› added 5 years ago

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TIL that "public school" in England means essentially the opposite as it does in the US. In the US public schools are the "common" schools funded by taxes. In England they are elite boarding schools.

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wLE9E TIL: During the Thirty Years' War, Count Von Tilly of the imperial army declared that if anyone in Rothenburg ob der Tauber could drink a tank of wine (3.25 liters) in one go, he would spare the town and move on. The mayor of the town obliged, prompting the army to leave.
0WwL TIL that the actor in Scrubs that plays “Dr. Turner” that JD and Turk set up with Hooch is Tom Hank’s brother, Jim Hanks.
wLrnJ TIL of a professional Scottish sport of haggis hurling that requires that the haggis be in one piece and edible after landing.
VBMxB TIL about "Uncleftish Beholding," an essay written in a version of English that removes loan words, especially scientific ones, from Latin, Greek, or French, and replaces them with real or invented terms using only words with Germanic roots. "Uncleftish Beholding" translates as atomic theory.
7rgKZ TIL the man in Edvard Munch's 'The Scream' is not the one screaming, nature is. Munch says it depicts "a vast infinite scream through nature" that he felt. Because of the red skies in Norway at the time some believe that The Scream was from the Krakatoa Eruption.