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Winner of the "Spur of the moment" derivation contest is:
Spur of the moment had really two origins. The first was "the railroad spur"
that was needed at the moment. The second was cowboys used different kinds
of spurs according to what they were doing or the need "spur of the moment"
Thanks.
James W. Hunt, President/CEO
eChange2, Inc.
http://www.echange2.com
==========================
Booby prize winner for largest amount of BS that could fit in 3 paragraphs is:
In the days of ancient Persia circa 397BC there was a Greek blacksmith by
the name of Spurios who was famous for his craftsmanship in all forms of
Saddlery. His work was honoured when Xerxes the Great asked him to craft
a saddle for his 50th birthday - a truly Momentous event. Spurios
responded by creating a masterpiece in silver with ruby saddle buttons, a
bronze pommel and gold foot mounts which by the way from then on became
known throughout the world as "Spurios's" or "spur's" for short. The most
remarkable feat was that in a flash of brilliance he did it all while the
King waited - in less than an hour while the King had a cup of coffee and
read a Horse and Hound Magazine.
He was rewarded by the king with the honoured name of Spurios of the
Momentous and this came to be synonymous with anything done fast or
spontaneously. In time it was shortened to 'spur of the moment.'
Of extra interest the King installed an award called 'The Spur of the
Moment Award' which was offered to anyone in his government (and
particularly in the royal postal service) who performed anything fast but
the award was never bestowed.
Colin Pearce CSP *
FUNNY FEISTY CONFERENCE SPEAKER AND MC
Get the whole eye-full at http://www.colinpearce.com.au
================
When a trained outdoorsman makes a sudden decision to drop everything and
go hunt down a certain prey, based on seeing fresh scat, or "spoor" (which
of course became "spur")
Or, if you don't accept that (many of these expressions have more than one
definitive explanatory root) - it's a railroading term. Different
directions are called spurs. When a train lineman is having to decide
which track to send an oncoming train to, he makes a spur of the moment
decision.
And if you don't like THAT, I can tell you about the egg which was trying
to decide which of the thousands trying to impregnate her, having to make a
sperm of the moment decision (which again of course, became "spur").
At least one of these is etymologically viable. Don't let facts get in the
way of truth, and no one should ever lose credibility by being interesting.
Sincerely,
Jackson Gillman
==========================
Here you go:
The Battle of the Spurs. A name given to the Battle of
Courtrai (1302) when the French were defeated by the
Flemings, so called from the thousands of spurs
collected as trophies after the battle and to the
Battle of Guinegate (1513) when the French spurred away
from their vanquishers, the forces of Henry VIII of
England and the Emperor Maximilian.
Hence, 'the spur of the moment' to do something
instantly without stopping to take thought.
Cheers,
Rhoberta
Rhoberta Shaler, PhD
Speaker, Consultant, Coach, Author
Optimize Success: Get Life Lined Up!
http://www.RhobertaShaler.com
http://www.GetLifeLinedUp.com
============================
Hi Tom. Spur of the moment - I would guess that when the gunslingers had a
stand-off, the winner was named the "Spur of the Moment" because he was so
quick.
Am I right?
Tom responds." I don't know Joan. I never knew the real answer in the first place. I wanted to see if any of you did hahahahaha"
Joan Binetti
=========
Dear Tom,
I loved the issue this week. I signed up for the FREE 7 Day mini
course on Electronic Marketing and "EXAGGERATION" and "GIVE
'EM WHAT THEY WANT" were both excellent.
The challenge you gave below was really tough. I spent an hour
searching all my favorite sites online related to to no avail.
So, I checked out my local library.
In Picturesque Expressions by Laurence Urdang, a professional
linguist and lexicographer with a long and impressive background, I
found the following:
In a book titled "Freewill" written by Robert Blakely in 1831 the
following passage was noted. "a speaker who gives us a ready
reply upon the spur of the moment" it went on to give the definition
of the phrase.
The only problem is the book doesn't say it's the ORIGINAL use of
the word, but leads the reader to believe it's the earliest use of the
term that could be found.
Well, let's see if someone else comes up with anything better, :-)
You really gave me a challenge that I enjoyed.
Thanks,
Angela Smith
webmaster@mastersyndicator.com
===========================
On the spur of the moment answer;
With little or no forethought.---"We left on the spur of the
moment."---Opportunity stimulates the beholder as the spur stimulates the
horse.---Admiral Nelson (1806). "The contrivance of Mr. Wyatt, on the spur
of the moment."
Dennis Laughlin
from the following website
http://www.geocities.com/PicketFence/7608/sayo.htm
===========
Tom
Origin of "Spur of the Moment" - In Texas, cowboys spurred their horses to
get them to run faster. One day, out on the range, a certain cowboy was
trying to outrace a stampeding herd of buffalo. When asked how he got his
horse to outrun the herd, he just said, "The moment they started stampeding,
I just spurred him as hard as I could." Thus, the saying, "Spur of the
Moment."
OK, it's not true, but is it good enough to get the free book???
Tom says, "No but thanks for BSing" hahahahaha
Linda M. Farley
http://www.booklocker.com/bookpages/lfarley02.html
http://www.booklocker.com/bookpages/lfarley.html
=============
Hi Tom,
In yesterday's mail you had asked the origin of "Spur of the moment". I have tried
to trace the details and this is my conclusion : "Spur" is a sharp device fixed to a rider's heel and used to urge the horse.
As soon as a horse is spurred it jumps into action. That is why spur is also spur is
also synonymous to 'goad'. So, when an action is done as a reaction to the a particular point in time,
then the action is said to have been 'spurred by the moment', reducing to the action
done at the 'spur of the moment'.
Thanks once again.
Regards,
Sridhar