Here
is some useless information to impress people with!
1.
In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes.
When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer
to sleep on. That's where the phrase, "goodnight sleep tight" came from.
2.
The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses
every letter in the alphabet and developed by Western Union to test telex/twx
communications.
3.
The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter
is 'uncopyrightable'.
4.
The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because
when it was built engineers failed to take into account the weight of all
the books that would occupy the building.
5.
The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English lawwhich stated
that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
6.
When Heinz ketchup leaves the bottle, it travels at a rate of 25
7.
The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General
Purpose" vehicle, GP.
8.
Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the sale
of vodka.
9.
On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens every year.
10.
Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
11.
In Cleveland, Ohio, it's illegal to catch mice without a hunting license.
12.
It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year's
supply of footballs.
13.
Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating
are already married. 14. There's an average of 178 sesame seeds on McDonald's
Big Mac bun.
15.
The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1.
16.
The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Coca-Cola, Marlboro, and
Budweiser, in that order. (now that's something . . . )
17.
In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world's nuclear
weapons combined. |
18.
It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for
a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law
with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because
their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month"
or what we know today as the "honeymoon."
19.
In British pubs ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England,
when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind
their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the
phrase "mind your P's and Q's."
20.
Many years ago in Britain pubs frequenters had a whistle baked into the
rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they
used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase
inspired by this practice.
21.
In ancient Britain a person could not have sex unless you had consent of
the King (unless you were in the Royal Family). When anyone wanted to have
a baby, they got consent of the King and the King gave them a placard that
they hung on their door while they were having sex. The placard had
F.U.C.K. (Fornication Under Consent of the King) on it. Now you know where
that came from.
-
Frank Gunther
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