› added 9 years ago

121

TIL of Washoe, a chimpanzee who was taught sign language. When one of her trainers returned after a while away Washoe was initially dismissive of her, but when the trainer signed “My baby died”, Washoe signed “cry” and mimmicked a tear running down her face.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

5mLR TIL that the term “goody two shoes” comes from a children’s story about an orphan girl who was so poor she could only afford one shoe
Y7Prr TIL Plato real name was probably Aristocles. Plato was a nickname given to him by his wrestling coach with Plato meaning "broad"
yKGX TIL 1930 life expectancy was 60 and Social Security Retirement age was 65. Today, it is 78 and 65 respectively.
EgnrV TIL a group of folks in New Guinea used to not want worms consuming the remains of their deceased loved ones and so decided to eat the bodies themselves. They removed the brain, mixed it with ferns, and cooked it in bamboo tubes. They ate everything at the funerals except the gall bladders
1no4 TIL Homosexuality was still classified as an illness in Sweden in 1979. Swedes protested by calling in sick to work, claiming they felt gay.