Did you know the term Honky Dory refers to a Japanese port used in WWII that was - under the circumstances at the time the safest port in the entire world?
It's true, the port in Yokosuka Japan, was called Honcho-Dori (Japanese meaning "main street"). After the intial U.S. bombing of the town they created a Japanese base for the entirety of the war. When Japan surrendered they continued to occupy and to this day it is the U.S. Naval base for their '7 th fleet'.
This port is where they have several nuclearsubmarines and the George WashingtonNuclear Powered SUPER carrier. I can't with any authority tell you if this is as cool as the carrier from the Avengers.. but it's up there enough that the town of Yokosuka has an annual nuclear attack drill - just in case! The sailors on base refuse to participate in this drill because they insist there is no danger of radiation exposure.
So just in case you missed the irony:
A U.S. naval base which is the founding home of the term Honky Dory is parking their nuclear transport on foreign soil and
insisting everything is
A-OK to the residents who are NOT feeling honky dory...
A-OK... theres another one. It was used duringNASA's first manned flight into space. Astronaut Alan Shepardused it in communications with Houston. He threw the A in his OK response to cut through the static of transmission.
The gesture for A-OK is the American Hand sign for the number nine... and with a slight twist at the wrist also the sign for rectum or ass hole...a simple adjustment. Dangerous territory I say play it safe and do not flash the OK sign around just anywhere..
In Turkey, Venuzuela, Mexico, North Africa, Western Asia and Brazil.. it's an insult - like flipping the bird is here.
So next time you're stuck in traffic beware that the old lady honking her horn behind you may actually not really mean "A-OK!"
Thumbs up is a gesture indicating 'good' almost universally.. except in India.. if you wag it - it means not so good.
It may also be one of the most ancientgestures to have evolved the least.
Remember in the movie Gladiator? when Joaquin's emperor held the fate of the rings gladiator in his oh so pompous hand?.. thumbs up the gladiator lived to fight another day... thumbs down and he was executed on the spot.
The only thing that could over-ride the emperor'sRULE OF THUMB was a plea from the audience thumbs up or down.
Ah the rule of thumb.. yet another common phrase.
Not necessarily referring to the 'permission to beat your wife' rule that it is often attributed to during lively conversations at the pub.
It was also a way brewers used to check the temperature of a batch of brew before thermometers and hygiene police.
*thumbs nose*
...and in other news.. today is the anniversary of not only Wicked and her fine man Wizard but also the day
Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the 1937 Act of Neutrality which was intended to keep the U.S. of A out of the war rumbling across Europe at the time.
Isn't it amazing how things spin around into themselves some times?
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