Question, who came up with the first knock, knock joke?

You might be surprised to discover it was Shakespeare.

"William Shakespeare's impact in your life is much bigger than just some required reading in your high school English class. It's believed that almost 2,000 words appeared for the first time in his plays and poetry — including many that are regulars in our everyday modern vocabulary, such as "downstairs," "eyeball," and "bedroom." He also built on existing language by changing words that were previously used as nouns into verbs, and by adding prefixes and suffixes to create new variations."

Here's a few of the better known ones,

Lie low

Green-eyed monster

Heart of gold

Fair play

Break the ice

Wild goose chase

It's all Greek to me

Forever and a day

As good luck would have it

And Love is blind, first coined by Chaucer in 1405, but Shakespeare popularized this phase in the Merchant of Venice
in 1605.

And, that joke, Knock-knock?  "Congrats, Shakespeare! You are the father of the knock-knock joke. While used to cheesy effect today, this line, when uttered multiple times by the Porter in Macbeth, demonstrates a deft sense of cleverness.

 "https://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/macbeth.2.3.html#:~:text=Knock%2C%0Aknock%2C%20knock!%20Who%27s%20there%2C%20i%27%20the%20name%20of

 

This is going to hurt...A taste for the hedonist.

It's always the way on a gorgeous summer's day, isn't it? You get out the garden furniture, pour a nice cold beverage, put up your feet—and then you hear the unwanted whine of a mosquito ready to bite you into itchy misery...

When it comes to being a mosquito meal, however, some people seem more susceptible than others. Now, researchers from the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands have discovered one surprising culprit: drinking beer.

The team—led by biophysicist Felix Hol—came to this conclusion after bringing thousands of female Anopheles mosquitoes to the Lowlands music festival in 2023.

Fortunately, the researchers didn't let the biting bugs loose on the attendees—but instead invited the participants to take part in a special trial conducted in a unique pop-up lab built from connected shipping containers.

Approximately 500 festival-goers volunteered for the experiment. First, they filled out a questionnaire about their diet, hygiene and behavior at the event.

Next, to test their attractiveness to the mosquitoes, each volunteer placed their arm inside a specially designed cage containing the insects.

Tiny holes allowed the mosquitoes to smell the person's arm—but prevented them from actually biting.

A video camera recorded how many mosquitoes landed on the arm compared to a sugar feeder.

The team found that subjects who drank beer were 1.35 times more attractive to mosquitoes than those who abstained.

The study also found that the insects were more likely to target people who had been intimate with a partner the previous night.

In contrast, recent showering and using sunscreen were found to make people less attractive to mosquitoes.

https://www.newsweek.com/mosquitos-attraction-beer-drink-bites-2127475

Patricia, you may have those mosquitoes!  We also have blackflies here , you only know the blackfly has bit you is when the blood trickles down your face....nasty litte buggers!

Amy, Alaska, not so jokingly calls mosquitoes, its state bird. And you can buy tiny leg hold mosquito traps in most of the gift shops. Unfortunately, with so many forests, ponds, lakes and rivers, they've set up shop and moved in permanently.

There is a small bird, don't know its proper name; that is black on top, white tail and white underside. It's said to eat its body weight in mosquitoes twice over each day. The bird sanctuary staff put up and maintain, as do many parks and recreational spots, bird houses for them. A worse menace, to my way of thinking, are tiny black biting noseeums.

We don't have the large biting flies, but I've run into them in my travels through the west, horrible creatures!

I found the article interesting because of what attracted the mosquitoes to people.

As I did, seeing Shakespeare still relevant.

Good morning.

Warmer this morning temp is 51°  not sure if we shall see rain or not today.
Company coming this morning, will be nice to see them as it has been a while.
Making this a quickie..
Enjoy your day and stay safe.

Time to say "Good Night Everyfriend"!

This was one of those days that kept going on and on and on and on!  I never seemed to get finished.  And tomorrow is another day!

I loved all the "bug stuff" that you gave us PATRICIA!  You sure have a lot of good stuff to report!  I don't think I ever heard any of that "bug stuff" before!  I guess one is never too old to learn something new!

I'm off to the sleeping quarters!  I'm tired right up the gazoo!  I'll be back tomorrow.  I wish you all a peaceful nights sleep and a great day tomorrow.  See you then!  Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite!  (That's what my Gramma used to say to us when we started up the stairs at night)

Good morning..

