› added 7 years ago

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TIL “Orang” in Orangutan does not refer to the color orange, but rather the Indonesian word for “person”.

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7rQBM TIL Yao Ming, famous for being one of the tallest player in the NBA, was born after the Chinese government "encouraged" the marriage of his parents; the country's tallest man and tallest female basketball player.
695JZ TIL that a Portuguese fraudster managed to convince a legitimate British printing company to produce so many banknotes that it impacted the Portuguese economy and thus also contributed to the military dictatorship from 1926 to 1974. The head of the printing house later became Lord Mayor of London.
e19k TIL the word Shampoo is derived from the Hindi word ‘chāmpo’ which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit root 'chapayati’ meaning: “to press, knead and soothe”
0wLW1 TiL that Tobe Hooper, the director behind "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974), also directed the music video for Billy Idol's "Dancing with Myself"
EggBw TIL about corn sweat, where corn plants release water into the air. One acre of corn can release 3,000-4,000 gallons of water per day, and can raise the humidity level up to 10%.