› added 5 years ago

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TIL the phrase "Let the cat out of the bag" originated in the late middle ages. Con artists would put a cat in a bag but say it was a piglet, it was normal for buyers to agree on a price without looking inside first. This later gave rise to laws giving rights to inspect a product before purchase.

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0rP5 TIL During storms at sea the waves would rock the boat so seasick passengers would head below deck to a lower point where the rocking was less noticeable. Passengers were thus forced under the deck by the weather… and the expression “under the weather” was born!
k7LW TIL Eastern Russia has a “Valley of Death” where volanic hydrogen sulfide gasses displace all oxygen for a metre or so above ground level. This kills animals which attracts scavengers who are also killed in an endless chain of death.
J1RyB TIL that the first self-propelled vehicle was invented in 1769 by Nicolas Joseph Cugnot, a French engineer and mechanic who was also the first person ever to get into an auto accident.
GYPeN TIL About Mathias Rust: A West German teenager who in 1987; sought to create an "imaginary bridge" to the Eastern Bloc by flying a Cessna 172 to the Soviet Union and landing on a bridge next to Red Square
W7LwB TIL Taking an old song and just changing the words to make a new song is called contrafactum. Earliest examples of contrafactum date to the 9th century and a famous examples is "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow", 1800s adapted from "Marlborough Has Left for the War", 1700s.