Trivia

[Studlover (imported)]

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from and old English law which

stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your

thumb.

Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.

Shakespeare invented the word "assassination" and "bump."

Marilyn Monroe had six toes on one foot.

If you keep a Goldfish in the dark room, it will eventually turn

white.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left

handed people do.

The sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every

letter in the alphabet.

The average chocolate bar has 8 insects' legs in it.

The average human eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night.

A rhinoceros horn is made of compacted hair.

It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.

In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.

On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament

Building is an American flag.

All of the clocks in the movie Pulp Fiction are stuck on 4:20.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or

purple.

"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the

back of the $5 bill.

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

The youngest pope was 11 years old.

The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

A snail can sleep for 3 years.

American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from

each salad served in first-class.

China has more English speakers than the United States.

The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and England in 1896.

Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.

A polar bear's skin is black. Its fur is not white, but actually

clear.

Elvis had a twin brother named Garon, who died at birth, which is why

Elvis' middle name was spelled Aron; in honor of his brother.

[Robby (imported)]

An American is having breakfast one morning (coffee, croissants, bread, butter and jam) when a Frenchman, chewing bubble-gum, sits down next to him. The American ignores the Frenchman who, nevertheless, starts a conversation.

Frenchman: "You American folk eat the whole bread??"

American (in a bad mood): "Of course."

Frenchman: (after blowing a huge bubble) "We don't. In France, we only eat what's inside. The crusts we collect in a container, recycle it, transform them into croissants and sell them to the states."

The Frenchman has a smirk on his face.

The American listens in silence.

The Frenchman persists: "Do you eat jelly with the bread??"

American: "Of Course."

Frenchman: (cracking his bubble-gum between his teeth and chuckling).

"We don't. In France we eat fresh fruit for breakfast, then we put all the peels, seeds, and leftovers in containers, recycle them, transform them into jam and sell the jam to the states."

After a moment of silence, The American then asks: "Do you have sex in France?"

Frenchman: "Why of course we do", he says with a big smirk.

American: "And what do you do with the condoms once you've used them?"

Frenchman: "We throw them away, of course."

American: "We don't. In America, we put them in a container, recycle them, melt them down into bubble-gum and sell them to France."

[radar (imported)]

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from and old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

Not trying to throw a wet towel on it, Studlover, but this one is absolutely, categorically false, a feminist fairy tale. "Rule of Thumb" actually refers to the use of the thumb as a measuring gauge.

[Studlover (imported)]

Not trying to throw a wet towel on it, Studlover, but this one is absolutely, categorically false, a feminist fairy tale. "Rule of Thumb" actually refers to the use of the thumb as a measuring gauge.

Radar, Thanks for the reminder. I should have deleted that.

Studlover

[Riverwind (imported)]

makes you want to run out and buy some gum.

River

[colin (imported)]

Not trying to throw a wet towel on it, Studlover, but this one is absolutely, categorically false, a feminist fairy tale. "Rule of Thumb" actually refers to the use of the thumb as a measuring gauge.

However, it is not too far wrong. There was a famous case in which a Husband was prosecuted for beating his wife and the Judge ruled that it was permissible provided that the cane was no thicker than the little finger. I can remember seeing a 'Giles' cartoon on the subject although I think I saw it some years later. It was certainly post WWII and probably around 1949 or 1950.

Ah, the good old days!

Ps. The Appeal Court (spoilsports) ruled that a Husband had no right to assault his wife.

LOL

[An Onymus (imported)]

One commentary of this type which I like, is the observation, common in one western state, that a mountain lion is not a lion, a pronghorn antelope is not an antelope, but a goat, and a mountain goat is not a goat, but is instead an antelope.

These are all more or less true--African lions and mountain lions are both cats, but are not closely related. At one time, there were lions in Europe, but they were also not related to the cougar or puma, both of which are correct names for the animal usually called the mountain lion. Pronghorn antelope aren't related to the antelope of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and a mountain goat is indeed a species closely related to African antelope, and unrelated to goats.

[clapner (imported)]

while we're splitting hares, there are no native rabbits in north america; the jackrabbit is a hare and the belgian hare is a rabbit. william f. cody never shot a buffalo and the douglas fir is the most impressive member of the pine family.

[Dave (imported)]

Edgar Allen Poe invented the word "tintinnabulation"

[radar (imported)]

However, it is not too far wrong. There was a famous case in which a Husband was prosecuted for beating his wife and the Judge ruled that it was permissible provided that the cane was no thicker than the little finger. I can remember seeing a 'Giles' cartoon on the subject although I think I saw it some years later. It was certainly post WWII and probably around 1949 or 1950.

This from Christina Hoff Sommers, in Who Stole Feminism:

"According to Canadian folklorist Philip Hiscock, 'The real explanation of 'rule of thumb' is that it derives from wood workers...who knew their trade so well they rarely or never fell back on the use of such things as rulers. Instead, they would measure things by, for example, the length of their thumbs.' Hiscock adds that the phrase came into metaphorical use by the late seventeenth century. Hiscock could not track the source of the idea that the term derives from a principle governing wife beating, but he believes it is an example of 'modern folklore' and compares it to other 'back-formed explanataions,' such as the claim that asparagus comes from 'sparrow-grass' or that 'ring around the rosy' is about the bubonic plague."

With all due respect, Colin, given the thoroughness with which Ms. Sommers researched her book, I would find it hard to believe that she missed a modern judge's decision citing such an interpretation. She dug into some of the most obscure feminist fables in an effort to produce any backing at all for some of these claims, and not only came up empty, but produced ample evidence that the misinterpretations were made intentionally, to forward a specific agenda.