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TIL why "w" is pronounced double-u. The Roman alphabet did not have the letter"w" so when Latin was first used in Old English, they needed to invent a symbol for the sound made by "w" - so they made it "uu" (there was no "v" in Old English). 400 years later, Norman scribes conjoined it to become "w"

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J17Jj TIL that after aborting their attempt to reach the North Pole. Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen would spend over a year stranded on Franz Josef Land before being rescued by Frederick George Jackson. A man Nansen had rejected from joining his North Pole expedition due to not being Norwegian.
R7P79 TIL Danica McKellar, the actress who played Winnie Cooper on the Wonder Years, went on to write six books on mathematics, including "Hot X: Algebra Exposed," "Kiss My Math," and "Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape."
eBb TIL the sea monsters on maps were originally put there to indicate that it was uncharted.
VMZQ0 TIL There's a town in the Netherlands called Hogeweyk that is specifically for people with dementia or Alzheimer's. Along with the residents being able to stroll around town, Hogeweyk also holds concerts and street fairs to add to the sense of normalcy.
0Ywv TIL that an ancient Vietnamese prince won his country’s throne because he made fantastic rice cakes.