[quote][cite]Posted By: Salad[/cite][quote][cite]Posted By: mascot88[/cite]i gave the licking your crack thing the elbow....[/quote]glad to hear it[/quote]
· "A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of Communism" is the opening line of the Communist Manifesto, it was initially translated as "A frightful hobgoblin stalks through Europe".
· A towel doesn't legally reserve a sun lounger - and there is nothing in German or Spanish law to stop other holidaymakers removing those left on vacant seats.
· An octopus faced with danger can disguise itself as a fallen coconut shell by wrapping six of its legs around its head. It then escapes by walking backwards on the other two legs.
· Barbara Millicent Roberts is the full name of the Barbie doll.
· Bees have hair on their eyes.
· Benedictine monk Dom Perignon’s, job was originally to get the bubbles out of the champagne.
· Bob Dylan named himself after Dylan Thomas
· Bob Marley was the son of a white sailor from Liverpool.
· Brussels sprouts contain three times as much vitamin c as oranges.
· Buying local isn’t necessarily the best way to save the planet from global warming. It takes less energy to import a tomato from Spain than to grow them in this country because of the artificial heat needed.
· Clive Dunn was just 48 when he first played the role of Jones in Dad’s Army.
· Concord is 9 inches longer when flying at Mach 2 than it is when stationary.
· Custard Creams are the most popular biscuits in Britain. They are so popular that they now have their own entry in the Oxford English Dictionary.
· Dave Freeman, co-author of 50 things to do before you die, died this year at the age of 47. He had not completed all of the things on his list.
· During his acting career Sid James played at least 17 different characters all named Sid or Sidney.
· Giant squid eat each other, especially during sex. No that’s not a euphemism for squid fellatio, they actually consume each other.
· Gretchen Franklin is Clive Dunn’s cousin.
· If you look very closely at the film Ben Hur, you can see charioteers wearing wrist watches.
· In 2005, there were more CCTV cameras in Croydon than there were in New York. If you’ve ever been there, you’ll understand why.
· In Gaelic, Dublin literally means Blackpool.
· In the 16th Century monks were rationed a gallon of beer a day. Rich people drank wine by the pint.
· Jean-Michel Jarre has a half brother called Kevin. He is a Hollywood screenwriter.
· Jimi Hendrix pretended to be gay to be discharged from the US Army.
· Kentucky Fried Chicken changed its name to KFC, not to sound trendy, but to avoid the legal obligation for all its food to be fried (it doesn’t have to be chicken now either).
· Mark E Smith appears in the credits to Silence of the Lambs.
· Men having heart attacks tend to feel the pain down their arms, whereas women are more likely to feel it down their backs.
· Meryl Streep lost her Oscar for Kramer versus Kramer on the night she was awarded it. She later found it in the lavvy.
· Mirriam Stoppard is Oona King’s auntie.
· Musical instrument shops must pay an annual royalty to cover shoppers who perform a recognisable riff before they buy, thereby making a "public performance".
· Norwich used to be the second largest city in England.
· One in 18 people has a third nipple.
· One in six children think that broccoli is a baby tree.
· Oskar Schindler and Saddam Hussein shared the same birthday, but they probably didn’t celebrate together.
· Over the course of our lives our nasal hair grows by 2 metres.
· Ralph Lauren’s real name is Ralph Lipschitz.
· The average office desk contains four hundred times as many bacteria as a lavvy seat.
· The body of Oliver Cromwell was dug up 3 years after he died and hung, drawn and quartered.
· The coastline of the UK is longer than the coastline of India.
· The day that Jack Dee won celebrity big brother was the first day in seven years that no-one in the UK committed suicide.
· The equals sign was invented in the 16th Century by Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde. He was fed up with writing "is equal to" in his equations.
· The first interracial kiss to appear in a tv drama was between William Shatner (Kirk) and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) in 1968.
· The first mobile phone call in the UK was made by Ernie Wise (yes the one with the short fat hairy legs).
· The man who was the voice of one of the original Daleks, Roy Skelton, also did the voices for George and Zippy in Rainbow.
· The reason that Elvis Presley never performed outside of the USA was because his manager Colonel Tom Parker AKA Andreas van Kuijk was an illegal immigrant who feared that if he ever left the country he wouldn’t be allowed back in.
· The Tasmanian devil has the greatest bite-strength to weight ratio of any animal.
· The term hookers originally referred to people who would use hooks to steal others’ possessions through their open windows.
· The word "sex", used to mean sexual intercourse, was first used in 1929.
· There are an estimated 1,000 people in the UK in a persistent vegetative state. At least 30% of these work with me.
