› added 6 years ago

50

TIL that Switzerland is so committed to neutrality, it didn't even join the United Nations until 2002

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

oBxkA TIL that Charles Curtis, the 31st vice-president of the United States, was of Native American ancestry and was enrolled as a member of the Kaw-Nation. English was his third language after Kansa and French
BrJak TIL that the word "Jeans" came from the french word for Genoa city, "Gênes", because French people of Nîmes were inspired by a type of pants invented in Genoa, to dress the sailors of the city.
b9YN4 TIL that Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen never played chess in their life until the movie X-Men required them to do so. A chess master came in to teach them.
OoZ01 TIL that the "nut" in "Honey Nut Cheerios" used to be ground almonds in the recipe, but it's now made from natural almond flavouring which is typically manufactured not from almonds, but from peach pits.
e0LE6 TIL that Lois Duncan, the author of I Know What You Did Last Summer, abandoned writing YA horror/thrillers (a genre she is largely responsible for popularising) after her own daughter was murdered in a still-unsolved case.