celtaban

What WOULD period personal-sized cookware look like and what pieces were there?

Panther Primitives has what they claim to be a historically correct, hand-forged, folding frying pan, circa 1774, 8" in diameter and 2" deep, a good size for a haversack. The handle folds over the bowl of the pan. It's $75, and the catalog # is 3097-116-2. Unfortunately, I can't post a link; you'll just have to download the catalog or call 'em. Crazy Crow also has two folding pans, considerably cheaper. Go to www.crazycrow.com, click on "camp supplies," and then on "hand forged ironware." They have a nifty brazier, too.

People didn’t always say “hello” when they answered the phone When the first regular phone service was established in 1878, people said “ahoy.”

Actually, the story I heard is this: When the telephone was first coming into use, there was some popular disagreement about the proper thing to say when answering. Bell (inventor of the telephone) was consulted, and, being a Scot, suggested, "Hoy, hoy." (Brits who drop their aitches say "Oi," we say "hey" - same word, same meaning, different accents.) Bell is said to have answered his phone that way, but it never really caught on.

So is the Scots "hoy" the source of "ahoy," or did "ahoy" derive from some other expression?