I came across this curious bit of trivia, which you might enjoy.
We have all heard the expression, 'to jump out of the frying pan into the fire.' The history of that expression may start with second-century Greek, which was 'out of the smoke into the flame'; the Italians and Portuguese had 'to fall from the frying pan into the coals'; the Gaelic said, 'out of the cauldron into the fire, and the French had 'to leap from the frying pan into the fire.'
We know that the expression means to escape one evil by leaping into another just as bad or worse.
The expression was first used in England (as far as I know) during a religious argument between William Tyndale and Sir Thomas More.
In 1528, Mr. More published a paper titled A Dialoge concerning Heresyes. The paper was read by Mr. Tyndale. He disagreed with the thinking of Mr. More, so in 1530 he wrote, "An Answere unto Sir Thomas More's Dialoge." Mr. More did not like Mr. Tyndale's "Answere" so he wrote "The Confutacyon of Tyndales Answere," In which he said, "Mr. Tyndale "featly conuayed himself out of the frying panne fayre into the fyre". (I used the English spelling of that day.)
I think both men jumped from a frying pan into a fire. William Tyndale, who translated the Bible into English, was publicly strangled and burned as a heretic in 1536. The author of Utopia, Sir Thomas More, because of perjured testimony, was hung as a traitor because he would not approve of the bigamous marriage of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn.
The following is another bit of trivia.
We all know Francis Scott Key wrote the words of the Star-Spangled Banner. Mr. Key's son, Philip Barton Key, became a U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. He was reputed to be a ladies' man, and even though he was a friend to Daniel E. Sickles, who represented New York constituents in Congress, he had an affair with Theresa, Mr. Sickles's wife.
Mr. Sickles found out, and after a heated discussion with Theresa, she confessed in writing, so Mr. Sickles sent his wife back to her mother.
On Sunday, February 27, 1859, Mr. Sickles saw Mr. Key walking on Pennsylvania Avenue. He grabbed his pistol and ran to Mr. Key and, near the White House, shot him at close range. Mr. Key died on the street.
The congressman was arrested and, at his trial, said he had temporary insanity. The jury said he was not guilty, and they joined the congressman at a hotel celebration. The public sentiment was for Mr. Sickle, as no one should trifle with another man's wife.
Mr. Sickles jumped from the frying pan but avoided the fire of disgrace and prison. Mr. Key was shoved from an affair frying pan into the fire.
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Now, a personal note having nothing to do with jumping from a frying pan into a hire, at least I hope so.
As some of you know, my house has squeak hall floors. I call them Nightingale floors. While writing Texas Cakewalk, which took about 3 years, the characters would come into my bedroom just as I was falling asleep. They would tell me their side of the story and what they thought I should say about them.
The book was published in June, and the characters no longer annoy me. However, different characters want me to write about them, so they trudge into my room, making the floors squeak (although some people say it is temperature and humidity, but I know better).
The characters are from the 1800s in Europe. They are from three different cultures: Swedish, Jewish, and Gypsy. The Swedish characters speak English with a strong Swedish accent, the Jewish character speaks Yiddish, and the Gypsies speak their own language, which has never been written, so no dictionary helps. I've told them they must all learn English so I can understand their perspectives on the events.
Recording the people and events at Texas Cakewalk took three years. I think this book will likely take five years, which means I will fall asleep listening to their jabber, have chaotic dreams, and wake up with a morning headache.
