There are at least two stories about the origin of the word of the word blimp. One is that a British naval officer coined the term while trying to duplicate the sound the giant airbag made when he flicked his fingernail against it. The other story is that the early airships were marked AIRSHIP MODEL […]
Culture
Why Was the Famous Portrait of George Washington Never Finished?
George Washington hated the tedium of sitting for days at a time when getting his portrait painted. When he retired from public office, he swore he’d never pose again, until his wife, Martha, suggested that both of them pose for portraits to be hung above the mantelpiece in their home. They chose Gilbert Stuart, a […]
What Was Eleanor Roosevelt’s and Maiden Name and Which President Was Eleanor Roosevelt Related To?
Some have said there is a funny story to Eleanor Roosevelt’s maiden name, but that depends on your sense of humor. Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a powerful force to be reckoned with in her own right. What many people don’t realize is that she was a niece […]
How Many U.S. Presidents Have Been Related To Each Other?
More U.S. presidents are related to each other than one might think. John Adams and John Quincy Adams were father and son. William Harrison and Benjamin Harrison were grandfather and grandson. James Madison and Zachary Taylor were second cousins. And finally, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt were fifth cousins. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the […]
Did Any of the Presidents Invent Anything and What Device Did Abraham Lincoln Invent?
Abraham Lincoln was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,468 12 years before he became the 16th president. The four-digit patent number is a telling indication of just how long ago that was. The device was intended to help grounded steamboats get off shoals and sandbars without jettisoning heavy cargo; it involved inflatable chambers designed to float […]
Who Was the Smartest President In the United States and Why?
It’s hard to say for sure who the smartest president in the United States was, but James Garfield must be up there in the top percentile. He was a college professor in ancient languages and literature and once published a mathematical proof of the Pythagorean theorem. An ambidextrous man, Garfield also had a nifty trick […]
How Many U.S. Presidents Were Gay and Who Was the Only Bachelor President?
Of course, it’s impossible to know for sure if any former U.S. presidents were gay. However, our only bachelor president, James Buchanan, had that reputation in his lifetime. His longtime roommate, Senator and later Vice President William Rufus De Vane King of Alabama, also never married. According to historians, the two had an inseparable relationship […]
How Many U.S. Presidents Were Born In a Log Cabin?
Seven U.S. presidents were born in a log cabin. They included Abe Lincoln, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, Andrew Jackson, and James Garfield. A log cabin was the first generation home building erected quickly for frontier shelter. Historically log construction has its roots in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, and the first log cabins were probably built […]
Who Was the First Writer To Submit a Typewritten Manuscript and When?
Mark Twain was the first writer to submit a typewritten manuscript, with Life on the Mississippi in 1883. A sucker for new gadgets, he was one of the first people to buy a typewriter, calling it a “curiosity-breeding little joker.” Mark Twain’s wit and satire earned praise from both his critics and peers. After his […]
Did Shakespeare Ever Mention America In Any of His Plays?
Shakespeare mentioned America once in his plays. In The Comedy of Errors, during a discussion between Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse, Dromio describes a woman, a rather large woman, who, in his mind, is globe shaped. During the course of the conversation, Antipholus urges Dromio to keep pinpointing geographic locations on her large […]
Where Did the Story of Frankenstein Come From and Why Did Mary Shelley Stay Up To Write the Story?
The story of Frankenstein came from a ghost story party in 1816. Nineteen-year-old Mary Shelley, her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, her pregnant stepsister, Claire Clarement, Lord Byron (father of Claire’s unborn child), and Byron’s physician, John Polidori, were all staying together on holiday in Geneva, Switzerland. To fill the long, rainy nights during this stay, […]
Why Was the Fairy Tale “Little Red Riding Hood” Banned In California?
A traditional version of the classic tale “Little Red Riding Hood” was banned in the town of Empire, California, in 1990. Ironically, it wasn’t because of the sexual undertones in the story of the beautiful young girl being seduced by the aggressive, conniving wolf, or the gory attack on the grandmother. Nor was it because […]
Where Did Aesop’s Fables Come From and How Many Fables Did Aesop Write?
Depending on the source, Aesop wrote anywhere between zero and several hundred fables. According to some scholars, Aesop was a Greek slave who, between 620 and 565 B.C., wrote down folk tales he’d heard. His name became associated with tales that centered around the animal kingdom and always contained a moral. Tradition has it that […]
How Did Dr. Seuss Come Up With the Ideas For His Classic Books Like Green Eggs and Ham?
