› added 1 year ago

362

TIL King Henry VIII of England hired four men who regularly checked his faeces, monitored his bowel movements and wiped his bottom. They were appropriately called ‘Grooms of the King’s Stool’ and all of them were eventually knighted.

141r TIL a noblewoman (a widow of a samurai lord & descendent of a long line of ninjas) recruited, trained, & led an all-female group of 200-300 ninja agents—consisting of ex-prostitutes, orphans, & civil-war victims—who were successfully deployed for the Takeda clan against rival warlords in 1500s Japan
l7WZK TIL that Romania has an actual tool called a "tesla"! In Romania, a tesla is a traditional woodworking tool similar to an adze, used for shaping wood. But more interestingly, there's a Romanian saying: "a-ți da cu tesla în coaie", which literally means "to hit yourself in the balls with a tesla."
xKJD TIL Today (Easter Monday) is a national holiday in Czech Republic that is celebrated by men spanking women with a homemade whip.
npwG TIL that the first pregnancy tests on record were in Ancient Egypt. Women would pee on a field of wheat and barley. If the wheat sprouted, it was going to be a girl. If the barley sprouted, it was going to be a boy. If neither sprouted, the woman wasn’t pregnant.
LkNKr TIL that there are as many as 800 languages spoken in New York City, making it the most linguistically diverse city on the planet, and nowhere in the world has more than Queens, according to the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA).