Origins
 

Have you ever wondered how some of the behaviors, habits, traditions, and phrasology we silly little humans have come to practice and utilize ever came into existence?

It was one of the reasons why I always like George Carlin. He was always coming up with those "intriguing" types of questions after visiting his Toledo Window Box. ;)

For instance....

Who was the first person to ever give somebody the middle finger? :lol:

What kind of situation were they involved in where the only reaction they could come up with was pointing their middle finger at them? Why the middle one? And I wonder what that person on the receiving end thought?

Got any more?

Re: Origins
 

Robert Wuhl hosted a show on HBO in which he gave a possible origin for the middle finger gesture. According to him, English bowmen used their middle fingers to draw and fire their longbows. Their technique was so deadly that when the French captured these bowmen, they would cut off their middle fingers to prevent them from using their bows. Word of this got around, and after defeating the French in subsequent battles, English bowmen would wave their middle fingers at the retreating French as a sign of defiance -- "I've still got it, ya lousy frog!"

Re: Origins
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_(gesture)

Re: Origins
 

Fixed that last parenthesis so the link works correctly.

I kind of suspected Wuhl's explanation was too perfect to be true -- why the loss of the middle finger have such a great effect on firing a bow?

Re: Origins
 

I want to know who came up with the idea of making coffee from beans that had been passed through the colon of weasel-like animals. And was the first person to try it drunk at the time?

I found a wikipedia link with some detail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

Re: Origins
 

I wonder how smelling salts were invented. I wonder if someone passed out once and they said "Hey, lets get some ammonia under this guys nose!"

Re: Origins
 

Has anyone ever stopped to think how silly clapping our hands looks?

Re: Origins
 

Man, there's just tons of stuff I wonder about (this is one of those topics I think about all of the time, yes, I'm weird).

Who was the first person to see a body of water (ocean, lake, river, etc)? What did they think about it? Were they scared of it? Did they touch it? Did they know before hand that they had to hold their breath, or did they think they could breathe if they were submersed in it? Did that same person ever come across hydrochloric acid? What did they think of that?

Who was the first person to realize that something as small as a scorpion could kill you?

Were "tasers" invented as the result of an accident? What was that guys childhood like?

Who was the genius that thought smearing ox musk on you would attrack women? Jovan? (got to say that with the tongue rolling accent).

Re: Origins
 

Who baked the first bread? How did they happen upon a mixture of ingredients, then happen to decide to heat it?

Re: Origins
 

Who thought it was a good idea to put a baseball team in Montreal?

Re: Origins
 

^^LOL

Who was the first one to decide to eat eggs?

What was the comic line, you want me to eat what, and it came from where! :)

Re: Origins
 

Who ate the first snail, oyster, artichoke, squid, etc.

Rem

Re: Origins
 

When was the first time Adam Dunn struck out in organized baseball? Who was the pitcher? Did the fans at that game boo Dunn back into the dugout?

When was the first time Pete Rose bet on baseball? How much did he bet?

Re: Origins
 

A cleary deranged individual. Or someone looking to play a practical joke on his or her family.

For that matter, who was the first person to eat an egg?

Re: Origins
 

Who was the first person to tell a Knock-Knock joke and why did they think it would be funny?