› added 3 years ago

102

TIL the silent P in the word "ptarmigan" has absolutely no reason to be there. The bird's name comes from the Gaelic "tàrmachan" ("croaker"), but in 1684 the Scottish naturalist Robert Sibbald decided to add a p in front to make the word look more Greek.

Read more arcticjournal.ca

via reddit.com

X0wrj TIL that the Doomsday clock was set to 90 seconds to midnight in 2023 and remains that way today. This is closer than any time during the cold war.
rRbAW TIL there have been several attempts by counties in the state of Colorado to secede and merge with neighbouring states (e.g. New Mexico, Wyoming) and a proposed state of North Colorado
loMG1 TIL Neil Armstrong's astronaut application arrived a week past the deadline. A friend slipped the tardy form in with the others.
ANgEd TIL medicine pill bottles seem mostly empty because they need to be large enough to read the labels
p8B5A TIL on Dec 26th the aristocracy distributed presents (boxes) to servants and employees, who returned home, opened their boxes and had a second Christmas on what became known as "Boxing Day."