· Time Magazine loved a warmonger. Their “Man of the Year” was awarded to Hitler in 1938, Stalin in 1939 and Churchill in 1940.
· Tony Bland, Jeff Astle and Bob Marley all died as a result of football, but all in different ways.
· Tubular Bells was the first record released on Virgin, it forms part of the soundtrack to the film The Exorcist. Mike Oldfield also recorded the Blue Peter theme.
· TV weatherman Fred Talbot, the guy who used to jump around on the floating map for TV AM, used to be Mark E Smith’s biology teacher.
· WD40 can dissolve cocaine
· You are ten times more likely to be bitten by a human than a rat.
Sorry WhenIwasLittleBoy, I did a bit of reasarch on your facts as I was hoping to use them in a quiz. It turns out they're nearly all myths. Good fun though.
Rule of thumb
There never was such a law. It is more likely to have its origins in using your thumb as an measuring stick rather than a more carefully calibrated instrument.
Golf – origin
The only words in the English language that started as acronyms are from the 20th and 21st centuries. It is more likely that its origins lie on the old Scottish word Goulf, meaning to strike.
Flintstones – First couple in bed
One of many “facts” which relates to USA only. But even this is wrong. The first known couple in bed on tv were Mary Kay and Johnny (1947-1950), but there may be earlier examples which have not been remembered.
Monopoly Money
This is true, but a little unfair as the comparisons appear to be made for total international monopoly money versus US treasury notes only.
Men v women reading & hearing
Can’t disprove it, but haven’t found any supporting evidence either.
The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer
Twain himself, claimed this and was likely to have been the first typewritten author, but historians believe it was more likely to be another of his novels, Life on the Mississippi.
The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments
In this statement the word “National” obviously refers just to the USA. It’s not right though. The steamship Sabino, is also a “National Historic Landmark”.
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history
This applies only to French cards produced between 1500 and 1800. Modern cards have no standardised representation of royal persons.
Horse Statues
This is an American folk myth. Whilst a few latter-day sculptors may have used this code, there are as many statues around that don’t comply as do. For example in Washington DC 10 out of 30 statues follow this convention.
There is no evidence of it in Europe.
Obsession is the most popular boat name
Another one that applies to USA only. The method of judging does not come from an official source but from a company who make flags and signs. They had the most orders for “Obsession” in 1995 and 1997. In 2007 Black Pearl was the most popular. Which just goes to show what an unimaginative lot of boat owners there are out there in Yankeeland.
Bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers were invented by women
Only 1 out of 4:
Bullet proof vest – Casimir Zeglen (male)
Fire Escape – Joseph Winters (male)
Windscreen Wipers – Mary Anderson (female)
Laser Printer – Gary Starkweather (male)
Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil
It depends what you mean by spoil. Its doesn’t rot or get mouldy but it does crystalise and lose some flavour over time. There are similar claims for salt, sugar, cocoa butter and vinegar. I don’t know how true they are though.
Goodnight, sleep tight
There are no citations for this phrase prior to 1866 so it is unlikely to have a Shakespearian origin. According to Oxford, “It seems that tight in this expression is the equivalent of the only surviving use of the adverb tightly meaning 'soundly, properly, well, effectively'.”
Mead honeymoon
There is evidence that in medeaval times the drinking of mead for a month was common practice throughout Europe. There doesn’t seem to be anything to support the Babylon claim though. Websters puts it down to the fact that the first month is the sweetest (its downhill from there).
Mind your P's and Q's
It’s a possibility, but no more than that. There are at least 5 other possible origins for the phrase. Brewers states that the most likely origin is as a warning to young school children and/or wayward typesetters, as p and q are mirror images of each other and adjacent in the alphabet.
Whet your whistle
There’s no evidence to suggest that the ordering process in English pubs has ever changed. In most places, if you wanted a drink you went to the bar. Where table service did exist, it would have been considered too uncouth to whistle. There’s also the practical problem that whistles are not a distinct as human voices so it would make ordering more difficult. There are examples of mugs with built in whistles, but all are dated later than the myth.
At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!
I’ve got no evidence, but this looks suspiciously made up to me.
[cite]Posted By: WhenIwasLittleBoy[/cite]In the 1400's a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to
> beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have
> 'the
> rule of thumb'
I looked into this and it's utter dogshit, apparently. It was once proposed in parliament, but vehemently opposed and is now used by feminists as an example of the poor attitude of men. All lies, I'm afraid.
Also, do you know that lemmings don't throw themselves off cliffs? Amiable nazis, the disney corporation, chased a group of them off a cliff to sex up the film white wilderness and dunderheads have believed it ever since.
