Posted
November 9, 2013
A
famous person is sometimes said to be “in the limelight.”
Have
you ever wondered what on earth that means? Do limes (and perhaps
their close relatives, lemons) give off light – under certain
circumstances? Like, when they're near celebrities?
Actually,
the “lime” in “limelight” is more akin to the kind of “lime”
in “limestone.”
The
sedimentary rock we call limestone is usually made from shells and
skeletons of ancient creatures pressed together over a long period of
time. Limestone is made of calcium and aragonite, that is, various
forms of calcium carbonate. (You know calcium—it's that mineral we
want you to have for your teeth and bones; some people get it by
drinking milk.)
A
substance called quicklime is made of calcium oxide—and it is this
that was used by Thomas Drummond on this date in 1825 to create a
very strong light source.
A flame made from burning oxygen and
hydrogen was directed at a cylinder of quicklime, and the lime gave
off incandescent light that was brilliant yet soft and mellow rather
than harsh.
So
a now-outdated light source that was developed for surveying but used
in theaters is the reason we often talk about celebrities being “in
the limelight”...but what the phrase really means is that the media
and the public pay a lot of attention to celebrities' activities and
clothes and opinions.
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