No pain, no gain... and phrases

I shall never use a workout to try to keep myself awake again. I spent way longer than I should've at the gym, and now I can't lift my arms above my head and my abs feel like someone's been sucker punching me all morning. I can even fidget in my chair without hurting right now. I'm still awake, tho. Like usual, my mind is strong and overcomes the weak body. As long as it doesn't involve some really good food.

Anyway, while trying to keep going at the gym, I was watching the TV screens and saw a lot of cliches being used on the morning news programs. I love learning out how words and phrases start, so this morning you're getting a lesson in their entymology.

----- In WW2, the gunners in bomber crews judged how nasty things got by how much ammunition they had to use. The ammo belts they used were 27 feet long. When the shit hit the fan, they used up the whole belt. Whes asked how bad the mission was, they simply said that they went through the whole nine yards.

----- A miller's job is to grind down grain into flour. They used water wheels frequently to turn the stones that would crush the grain. You make high quality flour by making it very fine, which took a good miller. A good miller could tell you how fine your flour was going to be by the smell of it. In other words, a good miller kept their nose to the grindstone.

----- English pubs used to sell beer by volume. Unlike most of Europe who used liters, they used gallons, quarts, and pints to measure liquids. Since most people didn't buy beer by the gallon, the mugs at pubs came in two sizes, quarts and pints. Since neighbors don't take too kindly to a loud pub, bartenders frequently had to settle down a crowd. The one that was used most was "Mind your pints and quarts" which shortened down to "mind your p's and q's."

Anyway, enough of the history lesson for today. I need to get some more caffeine in me, and I think coffee is the way to go. Either Starbucks or Alterra will keep me awake, I'm sure of it. Later folks...