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TIL Geoffrey Chaucer’s contemporary use of lower-class Saxon English to write his works. rather than conventional Latin or upper class spoken French, has perplexed scholars for centuries. He was the first to truly begin to develop English into a highly flexible literary language.

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aVlA TIL researchers polled 250 children regarding their opinions on clowns; all 250 children in the study reported that they found clowns frightening
1BoP TIL a young Japanese boy named Yuuki saved many lives in his village warning people of an incoming tsunami. When they didn’t listen to him, he set fire to stacks of rice in order to panic them and get them up the mountain.
m1wkv TIL that before Esther Williams became an actress, she planned on competing in the 1940 Olympics, but the Olympics games were cancelled that year due to the outbreak of the Second World War.
n177 TIL Rhydon was the first Pokemon ever created and because of his significance you’ll often find statues of him throughout the original game.
9wAnm TIL that, inspired by the Maginot Line in France, the British built a defensive network in Hong Kong. Called the Gin Drinkers Line or Oriental Maginot Line, it was designed to hold off a Japanese invasion for six months. Hit by understaffing and a malaria outbreak, it only lasted two days.