› added 3 years ago

117

TIL: Thomas Jefferson criticized the poetry of Phillis Wheatley saying it was "entirely derivative and imitative, completely devoid of originality" because she " lacks the intellect of the white race." After which she traveled to Europe and became the first published black poet.

Read more cwi.pressbooks.pub

via reddit.com

eA5J TIL that the age old grammatical ‘rule’ that sentences can not end in prepositions is actually a myth. It began with 17th century writers trying to make English more like Latin, which uses that as a strict rule.
oB8E TIL that in 1940, scientists concluded that consumption of ice cream was the leading cause of the polio epidemic, solely based on the stats that there were more cases of polio in the summer, which was also when children ate the most ice cream.
a87A9 TIL over 100 capstones of ancient Egyptian pyramids have been found. Most date from the New Kingdom onward, when building pyramids had stopped being a royal privilege.
gMloy TIL When Hitler adopted the undercut hairstyle, his legion of blonde (undercut) haired, blue-eyed Aryans quickly followed suit, apparently requesting the style because it eased the wearing and removing of their helmets. The style resurfaced in the 1980s and again in the 2010s
klp7 TIL: The Enterprise’s captain was originally James R. Kirk, and it was changed to “T” for “Tiberius” later in the series