› added 11 years ago

149

TIL a poor African American washer woman saved up over $250,000 over her lifetime, then gave most of it away to start a scholarship fund for young black students.

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via reddit.com

7rDrM TIL that toe wrestling is actually a competitive sport. Every year they hold championship in England. But in 1997 the Olympic Committee turned the sport down on the basis that they just couldn't decide if it was a winter or a summer sport.
JZkB TIL that Steve McQueen staged a car crash and faked a whiplash injury so that he could film The Magnificent Seven while “recuperating”
b9wdN TIL Hugh Laurie gave Lin-Manuel Miranda the idea for the song "You'll Be Back" from Hamilton after guest starring on House in 2009. Miranda mentioned to Laurie he was trying to write a breakup letter from King George to the colonies and "without blinking, he improv'd at me, 'Awwww, you'll be back'."
ADZZ7 TIL that when febreeze first came out it was marketed as an odor eliminator (and was very effective at it) but sold poorly due to people not realizing their homes/ clothes smelt bad. It was only until they added scents and marketed to people as a final touch to cleaning that it became successful.
84pX TIL that people on the south Pacific Pitcairn Islands, descended from British mutineers and accompanying Tahitians, speak an English creole that is heavily influenced by naval lingo. “To fall over” is “to capsize” while for “everyone” they say “all hands” (from “all hands on deck”).