After no one came to see him while he
was in the hospital Cliff decided to be a better person.
Cliff finally shows up at Cheers wired
for an electrical shock every time he's obnoxious.
The gang feels bad for not going to
see him and Sam asks "Who came up with that great post office
phrase, you know, rain, sleet dark of night?"
You know,
interestingly enough, it harks back to the early Persian
empire, about 500 BC.
(Barfly: "Is
that right?")
Oh yeah, yeah, as a matter of fact a lot of our ancient wonders
are postal related.
(Norm: "Get
out.")
Oh yeah, no really, the pyramids for example, they were post
offices and the sphinx, that was a late night drop-off, but I
digress... (Carla: "Cliff,
when you were in the hospital did they give you a lobotomy?")
The truth:
The motto Sam is referring to is
'Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these
couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds'
and it dates back, as Cliff implies,
to ancient Greek historical accounts about the Persians, who had
developed an ancient network of couriers, around 500 BC.
It is thought to be written by Greek historian Herodotus.
Contrary to popular belief, the phrase is not the official U.S.
Postal Service motto, according to the Postal Service. It
appears on the James Farley Post Office on Eighth Avenue and
32nd Street in New York and was added by the architect looking
for an appropriate inscription.
As for the our ancient wonder being postal related, maybe Cliff
was not quite over the anesthetic.
