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09/06/2005 10:53:37 PM · #1 |
The English-language alphabet originally had only 24 letters. One missing letter was J, which was the last letter to be added to the alphabet. The other latecomer to the alphabet was U.
"Fan" is an abbreviation for the word "fanatic." Toward the turn of the 19th century, various media referred to football enthusiasts first as "football fanatics," and later as a "football fan."
The proper name of our sole natural satellite is "the Moon" and therefore...it should be capitalized. The 60-odd natural satellites of other planets, however are called "moons" (in lower case) because each has been given a proper name, such as Deimos, Amalthea, Hyperion, Miranda, Larissa, or Charon.
The word "snorkel" comes from the German word "schnoerkel", which was a tube used by German submarine crews in WW2. The subs used an electric battery when traveling underwater, which had to be recharged using diesel engines, which needed air to run. To avoid the hazard of surfacing to run the engines, the Germans used the schnoerkel to feed air from the surface into the engines.
The name "fez" is Turkish for "Hat".
The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful plough man strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
"The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
"Jerkwater" is a railroad term. Until about fifty years ago, most trains were pulled by thirsty steam engines that needed to refill their boilers from water towers next to the tracks. But some towns were so small and inconsequential that they lacked a water tower. When trains stopped in those places, the crew had to find a nearby stream or well and, bucket-brigade style, "jerk" the water to the train. Those little dots on the map became known as jerkwater towns.
Malcolm Lowry had pnigophobia—the fear of choking on fish bones.
Augustus Caesar had achluophobia—the fear of sitting in the dark.
Androphobia is a fear of men.
Caligynephobia is a fear of beautiful women.
Pentheraphobia is a fear of a mother-in-law.
Scopophobia is a fear of being looked at.
Phobophobia is a fear of fearing.
Mageiricophobia is the intense fear of having to cook.
Papaphobia is the fear of Popes.
Taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive.
Clinophobia is the fear of beds.
Incredible means not believable. Incredulous means not believing. When someone's story is truly incredible, you ought to be incredulous.
The terms "prime minister," "premier" and "chancellor" all refer to the leading minister of a government, and any differences from nation to nation stem from different systems of government, not from title definitions.
Tennis pro Evonne Goolagong's last name means "kangaroo's nose" in Australia's aboriginal language.
A "sysygy" occurs when all the planets of the our Solar System line up.
The most common letters in the English language are R S T L N E. Sound familiar? Watch an episode of "Wheel of Fortune"...
A "necropsy" is an autopsy on animals.
EEG stands for Electroencephalogram.
The English word pajamas has it's origin in Persian. It is a combination of the Persian words pa (leg) and jamah (garment).
The ZIP in zip code stands for "Zone Improvement Plan."
Yucatan, as in the peninsula, is from Maya "u" + "u" + "uthaan" meaning "listen how they speak," and is what the Maya said when they first heard the Spaniards.
Punctuation was not invented until the 1500's
One legend claims stealing someone's shadow (by measuring it against a wall and driving a nail through its head) can turn the victim into a vampire.
Avoid people who talk to themselves. According to Ukrainian legend, that could indicate a dual soul and the second one doesn't die! Also watch out for the seventh son of a seventh son, a person born with a red caul (amniotic membrane covering the head), or a child born with teeth. A vampire can result if a cat or dog walks over a fresh grave, a bat flies over the corpse, or the person has died suddenly as a result of suicide or murder. Unfinished business can also cause a body to rise, as can inadequate burial rites, including a grave that is too shallow.
Most vampires are described in folklore as flushed and ruddy, with swollen bodies and bloated faces. Often, they can be identified because they're sitting up in the grave.
According to folklore, there are a number of ways to protect yourself from vampires, including the ever-popular wearing of garlic or a religious symbol. You can slow a vampire down by giving him something to do, like pick up poppy seeds or unravel a net. (They're quite compulsive.) Cross water and he can't follow. If you can find the body, give it a bottle of whiskey or food so it doesn't have to travel. If that doesn't work, either shoot the corpse (may require a silver bullet) or drive a stake through the heart. And remember, the vampire won't enter your dwelling unless invited.
