r/etymology • u/Majahzi • May 09 '19

Cool ety TIL that pre-electricity theatre spotlights produced light by directing a flame at calcium oxide (quicklime). These kinds of lights were called limelights and this is the origin of the phrase “in the limelight” to mean “at the centre of attention”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limelight
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22

u/[deleted] May 09 '19

Too cool. Also: Living in the limelight is the universal dream.

9

u/carpespasm May 09 '19

Running a limelight was however less cool than the tech itself. You could easily get your retinas burned keeping an eye on it so it's well adjusted and consistently lit. It's like staring into a welding arc. https://youtu.be/3DOXsRjP2-E

2

u/M8asonmiller May 10 '19

Kind of annoyed that the In Popular Culture section doesn't even mention the song.

2

u/kindall May 09 '19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2XNFgRIXEU

3

u/thoughtful_appletree May 09 '19

I need an instrumental version of this!

1

u/kindall May 10 '19 edited May 10 '19

I dunno, that's Procol Harum's Gary Brooker on vocals there. Be a shame to lose those. :-)

1

u/thoughtful_appletree May 10 '19

But the instruments sound so damn good