In the 1500's in England, they began to run out of places to bury people, so started to dig up coffins to re-use them. They often found scratch marks on the lids, and realised that some people had been buried alive.
To prevent this, they started to tie a piece of twine around the wrist of the person before they went into the coffin. This was tied to a bell hanging from a tree in the graveyard. They then paid someone to sit in the graveyard all night to listen out for the bell..
This is where we get the phrase "on the graveyard shift" from and also, "Saved by the bell".
On average, more people are scared of spiders, than are afraid of dying.
In the 1500's, Bread was divided amongst the household. The Lower staff got the burnt bottoms of the loaves, The higher staff got the middle bit and the Family and guests got the Top, Hence "Upper Crust"
You cannot kill yourself by holding your breath.
Tarzan couldn't have swung on jungle vines as they are attatched to the ground.
When a whale wants to change its line of vision, it has to turn its whole body around, as its eyes are fixed.
Inflammable is NOT the opposite of Flammable. In fact they both mean the same thing. "Easily set on fire" Non-flammable, means NOT easily burned. The prefix 'in' made many people confused, so warning labels were switched to just read the word 'Flammable' instead.
7% of the entire barley crop in Ireland, goes into the production of Guiness.
The average human body contains enough lead to make 900 pencils.
The # hashtag is called an 'Octothorpe'.
In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
In Mel Brooks film "Silent Movie", the only person who had a speaking part was the mime artist Marcel Marceau.
Grapes explode when you put them in a microwave.
There is a 7 letter word in English that contains 9 other words without rearranging any of the letters.. 'THEREIN'. "the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, herein.
The Beatles song "Dear Prudence" was written about about Mia Farrows sister Prudence, when she wouldn't come out to play with Mia and the Beatles during a religious retreat in India.
Buzz Aldrin, the 2nd man on the moon's mothers maiden name was 'Moon'
SOS, doesn't actually mean anything. It was chosen as 2 letters than anyone could remember and use it to key it in Morse Code. S = dot-dot-dot. O = dash-dash-dash.
"Strengths is the longest word in English with only 1 vowel.
The Busby worn by the Queens Guards at Buckingham palace are made from Canadian Bearskin.
They were originally worn by Napoleons Imperial Guards to make them look taller. Recently animal lovers demanded a switch to synthetic fur, but a spokesman said, In the rain, the guards would look as if they were having a bad hair day as the natural fur is waterproof.
The population density of Alaska is 1 person per sq mile.
Picasso's full name is "Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno de los Remidios Cipriano de la Santisma Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso. Phew.
Richard Nixon is the only President to have his name engraved on a plaque and left on the moon.
Pope John Paul II once wrote a play that premiered at a theatre in London.
The middle initial of US President Harry S Truman doesn't stand for anything. Both Grandfathers names began with 'S' and Harrys parents didn't want to upset either side.
The distance between an alligators eyes in inches, is directly proportional to its overall length in feet.
Starboard on a ship, comes from the Viking word for the paddles on the right hand side of the boat, used to steer. They were called "Steorbords"
The cells which make up the antlers on a moose are the fastest growing animal cells in nature.
The oldest business in the world is the Cymbal company "Zildijan". It was founded in 1623 in Constantinople.
From outer space, the brightest place visible is Las Vegas in Nevada.
Ignore Popeye., Spinach doesn't have any more iron than any other green veg. In the 1950's a food analyst made an error while calculating the value and his decimal point was in the wrong place. This made the spinach seem to have 10 times more iron than it actually did.
According to the Guiness Book of World Records, The hardest tongue twister to say is "The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheeps sick."
In 1999 Lambeth council in London owed £850 million. This was more than the national debt of Guatemala.
It took Leo Tolstoy 6 years to write "War and Peace"
Mr Ed. The talking horse was played by a horse called "Bamboo Harvester"
It would take 100 cups of coffee, consumed within 4 hours to kill the average person through a caffeine overdose.
Apples were not likely to have grown in the Garden of Eden. Actually, Eve was more likely to have been guilty of eating an Apricot.
In Czechoslovakia, there is an ancient church decorated with the bones of 10,000 humans.
Some people in America consider the $1 bill to be unlucky. There are so many 13's on it. 13 stars, 13 steps, 13 arrows and even an olive branch with 13 leaves on it.
The word "Listen", contains the same letters as "Silent"
Spam is so resistant to spoiling, that as long as the tin is sealed, it will last for eternity.
The name LEGO comes from the Danish LEg GOdt, which means 'play well'
No comments:
Post a Comment