Yahoo! Hacks

Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.

The image on the cover of Yahoo! Hacks shows a pair of cowboy boots with spurs. American cowboy boots evolved from Hessians (boots with the familiar V-cut in front, worn by German soldiers who fought in the Revolution), Wellingtons (knee-high British boots), and others. They are treadless, in order for one to quickly slide the forefoot into and out of the stirrup, and have a tall heel that holds the boot in place while one is mounted. The revolving rowel used in modern spurs became popular around the fourteenth century. Earlier spurs (used throughout Europe from the time of the Etruscans, and farther east by Genghis Khan and his support staff) had a single sharp protrusion. Early Native Americans did not use spurs, preferring a sort of quirt (short-handled whip).

Unlike “down at the heel” and “slipshod,” the term “well-heeled” originally referred not to footgear but to fowl: in cockfighting, it has long been used to indicate that a bird has sharp spurs (natural weapons on its legs, sometimes augmented artificially). On the American frontier, the term was used to mean one was carrying a gun; later it evolved to mean one was armed with wealth. The phrase “to earn one’s spurs” traces back to chivalric tradition, when spurs were awarded ...