[cite]Posted By: Mortimerician[/cite]
Also, do you know that lemmings don't throw themselves off cliffs? Amiable nazis, the disney corporation, chased a group of them off a cliff to sex up the film white wilderness and dunderheads have believed it ever since.
Bastards. And it took the Oscar that year for best documentary! Amaible nazis, great turn of phrase - sums them up nicely.
Comments
nice salad ;)
· A towel doesn't legally reserve a sun lounger - and there is nothing in German or Spanish law to stop other holidaymakers removing those left on vacant seats.
· An octopus faced with danger can disguise itself as a fallen coconut shell by wrapping six of its legs around its head. It then escapes by walking backwards on the other two legs.
· Barbara Millicent Roberts is the full name of the Barbie doll.
· Bees have hair on their eyes.
· Benedictine monk Dom Perignon’s, job was originally to get the bubbles out of the champagne.
· Bob Dylan named himself after Dylan Thomas
· Bob Marley was the son of a white sailor from Liverpool.
· Brussels sprouts contain three times as much vitamin c as oranges.
· Buying local isn’t necessarily the best way to save the planet from global warming. It takes less energy to import a tomato from Spain than to grow them in this country because of the artificial heat needed.
· Clive Dunn was just 48 when he first played the role of Jones in Dad’s Army.
· Concord is 9 inches longer when flying at Mach 2 than it is when stationary.
· Custard Creams are the most popular biscuits in Britain. They are so popular that they now have their own entry in the Oxford English Dictionary.
· Dave Freeman, co-author of 50 things to do before you die, died this year at the age of 47. He had not completed all of the things on his list.
· During his acting career Sid James played at least 17 different characters all named Sid or Sidney.
· Giant squid eat each other, especially during sex. No that’s not a euphemism for squid fellatio, they actually consume each other.
· Gretchen Franklin is Clive Dunn’s cousin.
· If you look very closely at the film Ben Hur, you can see charioteers wearing wrist watches.
· In 2005, there were more CCTV cameras in Croydon than there were in New York. If you’ve ever been there, you’ll understand why.
· In Gaelic, Dublin literally means Blackpool.
· In the 16th Century monks were rationed a gallon of beer a day. Rich people drank wine by the pint.
· Jean-Michel Jarre has a half brother called Kevin. He is a Hollywood screenwriter.
· Jimi Hendrix pretended to be gay to be discharged from the US Army.
· Kentucky Fried Chicken changed its name to KFC, not to sound trendy, but to avoid the legal obligation for all its food to be fried (it doesn’t have to be chicken now either).
· Mark E Smith appears in the credits to Silence of the Lambs.
· Men having heart attacks tend to feel the pain down their arms, whereas women are more likely to feel it down their backs.
· Meryl Streep lost her Oscar for Kramer versus Kramer on the night she was awarded it. She later found it in the lavvy.
· Mirriam Stoppard is Oona King’s auntie.
· Musical instrument shops must pay an annual royalty to cover shoppers who perform a recognisable riff before they buy, thereby making a "public performance".
· Norwich used to be the second largest city in England.
· One in 18 people has a third nipple.
· One in six children think that broccoli is a baby tree.
· Oskar Schindler and Saddam Hussein shared the same birthday, but they probably didn’t celebrate together.
· Over the course of our lives our nasal hair grows by 2 metres.
· Ralph Lauren’s real name is Ralph Lipschitz.
· The average office desk contains four hundred times as many bacteria as a lavvy seat.
· The body of Oliver Cromwell was dug up 3 years after he died and hung, drawn and quartered.
· The coastline of the UK is longer than the coastline of India.
· The day that Jack Dee won celebrity big brother was the first day in seven years that no-one in the UK committed suicide.
· The equals sign was invented in the 16th Century by Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde. He was fed up with writing "is equal to" in his equations.
· The first interracial kiss to appear in a tv drama was between William Shatner (Kirk) and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) in 1968.
· The first mobile phone call in the UK was made by Ernie Wise (yes the one with the short fat hairy legs).
· The man who was the voice of one of the original Daleks, Roy Skelton, also did the voices for George and Zippy in Rainbow.
· The reason that Elvis Presley never performed outside of the USA was because his manager Colonel Tom Parker AKA Andreas van Kuijk was an illegal immigrant who feared that if he ever left the country he wouldn’t be allowed back in.
· The Tasmanian devil has the greatest bite-strength to weight ratio of any animal.
· The term hookers originally referred to people who would use hooks to steal others’ possessions through their open windows.