Trivia is the Roman goddess of sorcery, hounds and the crossroads.
In Dante's "Inferno" the Ninth Circle of Hell is reserved for those who betray family or country. The denizens of this deepest circle, who are frozen in ice, include Judas (betrayer of Christ) and Cassius and Brutus (betrayers of Julius Caesar).
Abe Silverstein, who headed NASA's Space Flight Development Program, proposed the name Apollo for the space exploration programs in the 1960's. He chose that legendary Greek name because the virile Apollo was a god who rode through the skies in a magnificent golden chariot. The precedent of naming manned spacecraft for mythological gods had been set earlier with Project Mercury, also named by Silverstein.
Some people consider the $1 bill unlucky because there are so many 13's on it: 13 stars, 13 stripes, 13 steps, 13 arrows and even an olive branch with 13 leaves on it. Of course the $1 bill is unlucky - if it was lucky it would be a $100 bill.
The name of the legendary Lady Godiva's horse - Aethenoth
An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees. A spider web found on Christmas morning is believed to bring good luck.
When visiting Finland, Santa leaves his sleigh behind and rides on a goat named Ukko. Finnish folklore has it that Ukko is made of straw, but is strong enough to carry Santa Claus anyway.
According to legend, if a hare crosses a person's path as he starts out on a journey, the trip will be unlucky and it's best to return home and start again. If a pregnant woman sees a hare, her child may be born with a hare-lip. If a hare runs down the main street of a town, it foretells a fire. Cornish legend says that girls who die of grief after being rejected by a lover turn into white hares and haunt their former beaus.
Ancient Greeks wove marjoram into funeral wreaths and put them on the graves of loved ones. The wreaths served as prayers for the happiness of the deceased in a future life.
Breaking of a glass is traditional in some wedding ceremonies. This custom symbolizes different things. To some its the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, and for some its the represents the fragility of a relationship.
In Greek culture, brides carry a lump of sugar in their wedding glove. It's supposed to bring sweetness to their married life.
Placing a wreath on a grave is part of an ancient belief it was necessary to provide comforts for the dead and give them gifts in order for their spirits to not haunt the mourners. The circular arrangement represents a magic circle which is supposed to keep the spirit within its bounds.
The Sphinx at Giza in Egypt is 240 feet long and carved out of limestone. Built by Pharaoh Khafre to guard the way to his pyramid, it has a lion's body and the ruler's head.
The Vikings believed that the Northern lights which are seen from time to time in the north sky were caused by the flashing armor and spears of Odin's handmaidens as they rode out to collect warriors slain in battle.
One gift-giving taboo in China is the giving of straw sandals, which are associated with funerals, and therefore considered bad luck.
Crossing one's fingers is a way of secretly making the sign of the Cross. It was started by early Christians to ask for divine assistance without attracting the attention of pagans.
One sign of rain that farmers once searched for was for their pigs to pick up sticks and walk around with them in their mouths.
During the Civil War, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant believed that onions would prevent dysentery and other physical ailments. He reportedly sent the following message via wire to the War Department: "I will not move my army without onions." Within a day, the U.S. government sent three trainloads of onions to the front.
Contrary to popular belief, there are almost no Buddhists in India, nor have there been for about a thousand years.
On the stone temples of Madura in southern India, there are more than 30 million carved images of gods and goddesses.
One superstition says that if a girl leaves her house early on Valentine's Day and the first person she meets is a man, then she will be married within three months.
Less romantic was the old historical opinion that Valentine's Day is a good day to prepare eels for the purposes of magic. Eating an eel's heart was once believed to enable a person to see into the future.
