Wait, so somebody called Jack is basically the equivalent of "dude"? Interesting. So a lumberjack is just a person who deals with lumber*, that makes a lot of sense!

edit: Correction, a person who cuts down trees and produces lumber (not a merchant)

I am moving to Piefed at scallisto@retrofed.com (https://retrofed.com/u/scallisto)

Wild how something like that can happen. Obviously, this was a pretty popular song and yet it managed to disappear.

Makes you wonder how many other things in history have managed to slip through the cracks.

Keanu Reeves wrote a comic called 'Brzrkr,' about an immortal warrior. At one point he says that he has forgotten how many languages he's used over the centuries, but he's sure he learned calculus six or more times.

Reminds me of how “the butler did it” first known appearance is an article describing how cliche it is.

That one’s got two competing theories. Either from Petre, the Latin word for ‘rock’, or Peter (that is, St. Peter).

One goes that ‘peter’ most likely referred to saltpetre, the main ingredient in gunpowder, which was the explosive of choice in early gold mining. Seems the term ‘peter out’ was first widely used by US gold miners in the 1800s describing veins that had run dry.

On the other hand, there is some colloquial evidence to trace it back further, and to England, and a type of fishing boat called a ‘peterboat’ (which picked the name up from St Peter). Those were long low boats that once oft plied the Thames, and were narrow and pointed at both ends so they could easily go either way in the current. ‘Peter out’ referred to the thin sharp double-taper of the boat-ends.