› added 9 years ago

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TIL John Smith was a pirate, beheaded three Turks in jousting matches while fighting for the Holy Roman Army, and was enslaved in Russia until he escaped by killing his master. He did all this before he set sail for present day Virginia, United States.

wgZY TIL Only 20-33% of the words in the English dictionary are Germanic in origin, but among the 25 top nouns, verbs and adjectives the percentages are 60%, 80% and 68%, respectively.
rNrYo TIL that after struggling as a songwriter, Kris Kristofferson tried to pitch his music to Johnny Cash. When he didn't get any response, Kristofferson--who was a National Guard pilot--landed his army helicopter on Cash's lawn. The two performed together not long after
jPjn TIL singer Enrico Caruso’s voice was unique & versatile. During an opera, the basso who was to sing, whispered ‘I’ve lost my voice’. Caruso replied, 'Move your lips & I’ll sing for you’. With back turned to the audience, Caruso sang for him. The audience cheered, not knowing Caruso sang it.
A1jw TIL: Spain Cheated in the 2000 Summer Paralympics, 10 of the 12 players on their roster “were encouraged to pretend to be stupid” and had no mental disability.
JYbR8 TIL about the saying "Cup of Joe". The meaning of the saying is a little unclear but it was narrowed down to 2 ideas. The term was either derived from "Cup of Jamoke", which is from Java and Mocha and then was shortened to Joe or it is using Joe as a fellow guy to signify the drink of a common man.