Have you ever wondered how “grandfather” clocks got their name? Well, wonder no more! I have some intelligence that’ll make you the hit of the water cooler, courtesy of Mental Floss magazine. Basically, grandfather clocks are called that for the same reason M.C. Hammer pants are called M.C. Hammer pants – it all boils down to pop music.

In 1875, an American songwriter named Henry Work checked into the George Hotel in North Yorkshire, England. In the lobby, there was a large pendulum clock that belonged to the Inn’s previous owners, whom had both died. The clock was said to have stopped dead – to the MINUTE – on the day the last surviving owner died.

Work thought this was a great story and decided to write a song based on it. He called the song “My Grandfather’s Clock.” The lyrics were about a clock that was “taller by half than the old man himself” and that “stopped short – never to go again” when the grandfather died. Work sold over a million copies in sheet music. And eventually, the term “Grandfather clock” became synonymous with this style of clock that inspired the song.