Skype

Microsoft announced this past week that their once-popular Skype product would be gone in early May 2025 to focus on its its flagship Teams service. Skype was considered a pioneer in how people communicated online across borders before competition exploded from platforms like FaceTime, WhatsApp, Slack, and Zoom. 

But why was it called Skype?

The name "Skype" originates from "Sky peer-to-peer," which was shortened to "Skyper" and then further shortened to "Skype" because the domain name "Skyper.com" had already been taken.

Uriah Heep

Uriah Heep is an English rock band formed in London in 1969 that became one of the seminal hard rock acts of the early 1970s. 

Their progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion featured a lot of keyboards and strong vocal harmonies including in the early years' the vocals of David Byron. 

Of their fifteen albums, it was Demons & Wizards that was the most successful. 

One of their radio hits was "Easy Livin'." They were often grouped with Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin as "The Big 4" of hard rock, and although they became more of a 1980s cult band in the United Kingdom and the United States, they still have a significant following and perform at arena-sized venues in the Balkans, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia and Scandinavia.

They have sold over 30 million albums worldwide with over 4 million sales in the U.S.A.

an illustration of Dickens' Uriah Heep

As a four-piece band, they went into the Lansdowne Studios in London under the name "Spice." They changed the name to Uriah Heep, a character from Charles Dickens' classic novel David Copperfield and the change occurred along with the new keyboard-based larger sound. According to biographer Kirk Blows, Dickens was in the news then (December 1969) due to it being the hundredth anniversary of his death.

The character of Uriah Heep is not a pleasant one being the antagonist for the second half of the novel and notable for his "cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, making frequent references to his own 'humbleness" and his name has become synonymous with being a "yes man."

Perhaps not the best image for a hard rock band, but nevertheless...  

20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: Best of Uriah Heep

Band site: http://www.uriah-heep.com

Dressed to the Nines

If someone is described as being “dressed to the nines,” as being very well dressed and wearing your best clothes. But why "the nines?"

The idiom goes back to the 18th century when there were no off-the-shelf suits available. If you wanted a suit, you had it custom-made, especially for you. In those days, a suit included the waistcoat so it took nine yards of fabric to complete. back then being dressed to the nines basically meant you were wearing a suit.

Court suit and sword worn by Charles Dickens in 1870.
The design was strictly specified and the suit was made by Charles Smith and Sons.
This is the only known suit worn by Dickens to have survived. 

Spinal Tap

(L-R) Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean
in 1984's film This Is Spinal Tap

The band Spinal Tap was created by American comedians and musicians Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer for the 1979 sketch comedy pilot "The T.V. Show". 

The name "Spinal Tap" was chosen as part of the band's fictional backstory, which was later expanded in the 1984 mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap.

In the film, the band members humorously explain that they went through several name changes before settling on Spinal Tap, including "The Originals" and "The New Originals," before becoming the Thamesmen and finally Spinal Tap. 

But how does "Spinal Tap" reflect their new heavy metal musical direction? 

A lumbar puncture is commonly known as a spinal tap. This medical procedure requires a needle to be inserted into the spinal canal, most commonly to collect cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for diagnostic testing. The main reason for a lumbar puncture is to help diagnose diseases of the central nervous system, including the brain and spine.

Spinal Tap (stylized as Spın̈al Tap, with a dotless letter i and a metal umlaut over the n) could be described as a fictional English heavy metal band, but they are actually a band and have recorded albums and done concerts, so are they still fictional? 

The three comedians are also musicians and wrote and performed original songs as the band: Michael McKean, as the lead singer and guitarist David St. Hubbins; Christopher Guest, as the guitarist Nigel Tufnel; and Harry Shearer, as the bassist Derek Smalls. 

They are characterized as "one of England's loudest bands"

The three added to the group David Kaff (as keyboard player "Viv Savage") and R.J. Parnell (as drummer "Mick Shrimpton"). Parnell had previously been in the band Atomic Rooster, while Kaff had been a member of Rare Bird. The quintet played their own instruments throughout the film.

In 1984, they did an episode of Saturday Night Live to promote their film. The character of Mick Shrimpton having died in the film, Parnell played his "twin brother" drummer Ric Shrimpton for these and later appearances. Kaff dropped out shortly after the SNL appearance.

Their new movie, This Is Spinal Tap 2, is a too-long-awaited sequel to the 1984 mockumentary classic. Directed by Rob Reiner, it brings back the original cast members. The story follows the band as they reunite for a final concert to honor their late manager, with cameos from famous musicians like Paul McCartney, Elton John, and Garth Brooks. What havethe band members have been up to over the past four decades?

starting off on the right foot

A friend posted on this new Year's Eve: "Just before midnight, lift your left foot off the ground so that your start the new year on the right foot." Mildly humorous, but it got me thinking about why we would even say such an idiom. 

The origin is uncertain. I found two possibilities.  One is simply that starting a journey correctly is important. Many cultures consider the right foot and right hand as more auspicious than the left. The opposite idion is "get off on the wrong foot." 

Goofy with his right foot forward

In my youthful surfing days, I was a "Goofy foot surfer" because I would place my right foot forward on the surfboard, with the left foot at the back: This stance is the opposite of regular foot surfing, where the surfer places their left foot forward. Being right'handed and right-foot dominant (as when I kick) when I ran sprints, I would put my stronger right leg in back to push off the starting blocks.

Another origin for the idiom is from dance. Starting a dance routine on the right foot is crucial to a smooth performance. Of course, in that usage "right" could also mean "correct."