Personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's face she was told, 'mind your own bee's wax.' Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term 'crack a smile'. In addition, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt . . . Therefore, the expression 'losing face.'

Thanks for that one Jim. I've been mistakenly calling it the Peter Principle. I looked it up and realized that the Peter Principle states that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their level of incompetence. An employee who is successful in one job will be promoted to a job with a different or higher set of skills that they are not able to master.

Stacey_mb I worked in a government library, and didn't know the formal definition of a white paper until now! ETA: name.

Another thank you for today's post. Oscar Wilde certainly had a quick wit. I stumbled upon a list of his clever remarks one day and thoroughly enjoyed the read,