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The first couple to be shown in bed together on TV; Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
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Coca-Cola was originally green.
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Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury.
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The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%. Now get this, The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%.
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If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
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How about this.... The nursery rhyme "Ring around the Rosy" is a rhyme about the plague. Infected people with the plague would get red circular sores ("Ring around the rosy..."), these,sores would smell very bad, so common folks would put flowers on their bodies somewhere (inconspicuously) so that they would cover the smell of the sores ("...a pocket full of posies..."). People who died from the plague would be burned so as to reduce the possible spread of the disease ("...ashes, ashes, we all fall down!"). (pretty sick, huh?)
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What occurs more often in December than any other month? Conception. (Merry Christmas, honey!
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What separates "60 Minutes," on CBS from every other TV show? No theme song.
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Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace.
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If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"? One thousand
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What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?. They were all invented by women.
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Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil.
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Mel Blanc ( the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
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If you throw a party, 40% of the guests will snoop in your medicine cabinet.
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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. Hence the phrase "goodnight, sleep tight."
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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.
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Americans spend $600 million a year on hot dogs. They consume enouth of them each year to form a chain stretching from Earth to the Moon.
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There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, more Italians than in Rome, and more Jews than in Tel Aviv.
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There are more people in New York City, than there are in the states of Alaska, Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Hawaii, North Dakota, Delaware, and New Mexico combined.
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Americans spend more than $125 billion a year on sneakers.
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In the city of Washington, D.C., no buiding may be built taller than the Capitol.
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The Pyramids in Egypt contain enough stone and mortar to construct a wall 10 feet high and 5 feet wide running from New York City to Los Angeles.
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Christopher Columbus was christened Cristofro Colombo and that he was not the first to discover The Americas? Also that Columbus's arrival marked the beginning of one of the cruelest episodes in Human history. That under Columbus and other Spanish adventures,as well as later European colonizers, an era of genocide was opened that ravaged the native American population through warfare, forced labor,draconian punishments and European disease to which the Indians had no natural immunities.
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And in the 1500's...
In English pubs, ale was ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's."
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In England, pub 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.
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In ancient England 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, the King gave them a placard that they hung on their door while they were having sex. The placard had F.*.*.*. (Fornication Under Consent of the King) on it. Now you know where that came from. People who did not follow the rules were imprisoned and the reason stated for their arrest was For Unconsenting Carnal Knowledge.
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In Scotland, a new game was invented. It was entitled Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden.... And thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
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Back when England was young, the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell", or maybe considered a "dead ringer."
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Lead cups were used to drinking whisky. That combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."
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Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
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In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, " Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."
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Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man "could bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."
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The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying, a "thresh hold."
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Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."
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There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.
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The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "dirt poor."
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Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children-last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the old saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."
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Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
Just some useless information to impress your friends with.
