A Hodge-podge: Happy Birthday, President, Play-doh, Couch or Sofa, and Don't be Rude with your Elbows!

 #19 August 11:  Happy Birthday was first published in 1893 in a songbook for kindergarten.  It was copyrighted until 2015 and was composed by 2 sisters in Kentucky, Patty, and Mildred Hill, one a poet/kindergarten teacher and the other a musician.  The first words were “Good Morning to All (x2) Good Morning Dear Children, Good Morning to All.  Mildred, the musician often used the pen name, Johnan Tonsor.  When it was under copyright, two million dollars a year went to a charitable foundation of the Hill sisters.   PS  Happy Birthday Dad, you would have been 99 this weekend! 8/14

#20  August 12:  The U. S. was the first nation to use the term “President” for a head of state. 8/14

#21  August 13: Play-Doh was originally marketed as a compound to remove coal soot from wallpaper.  When cleaner fuels made the compound’s sales lag, the owner’s sister-in-law Kay Zufall, a nursery school teacher began using it as modeling clay since it was non-toxic.  Later color and a compound were added to keep it from hardening so quickly.  When it was featured in an ad on Captain Kangaroo, sales took off in 1958. 8/14

#22  August 14:  What is the difference between a couch and a sofa?  A couch comes from the French word coucher which means a place to lie down.  Sofa is from the Arabic "suffah", a hard bench softened with blankets and cushions, intended for sitting.  So you sit on a sofa and curl up on a couch!  All the sofas in my house are couches!! 8/14

#23  August 15:  Why is it rude to put your elbows on the table?  It is so comfortable!  First, it comes from Ecclesiastes:  Be ashamed… of stretching your elbow at dinner”.  But in the realm of table manners it is meant to keep you from slouching, accidentally getting food on your arms and if you put your elbows on the table people on either side of you cannot make eye contact.  Now that last one makes sense.  I'll be more careful.  8/14