› added 11 years ago

380

TIL that literally has become an example of an autoantonym – a word with two opposite meanings

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e0v05 TIL that schistosomiasis, a parasite infection that causes bloody urine, was so common in Egypt that French doctors traveling with Napoleon during his 1798 campaign described Egypt as the only country where men menstruate.
R58Zl TIL: In 2019, Vice discovered that a growing number of Chinese women were turning to paid virtual boyfriends. The interactions mainly consist of them being hired to sing them to sleep, send them compliments, and chat with them via text or call.
8emZ8 TIL in 1937, actor Lionel Barrymore tripped on set and broke his hip and kneecap. To keep him filming, MGM’s Louis B. Mayer allegedly gave him $400 worth of cocaine daily to help him with the pain. Barrymore is now best known as the villainous Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life.
JjG4 TIL a British POW in WWI was released by the Germans so he could visit his dying mother, and then returned because of a promise he had made the Kaiser.
MbXK TIL Penny Licks were tiny amounts of ice cream, served in a thick little glass that was not washed between customers. They were banned in London eventually when authorities figured out diseases could be spread by this practice.