· The word "sex", used to mean sexual intercourse, was first used in 1929.
· There are an estimated 1,000 people in the UK in a persistent vegetative state. At least 30% of these work with me.
· Time Magazine loved a warmonger. Their “Man of the Year” was awarded to Hitler in 1938, Stalin in 1939 and Churchill in 1940.
· Tony Bland, Jeff Astle and Bob Marley all died as a result of football, but all in different ways.
· Tubular Bells was the first record released on Virgin, it forms part of the soundtrack to the film The Exorcist. Mike Oldfield also recorded the Blue Peter theme.
· TV weatherman Fred Talbot, the guy who used to jump around on the floating map for TV AM, used to be Mark E Smith’s biology teacher.
· WD40 can dissolve cocaine
· You are ten times more likely to be bitten by a human than a rat.
Rule of thumb
There never was such a law. It is more likely to have its origins in using your thumb as an measuring stick rather than a more carefully calibrated instrument.
Golf – origin
The only words in the English language that started as acronyms are from the 20th and 21st centuries. It is more likely that its origins lie on the old Scottish word Goulf, meaning to strike.
Flintstones – First couple in bed
One of many “facts” which relates to USA only. But even this is wrong. The first known couple in bed on tv were Mary Kay and Johnny (1947-1950), but there may be earlier examples which have not been remembered.
Monopoly Money
This is true, but a little unfair as the comparisons appear to be made for total international monopoly money versus US treasury notes only.
Men v women reading & hearing
Can’t disprove it, but haven’t found any supporting evidence either.
The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer
Twain himself, claimed this and was likely to have been the first typewritten author, but historians believe it was more likely to be another of his novels, Life on the Mississippi.
The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments
In this statement the word “National” obviously refers just to the USA. It’s not right though. The steamship Sabino, is also a “National Historic Landmark”.
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history
This applies only to French cards produced between 1500 and 1800. Modern cards have no standardised representation of royal persons.
Horse Statues
This is an American folk myth. Whilst a few latter-day sculptors may have used this code, there are as many statues around that don’t comply as do. For example in Washington DC 10 out of 30 statues follow this convention.
There is no evidence of it in Europe.
Obsession is the most popular boat name
Another one that applies to USA only. The method of judging does not come from an official source but from a company who make flags and signs. They had the most orders for “Obsession” in 1995 and 1997. In 2007 Black Pearl was the most popular. Which just goes to show what an unimaginative lot of boat owners there are out there in Yankeeland.
Bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers were invented by women
Only 1 out of 4:
Bullet proof vest – Casimir Zeglen (male)
Fire Escape – Joseph Winters (male)
Windscreen Wipers – Mary Anderson (female)
Laser Printer – Gary Starkweather (male)
Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil
It depends what you mean by spoil. Its doesn’t rot or get mouldy but it does crystalise and lose some flavour over time. There are similar claims for salt, sugar, cocoa butter and vinegar. I don’t know how true they are though.
Goodnight, sleep tight
There are no citations for this phrase prior to 1866 so it is unlikely to have a Shakespearian origin. According to Oxford, “It seems that tight in this expression is the equivalent of the only surviving use of the adverb tightly meaning 'soundly, properly, well, effectively'.”
Mead honeymoon
There is evidence that in medeaval times the drinking of mead for a month was common practice throughout Europe. There doesn’t seem to be anything to support the Babylon claim though. Websters puts it down to the fact that the first month is the sweetest (its downhill from there).
Mind your P's and Q's
It’s a possibility, but no more than that. There are at least 5 other possible origins for the phrase. Brewers states that the most likely origin is as a warning to young school children and/or wayward typesetters, as p and q are mirror images of each other and adjacent in the alphabet.
Whet your whistle
There’s no evidence to suggest that the ordering process in English pubs has ever changed. In most places, if you wanted a drink you went to the bar. Where table service did exist, it would have been considered too uncouth to whistle. There’s also the practical problem that whistles are not a distinct as human voices so it would make ordering more difficult. There are examples of mugs with built in whistles, but all are dated later than the myth.
At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!
I’ve got no evidence, but this looks suspiciously made up to me.
Have you researched your own "facts" Stig? : - )
like the kfc one?
Ooops.
hate those Coca cola B*********s. : - )
I looked into this and it's utter dogshit, apparently. It was once proposed in parliament, but vehemently opposed and is now used by feminists as an example of the poor attitude of men. All lies, I'm afraid.
Also, do you know that lemmings don't throw themselves off cliffs? Amiable nazis, the disney corporation, chased a group of them off a cliff to sex up the film white wilderness and dunderheads have believed it ever since.