oooo...BARU AKU TAU...!!! (WORD MYTHS)

....Hmmm.....

Entry kali nie pasal mitos asal usul perkataan yang selalu kita guna. enjoy....

No.10 - Break a leg

This is what actors say to each other before performances to wish each other luck. Doesn’t sound like much good luck if you break a leg, right?

Well, the most common theory, and one of the most popular word myths around, is that the leg (the crank that was used to raise and lower the curtain) would break if the performance was so good that it called for multiple raisings and lowerings of the curtain for the encores. This is false. The true origin of the term comes from the Hebrew blessing “hatzlakha u-brakha,” which means “success and blessing.” This phrase sounded like “break a leg” in German, and Germans then brought the phrase to America.

No.9 - Kangaroo

Word myths often come with great stories, such as this one: When Captain Cook traveled to Australia a few hundred years ago, he saw funny looking animals jumping around and asked the Aborigines what the animal was called. He heard what sounded like “kangaroo.” He later asked another group of Aborigines and heard “kangaroo” once again. So, he named the animal the kangaroo. Later on, other settlers discovered that "kangaroo" actually meant “I don’t understand you.” So, the Aborigines were not giving the name of the animal; they were actually saying “I don’t understand you.”

Well, this theory stood for the next few hundred years until 1970, when a scholar finally found the original Aboriginal tribe and discovered that the animal name was, in fact, kangaroo.

No.8 - Rule of thumb

A rule of thumb is a something you learn through experience. The commonly held belief is that the expression comes from old England, where you were legally able to beat your wife with a stick -- just as long as the stick was not any wider than your thumb. This is completely false. The expression simply comes from people using the top joint of their thumb as a make-shift ruler for measuring out an approximate inch. Creating word myths to condone something so barbaric is truly a bastardization of the language.

No.7 - SOS

SOS is the universal distress code in Morse code. It is three short stops followed by three long stops and three short stops once again, and it looks like this: ...---...

It spells out SOS, so people believe that it stands for “save our ship” or “save our souls,” but in all actuality, it stands for nothing. The Germans came up with the code as it sounded very different from normal messages and it was also easy to remember.

No.6 - R.I.P.

R.I.P. is commonly believed to stand for “Rest in Peace,” but in actuality the initials stand for requiescat in pace, which is Latin for: “May he (or she) rest in peace.” It’s just a coincidence that the English translation also has the same initials.

No.5 - Golf

Many a married man enjoys golf as a means for getting away from his wife, which is the reason why many golf clubs ban women. This has created the theory that the word “golf” is actually an acronym for “Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden.” This, of course, is a completely false word myth. Golf actually comes from the Scottish word “gowf,” which means a “blow with an open hand” -- similar to a golf club striking a ball.

No.4 - Hooker

Many people believe that hookers got their name from General Fighting Joe Hooker, who made sure that there were plenty of prostitutes around to keep his men happy during the U.S. Civil War. As a result, people started calling these women “hookers.” The problem with this theory is that the women were already called hookers long before Hooker’s time. In old England, thieves would steal things from open windows using hooks and were therefore called hookers; because the women of the night were also good at “hooking” their men in, they were also called hookers.

No.3 - 420

This is the (in)famous time of the day or the time of the year (20th of April) when all the pot smokers of the world light up a joint or a pipe to celebrate. Just what they are celebrating is, of course, lost in the cloud of marijuana smoke. Ask any of the 420ers what they are celebrating and you will hear: “420 is the number of chemical compounds in marijuana”; “420 is the penal code for marijuana use in California”; “420 is the day that Hitler died, Bob Marley was born, etc.”

In actuality, 4:20 is the time of day that a couple of students at San Rafael High School in California would gather by the statue of Louis Pasteur to smoke pot back in 1971.

No.2 - OK

You certainly use this term all the time, but do you have any idea what it stands for? The most common theories are that it stands for “Oll Korrect,” where President Andrew Jackson was a bad speller and would abbreviate “All Correct” on papers as OK, thinking it was spelled that way. Another theory is that it stands for “zero killed” from the first World War. It actually comes from the O.K. Club, who were supporters of the Democratic president Martin Van Buren’s 1840 re-election bid. Their club was called “Old Kinderhook,” which was shortened to the “O.K. Club.” They chanted that “O.K. is all right, all correct.” And that’s how OK made it to the mainstream.

And finally, the queen of all word myths:

No.1 - F**k

The “F” word is one of the most useful words in the English language and it also has one of the most commonly mistaken origins. Many people think that in old England, in order to control population growth, the king issued an order that required couples to have his permission to fornicate. Once a couple received permission, they would hang a sign on their door with the letters F.U.C.K., which was an acronym for “Fornication Under Consent of the King,” then they would go at it. This is completely false, as people never had to get permission from the king to have _____.

Another theory is that criminals convicted of ______crimes were forced to wear signs on their clothing with the letters F.U.C.K., which was an acronym for “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.”

As it turns out, acronyms didn’t even exist before the 20th century, so you can pretty much dismiss any acronym theory you ever hear. The “F” word simply comes from the German word ficken/fucken, which means to “strike.”

There you go, another couple mysteries solved by your trusty HotForWords.

Even with these word origin myths, there are many more fun word origins to discover, such as that of the word "heroin," which was actually a brand name for a children’s cough syrup. And "lesbian" actually comes from an island called Lesbos, where a Greek poet once wrote about womanly love.

- source ASKMEN.COM

OUT OF MY MIND kalau orang main sebut je certain-certain perkataan tanpa mengetahui makna dan impak kat seseorang tu....Perkataan yang aku benci sangat nak dengar "TAU TAK PE"....waaa...rasa mau tampar muka orang itu. Perkataan fuck takda la sadis kan bila dah tau asal usul nya....;p