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14 | LIFE IN SOLERA | JULY 2024 | For the Love of Tennis? In France, where tennis first became popular, a big, round zero on the tennis scoreboard looked like an egg and was, in fact called an egg, which in French is "l'oeuf." When tennis became popular in this country, Americans copied the French and also called the zero score "l'oeuf " but pronounced it "love." This & That By the Solera Ghostwriter Giving him the "Cold Shoulder" ladies? Despite current usage, the phrase does not have a romantic origin. In fact, the shoulder in "cold shoulder" is actually a shoulder of mutton! In the early 19th century when the phrase was first recorded by Sir Walter Scott, it was customary for a hostess to serve hot meat to visitors who were welcomed and cold meat to those who had overstayed their welcome. Since cold meat given to the unwanted guest was usually a shoulder of mutton, the hostess was said to be "giving him the cold shoulder" — of mutton, that is. Sailors Wearing Earrings? In the days of the wooden sailing ships, there was no certainty that sailors setting out on a long voyage would ever see their homeland again. To prepare for the worst, sailors took to wearing gold earrings so that if there was an accident and their bodies were found washed ashore on some foreign beach, the gold in the earrings would be used to pay for decent burials. No Corn in Corned Beef? No Corn in Corned Beef? The "corned" in corned beef has nothing to do with the vegetable corn. It means "preserved in salt." The salt pellets originally used to preserve this type of beef were called salt "corns" and beef preserved in this way was called corned beef. Why Aren't Pennies and Nickles Notched on Their Sides? The U.S. Mint began putting notches on the edges of coins containing gold and silver to discourage holders of such coins from shaving off small quantities of the precious metals. Before coins were notched, shaving was a common practice, and at one point the problem was so bad that merchants refused to accept coins without first weighing them to determine their true value. Notching the coins corrected the problem since any attempt to shave a notched coin could be easily detected. Dimes, quarters, and half-dollars are notched because they contain silver. There is no need to notch pennies and nickels since the metals they contain are not valuable enough to make shaving worth the effort. Why was the tennis club's website down? They had problems with their server. Why should you never fall in love with a tennis player? To them, "Love" means nothing! What do you call a girl standing in the middle of a tennis court? Annette.