The "Random Facts You Know" thread
Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:22 amOk what got me thinking of this was the Xmas/Christmas talk in vicinity earlier. First I'll post two links about Xmas being of greek origin and not a recent thing to remove "Christ" from Christmas: Snopes link and Dictionary.com link
The reason one wears a wedding ring on the third finger is that (tradition says) there is supposed to be a vein which goes directly from that finger to the heart—i.e., the seat of love. Also, not everyone wears that wedding ring on the third finger of the LEFT hand. In some traditions, such as the Jewish one, it is worn on the right hand.
To prevent evil spirits from entering the bodies of their male children, parents dressed them in blue. Blue was chosen because it's the color of the sky and was therefore associated with heavenly spirits.
Girls weren't dressed in blue, apparently because people didn't think that evil spirits would bother with them. Eventually, however, girls did get their own color: pink. Pink was chosen because of an old English legend which said that girls were born inside of pink roses.
Source of the name "Indiana Jones": it was the name of producer George Lucas' pet Malamute.
The writers of The Simpsons have never revealed what state Springfield is in.
When Slinkies first hit shelves, the entire stock of 400 sold out in 90 minutes. And they have remained relatively unchaged design was from when they were first made. The guy who "invented" the slinky got the idea from seeing the way a spring or something wobbled when it was dropped.
Silly Putty started out as a failed attempt to make synthetic rubber.
Stephen King originally threw out "Carrie" because he didnt think he could write a teenage girl. His wife took it out of the trash, read it and had him finish it. It became his first big hit.
The reason one wears a wedding ring on the third finger is that (tradition says) there is supposed to be a vein which goes directly from that finger to the heart—i.e., the seat of love. Also, not everyone wears that wedding ring on the third finger of the LEFT hand. In some traditions, such as the Jewish one, it is worn on the right hand.
To prevent evil spirits from entering the bodies of their male children, parents dressed them in blue. Blue was chosen because it's the color of the sky and was therefore associated with heavenly spirits.
Girls weren't dressed in blue, apparently because people didn't think that evil spirits would bother with them. Eventually, however, girls did get their own color: pink. Pink was chosen because of an old English legend which said that girls were born inside of pink roses.
Source of the name "Indiana Jones": it was the name of producer George Lucas' pet Malamute.
The writers of The Simpsons have never revealed what state Springfield is in.
When Slinkies first hit shelves, the entire stock of 400 sold out in 90 minutes. And they have remained relatively unchaged design was from when they were first made. The guy who "invented" the slinky got the idea from seeing the way a spring or something wobbled when it was dropped.
Silly Putty started out as a failed attempt to make synthetic rubber.
Stephen King originally threw out "Carrie" because he didnt think he could write a teenage girl. His wife took it out of the trash, read it and had him finish it. It became his first big hit.
