Why?

[Bogey]

I'm 5'7!

[Virtually Perennially]

Why?

[JesusAndYourBush]

The same way that old British houses often have very small windows, as there was a window tax at one point in history.

And there you have the origin of the phrase "daylight robbery".

[Ambient Sheep]

The same way that old British houses often have very small windows, as there was a window tax at one point in history.

And there you have the origin of the phrase "daylight robbery".

Really?  Or is that a funny?  Surely it just means the unlikelihood and/or outrageousness of a robbery in broad daylight as opposed to in a dark alleyway or something?

[Smackhead Kangaroo]

The answer to all these and moreis..


So what?

[JesusAndYourBush]

The same way that old British houses often have very small windows, as there was a window tax at one point in history.

And there you have the origin of the phrase "daylight robbery".

Really?  Or is that a funny?  Surely it just means the unlikelihood and/or outrageousness of a robbery in broad daylight as opposed to in a dark alleyway or something?

yeh, I think so.  The version of window tax that I read about was thet you were taxed on the number of windows, not the size.  That caused people to board up some of their windows so they'd have to pay less tax.  They were being robbed of their daylight - daylight robbery.

[Purple Tentacle]

Since Ambient is around at the mo, I'll ask:

WHY is the frame rate of NTSC television set at the unwieldy 29.97 fps?

[Ambient Sheep]

WHY is the frame rate of NTSC television set at the unwieldy 29.97 fps?

Oh just FUCK off.  ;-)

(I have half of my treatise written in Notepad but never finished it, must do so, really must.)

Answer to that bit: it was to squeeze the colour information into the frequency spectrum.  When US TV was monochrome, it ran at 30fps.  When they needed to put in the colour (or should that be "color" ;-) ) subcarriers, they wouldn't fit into the frequency spectrum due to some complex 3-dimensional mathematical hoo-hah that I would only just begin to pretend to understand.

The solution was to drop the frame rate ever so slightly (1 part in 1000) in order to squeeze the colour subcarrier into the bandwidth.  They've regretted it ever since they then invented timecode...but that's another story (one that shall be told one day).

[Ambient Sheep]

yeh, I think so.  The version of window tax that I read about was thet you were taxed on the number of windows, not the size.

Could well be, history is not my strong point.

That caused people to board up some of their windows so they'd have to pay less tax.  They were being robbed of their daylight - daylight robbery.

Sounds plausible enough...and then later on people like me assumed it referred to the absence of darkened alleyways during criminal acts...

[butnut]

Found this:

Window Tax
1696-1851

During the reign of William II another form of taxation came into force this was known as the "Window Tax" and would last until 1851
In 1696 there was a financial crisis created by a growing inflation caused by the many conflicts both in Ireland and on the continent. One of the forms of taxation created to help pay the debt was known as the "Window Tax.

By 1700 reforms had taken place by slashing taxes, auditing the accounts showing irregularities and finally the nine-year war had come to an end in 1697, but the "Window Tax" would stay for another fifty one years.


The tax would be paid on a house of more than six windows. Unfortunately none of these records appeared to have survived, one way for a person to bypass the tax was to brick up one or two windows over the stated six, even today on some of the older houses the bricked up windows are still there.
In 1792 houses with 7-9windows had to pay a tax of 2 shillings and those people
with property containing 10-19 windows would pay a tax of 4 shillings.
In 1825 the number of windows taxable went from six to eight windows. The Window Tax would be replaced in 1851 with a tax called House Duty.

( http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~villages/taxes.htm )

And this:

What is the origin of  the phrase daylight robbery. I understand it could be related to a historical  English "window tax".

Well, there was a "window  tax" but it is unrelated. The phrase daylight robbery is first  recorded in 1949, centuries after the "window  tax". Such earlier versions as [sheer] robbery and highway  robbery were current in the 1800s.  These terms refer to "an  excessive financial demand or cost".  Persons subject to the window  tax probably would have thought it as brazen as daylight robbery if the  term had been current then!

http://www.takeourword.com/TOW164/page2.html

I have no idea how reliable those sources are.

[Ambient Sheep]

Thanks for that butnut.  I'm amazed that it lasted until 1851, I thought it was a 16th or 17th century thang.  As would be the writer of the second piece, presumably, who thinks that window tax ended "centuries before" 1949.  :-)

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

The version of window tax that I read about was thet you were taxed on the number of windows, not the size

That's true. I know it for a fact.

(Not a scientific fact mind, and I'm not sure how much proof there is.)

[Virtually Perennially]

The answer to all these and moreis..


So what?

"So what" is an answer to a question? No it's not. Must do better (smack).

[Matthias]

Why? How?

