Possibly Unaswerable Questions

[Chaos Descending]

Since a woodchuck is just a type of groundhog, I really do wonder: how much ground could a groundhog hog if a groundhog could hog ground?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Since a woodchuck is just a type of groundhog, I really do wonder: how much ground could a groundhog hog if a groundhog could hog ground?

Apparently, they indeed tend to be territorial and have up to 14 metres worth of burrows up to 1.5 metres down. So apparently they hog that.

 

[T'Preea]

Why is it called a Honeymoon? Does that mean the moon's made of honey every time someone gets married?

According to Dictionary.com and Wikipedia, the etymology is uncertain, but it's believed to be "honey moon" as in "sweet month." The idea is that the first month after getting married is the sweetest, because you're still in the celebratory/mushy phase and reality hasn't set in. At first, the word just referred to that initial happy period before the routine set in (and we still use it in that sense for some things, as a "honeymoon period" for a new job or partnership or whatever), and then in the 19th century the custom of a post-wedding vacation caught on in Great Britain (imported from the noble class in India) and the existing word "honeymoon" got attached to it.

*

Good to know. Thanks for that. It had been bothering me for months.

 

[trekkiedane]

/.../ "good tide" /.../

I thought that was a surfer's expression!

 

[Knight Templar]

You know that the wikipedia can answer almost all of these questions in minutes?

 

[MHT1138]

Why is it called a Honeymoon? Does that mean the moon's made of honey every time someone gets married?

According to Dictionary.com and Wikipedia, the etymology is uncertain, but it's believed to be "honey moon" as in "sweet month." The idea is that the first month after getting married is the sweetest, because you're still in the celebratory/mushy phase and reality hasn't set in. At first, the word just referred to that initial happy period before the routine set in (and we still use it in that sense for some things, as a "honeymoon period" for a new job or partnership or whatever), and then in the 19th century the custom of a post-wedding vacation caught on in Great Britain (imported from the noble class in India) and the existing word "honeymoon" got attached to it.

*

Good to know. Thanks for that. It had been bothering me for months.

Another explanation is that in ancient Scandinavian cultures the bride and groom drank mead, an alcoholic drink fermented from honey, for a month after they were married to help with fertility.

 

[Christopher]

Another explanation is that in ancient Scandinavian cultures the bride and groom drank mead, an alcoholic drink fermented from honey, for a month after they were married to help with fertility.

I came upon that claim in my research the other day. It's a popular folk etymology, but there's apparently no evidence for it. Besides, if it were true, wouldn't they just call it "meadmoon?"

 

[MHT1138]

Another explanation is that in ancient Scandinavian cultures the bride and groom drank mead, an alcoholic drink fermented from honey, for a month after they were married to help with fertility.

I came upon that claim in my research the other day. It's a popular folk etymology, but there's apparently no evidence for it. Besides, if it were true, wouldn't they just call it "meadmoon?"

The meanings could be related though. The custom of giving mead as a wedding gift is accurate and was fairly widespread across Northern Europe in ancient times. And mead is sometimes called honey wine, so it could have gotten shortened. Just my 2 cents
(I actually received home-brewed strawberry mead as a wedding favor from the bride and groom at a wedding once. They had done it for all the guests. It was a very cool idea.)

 

[CorporalCaptain]

You know that the wikipedia can answer almost all of these questions in minutes?

You know that the Wikipedia isn't always right?

 

[trekkiedane]

^And that the Wikipedia isn't as much fun to talk to...