 Looks as though we have had some rain overnight and our starting temp is 55°.
Thoroughly enjoyed our company yesterday, lots of laughs and catching up. Raked the pinecones and needles off the front lawn..looks much nice now.

Today is a day of rest,have soup for lunch and maybe burgers for supper.

Jane ,do we ever get finished? We don't have to "look" for work it always finds us! I gave David some of your cole slaw, he loves it on a pulled pork sandwich!

Patricia, do you have snakes there?

Rick we have given the furnace a short run just to get the house warm then turn off again. All too soon it will be on for the winter.

Enjoy your day and stay safe.

Quote from: Amy on September 14, 2025, 07:04:36 AMRick we have given the furnace a short run just to get the house warm then turn off again. All too soon it will be on for the winter.

I have those old steam heated iron radiators here, and I like to brush them out before I turn on any heat to get the dust out of them. The heat makes the dust circulate, and it's more efficient. My ambition for cleaning them has been very low this year, but I better get at it. Only one done so far.  I have confidence in the boiler (fingers crossed).

Good morning, nothing new here, 42 and raining. Meet and greets, morning routine and feeding everyone is done plus coffee just finished brewing.

Jane, I read something interesting yesterday. I was curious because someone recently, perhaps you, had said, don't let the bedbugs bite. It first appeared in an 1896 book and actually was talking about fleas.

Next week will be somewhat busy with grocery shopping on Tuesday, a haircut on Wednesday, and the library on the 19th. The drain replacement finally finished last week, but now they're putting in plaster board in the hallways to cover the holes they cut to reach the hallway pipes. On my floor, they've painted over white and sanded the walls down. The next step will be overall painting. Then, hopefully, we're done until the next big project is announced.

Amy, I've had the heat on and the humidifier going for two weeks now. If I don't run it in the winter, I get headaches from the lack of humidity and dry out until I get headaches and my skin burns.

No snakes here, thankfully. No ticks, either or raccoons, opossums, fireflies, alligators, or hummingbirds.  There's probably a lot more we don't have in the arctic, but those are the ones I thought of.

Anchorage is similar to Seattle, and we have far less humidity, sometimes below three percent even with the rain we've had. Today is five percent.

Ruthie sent me a link to a bread recipe, sweet pumpkin sourdough bread with a cinnamon swirl center. She knows I'm thinking about making my own bread again, or perhaps buying a bread machine. Here's the link if you, or perhaps Jane, might like to try it. https://gatherednutrition.com/pumpkin-cinnamon-swirl-sourdough-bread/

Rick, I've had my heat on since the first week in September. I usually turn it off in April and back on in October, but it has been so rainy this year. I set it at 72 during the day and 64 at night. If we have the winter prophesied, I'll probably keep it warmer due to air whistling in around the windows.

Good morning.

Starting out at 37° this morning. Busy day ahead, more pickled beets to do . Robins are hammering the Mountain Ash berries soon the tree will be bare.
 
Patrica, we will have the heat on soon enough. We do have some light wood that if a quick fire is needed will do.

Better get the day started.

Enjoy your day and stay safe.

[/b]Good Morning Everyfriend!  I've been up and attem since 5:30 this morning.  Cooper wasn't due until just before 7 today but I still can't sleep in!

It's a beautiful day in Central Pennsylvania!  The sun is out and the air is slightly moving!  Cooper took me for a morning walk and we had a good breakfast.  I have some stuff to do around here so I better get busy.  I wish you all a pleasant day!  Make it your own in every way!  And be sure to tell us how you did that.  We're the curious type!

Good morning, still raining, still in the forties, and I'm finished with the usual to-dos. Nothing to do here but play catchup and finish my PSP lessons.

Almost 2:00 here so good morning and good afternoon. Sunny and 80ish, and nothing to do.  Actually do have things to do, but I'm not going to do them today.

A little bit after ten now.  Time to pack it in for the day.  Doing nothing isn't easy.

Morning all!

It looks like we will be staying below 80^o today and tomorrow with a possibility of some showers today and definite (not a super good word when it comes to the weather forecasters these days) period of rain on Wednesday.

OLM  hasn't posted for five days, hope she is doing okay.

