› added 10 years ago

208

TIL that Ancient Greek cities honored victorious Olympian athletes by demolishing part of the city wall so that, on their return, they wouldn’t have to use the gate like ordinary mortals.

Read more news.bbc.co.uk

via reddit.com

ajEZ TIL of the Clay Belt, a large area suitable for farming in northern Ontario and Quebec. Although land is free for use and very fertile, settlement attempts repeatedly failed; one farmer gave up because “there are seven months of snow, two months rain, and all the rest is black flies and mosquitoes”.
W7G88 TIL Abraham Lincoln's voice was described as surprisingly pitchy (even falsetto like), shrill & nasally. Alongside George Washington's who was noted as high breathy, shaky and so low & quiet "as to call for close attention." Despite this, both were still noted as amazing orators from onlookers.
X0ZgR TIL a Massachusetts supermarket offered free shuttle service to customers to bring them to and from the store after it had less than 10 shopping carts left. The goal was to prevent losing any more carts from customers who were bringing their groceries home in the carts and not returning them.
p89p TIL the term “suck it” was used almost twice as often in the 1650 as it is now
v19AK TIL the original "Echidna" was not an egg-laying mammal, but a legendary half-woman half-snake who was the mother of several Greek monsters, including the Hydra, Sphinx, Chimera, and Cerberus.