The reason one wears a wedding ring on the third finger is that (tradition says) there is supposed to be a vein which goes directly from that finger to the heart—i.e., the seat of love. Also, not everyone wears that wedding ring on the third finger of the LEFT hand. In some traditions, such as the Jewish one, it is worn on the right hand. Also, I'm given to understand that nuns ("brides of Christ") wear a wedding ring, again on the right hand.
To prevent evil spirits from entering the bodies of their male children, parents dressed them in blue. Blue was chosen because it's the color of the sky and was therefore associated with heavenly spirits.
Girls weren't dressed in blue, apparently because people didn't think that evil spirits would bother with them. Eventually, however, girls did get their own color: pink. Pink was chosen because of an old English legend which said that girls were born inside of pink roses.
The famous Citgo sign near Fenway Park in Boston is maintained not by Citgo, but by Boston's historical society.
So many visitors were taking his cigars, so Thomas Edison devised a plan to discourage the practice. He had several boxes of cigars custom-made with cabbage leaves. But when the offensive smelling stogies were delivered to his office, his secretary sent them on to his home where his wife went ahead and packed the items in his luggage, and the offensive items accompanied Mr. Edison on his business trip. This just goes to show you that even a genius can't outsmart his wife.
Henry Waterman, of New York, invented the elevator in 1850. He intended it to transport barrels of flour.
John Greenwood, also of New York invented the dental drill in 1790.
The corkscrew was invented by M.L. Bryn, also of New York, in 1860.
Electrical hearing aids were invented in 1901 by Miller R. Hutchinson, who was (you guessed it) from New York.
Dr. Jonas Salk developed the vaccine for polio in 1952, in New York (aaah!).
Four wheel roller skates were invented by James L. Plimpton in 1863. Can you guess where?
The first words that Thomas A. Edison spoke into the phonograph were, "Mary had a little lamb."
In the early 1800s, a French silk weaver called Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented a way of automatically controlling the warp and weft threads on a silk loom by recording patterns of holes in a string of cards.
In 1843, a mathematician, Ada Byron, published the first computer programs. She based them on Jacquard's punch-card idea. Her programs were for the first general-purpose mechanical digital computer, that was just invented by Charles Babbage.
As an advertising gimmick, Carl Meyer, nephew of lunch meat mogul Oscar Meyer, invented the company's "Wienermobile". On July 18, 1936, the first Oscar Mayer "Wienermobile" rolled out of General Body Company's factory in Chicago. The Wienermobile still tours the U.S. today.
Gutenburg invented the printing press in the 1450's, and the first book to ever be printed was the Bible. It was, however, in Latin rather than English.
Jeanne Pierre Francois Blanchard built the first parachute and tested it using a dog. He put the dog in a basket equipped with his invention and then dropped it from a hot air balloon. It was a giant step forward for aviation history, but a giant step backwards in establishing the dog as man's best friend.
The toothbrush was invented in 1498.
The waffle iron was invented August 24, 1869.
The alarm clock was not invented by the Marquis de Sade, as some suspect, but rather by a man named Levi Hutchins of Concord, New Hampshire, in 1787. Perversity, though, characterized his invention from the beginning. The alarm on his clock could ring only at 4 am. Rumor has it that Hutchins was murdered by his wife at 4:05 am on a very dark and deeply cold New England morning.
Craven Walker invented the lava lamp, and its contents are colored wax and water.
In 1916, Jones Wister of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania invented a rifle for shooting around corners. It had a curved barrel and periscopic sights.
The same man who led the attack on the Alamo, Mexican Military General, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, is also credited with the invention of chewing gum.
The parachute was invented by Leonardo da Vinci in 1515.
The guillotine was originally called a louisette. Named for Antoine Louis, the French surgeon who invented it. It became known as the guillotine for Joseph Ignace Guillotin, the French physician who advocated it as a more merciful means of execution than the noose or ax.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
Lazy Susans are named after Thomas Edison's daughter. He invented it to impress a gathering of industrialists and inventors.
Cyano-acrylate glues (super glue) were invented by accident. The researcher was trying to make optical materials, and would test their properties by putting them between two prisms and shining light through them. When he tried the cyano-acrylate, he couldn't get the prisms apart.
