Seven Incredible Facts You Didn't Know Up Until Now

• A deck of playing cards has a king on each card that symbolises a famous monarch in history:

Hearts represent Charlemagne,

Spades represent King David,

Clubs represent Alexander the Great

The diamond represents Julius Caesar.

 

Legislation allowing men to beat their wives with a stick no thicker than their thumb was established in England in the 1400s. Thus, there is "the rule of thumb."

Ale is ordered in pints and quarts in English pubs. Therefore, in old England, the bartender would shout at the rowdy patrons to "Mind your pints and quarts, and quiet down." It is the source of the expression "remember your Ps and Qs."

Ropes were used to hang mattresses from bed frames during Shakespeare's day. The mattress tightened when you tugged on the ropes, making the bed more supportive for sleeping. Thus, the expression "goodnight, sleep tight." 

In Babylon 4,000 years ago, it was customary for the groom's father to provide his son-in-law with unlimited amounts of mead for a month following the nuptials. Mead is a honey brew, and since their calendar was lunar-based, this time period—which we now refer to as the honeymoon—was known as the honey month.

William III of England instituted a property tax in 1696 that levied a surcharge on anybody residing in a home with more than six windows. House owners would block up every window but six in order to avoid the charge. (In the UK, older homes with bricked-up windows are still widespread; the Window Tax was in effect until 1851.) The levy was referred to as "daylight robbery" since bricked-up windows kept certain rooms from getting any sunshine.

Pub visitors in England many years ago had a whistle baked into the handle or rim of their pottery cups. They used the whistle to summon assistance when they needed a refill.

This technique is what gave rise to the expression "wet your whistle."