How did Bugs Bunny get his name?

One time in 1940, Warner Bros. demanded from its illustrators to sketch a "tall, lanky, mean rabbit" for a cartoon titled "Hare-um Scare-um". Someone in the office mistakenly labeled one of the submission from a cartoonist as "Bugs Bunny" instead of Bugs Hardaway.

The sketches made by Hardaway, however, were not used but the words that labeled them were given to the rabbit star of the 1940 cartoon "A Wild Hare". From then on, "Bugs Bunny" was introduced and became popular.

How did Mickey Mouse get his name?

The original name of Mickey Mouse was Mortimer. He was a cartoon mouse character in the historic 1928 cartoon "Plane Crazy". When Mr. Walter Elias Disney came home and told his wife about the little mouse, she did not like the name "Mortimer" and suggested the name "Mickey". She said that Mickey is more pleasant to hear.

Mr. Walt thought about it and then agreed to the suggestion of his wife. From then on, Mortimer the mouse was called "Mickey Mouse". The mouse went on to become the foundation of an entertainment empire.

How did the expression "he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth" came about?

Actually, the expression came from an old custom of godparents who give gift of a spoon to a child at his christening. The gift signifies their responsibility for its nourishments and well-being. If the celebrating child is wealthy, the spoon was usually silver, otherwise, it would be pewter or tin.

Since then, if someone was given a silver spoon as a gift he is said to be "born with a silver spoon in his mouth". It means that he was born into wealth rather than having had to earn it.

Why does a married man call his wife as his "better half"?

Most married men believed that their wife is their "better half". Actually, the expression came from an old Middle Eastern story. The story is like this; once there was a Bedouin man who had been sentence to death. His wife was extremely crying and earnestly appealing to the tribal leader to free her husband.

She said that she and her husband became one when they were married. So, "to punish one-half of the union would also punish the half who was innocent", she said. The court agreed and the man's life was saved by his "better half".

Why do we call a private detective as "private eye"?

"We never sleep", that is the slogan of Pinkerton Detective Agency of Chicago in 1850. Together with the slogan is a symbol or logo of a large wide-open eye. Pinkerton became very effective and criminals began calling the feared operation "the eye".

During the 1930's up to 1940's, Raymond Chandler and other fiction writers simply beautify the expression by introducing "private eye" as a description for any private investigator.

Why do we call the second year students as "sophomores"?

After being called "freshman" (being in the first year in high-school or college), a high-school or college student is called a "sophomore".

The description emerged at Cambridge in 1688. The word sophomore came from the Greek word sophos, meaning wise, and moros, meaning foolish.

So a second-year student is believed to be somewhere between ignorance and wisdom. Also, when we say something is "sophomoric," we mean it is pretentious or foolish.

Why do we call the US Presidential Home the "White House"?

From 1800 to 1814, John Adams (2nd US President) became the first president to inhabit the presidential home of the United States. During this time, the British burned it because the Americans had torched Toronto. The presidential building then became a grey Virginia freestone.

In order to cover up the fire damage, the presidential haven was painted white. However, it was not officially called the White House until Teddy Roosevelt began printing its image on the executive mansion stationery in 1901.

Have you ever wondered how Cinderella could have walked in a glass slipper?

The story of Cinderella was passed along orally for centuries it was written down by Charles Perrault in 1967.

While doing so, he mistook the word vair, meaning ermine, for the word verre, meaning glass. By the time he realized his mistake, the story had become too popular to change, and so instead of an ermine slipper, Cinderella wore glass.

Where did the song "Happy Birthday" come from?

Originally, the song "Happy Birthday" began as "Good Morning Dear Children". The educators, Mildred and Patty Hill, wrote the song in 1893. In 1924, a publisher changed the opening line to "Happy Birthday to You" and it became a ritual to sing the song to anyone celebrating his or her birthday.

Due to its fame, the song was used in a Broadway Musical in 1934. However, a third Hill sister, Jessica Hill, sued the show and eventually won. Thereafter, the Hill family was entitled to receive royalties whenever the melody was performed commercially.

Where did the image "Uncle Sam" come from?

During the 19th Century, a meat packer named Sam Wilson sells preserved beef to the U.S Army. The packs of beef meat were stamped "U.S" to indicate that they were the properties of the United States. However, the soldiers joked the "U.S Stamp" as the initials of the supplier, "U-ncle S-am" Wilson.

The bearded figure of "Uncle Sam" was drawn and created by Thomas Nast, the same cartoonist who created the Republican's elephant and the Democrat's donkey.