› added 7 months ago

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TIL that the Champs-Élysées is not just a "busy street", but a name derived from the Greek mythological concept of the Elysian Fields; Champs= fields + Élysées=Elysian (Palace), so it is literally just the farm out the back of the Elysian Palace and the road came later.

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Z8lgG TIL The best-selling German novels of all time involve a native American fighting together with a German cowboy in the Wild West. This created a subculture of tens of thousands of Germans that, to this day, call each other by names such as "White Wolf", dress in animal fur, and live in teepees.
BrQeb TIL when the 1980 US hockey team was playing the USSR in a pre-Olympics exhibition, it was revealed during the game that a Soviet player had a gun under his jersey. The "player" was a KGB agent used to prevent players from defecting to the West.
b9Rvj TIL the Crying Indian in the Keep America Beautiful ad was really an Italian guy named Espera "Oscar" de Conti. He moved to Hollywood, changed his name to Iron Eyes Cody and had a 60-year career as an Indian. Even after being found out he still claimed to be Cherokee and Cree, not Sicilian.
78PGx TIL Dumb Ways to Die, the world’s most shared Public Service Announcement (PSA), hit the internet in November 2012. The public service announcement campaign was launched by Metro Trains Melbourne to promote rail safety.
epWBE TIL that boxer Muhammad Ali was also an accomplished musician. He released the Grammy-nominated and American Dental Association approved album "The Adventures of Ali and His Gang vs. Mr. Tooth Decay" in 1976.