A device invented as a primitive steam engine by the Greek engineer Hero, about the time of the birth of Christ, is used today as a rotating lawn sprinkler.
A machine has been invented that can read printed English books aloud to the blind, and it can do so at speed half again as fast as normal speech.
Games Slayter, a Purdue graduate, invented fiberglass.
Teflon was discovered in 1938.
Alfred Nobel used a cellulose adhesive (nitrocellulose) as the chemical binder for nitroglycerin, which he used in his invention of dynamite.
At the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, Richard Blechyden, and Englishman, had a tea concession. On a very hot day, none of the fairgoers were interested in hot tea. Blechyden served the tea cold—and invented iced tea.
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09/06/2005 10:56:46 PM · #2 |
"Mageiricophobia is the intense fear of having to cook"
OH, I think my Doctor just called to say I have Mageiricophobia!!
LOL!!
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09/06/2005 11:01:13 PM · #3 |
Originally posted by drz01:
The alarm clock was not invented by the Marquis de Sade, as some suspect, but rather by a man named Levi Hutchins of Concord, New Hampshire, in 1787. Perversity, though, characterized his invention from the beginning. The alarm on his clock could ring only at 4 am. Rumor has it that Hutchins was murdered by his wife at 4:05 am on a very dark and deeply cold New England morning. |
Having lived through 20 cold NH winters, I can completely understand her.
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09/06/2005 11:02:21 PM · #4 |
| In ancient Roman gladiatorial arenas, the "thumbs down" sign meant to let the gladiator live and to bury the sword in the sand, a thumb to the neck meant to kill. |
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09/06/2005 11:10:36 PM · #5 |
indianapolis and washington d.c. are the only two cities in the U.S. that have a street named for each State in the country.
susan dey (of 'the partridge family' and 'l.a. law') was the first person to wear a pantsuit on television.
'good times' was the first spin-off tv series that was spun off from another spin-off tv series ('all in the family' -> 'maude' -> 'good times')
all of china is in one time zone.
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this game is fun! i could think up tons more. there's a reason my family calls me "shit for brains" when we're playing trivial pursuit!
Message edited by author 2005-09-06 23:11:09. |
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09/06/2005 11:15:11 PM · #6 |
jeez. thinking about it, most of mine are tv related. hmmm...gotta quit watchin' "E!" i guess.
jane seymour ('dr. quinn medicine woman') has one green eye and one blue eye.
'the golden girls' was the only tv show where all of the principal actors won an emmy award until 'will and grace.'
the 's.' in s. epatha merkerson ('law & order') stands for 'sweet.' |
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09/06/2005 11:20:32 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by drz01:
The ZIP in zip code stands for "Zone Improvement Plan." |
Knew a hooker that had her ZIP Code tattooed below her navel.
She said it helped her mail come faster.
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09/06/2005 11:25:04 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by BradP:
Originally posted by drz01:
The ZIP in zip code stands for "Zone Improvement Plan." |
Knew a hooker that had her ZIP Code tattooed below her navel.
She said it helped her mail come faster.
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09/06/2005 11:31:45 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by BradP:
Originally posted by drz01:
The ZIP in zip code stands for "Zone Improvement Plan." |
Knew a hooker that had her ZIP Code tattooed below her navel.
She said it helped her mail come faster.
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Wouldn't that be MALE ??
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09/06/2005 11:32:44 PM · #10 |
| Librodophobia is the fear of entering the Colour Portrait Challenge. |
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09/06/2005 11:37:17 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by papagei:
Wouldn't that be MALE ?? |
shhhhhh.... was trying to be somewhat considerate of the younger crowd....
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09/06/2005 11:38:27 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by Pedro:
Librodophobia is the fear of entering the Colour Portrait Challenge. |
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09/06/2005 11:38:35 PM · #13 |
sitecouncilphobia is fear of knowing that a member of the site council takes at least 1 ribbon every challenge
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