Some Random Phrase Origins

Cleaning out old files from by backups on the hard drive this morning, I ran across the following. I have no recollection where it comes from, and I cannot vouch for its accuracy, but it's still interesting.

In Baltimore, in the mid 1800's there was a man who sold corpses to
the hospital for research. He stored the cadavers in cheap whiskey to
ferment them before turning them over to the researchers. He then
sold the whiskey to the medical students. Thus the term "rot gut."

It was the accepted practice in Babylonia 4,000 years ago that for a
month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his
son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer,
and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called
the "honey month" or what we know today as the "honeymoon."

Before thermometers were invented, brewers would dip a thumb or
finger into the mix to find the right temperature for adding yeast.
Too cold, and the yeast wouldn't grow. Too hot, and the yeast would
die. This thumb in the beer is where we get the phrase "rule of
thumb."

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old
England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them
to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get
the phrase "mind your P's and Q's."

After consuming a bucket or two of vibrant brew they called aul, or
ale, the Vikings would head fearlessly into battle often without
armor or even shirts. In fact, the term "berserk" means "bare shirt"
in Norse, and eventually took on the meaning of their wild battles.

In 1740 Admiral Vernon of the British fleet decided to water down the
Navy's rum. Needless to say, the sailors weren't too pleased and
called Admiral Vernon, Old Grog, after the stiff, wool grograin coats
he wore. The term "grog" soon began to mean the watered down drink
itself. When you were drunk on this grog, you were "groggy", a word
still in use today.

Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into
the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill,
they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle," is the
phrase inspired by this practice.