TIL

[dodint]

Doublewide trailers have two titles.

[dodint]

Bob Ross did three paintings each show. One before the show, a second during the TV shoot, and a third more detailed version that was scanned for a book.

The partners in his company kept them all and made no effort to preserve them. The Smithsonian asked if they could preserve a few and were granted access.

[PFiDC]

Bob Ross did three paintings each show. One before the show, a second during the TV shoot, and a third more detailed version that was scanned for a book.

The partners in his company kept them all and made no effort to preserve them. The Smithsonian asked if they could preserve a few and were granted access.

I watch The Joy of Painting every night before bed. The man was a treasure.

[dodint]

That's what sent me down that rabbit hole; my wife comes to bed, turns on Pluto, goes right to the Bob Ross channel.

[tifosi77]

Once a month we would gather at my uncle's house for a big family dinner. He would often fire up whatever episode of JOP was on, and paint along with him in real time while the family watched. It was actually quite fun, even though it was a literal exercise in watching paint dry.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

this fact genuinely upsets me. I hate it so much

[dodint]

I literally just tilted my head like a confused dog.

Saving grace there is it's "a" plural of beef, not 'the' plural of beef. So if someone goes full "acktuallllyyyyy" on you someday you can stop them in their tracks.

[Shyster]

Blame the French, because that's where "beef" originally comes from. Centuries ago it would have been used to refer to both the animal and the meat; hence the need for a plural. Today, it's only used for the meat, which makes the plural form rather obsolete.

Most of our animal words have a split for referring to the meat versus the animal itself. The names for animals (cow, pig, sheep) mostly come from Anglo-Saxon/Old English/Middle English because that was the language of the peasants who raised them. The name for the meat (beef, pork, mutton) comes from the Norman French that was the language of the nobility who ate those animals. The Norman Conquest of 1066 made Norman French the language of the nobility, and that was the case for several centuries. Henry IV is considered the first king to have spoken English as his first language, and he ruled 300 years later.

This English/French duplication also explains some of the obsolete verbiage that appears in legal writing. Couplet phrases like "goods and chattels," "peace and quiet, and "will and testament" exist because lawyers wanted to ensure that all speakers would understand. In each couplet, the first word derives from Anglo-Saxon, and the second from Norman French. Both words mean the same thing.

[dodint]

I always took "will and testament' to be 'state of mind and the expression of same'.

Neat.

[shafnutz05]

Yup, couplet phrases is a great piece of trivia.