Totally useless facts ...

marval

New member
A jiffy is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. Thus the saying, I will be there in a jiffy.
 

sunwaiter

New member
nice! :)

hey wait a jiffy!

it'll only take a few jiffies!

let's convert some usual expression or sayings into jiffiness.

cheetahz are the only ones in the family of cats not to have retractile claws
 

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
Aloha sunwaiter,

I heard that the Burj al-Dubai will top out at 1000 meters. And that an even taller tower is on the way up. Looks like the world's first *Mile High Tower* will be built in Araby. Did you know that the great American Architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed a mile-high tower and also had built scale model of it? Here it is:

http://archrecord.construction.com/innovation/2_Features/images/0411history4.jpg

And that was in 1956!!!

Cheerio,

CD :):):)
 
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marval

New member
Ketchup was once used as a medicine in the United States. In the 1830's it was sold as Dr. Miles Compound Extract of Tomato.
 

Tûrwethiel

New member
Sorry if some of these alleged facts had been posted before. I'm just not diligent enough to go back through another 63 pages!

Here are some facts about the 1500s

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 odour. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

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 saying “don't throw the baby out with the bath water”.

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 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”.

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 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.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying “dirt poor”. The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added 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 word “thresh hold”.

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.

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 death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock a person 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.

England is old and small and 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, one out of 25 were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realised they had been burying people alive. So 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 was considered a ... dead ringer.
 

Mat

Sr. Regulator
Staff member
Sr. Regulator
Regulator
Those very interesting facts! Thanks Vicki.
 

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
It has been said that 100 billion homo sapiens have been born since that species inception.
 

marval

New member
In Japan, by the time man reaches the age of 60, he is commemorated with a special ceremony. This ceremony features the man wearing a red kimono, which denotes that he no longer has the responsibilities of being a mature adult.
 

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
At an altitude of 16,730 feet, Wenzhuan is the geographically highest city in the world.
 

Contratrombone64

Admiral of Fugues
Tûrwethiel;70701 England is old and small and 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 said:
Vicki, love that one, but I knew it as Siobhán explained it to me years ago, she had in fact just been looking at scratch in coffins that were under Sydney Town Hall. They subsequently moved them to Rookwood.
 

Tûrwethiel

New member
Did you know that, in order to build Sydney's Central railway station just over one hundred years ago, an entire cemetery needed to be dug up and its occupants sent elsewhere?
 
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