recoder | Много интересных фактов

Наткнулся на свалку бесполезных, но занятных фактов. Больше всего прикалываются всякие лингвистические штучки. В общем, пополнил свой запас эрудиции. Например:

The dollar symbol ($) is a U combined with an S (U.S.)
The word 'pound' is abbreviated 'lb.' after the constellation 'libra' because it means 'pound' in Latin, and also 'scales'. The abbreviation for the British Pound Sterling comes from the same source: it is an 'L' for Libra/Lb. with a stroke through it to indicate abbreviation
The Boston University Bridge (on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts) is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane

The slogan on New Hampshire license plates is 'Live Free or Die'. These license plates are manufactured by prisoners in the state prison in Concord
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing
Madrid is the only European capital city not situated on a river
There are only three animals with blue tongues, the Black Bear, the Chow Chow dog and the blue-tongued lizard
The infinity sign is called a lemniscate
Most Americans' car horns beep in the key of F
The ball on top of a flagpole is called the truck
The word "queueing" is the only English word with five consecutive vowels
Sheriff came from Shire Reeve. During early years of feudal rule in England, each shire had a reeve who was the law for that shire. When the term was brought to the United States it was shortned to Sheriff
The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.
Walt Disney's autograph bears no resemblance to the famous Disney logo
Since 1896, the beginning of the modern Olympics, only Greece and Australia have participated in every Games
Montpelier, Vermont is the only U.S. state capital without a McDonalds
The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites
Residents of the island of Lesbos are Lesbosians, rather than Lesbians. (Of course, lesbians are called lesbians because Sappho was from Lesbos.)
The Chinese ideogram for 'trouble' symbolizes 'two women living under one roof'
The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns
Mt. Vernon Washington grows more tulips than the entire country of Holland
Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village"
The word 'byte' is a contraction of 'by eight.'
Ralph Lauren's original name was Ralph Lifshitz
St. Augustine was the first major proponent of the "missionary" position
The first video ever played on MTV Europe was "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits
The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe
The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle
Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age
If you were born in Los Alamos, New Mexico during the Manhattan project (where they made the atomic bomb), your birthplace was listed as a post office box in Albequerque
"Xmas" does not begin with the Roman letter X. It begins with the Greek letter "chi," which was used in medieval manuscripts as an abbreviation for the word "Christ" (xus = christus, etc.)
The most common name in the world is Mohammed
Only humans and horses have hymens
"Hara kiri" is an impolite way of saying the Japanese word "seppuku" which means, literally, "belly splitting."
The 'y' in signs reading "ye olde.." is properly pronounced with a 'th' sound, not 'y'. The "th" sound does not exist in Latin, so ancient Roman occupied (present day) England use the rune "thorn" to represent "th" sounds. With the advent of the printing press the character from the Roman alphabet which closest resembled thorn was the lower case "y"
The longest U.S. highway is route 6 starting in Cape Cod, Massachusetts going through 14 states, and ending in Bishop, California
The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher
Original copy of the Declaration of Independence is lost. The copy in Washington D.C. is what is referred to as a holograph. That is a term for a handmade copy of a document and is not the same as a laser produced hologram
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur
...и ещё много-много других