Fun fact: the work buckaroo, used to describe a cowboy, gets its origins from anglicizing the Spanish vaquero which also means cowboy.
2 years ago | 4
Fun fact: the two meanings of "holler", to shout vs. a narrow valley, have entirely different origins. The shouty one share an origin with 'hello' and is super old. The narrow valley comes from 'hollow', which comes from 'hole'!
2 years ago | 5
At the time of the release of 45rpm records there was a worry that people might confuse it with the LP since it contained 45 minutes of sound, so both of them could be called a forty five record.
2 years ago | 10
You may know that the Kola Superdeep Borehole is the deepest artificial place on earth plunging 12.2 km into the crust but Fun Fact: this and all the other deep drilling projects were shut down before reaching their goal of hitting the mantle and retrieving samples. Unforeseen circumstances like higher temperatures than expected, the fall of the Soviet Union, and mechanical failures caused all of these projects to lose funding. Today many people are looking to pick up where these projects left off. Many initiatives are following the American Project Mohole which attempted to reach the mantle through the ocean floor where the crust is thinner. While the original project had to pioneered ocean drilling technologies, the new projects will be building off the many advancements in that field. Hitting and retrieving mantle would mean validating or disputing all the other methods we have for investigating the mantle, understanding the nature of the Mohorovičić discontinuity (the boundary between crust and mantle), and getting tons of data on ocean crust along the way. Anyway thanks for the update. sad theres no checkpoint but I’m looking forward to chillpoint
2 years ago (edited) | 1
The whoopee cushion has reportedly been used since ancient times. Roman Emperor Elagabalus was said to enjoy practical jokes at his dinner parties and often placed whoopee cushions under the chairs of his more pompous guests. Elagabalus was Emperor from 218-222 CE meaning the whoopee cushion is potentially flatulating it’s 1800th anniversary of comedic creation.
2 years ago | 4
Gossypiboma, which is the name for an object left behind in a patient after surgery, is by far the most common English word to be a hybrid word from both Latin and Swahili. (Gossypium is the Latin for cotton, and Boma is the Swahili word for "Hiding Place", and the most common thing a surgeon forgets is some form of gauze.)
2 years ago | 4
RAS (Reductive Acronym Syndrome) Syndrome is a phenomena for when an acronym has its last word repeated in common speech. Notable examples include ATM Machines (Automated Teller Machines) and PIN Numbers (Personal Identification Number).
2 years ago | 9
A fun fact I learned from OWL magazine way back when is that the blue whale's tongue alone weighs about as much as an elephant. I also recently learned about "misles" (my-zols) which describe phonetically sound mispronunciations of words. It comes from reading "misled" as "my-zold". My favourite one is earnest as "ear nest"
2 years ago | 2
Fun Fact: MIchigan's state motto translates to "If you seek a beutiful peninsula, look around"
2 years ago | 2
Fun fact: Westward Ho! in Devon is the only place in the UK with an exclamation mark in its name. However St Louis-du-Ha! Ha! in Quebec is the only place in the world with two.
2 years ago | 3
The most widespread word used in English derived from Finnish is 'sauna.'
2 years ago | 5
Fun fact The place that cartoon characters store things, just to pull out of thin air, is known as “Hammerspace”. If you’ve ever seen Tom & Jerry, you’d be familiar with those scenes where Jerry would pull a bat out of nowhere to bonk Tom mid-chase. However, animators have given this unseen, mysterious sphere where characters pull objects out of a name: the Hammerspace. Now you know. You’re welcome.
2 years ago | 2
Fun Fact: A "kenning" is a literary device used in Old English poetry where you put two words together to metaphorically refer to a different thing, like "whale-road" for the sea, and "battle-sweat" for blood! (These are from Beowulf, but you can get more creative and modern with them, like "salt-mill" for MTGA or "laugh-storm" for the LRR channels!)
2 years ago | 1
Fun fact 1: The last full moon on Halloween happened in 2020. The next won't happen until 2039. Fun fact 2: The word 'bear' (the animal) came from a word meaning "the brown one" or "wild animal." It was a word used by Proto-Germanic tribes who wanted to avoid saying their language's actual word for bear, because they were afraid that speaking its true name would make it appear.
2 years ago | 3
Gore-Tex (commonly used in rainwear) was created in a burst of frustration. The inventor was trying to find a way to expand PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) through failed attempts at slowly drawing it out. Frustrated, he quickly yanked on the polymer and accidentally expanded it creating what would become Gore-Tex. It’s unique because the surface repels liquids but allows water vapor to pass.
2 years ago | 1
Fun Fact: Calluna vulgaris (heather) is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the flowering plant family Ericaceae.
2 years ago | 3
Fun fact: Morticia and Gomez Addams are so into each other because they are the opposite of the typical sitcom couple.
2 years ago | 1
Fun fact: Pennsylvania is just two words smashed together: Penn's (the guy who founded it) and Sylvania (meaning forest land)
2 years ago | 9
LRR Videogames
Hey everyone!
It's time for that quick note about CheckPoint not being filmed again this week. ChillPoint will still be streaming on twitch.tv/loadingreadyrun at 2pm PT on Friday with the vod hitting this channel a couple of days later.
There's been a new Pokemon trailer and there's something about Mario's butt or lack thereof but I'm sure we'll cover it on ChillPoint at least.
Fun fact about holes:
The word "hole" is derived from the Old English "hol" which basically referred to caves. Or so the entry in google search has told me.
Have you got a fun fact? I'm gonna read all the comments on this post so why not leave a fun fact for me to enjoy?
Hope you're all having a great day!
- Heather
2 years ago | [YT] | 210