good cop, bad cop” routine is also playing out). One-way mirrors are like regular mirrors, but with an especially thin layer of reflective surface, and are also known as “half-silvered mirrors.” These mirrors would be far less effective at being “one way” if not for big differences in lighting between the sides. The room intended to be reflected is kept bright, the room intended to stay hidden is more dark, so that most of the light reflected in the first place only comes from one side, where the suspect is usually being grilled.

Saturday

Mirrors aren’t just for light. Acoustic mirrors, usually in the shape of a bowl or parabola, were used in the 20th century to focus and transmit the sound of approaching enemy aircraft before the development of radar. Similar sound-focusing devices, sometimes called “whispering dishes” can still be found at museums, playgrounds, and sporting events.