11 14 2006 512

Terms of Business

The term ‘lobbyist’, by the way, was coined in 19th century

GYMNASIUM (=GYM) detailed description…

T

he word γυμνάσιον (gymnasion) was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men. The later meaning of intellectual education persisted in German and other languages to denote a certain type of school providing secondary education, the Gymnasium, whereas in English the meaning of physical education was pertained in the word gym.

 

LOBBY

S

tems from the word "Lobbyist". The term ‘lobbyist’ was coined in 19th century in the Willard hotel in Washington DC, on Pennsylvania Avenue, between the White House and the Congress. During that time, it was virtually the only conveniently placed site where it was possible for the politicians and White House and Congress workers, and the persons wanting to talk with them, to find shelter from the weather. President Ulysses Grant liked to use this hotel as a refuge from the White House pressure; the hotel placed a leather chair in a secluded part of the hotel lobby for him, where he could enjoy his favourite cigars and brandy in relative peace. Still, he was pestered there by would-be power brokers seeking his ear; for such people he coined the word ‘lobbyists’.

 

PAGE BOY

P

age boys are usually under the management of the concierge desk. The term comes from the medieval times. A page was an attendant to a knight; an apprentice squire. A young boy served as a page for seven years, from the age of seven (after cutting hair - there is still a hair style called page boy) until he was fourteen. At age fourteen, he could graduate to become a squire, and by age 21, perhaps a knight himself. Similar pages served in castles, and great houses fetching things and running messages for aristocrats and royalty. These boys were often the scions of other great families who were learning the ropes of the manorial system by watching and learning. Their residence in the house served as a goodwill gesture between the two families involved and helped them gain political contacts for their adult lives. A reference to this kind of page is found in the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslaus: "Hither, page, and stand by me, if thou know'st it, telling...."

In hotels, you could come across some older page "boys", too. Sometimes referred to as porters, bellman or bell·hop, they carry luggage and do errands.

 

SPA  detailed description…

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he term is derived from the name of the town of Spa in Belgium, where since medieval times illnesses caused by iron deficiency were treated by drinking chalybeate (iron bearing) spring water.

 

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