Jan. 20th, 2005 09:15 am
Today's Well DUH! calendar entry
Dumb Moments in the Lives of Famous People
Sir Walter Raleigh got into a dispute with son while both were at a dinner party. The enraged father struck his son, but the young Raleigh was too polite to strike back. Instead, he turned and hit the man sitting on the other side of him, then told him, "Box about. It will come to my father anon."
The idea of everyone hitting everyone else around a circle struck the fancy of British elite as an apt metaphor for the Elizabethan age, and "box about" became a popular saying.