› added 4 years ago

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TIL That Down Syndrome named as such because the term "Mongolian Idiocy" is deemed offensive and so the family name of the person who published paper about it, John Langdon Down, used to rename the syndrome and that happened long after he died. Down also used to call them "Mongolian Idiots"

Read more ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

via reddit.com

rN1Nd TIL that Genericide is the term for when the name of a distinctive product becomes the generic term for a general class of products (e.g. Jell-O used to describe all gelatin desserts)
oper TIL The Sesame Street character Ernie’s song “Rubber Ducky You’re The One” made it to #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970
peEp TIL Satan was never named “Lucifer.” The only use of the word Lucifer in the Bible was by Isaiah, who was referring to the fall of Babylon, not Satan.
0wkk1 TIL of Oliver Sipple, a veteran who saved Gerald Ford from being shot. Subsequently outed as gay, his family disowned him. He sued the media outlets that outed him to no avail. He developed schizophrenia and alcoholism. Found dead at 47, he never met Ford and his funeral was attended by 30 people
DElp TIL All clownfish are born male. They have the ability to switch their sex, but will do so only to become the dominant female of a group.