stealing forthright's meme

[xatalantax]

Comment to tell me some interesting fact, trivia, or other bit of knowledge you've learned in the past week or two.

Comments

[tigermilkdrunk.livejournal.com]

The history of the Flatiron building:

"The building's cultural legacy is a little more interesting and has passed into the local social consciousness as a fable. It is said that the building created unusual eddies in the wind which would cause women's skirts to fly around as they walked on 23rd street. This attracted throngs of young men who gathered to view the barelegged spectacle. Police would try to disperse these knots of heavy-breathers by calling to them, "23 Skidoo." This phrase has passed out of common usage, but its descendant, the word "scram" remains in a back corner of the American lexicon."

Sounds totally apocryphal to me, but still...

[atalanta.livejournal.com]

I've heard that one but apparently it's not the case ..

http://www.barrypopik.com/article/70/twenty-three-skidoo-myth

http://www.word-detective.com/020798.html
According to this site the phrase was around in the 1890s too ..
'The late etymologist Eric Partridge reported that one of his correspondents felt that the phrase might have had its roots in old telegraphers' code, where common phrases were replaced by numbers. In this code, "30" sent in Morse code meant "end of transmission" (a notation still used by journalists to signal the end of a story), "73" meant "best regards" (still very much in use by amateur radio operators), and "23" meant "away with you!" This seems a far more likely explanation of the phrase.'