› added 1 year ago

113

TIL that the word kidnap is relatively recent and originally meant "to steal or carry off children or others in order to provide servants or labourers for the American plantations."

Read more wordhistories.net

via reddit.com

Yddr TIL - There is no evidence that Betsy Ross designed the first America Flag. It is very likely that her descendants made up the story in order to get her into the history books.
v1LwD TIL that Paris only has one sister city, Rome, as it is seen as the only city worthy of being twinned
WJkX TIL - Tasmania has approved a motion to permanently ban the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after the year 2000
dxx7 TIL the book “And Then There Were None” was first released with the title “Ten Little Niggers” in 1939
KOZm9 TIL According to secret service agents, Ronald Reagan carried a pistol in his briefcase when he was president, "just in case you guys can’t do the job, I can help out". Reagan acquired a pocket sized pistol after college in the 1930s "and kept it lovingly the rest of his life”.