"Did You Know?"

Let's have another ongoing thread, this time the focus being interesting trivia and tid bits of info.

First up, have you ever wondered the origin of the term, "spick and span"?

Reportedly, it comes from an old Norse word for nail which is "spik," referring to shiny, bright new nails on a ship. The word "span" is said to be derived from the Old Norse spánn (meaning chip or shaving of wood), which gave rise to the Middle English term "span-new" (meaning fresh from the carpenter's knife).

Sometime around the 1300's the term "span-new" began to be used, meaning something is brand new.

By the mid-16th century, the phrase was expanded to "spick-and-span-new". Sailors and shipwrights used it to describe a newly built ship where every single nail (spick) and woodchip (span) was brand new.

The phrase gradually shortened to "spick and span". By the mid-1800s, the meaning shifted from being "brand new" to the modern definition of being extremely neat, tidy, and spotless. Which is how we use the term today.