Trivial Pursuit
 

Esoteric Knowledge, like the Dude, abides. Post yer trivia here!

I'll start:

Toads drink through their skin.

The phrase "spitting image" is a slang of the phrase "Spirit and image", as in "He is the spirit and image of his father"

In Long Beach, the maximum number of cats you can own per household is five.

OOOH! I LOVE etymology (and I know Liz loves Entymology) ;)

The Phrase "Skid Row" which we associate with disreputable areas was originated from the term Skid Road which were the tracks that loggers used to slide (or skid) logs down. The surrounding area was inhabited by loggers first, then by hobos, hence the disreputable association. I *believe* the term originated in Seattle.

The proper Irish response to 'top of the morning to you' is 'and the rest of the day to yourself.'

The bone below your big toe underneath that large pad is one of several "sesamoid" bones in your body, named so because they are shaped like a sesame seed.

You are correct that it's from Seattle. The fact that they used fish oils to lubricate the logs and facilitate the skidding didn't help the area's reputation either.

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."

Actually...

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/inde...?date=19971128

If you want to be specific, a "book" is any collection of written information. A scroll, a bundle of papyrus, accordian fold, you name it. What we Westerners think of as a book is technically called a "codex". A codex is a collection of papers bound on one side.

The top balcony of The Globe in Shakepeare's day was used for prostitutes and their customers. It was common for them to conduct business during a play. They were also referred to as 'swans' because they would summon customers by flapping white handkerchiefs from the balcony when they were available...
:)

The number of hooves lifted into the air on equestrian statues does not indicate how the rider died.

http://www.snopes.com/military/statue.htm

I have heard tour guides stating the converse is true on more than one occasion. Just goes to show, I can't believe everything I hear.


I stand corrected on my earlier entry.

Homoerotic undertones throughout 'Red River' were put there on purpose by the film's openly gay screenwriter and Montgomery Clift. All of this, including a scene where Clift and John Ireland compare pistols, went right over John Wayne's head. In fact, if you watch the film, there seems to be a love triangle between Wayne, Clift and Ireland.
;)
Source: 'The Celluloid Closet'

This made me think of the end of Fantasmic. :)

Some very British vocabulary differences:

Aubergine = Eggplant (but, we now use it for something eggplant colored)
Plimsolls = Sneakers
Chips = French Fries
Crisps = Chips
Fizzy drink = Soda (and Fuzzy water is Perrier in LisaSpeak)
Vegetable Marrow = Squash
Plaster = Band Aid
Green Fingers = Green Thumb
Chemist = Drug store
Trolly = Shoppping Carat
Lift = Elevator
Boot = Trunk
Bonnet = Hood
Identification Parade = Police Lineup


And, in London, you can knock up someone in their room and not have to pay child support. It just means to call for someone. ;)

Think of the revenue for a post-Fantasmic Mark Twain shindig at the back area of the Rivers of America! It includes a whole different kind of dessert, I tell you what...
:D

Along those same lines, in New Zealand peppers are called capsicum and venison is sometimes called cervena from the Latin Cervidae, meaning deer, and vension, which originally meant "hunting."

You forgot that in Birtain, Napkin = sanitary napkin, while serviette = something to wipe one's hands with.

And Nappy = Diaper

There are a TON more. Funny, but it's the same language!

And Pissed = Drunk
Not 'angry' like here in the US.

In mid-century jazz jive speak, saying someone "blew it", or "really blows" meant they play really great music, as in blowing a horn.

Disney produced a film for young girls called "The Story of Menstruation" in 1946.
:)
TMI, right?

The phrases,"all the bells and whistles," and "all the stops out," come from pipe organ terminology. A theatre organ, such as the one at the El Capitan, has, in addition to pipes, horns, woodwinds, and percussion, "all the bells and whistles." You won't find bells and whistles on a classical organ, such as one might find in a church. "All the stops out" refers to the pull-knobs on a pipe organ console, each one is called a "stop" and controls a particular instrument or set of instruments. If a pipe organ is played with "all the stops (pulled) out," it's really loud.

Why did the church accompanist have so many children? Because his organ had no stops.

... and don't go into a shop in England and ask about a "fanny pack"

Speaking of England, if someone asks you for your rubber, they aren't being rude, they need to erase something.

