› added 11 years ago

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TIL The United States tried to buy Greenland for $100,000,000, but Denmark refused to sell.

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5Ygbk TIL that "the" was originally written as "þe" in old english. It was eventually abbreviated to "þͤ". Since "þ" looked similar to "y" in old english blackletter script, they were both mixed up. So, in old english, "Ye olde" was simply pronounced "The olde."
D1g0g TIL praying mantises only have one ear. They are the only species of animals known to have only one ear.
wLx5M TIL that the hotel with the most expensive suite in Switzerland is named after the US President Woodrow Wilson
4oaJ TIL that in October of 1981, a soviet Whiskey class submarine ran aground on the south coast of Sweden. This incident became known as “Whiskey on the rocks”.
6akw TIL that Vasily Blokhin, a Soviet Russian Major-General, personally executed at least one Polish soldier every three minutes, totalling 7,000 by the 28th day