Famous Artists presents -
Belive it or else - Well known phrases.
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Van Gogh.
"Hear hear!" is now known as a phrase indicating agreement, but it
originated as a taunt flung at Vincent Van Gogh ("Ear ear!") making
fun of the fact that he had lost an ear on the Paris to Arles express
and could'nt afford the lost property fee to reclaim it.
An even less well known fact is that Vincent later lost his other ear
when he chopped it off accidentally with his golf club during the
second Post-Impressionist Open at Tours. His backswing has been
described by Jack Niclaus as "just awful".
Vincent declined to retrieve the ear, explaining :- "Merde! Sacre
nom du nom! Cochon!"("What! And spoil my best tee shot ever?").
Unfortunately for Vincent, the ear, although powerfully struck, was
hooked quite badly and landed in the heavy rough with little hope
of making the green in two. This 2nd loss led to the famous line in
the film "Lust For Ears" when Mrs. Gaugin says to Vincent "To lose
one ear, Mr. Van Gogh, may be regarded as misfortune; to lose two
looks like carelessness." And Vincent replies, "Pardon?"
Degas
Edgar Degas, top line impressionist master, was well known for his
penchant for driving fast, expensive sports cars - very slowly.
"Ed" made his friends so impatient they were in the habit of stamping
on his foot over the accelerator. This gave rise to the phrase
(meaning 'speed up') of "step on Degas."
Da Vinci
Leonardo 'Nobbler' Da Vinci, all round renaissance genius and
veteran midfield ace of the first Juventus team invented a football
which when kicked by the opposition sprouted knives that chopped
off their kneecaps, but when kicked by Juventus sped unerringly
towards the goal. It was Leonardo who coined the phrase (during the
infamous match later known as "The Battle of Anghiari"), "Isa no
foul, ref. He's afallin' over my foot" after decapitating Anghiari's
Captain Paolo 'no kneecaps' Uccello.