Here’s how Dr. Seuss got the ideas for some of his classic books. Green Eggs and Ham was written on a bet with the founder of Random House, Bennett Cerf. Geisel wagered that he could write a good book using only 50 words, and Cerf was sure it was impossible. Geisel won the bet but […]
What Does the “F” In F. Scott Fitzgerald Stand For and What Was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Most Famous Book?
The “F” in F. Scott Fitzgerald stand for Francis. His full name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, and yes, he was the second cousin, three times removed, of the Francis Scott Key who wrote the U.S. national anthem. F. Scott Fitzgerald is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century, […]
Why Did Samuel Clemens Call Himself Mark Twain and What Does the Name Mark Twain Mean?
One big reason why Samuel Clemens called himself Mark Twain is that Clemens once wanted nothing more in life than to be a riverboat captain. Having someone measuring and calling out depth in a river was a must for any riverboat captain trying to navigate the Mississippi. The call mark twain means “two fathoms,” or […]
Why Is an Albatross Considered Lucky But an Albatross Around the Neck Is Unlucky For Sailors?
Traditionally, sailors on a ship considered seeing an albatross to be a sign of good luck. Probably this came from early days of navigation, when sailors mistakenly thought the bird sighting meant that land was near. Little did they know that an albatross can live for years on the sea without setting foot on land. […]
Where Did the Word Loony Come From and What Does the Term Loony Mean?
Although many believe that the word loony came from the loon’s laugh-like call, the word loony, or looney, is just a short version of the word lunatic. Lunatic has been in use for almost 1,000 years and comes from luna, the “moon,” based on the belief that insanity was affected by the moon’s phases. In […]
Who Invented the Electric Food Mixer and Where Did Lillian Moller Gilbreth Come From?
Dr. Lillian Moller Gilbreth, who also invented the now common kitchen trash can with a step-on opening lid, invented the electric food mixer. She was a pioneering efficiency expert and incidentally was also the mother in the book Cheaper by the Dozen, written by two of her twelve children. Lillian Gilbreth was was born in […]
Why Was Diner Lingo Invented and Is Diner Lingo Faster Than Giving the Real Order?
The only way to find out if diner lingo is faster is to try it and see. First a little lingo: “Noah’s boy with Murphy carrying a wreath, splash of red noise, frog sticks, and an MD, hold the hail!” Now the order, straight: “Ham with potato and cabbage, tomato soup, French fries, and a […]
Where Did Mayonnaise Come From, What Is Mayonnaise Made Of, and What Does Mayonnaise Mean?
Mayonnaise is typically made from egg yolks, oil, water, vinegar, and some optional sweeteners, preservatives, and thickeners. Mayonnaise got its name from Port Mahon on Minorca, one of the islands of Spain. The word mayonnaise is believed to be a corruption of moyeunaise, from the very old French word moyeu, which means “yolk of egg”. […]
What Are You Supposed To Do When a Wine Steward Hands You the Cork In a Fancy Restaurant?
There are several pitfalls of ordering a bottle of wine in a restaurant. First of all, trying to figure out whether to go with red, white, or Blue Nun, and then what type, label, year, and price. Just when you think you’re home free, the sommelier arrives, opens the bottle, and hands you the cork. […]
What Is Cold Filtered Beer and What Does Cold Filtered Beer Mean?
Cold filtered beer is just an advertising term and clever marketing. All beer is “cold filtered”, it just means using fine screens to remove particulates, including microbes. If combined with sterile handling, the filtering eliminates bacteria, which means that the beer doesn’t have to be pasteurized. Unpasteurized beer can legally be labeled “draft” beer, even […]
How Did Root Beer Get Its Name and Why Is Root Beer Called Beer When It’s Not Beer?
The name “root beer” is pretty much consumer fraud, pure and simple. In the early 1870s, Charles Hires was served a root and herb tea at a country inn on his honeymoon, and liked it so much he decided to market it as a soft drink. As an anti-alcohol prohibitionist, Hires hoped that drinkers would […]
What Is a Firkin, What Does Firkin Mean, and Where Did the Word Firkin Come From?
A firkin is an old English unit of measurement used in winemaking. It amounts to about a quarter of a barrel. The word firkin comes from the Middle Dutch word vierdekijn, which means fourth, or a quarter of a full-size barrel. For beer and ale a firkin is equal to nine imperial gallons, or seventy-two […]
What Happened To Lot From the Book of Genesis In the Bible and Why Did Lot Flee the Kingdom of Sodom?