[Morrisfan82]

Why is it that whenever someone comes out with a wacky simile that starts with "He/She/It is as mad as...", the thing that they equate the madness to is never inherently mad at all?

A box of frogs
A sponge
A bag of ferrets

are all ones I've heard people use recently, not one of them actually mad. Or zany, for that matter.

Why don't people at least put their backs into it a bit...

"He's as mad as a vertical quiz pipe"

[king mob]

Sponge's have been declared mad since the time of Queen Victoria you know, they also make a crap contraceptive.

[Uncle_Z]

Contraceptive?

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

"As mad as a hatter"

That phrase is actually consistent, as it was spawned from the hatmakers in Victorian times. The brow of the hat was lined with a circle of lead to keep it's shape, but the lead was in contact with the skin, and many descended into madness, quite infamously.

[Morrisfan82]

"As mad as a hatter"

Yeah, but that there's an established idiom. I was on about people who are wackey adn RANDOMM!!!1

I was told by a science teacher who was probably talking out of his arse anyway that 'hatters' would rub mercury into their hats to make them shiny or impervious to evil or something, and the inhalation of mercury vapours eventually made them go mad.

Your explanation makes more sense.

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

Oh, I know all about them. It's annoying watching people strain for similies and analogies because they have so little imagination, and yet equally irritating to hear people spouting brilliance without a moment's thought, and not be able to be humorous in any other manner.

Your theory about hatters makes about as much sense, so I'll plump for a combination of the two producing that effect.


The saying itself was just borne from him though.

[Virtually Perennially]

Why? How?

The mice put it there. Hang on ... That's got it.

[Hairy Chin]

<lots on window tax>

In addition to what you wrote (sorry if it explains all this in your link, I didn't follow it); I found this in the rather good book 'Schott's Original Miscellany':

Initially every house was charged 2s; properties with 10-20 windows paid 4s; and those with more than 20 windows paid 8s. These charges soon escalated, and consequently the practie of 'stopping up' became common. windows were exempt from the count if they were permanently filled with materials matching the adjacent walls. inspectors would regularly cound exposed windows and ensure any stopped windows had not 'broken out'. Over time, the tax grew more unpopular since it became increasingly iniquitous, and it deprived residents (especially those in already disadvantaged areas) of daylight.

[Ambient Sheep]

The version of window tax that I read about was thet you were taxed on the number of windows, not the size

That's true. I know it for a fact.
(Not a scientific fact mind, and I'm not sure how much proof there is.)

Note: always a good idea to read the whole thread before replying.  :-)

By the way, the "mad hatters" thing is definitely mercury, not lead, sorry.  There's some concern about the effect of the mercury in dental fillings leaching out and poisoning the brain.

[New World Order]

Why do i have to give my fingerprints to use the new club in Chelmsford, Essex?

They say its a form of identification and that its being enforced to cut down underage drinking..  But im 23, and im sorry to say I look much older......and I'd still have to give my fingerprint in order to get in, because thats their policy.  If they dont have your fingerprint and post code ( which isnt mentioned on the website, but is asked for on the door ) you arent allowed into their venue.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/3375057.stm

WHY WHY WHY? I am not a terrorist or a drug dealer, so why am I being treated like one.

[New World Order]

Why oh why have I killed this thread.

[Robot DeNiro]

Why do i have to give my fingerprints to use the new club in Chelmsford, Essex?...I am not a terrorist or a drug dealer, so why am I being treated like one.

Because wanting to go out for a night in Chelmsford, Essex is a clear sign of dangerous mental illness.  I know, I used to live there.

[Cerys]

"As mad as a hatter"

Yeah, but that there's an established idiom. I was on about people who are wackey adn RANDOMM!!!1

I was told by a science teacher who was probably talking out of his arse anyway that 'hatters' would rub mercury into their hats to make them shiny or impervious to evil or something, and the inhalation of mercury vapours eventually made them go mad.

Your explanation makes more sense.

I've always understood it to be the mercury that affected them.  The lead wouldn't make much sense, since the wearers of the hats would presumably be subjected to the same - if not more - lead poisoning than the hatters.  Plus if it was the lead it'd make more sense to say 'mad as a plumber'.  Trust your science teacher.

[gazzyk1ns]

Why don't doctors get really ill fairly often, as a result of contracting various things from their patients? Surely even if only 1 in 100 patients infected their doctor then they'd still be... well, pretty much permanently ill?

[Cerys]

Because there are varying types and degrees of contagion, and doctors are in the perfect position to build up immunities to a wide variety of different ickinesses.

[Hairy Chin]

I reckon they've got a special immunity...thing created especially for doctors and that, just so they can be all smug that we go in with all these ailments and there's no way they can catch so much as a sniffle.