› added 8 years ago

120

TIL the word “quintessential” is actually Latin for ‘the fifth element"

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b98XE TIL: Not much is known about him, but scholars know that William Shakespeare had a son who died at the age of 11. His name was "Hamnet."
69MjX TIL that there's a sport called Extreme ironing, which consists of ironing in perilous or incongruous conditions. It can be practiced on a mountain, while snowboarding or skiing, on top of large statues... Its appeal lies in mixing the thrill of danger “with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt"
yQkk8 TIL that in addition to the Percent sign (%) for 1/100, There is also a Per-mille symbol (‰) for 1/1,000 and a per-the-thousand symbol called a Bias Point (‱) for 1/10,000
ZMV4 TIL that there was an 18th century British sport called cock throwing that involved tying up a rooster and taking turns throwing sticks at it until it died. This game was popular among children.
loXOG TIL of the theory that the "monster under the bed" is an evolutionary leftover from our hunter/gatherer days. "children would fear bedtime because of the threat of wild animals."