› added 12 years ago

327

TIL The definition for ‘literally’ now includes 'in effect; in substance; very nearly; virtually,’ which literally changes the definition of literally. The phrase 'He was literally drowning in his own tears’ is grammatically correct, even if the person isn’t, in reality, drowning in their own tears.

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nK1r TIL that a family who had orphaned kids living with them got on Extreme Makeover Home Edition, then kicked the kids out of the house
xVJ6B TIL that the last patient with ebola in the DRC has been discharged, thus ending the ebola outbreak in the DRC.
eOlD TIL there is controversy over whether Cinderella’s shoes are made of glass or of squirrel leather, the two words being homophones in French (vair/verre)
WMEN TIL the precursor to Monopoly was designed to illustrate how rents enrich property owners and impoverish tenants, and that when children play the game, it would “provoke their natural suspicion of unfairness.”
EgY4X TIL that the word "tornado" was banned in 1886 by the U.S. Army Signal Corps when issuing weather forecasts for fear of inducing panic in the public. The ban ended in 1952 when the Weather Bureau issued the first Tornado Watch.