Tidbit #14 - April 9, 2011

Aren't bobbleheads peculiar? They have bobbleheads of so many different people, particularly sports players. Take all of those different bobbleheads of the Yankees or the Dodgers. Why do they make those? Where did they originate? When and why did they become so famous?

Question: Where did the bobblehead originate?


Answer: An easy-to-find answer, found on (what else?) Wikipedia.

• "The earliest known reference to a bobblehead is thought to be in Nikolai Gogol's 1842 short story 'The Overcoat,' in which the main character's head was described as 'like the necks of plaster cats which wag their heads.' The modern bobblehead appeared in the 1950s. By 1960, MLB had gotten in on the action and produced a series of paper-machié bobblehead dolls, one for each team, all with the same cherubic face." (Re: Wikipedia)
• As an added fact, bobbleheads were still available before the modern type was introduced in the '50s. In fact, there was a bobblehead created in the 1920s of a New York Knicks player.

So, what do we have as a condensed answer?

Bobbleheads are thought to have been introduced in Nikolai Gogol's 1842 short story "The Overcoat."

Tidbit #10 - April 5, 2011

"Ohh.. My head. I feel like there are people hammering my skull in. I really shouldn't have drank so much last night."

If you've ever had an overnight in Vegas, you know what that's like. Hangovers are the worst immediate pains of drinking, and many people say that it's karma getting back at you. Unfortunately, during your hangover, you're in too much pain (or too numbed by the Aspirin) that you never think about why it's called a hangover; only sober people do.

Question: Why is it called a hangover?


Answer: See, this question doesn't have any confusing etymology or disputes between what it was. That's why it was so easy to find out. Wikipedia magic, my friends.

Anyways, strictly speaking, the word hangover was used in the 19th century to describe unfinished business (i.e. something you haven't done that you hang over for later). In 1904, people began using the term to mean directly: "something left over from the night before" -- in this case, the leftover party.

So, basically, a hangover is so named because people began using the term to refer to the "leftovers" of the party-that is, the remnants of it.