"Daylight Robbery"
So, has anyone ever wondered where the phrase, "daylight robbery" comes from? I didn't, until my tour guide asked us this morning.Apparently, Ireland used to have a tax on window glass, which explains why so many older homes have teeny, tiny windows. One day, this guy in Galway (where i'm currently residing) asks his wife for a saw and starts cutting his door in half. "What the bloody 'el are you doing?" she asked (er, that was a bit English rather than Irish, but you get the idea). He didn't say a word until he was done and had attached a hinge to the door, so the lower half could stay closed while the top half opened up and let light into the house. Needless to say, wifey was pleased!
Thus, those two part doors came not from an aesthetic sensibility but rather from a practical, universal human desire (of course, i'm referring to the desire to save money!). I LOVE stories like that about how inventions came about! All is well in Galway, off to Cork tomorrow, then Holland Thursday (the 27th)... | posted by Cheryl, 10/25/2005 11:19:00 AM
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