Enjoy!!
1. The original Winnie the Pooh was a real live bear found outside of Winnipeg, Canada, hence the name Winnie.(How do they know it was actually HIM? I mean, look how many Elvis impersonators there are!)
2. Francis Bacon died in his attempt to find a better way to serve food. He caught a case of pneumonia while attempting to stuff a chicken with snow. Ironically, the chicken survived the ordeal. (Ok, this one is hard to believe. I live where there is plenty of snow, and no one ever died from playing with it!)
3. Dachshunds were originally bred in 1600 to hunt dachs, which is German for badgers. (Historically speaking, 1600 was a slow year.)(I'm glad they weren't hunting bunnies or we'd have Bunnyshunds).
4. Houdini's real name was Ehrich Weiss. (Somehow, this doesn't have the same mystery to it, does it?)
5. The first zoo in America was in Philadelphia. (City of brotherly animals).
6. Laser is actually an acronym for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emissions of Radiation."
(Glad it wasn't Light Magnification added ozone or it would be LMAO).
7.The world's first passenger train made its debut in England in 1825.(Wonder what the cattle thought when it whizzed by their pastures?)
8. If you hate our "QWERTY" keyboard layout, blame Christopher Sholes. He changed it from the original in 1873 to lessen the chances of the keys jamming.(Sorry, still getting typos from my fingers pressing on the keys! Can we do a "do over"?)
9. Napoleon III suffered from ailurophobia, which is a fear of cats.(That must have come in handy at the Battle of Waterloo! The British were hiding behind the lines MEOWING really loud!).
10. Escalator is one of many words that were originally trademarks but have become ordinary words found in dictionaries. Some other words which were originally trademarks and have now passed into common use are aspirin, autoharp, band-aids, breathalyzer, cellophane, Coke (in some areas, at least), corn flakes, cube steak, ditto, dry ice, dumpster, formica, Frisbee, granola, gunk, jeep, kerosene, Kleenex, mace, nylon, ping-pong (also an onomatopoeia), popsicle, Q-tip, rollerblade, rolodex, Scotch tape, sheetrock, spandex, styrofoam, tabloid, thermos, trampoline, yo-yo, xerox, and zipper.(I bet there are even more now that we have technology..like IPOD being a common name, etc.)
15 comments:
Oh my dear Joan... There is so much to say about this one...
1. and Mickey Mouse's original name was to be Mortimer.
2. He died cause he was BACON.
3. I'm gonna skip this one cause I (of course, it's ME we're talking about) I was gonna say something about cats and their sex-reference nick-name. I'll stop here.
4. He'd have never gotten out of the handcuffs if he hadn't changed his name...
5. It's still there... only now they just call it Philadelphia.
6. Light Magnification FOR Added Ozone.... LMFAO :-)
7. I got nothin'
8. what a dick. I had to take two semesters of keyboarding because of that guy!
9. Must be why the French didn't invade Egypt.
10. You just won me a specific long-standing bet I had with a friend over tissue vs. Kleenex, copy vs. Xerox and bandage vs. Band-aid. Yay, I get to be a sanctimonious bitch later! LOLOLOL
Neat Trivia!!!
I like number ten the most. I knew some words were trademarked words, but others I didn't. When I lived in Tennessee for a short time, they all called pop coke. In Iowa they call a refrigerator a Frigidaire.
You are so right about Wiinie the Pooh. How do they know it is really him?
I used to work at Rollerblade, and I assure you that they have a legal department still fighting the general use of the word! (They're not "rollerblades", they're "inline skates"!)
Sorry. You can take the girl out of the corporate world, but you can't take the corporate world out of the girl!
Pearl
Ummm...I still can't get over someone trying to stuff a LIVE chicken with snow? And serving that for dinner? The whole thing sounds clucky to me...
Now I know you the intelligent one, suits you better than the retirement one with all the smart things you tell us. I so enjoy reading these interesting bits of information. Take care my friend....:-) Hugs
I'm still trying t digest the Francis Bacon factoid! Did he try and stuff a LIVE chicken??!
Your acronym for LASER reminded me of another...
SNAFU (situation normal, all f**ked up) I think it's originally a military term.
Now why did I read trademark as landmark and was wondering for a few seconds where in the world they had an escalator which was a landmark???
Hi Joan,
I love your useless trivia facts; I always laugh and learn something when I read them!
Aria: Loved your comments. I know we are soul sisters because I had the same thoughts about #3, but didn't dare "go there". Ha
Grannyann: I love reading trivia too, that's why I had to start a series of these.
Ratty: everybody else calls pop: soda. Not here, it is all "pop". :-}
Sara: the world is a silly place!
Pearl: I know...it is interesting how trade names lose their identity. In a way, though..it is a complement to their products that they become household products!
By the way, I am not short, I am linear challenged. A name by any other name can smell as sweet. ha
Insanity: I couldn't figure out that one. Why would anyone try and stuff a LIVE (or a DEAD) chicken with snow? What is the point??
Bernie: Hey, I only found the article of facts and am sharing them...I don't research them...so I am only smart enough to find someone else's work.
ha
Roshni: Isn't that the nuttiest thing you have ever read? I don't get why anyone would try and stuff a chicken with snow. First of all, it would melt and second: why oh why would you want to?
Joanie: That is a great one! My dad was in the Air Force, and he never told us about SNAFU but it is hilarious!
Loree: time for the bifocals! ha
Lynn: Glad you liked them...I have a bunch more to share in the series. They are interesting to me too...I find out a lot of stuff I didn't realize before!
This was interesting and your additions made it funny! Thanks for the laughs.
These were funny! Lol on Napoleon being afraid of cats- he would've definitely been afraid of my 14 pound wannabe cougar!
Judy: Thanks! They are fun for me too.
Shellmo: I didn't know you had a big cat. I love them.
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