Originally Posted By: BranShea
These are Anu's words about it in today's compendium:

"The term "brand new" refers to a brand (a burning piece of wood), implying straight from the fire, i.e. newly made in a furnace. Then there is "brand spanking new". The word spanking here is as an intensifier, used in the adverbial sense of the word, meaning extremely or remarkably. There appears not to be a connection to the spanking of a newly born baby to gets her breathing started.
Quote:
The spelling spic-and-span and its association with cleanness is from the popular household cleaning product Spic and Span."
-Anu Garg



And where does the "spic" in the spic and span, come from??

----please, draw me a sheep----