Not much to do today, but I did get some pet wipes to try and clean the cats up a little. Oscar is not much into cleaning himself now and Shan's long hair sometimes picks up crud. They are both close to nail cutting time, always a trial with the result being I get cat-u-punctured and a nail or two get missed.

Just got word that my youngest sister and SIL will be visiting the beginning of October.

That is pretty much it for now.

Good morning

 Starting out at 40° this morning. Yesterday was busy, another 22 pints of beets done  making it over 50 lbs of beets pickled.Labeling and putting away today ,that is it for beets!

Rick,  Actually do have things to do, but I'm not going to do them today.  Doing nothing isn't easy. Gave me laugh, thank you!

MG, I take it the cats don't care for their pedicure?

Better get the day started.

Enjoy your day and stay safe.

Good Morning Everyfriend!  I will be travelling this coming weekend....well, I'll be leaving on Thursday late afternoon.  My granddaughter is going to Maryland to celebrate her birthday with her Mom and she's dropping me off for a visit with my sister on the way.  My Sister is 15 months older than me and still living alone in her home.  Neither of us drive any more so we don't get to visit face-to-face any more.  This will be a special time!

I hope you are all doing well and taking care of yourselves!  Keep on keeping on!  We need to stay in there and do whatever suits us.  I noticed some of you saying that you weren't going to do anything.  I have lots of days like that!  You don't think it's part of the aging process, do you?  Oh well!  Whatever it is, it's us...or at least it's me! 

I wish you all a great day!  Make it your own in every way!  And come by and tell us how you did that....or how you didn't do that!

Good morning, 41 and still raining, with a dense fog, while the weather folks keep telling us it will be partly cloudy.

I'll be out most of the day shopping with friends and lunch somewhere, that's it for my day, haircut on Wednesday and neighbor's package delivery on Friday, instead of the library.

MG, cutting Farrah's nails is a contortionist act. She is not fond of it, and you have to plan an ambush beforehand. So many people use old long sleeved shirts on cats, hoist them up and do it that way. You can even buy the equipment online. I've thought about it many times. 

Jane, have a good visit with your sister. My sister lives a long way from here, but, we do talk and email, more than when we lived close.

Amy, what ever will you do with fifty pounds of pickled beets?

Another afternoon slipping away. Temp is 71° on this sunny day. My sister just called to chat, she had to say goodbye to one of her cats, he was 18yr old.
 
Some work got done but some got let for whoever wants to do it.

Patricia, Kyle likes pickled beets and we have friends that also like them, so jars go home with them to enjoy. We certainly could use some rain here, if you have any to spare.
 

I know someone on here recently moved to Mechanicsburg, PA and that's where I'm going to visit my sister.  If you would email me your address, I'll check out if I can walk that far from my sister's house and maybe we can say "hello" face-to-face!  I'd love to meet you!

Now I'm going to finish up some stuff I'm working on and head for the bedroom!  Cooper will be arriving tomorrow morning a bit before 6 a.m. and I have to be ready to meet the day!

I wish you all a peaceful night and great day tomorrow!

Good afternoon, I'm back after a lovely shop and lunch with friends.

I'm now back to stocked up on more than hamburger and probably over did it on the fresh fruit. Tonight, I made a hamburger roll and pressed spices all over it before slicing. I set out four slices to cook and packaged the rest for the freezer.

I had a nice phone visit with my sister and then went to YouTube to see some worldwide real estate offers, a 16th century French castle anyone? And here I am.

Amy, I hope I wasn't being obnoxious. I'm not a fan of any picked vegetables, there were a lot when I was growing up. But then you haven't been fans of my quinoa. I do, however, enjoy pickles, especially garlic dills.

I almost bought a new pair of dark cocoa sweats, talked myself out of them, but did buy some nice walking shoes with supports. I really don't need any shirts, pants or sweaters, but there's always that moment when the moment hits. It's sad and a sign of the times, when you really don't need anything. It takes the fun out of it.

Amy, you can take some of this rain, please take it! We did have a dry afternoon, promised tomorrow too and then back to rain on Wednesday. The online news says this rain has been an aberration, not seen since 1996.

Jane, perhaps MG?

Good morning..

 Another chilly one starting at 39° Mixed day here, need to do a bit of outside work plus some inside work. Some will get done and others will just have to wait their turn.

