Wednesday Words -- Lights out!

How about a new alliterative category for Wednesday?
I'm about tapped for wisdom. Although I've often been called a wise-a$$ or a wise-guy, I've seldom been thought of as a truly wise man.

And besides, words can be fun.
For an older generation of kids that played outside all day, the streetlights coming on was often the signal for kids to head home for the evening. Not always, though. We played kick the can, hide and seek, tag, and many other games with the neighborhood kids well after dark.
The electric street lights came on automatically and stayed on all night. Nobody had the job of lighting the gaslights when the sun set or extinguishing them when it was time for everyone to be safely at home for the night.
Although there are many good reasons for streetlights to remain on throughout the night, it's weird to remember that electricity or even gas jets haven't been around for most of the history of humanity. For most of our history, turning out the lights meant putting out a fire. Nighttime light came from candles, lanterns, or fireplaces.
Today, lights out is as simple as flipping a switch.

Our word curfew comes from the French couvre feu which means cover fire.
The French were the first to use street lamps in an effort to reduce nighttime crime in Paris. When it was time for the street lamps to be extinguished (couvre-feu), it was time for everyone to be at home.
Instead of be home when the streetlights come on; it was be home before they go off -- curfew!

And now you know.

John