MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Why Are They Called “Piggy-Back Rides”?
Catching a ride on the back of a pig isn’t really a thing, right? And yet, people love horsing around & giving others what are called “piggyback rides”. But why are they called “piggyback rides”? I mean, people walk on two feet, right? Pigs, on the other hand, hoof it on four. What gives? Where did the term come from?
“Piggyback Rides” started with a different phrase in the 1500s that simply implied someone’s back being involved. It actually has nothing to do with pigs at all, as a matter of fact. That phrase was: “pick pack”. The word “pick”, at that time, could also mean “pitch”, so the theory goes that “pick pack” originally referred to a pack pitched on your back for easy hauling. Before long, people began using the phrase to describe carrying other things on your back (things like other people).
How “pick pack” eventually became “piggyback” isn’t totally clear, but we do know that, somewhere along the way, “pack” got changed to “back”, possibly because “pack” was so regularly misheard as “back” (especially since the back was a major facet of the whole “pick pack” process.
Experts also believe that “pick” became “pig” because the words are also so similar sounding. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest notated mention of “pig back” was in 1736. Pick pack, pick back, and then pig back gradually led to pick-a-pack, pick-a-back, and pig-a-back. And that last one seems to have gotten mistaken regularly enough for piggyback that, sometime in the mid-1800s, piggyback eventually became the most widely used form.
MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Where Do Truckers Sleep?
If you’re anything like me, one of the big questions you have about a truck driver anytime you see him or her driving their big rigs is: “where do you guys sleep?” Well, contrary to popular belief, being a trucker doesn’t always mean you’re destined to make long, cross-country trips with nights & nights away from your own home & bed.
First off, not every trucking job requires the driver to be away from home. Some gigs are totally local, meaning that those local drivers never have to drive farther than a day’s trip away from home. Local drivers will also usually drive what are called “day cab” trucks, which only have seats in their tractors, or engine-bearing front sections.
But O.T.R. (or “over-the-road) and regional truck drivers, meanwhile, can spend many days away from home. And while regional drivers can usually return home on the weekends, O.T.R. truckers can be gone for weeks at a time. And because of that, their rigs are usually feature what are called “sleeper cabs”. And honestly (at least in my opinion), those sleeper cabs can be pretty dang awesome-looking (certainly better than just some cot or sleeping bag).
Sleeper cab mattresses usually run about the same size as a twin mattress, somewhere around 80 inches long by 40 inches wide (though that can vary across different trucks). Meanwhile, sleeper cabs can also feature more than just a place to sleep, with some even having a fridge, a microwave, a TV, and more homelike comforts. There are even some swankier customized cabin models that sport sinks, stoves, a shower, and even a commode!
Sure, some truckers may spend a night or two in a hotel here & there; heck, some trucking companies even pay for their drivers to stay in hotels or motels every night they’re away from home. But where do the large majority of truckers park their rigs when they need to catch a few winks? Not usually on the shoulder of the highway, that’s for sure, since the roadside is only for emergencies. Truckers, instead, often head to rest stops or parking lots that are owned by, or are in a partnership with, their trucking company and/or their customers.
So, if the question is “Where do truck drivers sleep?”, the answer really depends on the type of job & the company’s business strategy. But one thing’s for sure: they certainly have options.
Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send me a message via Twitter (@AndyWebbRadio), or shoot me an email at [email protected].
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Wake Up Crew Highlights: April 12, 2022
Meet Ferdinand-our Jay Day and the Day Home Team Pet of the Week
MUNDANE MYSTERIES: How To Pronounce “Caramel” Correctly
Thanks to the intricacies of our amazing English language, one thing is all but guaranteed: more often than not, we’re all going to mispronounce a word (or twelve). Because of the complexity of American English, how a word is spelled doesn’t always exactly indicate how it’s supposed to sound. And that can cause some embarrassment when you try to pronounce a word that you’ve only ever read but have never had to say aloud. Then, on top of that complexity, there’s the confusion that arises when a word has significantly different pronunciations across various regions of the country. Like the word “caramel”. It’s spelled the same, regardless of where you are. But how do you say it correctly?
There are at least two definitive pronunciations of caramel used here in the U.S. For most folks in the Southeast & on the East Coast, the brown, chewy candy is usually called CARE-uh-mull. For most folks from western & northern U.S., the middle syllable gets dropped altogether, so they pronounce it CAR-mull. Meanwhile, over in the UK, they tend to favor the southern/east coast pronunciation, but with a twist, pronouncing the first syllable as care (as in care-a-mel), but the last syllable as MELL.
But with multiple pronunciations of the word in our overly complex English language, it’s not always obvious which one might be correct. The middle-syllable droppers and the every-syllable-pronouncers may insist that their way is THE correct method, the truth is: both pronunciations are actually acceptable.
How is that possible? That there are two wholly correct ways to say the same word? Well, it comes down to majority rule. The overall English-speaking public decides how & when words are used, not linguists or dictionary makers. As a matter of fact, because both pronunciations of caramel are so popular, the dictionary makers at Merriam-Webster’s actually include both pronunciations in its entry for the word.
Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send me a message via Twitter (@AndyWebbRadio), or shoot me an email at [email protected].
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