I’m in France for ten days with my history-teacher husband. On the itinerary are many places we’re both eager to see, including Lyon, some chateaux in the Loire Valley, the Bayeux tapestry, and the beaches and battle sites of Normandy.… Read More
Because decent sanitation was virtually nonexistent during the Civil War, scouts could generally find out the location of the enemy by smelling them. One Union scout remarked that “the smell simply indicated the presence of the rebel army in the… Read More
I recently had a load of cow manure delivered to my back yard by a local farmer. It wasn’t smelly or anything. It had been aged and composted and was quite beautiful to behold, if you go in for that… Read More
The cask on a ship that held the day’s supply of water was known as a scuttled butt—a cask (butt) that had a hole bored in it (scuttled) for withdrawing water. Because sailors congregated around this nautical “water cooler,” the term “scuttlebutt” became navy slang for gossip and rumors.