Patricia, never thought anything of it. I like some pickles but not all....you and Kyle may have the dills.   I knew a man that would make pickled beets sandwiches but then he also liked a cucumber sandwich too. Where as I like a meatloaf or mashed turnip sandwich.

Jane, enjoy your time with your sister! There will be a lot of catching up between the two of you.

Better get this day on the go.

Enjoy your day and stay safe.

Good damp morning to you all. Looks like we had some sprinkles earlier. Expecting rain to start around 9am and continuing most of the day and into early evening. Today seems like a good day to do some more reading.

It is soon time to think about digging up a big weed and a tree that sprouted over one of my daffodil spots this summer thanks to the squirrels. Those bulbs will need reset. I hope to find some more to plant, and maybe some tulips or hyacinths as long as my hand can handle the effort. The back parking lot is showing the beginning of growing a leaf carpet.

Good morning everyone,
The days got away from me. Sorry to have delayed checking in for so long MG. I didn't mean to worry you. The weekends are "work like a dog days" because Ron is here and he works like a dog, but only if I do. Since I want my tiny house built, I better be there and doing everything I can to promote good work ethic. So while he finished framing the enclosed parts of the porch Saturday, I built the first wire enclosure for smaller firewood. I also sorted the huge pile I had collected: bits, pieces, ends, kindling. Then I took the 000 steel wool to the decades old baked on crud on the stainless steel trim around the cook top. It looks lovely! Sunday it poured! We had so much rain it was running down the slopes and standing in deep puddles in every low spot. Ron worked through it. I mostly stayed in, internet searching. It was quite cold. I ran the heat as much as I dared (on solar). I get hypothermia. Ron was soaked through, and by the end of the day cold, but not chilled. He got the porch roof on. Not quite finished. Monday was recovery day and more internet searching for Dr.s. Yesterday, I had a 15 minute consult with a specialist. He will take me. Not only that, he makes house calls! I do have to pay for that. Its a 7 hr round trip for him. He knows my retired E.I.. He's as much a stickler as I am about fragrance and toxic substances. 😆 He was a bit offended that I made the point of stipulating that he had to be fragrance free and non-toxic to come. He said, "Young lady, do you know who I am?!" To which I responded, "I don't know you, and I have found its imperative that I make that statement as most people aren't, and I get hurt." We got on very well after that. We're on the same page. He was going to take a look at his calendar and let me know when he could come. Later I found out the spray may start next week. I spent the rest of the day taking pics of my old chart notes, converting them to PDF files and going up the hill to send them to his office. I called the pending lawyer to see if he was going to actually take my case or not. He'd said he'd get back to me last week. He hadn't. His receptionist told me he was writing me a letter... That sounds like a "no." I have not received it yet. Stress. Lots of stress. I read old mysteries from the Gutenberg project to de-stress. I have had a few poachers, but haven't laid eyes on them. They wear full camo including face paint. I've smelled them. Then I threaten them and tell them to get the 🤬 off my property, Now! I'm very scary.👺 The things on them that I smell hurt me terribly. There used to be a lot more. I'm slowly whittling down the numbers year after year.

I enjoyed everyone's posts. Patricia, we have Western Tanagers. I've seen them, and caught one on a game cam once. They are amazing. I didn't know they where a cardinal. Interesting. The crows are noisy this time of year, but don't hang around camp as I don't feed them or leave anything out... it would attract bears. I've seen more bear scat nearby this year than previously. There are a lot more coyotes, and they're much bolder. I've neither heard nor seen the wolf pack. Don't know why.

Thats about it for me. I need to get back to cutting wood today. Have a very good day.

I imagine the wood cutting days are getting few, as the need for the wood nears. As a teen ager, many years ago, I did my share of it. We did things then that would no longer be legal to ask kids to do.

If you are noticing that the site is slow, Michael is aware of it, and is looking into it.

Rick, maybe if the youth of today was given responsibilities  instead of just being handed money, the youth of today wouldn't have time or energy to get into all that mischief. Not all fall under that catagory but a lot do. As you can see it didn't hurt you to do that work.

Good morning, same old regimen here other than an afternoon haircut. I usually cut my own, but then need every once in a while to even it out. We had an old fashion childhood back in the fifties. Mom had the inside while dad took care of the outside, while the three of us kids crewed for both.

