› added 1 year ago

62

TIL until approximately the late 1400's the word "girl" used to refer to a child of either sex.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

kJ5w4 TIL the word "boycott" comes from the name of an English landlord who was so loathed by his Irish community, they simply refused to work for or deal with him until he had no choice but to leave.
vn87 TIL NOAA has had a 400 sq ft underwater research base for 30 years; long term residents are called ‘aquanauts’
QJyde TIL that scientists were able to store an operating system and a film on DNA and recover it without any errors
gnRA TIL China consumes 42.5 billion packets of instant noodle per year. That’s mean more than 100 million packs are eaten in each day
grMv4 TIL there was a Pee Tax in Ancient Rome. Vespasian imposed a urine tax on the sale and distribution of urine from Rome's public urinals (which apparently had resale value).