And people who talk about "fags" aren't necessarily homophobes... just smokers.

Courgettes = zucchini

Rabbits can be scared stiff.

Meaning, they can die of fright.

Poor bunnies.

Poor me. I bet I could easily die of fright, as well.

Hyundai is Korean for "highly flamable piece of crap."

If you walk through the rain instead of running, you get less wet.

A penny dropped from a skyscraper wouldn't go through your skull, but it sure would hurt.

Rock music does help plants grow.

(Thanks to Mythbusters, I know lots about this kind of stuff.)

Funny, but you're OUT! BONK.

Hmm, don't know what it means to get bonked....did you bad mojo him for derailment? Hehe.

Here's another fact - GD can't spell "flammable". :p

Swankfact: The term, "bonk," (2005) was coined by our own Disneyphile as a descriptive word meaning ,"to use GD's head as a bongo for a moment."
I believe the term is not, in fact, transferable to other heads.

Mythbusters... :cool: <3

He also couldn't spell Britain.

Great trivia, everyone!

In the 1800s, bottles of alcohol were measured for the potency by X ratings...

(Thus, the XXX you see on moonshine and corn whiskey in cartoons!)

There is a 3 hour time difference between the east and west coasts of the United States do to the spherical shape of the earth and its rate of rotation. Okay, so that's common knowledge, I'm just annoyed at the people at a partner's office in Florida that I just tired to call but have already gone home for the day. I want to go home for the day, but no. I've got three more hours to suffer through. Sigh.

Yeah, that factoid blows...

Conversely.. Calling people when you're on the east coast is a b|tch... I end up calling too early.

Fine, here's a real factoid:

In the field of data storage, there's a class of devices known as "JBODs". Basically, when you are trying to have access to a large number of hard drives in a single appliance, you have 2 choices. Either you connect them through a controller that adds fuctionality such as data protection and availability protection. This is known as a RAID controller, which stands for "Redunant Array of Indipendant Disks". Or you just put a bunch of disks in a box and connect directly to them with no other functionality. This is known as JBOD which stands for....."Just a Bunch of Disks."

On a similar highly technical note, if you've been using Windows long enough, you've seen a fatal error, where the screen turns blue and displays a bunch of technical crap about what just went wrong. This is known in the industry as a BSOD, "Blue Screen of Death".

Fact:

Ghoulish Delight is a big fat GEEK.

And to keep in the real spirit of the thread, Ring Around the Rosie is a ditty about the Black Plague. But that's a pretty well known fact, I guess. I love Plague facts.

Plague facts RAWK! :D

I spend more time reporting on the status of my work than actually working.

Do we work for the same company?

lol! :D
I don't know why, but I thought that was very funny! Poor GD.
:D

The stuff that is in those night time sleep aid pills is the exact same thing that is in Benedryl (generic or not). The exception is that the sleep aid drugs sometimes add a pail releiver and cost a whole lot more. Buy generic benedryl, take two and sleep like a baby. Just don't do it every night. Nothing like that is good on a daily basis.

But Nytol is non-habit forming. I read that on the box every time I take it :D

Contrary to popular belief, while the Coriolis effect is real, it does NOT effect the direction in which water drains. Its effect is so small that it only effects things over VERY large distances and time (like weather paterns). Differences in water drainage are affected by how the container was filled (if it was filled swirling in one direction, it will drain the same way) as well as the shape and microscopic imperfections of the container. Studies have been done where water was left at rest for weeks, to guarantee no effect from the direction of filling. When drained, the Coriolis effect was measured to affect the movement of the water by only a fraction of a percent.

New Random Fact:

America once issued a 5-cent bill.

But the guys at Taco Bell wouldn't take it.

Oh, sure- now you tell me.
I've been taking Benadryl since I was a kid. Life would truly suck without it.

Along those line, on a special tour of NBC studios years ago (with a broadcasting class) we noticed a label "LPS" on one of the monitors in the control room. When I asked what that stood for, I was told it is an official technical term: Little Piece of S**t. Basically a throw away camera, like the ones that used to be on goal posts in football games, or one that would be hidden in the grass..

Did you know that EVERY terminal at LAX has a See's Candy counter?

I didn't - until tonight when I read the billboard. ;)

I got smacked in the head by a nickel that somebody had dropped from the top of Superman: the Escape (a 415ft tower)