Dad hunted in the fall, fished in the summer, and we had the next acre lot set as a garden. Both parents also had full-time jobs, and we kids had school as well as either housework or yard work. Both parents came from long time farming backgrounds and large families, and that's all we knew.

I wouldn't say it was better or worse than what kids have now. My nieces and nephews are adults and work full-time jobs, so somebody did something right.

Amy, we ate what was on our plates, except we were each allowed one exemption, which was liver across the board. So, if it was pickled, we ate it without a fuss, but took as small a helping we could and get away with it. Of course, if we were at another table, we ate what was offered and thanked them for their hospitality.

OK — these two letters take up a lot of space in our everyday conversations and serve a variety of uses. "How are you?" "OK" (for small talk and pleasantries). "Can you pick up the kids after work?" "OK" (for quick agreement). "How was the movie?" "OK" (implying ambivalence or even distaste). What started off as an initialism — an abbreviation in which the letters are pronounced individually — has evolved into one of the most widely used words in American English, and the subject of entire books (Allan Metcalf's The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word).

In a similar fashion to how 21st-century text speak plays with punny spellings (LOLZ), mid-1800s newspaper editors would often write with misspellings and then create acronyms from those "mistakes." The Boston Morning Post, for example, used "OW" to stand in for "oll wright" (meaning "all right"). Not all of these alternate spellings took hold, but an 1839 satirical article about grammar included an intentional misspelling of "oll korrect," and the course of American English was changed.
The Presidential Roots of "OK"

Around the same time, President Martin Van Buren was on his 1840 reelection tour with the campaign nickname of "Old Kinderhook," which referred to his New York hometown. Campaign organizers picked up on the Boston newspaper's use of "OK," and turned it into a slogan — "OK is OK." Around the country, "OK clubs" sprung up to promote the President's reelection. Unfortunately, the slogan was easily co-opted by the opposition, with nicknames such as "Orful Konspiracy" and "Orful Katastrophe." After incumbent Van Buren lost the election, the connection to his campaign faded away, but the usage for "oll korrect" continued to expand.
The Kraze for K

Since the mid-1800s, "OK" has been through many edits as writers have dropped and added periods, elongated it to "okay," and explored other spelling variations. President Woodrow Wilson used the spelling "okeh" to sign off on documents — this version comes from the spelling of a Choctaw word that sounds similar to "OK" and means "it is so."

The popularity of the smacky and final "k" sound represents a greater trend in advertising to prioritize "k" over "c" whenever possible, even at the expense of changing actual spellings. It was called "the kraze for K," outlined in 1925 by Louise Pound, who pointed to President Andrew Jackson's advisers referring to the cabinet as the "Kitchen Kabinet."

While it seems to be primarily American English in origin, the term has variations in many languages, most with a sense of confirmation. The Scots say och aye for "yes, indeed," the Greeks have ola kala for "everything is well," and the Finnish use oikea for "correct, exact."
Confirming Receipt as Quickly as Possible

In 1844, the telegraph was invented, and the two-letter "OK" strengthened as a fast and easy way to communicate via the new technology. The letters became a standard response to confirm a transmission was received. Its punchiness gave folks the ability to quickly convey that everything was "all right" or "good to go," but in fewer characters.

Not everyone loved the fun, catchy word, though. Many 19th-century writers, including Mark Twain and Bret Harte, steered away from its use, and Little Women author Louisa May Alcott used it once in the original 1868 draft of the book, but switched from "I'm OK with that" to "I'm cozy with that" in the next version.
Losing a Letter, and Gaining Some Attitude

"OK," in recent use, isn't always innocent and agreeable. In texting, messaging, and on social media, it's often shortened to "k" and can be interpreted in a variety of ways, thereby increasing its allure. A brisk and solo "k" can indicate some irritation, or an abrupt end to a conversation where there's perhaps more to be said later. It also easily conveys sarcasm, in place of "sure" or "yeah, right," such as when a teenager says they cleaned their room and the parent says "k" in a highly doubtful tone. In fact, ending a text conversation with just a "k" and not a "sounds good" and a friendly emoji can be disconcerting for the recipient. In recent years, tone-aware texters have doubled up with "kk" to show that they are, in fact, saying "OK" without any hint of sarcasm. Think of it as "OK's" friendlier little cousin.

Jennifer A. Freeman