Like so many Old Testament characters, Lot lived a long and eventful life. However, his wife didn’t fare so well, and his daughters seemed to be pawns in a terribly twisted tale. The story began when God decided that the town of Sodom, Lot’s hometown, was so evil that it must be destroyed. Since Lot […]
What Does the Evil Eye Mean and Where Did the Evil Eye Come From?
The superstition of the Evil Eye goes back centuries, and can be found in societies throughout the world. Ancient Romans claiming to possess the Evil Eye could be hired to charm enemies. Ancient India revered and feared the phenomenon, as did cultures in the Near East. For hundreds of years, gypsies were accused of possessing […]
What Are the Seven Deadly Sins and Where Did the Seven Deadly Sins Come From?
The seven deadly sins, or cardinal sins, according to the Roman Catholic faith, are the sins that are most serious and can result in the death of one’s soul: pride lust gluttony anger envy sloth covetousness In their original form, as put forth by Avagrius of Pontus, an early Greek theologian, there were eight deadly […]
When Did Superman First Appear In Action Comics and Where Did the Name Superman Come From?
Superman first appeared in Action Comics in June of 1938. Superman is widely considered to be an American cultural icon, and helped to create and establish the superhero genre within the American comic book industry. The Great Depression of the 1930s was a huge influence on early Superman stories, and Superman took on the role […]
Who Invented the Comic Strip and Who Was the First Comic Strip Character Ever?
Richard Felton Outcault is widely regarded to have invented the modern comic strip, and was born on January 14, 1863. Outcault’s “Yellow Kid’ is considered the first comic strip character, and appeared in Hearst’s New York Journal in 1896. The Kid was a bald, floppy-eared, buck-toothed, grinning kid in a huge yellow shirt. Barefoot and […]
Where Does Scott Adams Get His Ideas For the Dilbert Comic Strip and When Was Dilbert First Published?
Scott Adams gets his ideas for the Dilbert comic strip from a couple of different sources. Adams was first a corporate cog in both the banking and the utilities industries, so a lot of fodder for his strip comes from personal experience. But the “Dilbert” strip is known for soliciting ideas from its readership, and […]
Which Is the Most Landed Space In Monopoly and How Many People In the World Have Played Monopoly?
Illinois Avenue is the most landed space in Monopoly. It is followed by B&O Railroad, Free Parking, Tennessee Avenue, New York Avenue, and Reading Railroad. Monopoly is a redesign of an earlier game “The Landlord’s Game”, which was first published by the Quaker and political activist Elizabeth Magie. Monopoly is also the most played commercial […]
Where Did the Custom of Using Xs as Kisses at the Bottom of a Letter Come From and What Did it Mean Originally?
During medieval times, most people could neither read nor write. Even those who could sign their names were required to follow it with an X, symbolizing the cross of St. Andrew, or the contract would be invalid. Those who couldn’t write their names still had to end the contract with the X to make it […]
What do the Distress Letters SOS Stand For and How did the International Distress Signal Originate?
The international Morse code distress signal is commonly known as SOS. Morse code is a series of electrical impulses that signify the letters of a structured message. SOS doesn’t stand for “save our ship” or “save our souls,” as has been commonly believed. First adopted by the German government in radio regulations, the letters SOS […]
How do Statues of Men on Horses Tell How the Rider Died and What are the Various Depictions?
An equestrian statue is a statue of a horse-mounted rider, and the term comes from the Latin word “eques”, meaning “knight” and a derivative of “equus”, which means “horse”. Statues of horse and rider are exclusively of monarchs or great warriors and are usually found in places of honor. The tradition is that if the […]
What was Considered a Computer Before the Electronic Age and How Much Did it Cost?
The word computer first appeared in the seventeenth century as the job title of a person who did calculations as an occupation. Most human computers weren’t paid very much, just like the Information Technology workers of today, even though their job descriptions are slightly different. Although slide rules were sometimes called computers, it wasn’t until […]
What is a “Ticker Tape Parade” and How Did the New York Tradition Originate?
Before the electronic age, ticker tape was a thin paper ribbon of information fed mechanically to the brokers on Wall Street. At day’s end, floors were ankle deep with ticker tape. On October 28, 1886, the elaborate dedication of the Statue of Liberty was visible from the brokers’ windows, causing such excitement that they began […]