The Learn Something New Every Day Thread!

29 Dec 2008

Right... there's been a lot of chat about intelligence and education over the last week so I think we need a thread to share knowledge and information! :mrgreen:
So from useless info to interesting facts to things you found out that you didn't know before.
My one to share is:
When you get in a car that's not your own and you don't know which side the petrol cap is on... you just need to look at the petrol gauge instead of sticking your head out the window cause the little picture of the petrol pump has the hose on the correct side as per the car you're in! :mrgreen:

My one to learn today is:
I read a lot and my mum always said that if I came across a word I didn't know the meaning of then I should go and look it up. I still do it. I did exactly that in chat tonight and found that "Alliteration" is the repeated occurrence of the same consonant sound at the beginning of several words in the same phrase. An example is the Mother Goose tongue-twister, "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers...". usually used as a form of figurative language.
Thank you Nola!
I'm not afraid to admit that I don't know everything and learning new stuff is good... keeps the brain active! So does anyone have some useless or not so useless info to share? wink

29 Dec 2008

My local radio show ran a story on the hose and the side the petrol cap is on. They asked listeners to call in and tell them what side it was on their car. The result was there were cars that corresponded with the hose and those that did not. It was wrong but sounded good lol

29 Dec 2008

Quote by Dave__Notts
My local radio show ran a story on the hose and the side the petrol cap is on. They asked listeners to call in and tell them what side it was on their car. The result was there were cars that corresponded with the hose and those that did not. It was wrong but sounded good

Shatter my illusions why don't you! rolleyes

:giggle:
I thought it was really clever and every car I've looked in since was absolutely spot on! Can everyone please check their cars?! :lol:
You need to share Dave... gimme some useless info please?! wink

30 Dec 2008

Being wise is knowing that a tomatoe is a fruit and not a vegetable
Having experience is knowing it does not belong in a fruit bowl lol

Dave_Notts

30 Dec 2008

Quote by Dave__Notts
Being wise is knowing that a tomatoe is a fruit and not a vegetable
Having experience is knowing it does not belong in a fruit bowl
Dave_Notts

And being a smart arse is knowing that it's a tomato! :giggle:
*bolt*
Thanks Dave kiss

30 Dec 2008

:shock: I had to google it and found out I have been spelling it wrong all my life. There were some sites that did spell it the way I did. Is this an americanism or something?
Dave_Notts

30 Dec 2008

Quote by Dirtygirlie

My one to share is:
When you get in a car that's not your own and you don't know which side the petrol cap is on...

Very interesting.
Dawnie has been running on the same tank of petrol for the last 16 years. In that time she has driven a dozen different cars, but somehow, maybe its the magic fairies dunno

ensure that her car always has fuel in it.
BTW Dawnie, both our cars have fuel filler caps on the right, and they both take unleaded fuel.
:rose:

30 Dec 2008

Quote by Ian
Dawnie has been running on the same tank of petrol for the last 16 years. In that time she has driven a dozen different cars, but somehow, maybe its the magic fairies ensure that her car always has fuel in it.
BTW Dawnie, both our cars have fuel filler caps on the right, and they both take unleaded fuel.
:rose:

What do I need to know that for? I don't do fuel, it just seems to magic itself into the tank when its empty :dunno:
Nothing to do with the fact that I run off with your car when mine is low on fuel so you have to fill mine up to go anywhere innocent

30 Dec 2008

Quote by Dave__Notts
:shock: I had to google it and found out I have been spelling it wrong all my life. There were some sites that did spell it the way I did. Is this an americanism or something?
Dave_Notts

I think you would have been safe putting a s on the end as it is 1 tomato or 10 tomatoes lol

30 Dec 2008

After years of making my own batter mix for Yorkshire puddings, I read somewhere recently to add a drop of soda water into them help them raise.
A great tip I have discovered.

30 Dec 2008

This year I learned that the spaces within letters of the alphabet are called counters.
Happy to share!

30 Dec 2008

Quote by Dirtygirlie
snip...
I thought it was really clever and every car I've looked in since was absolutely spot on! Can everyone please check their cars?!

Mine is an Opel Astra, left hand drive and the symbol shows the hose on the right and the filler is on the right too :thumbup:

30 Dec 2008

Quote by TheLovelyOne
This year I learned that the spaces within letters of the alphabet are called counters.
Happy to share!

Oooh, I like that!

30 Dec 2008

Wrap partly-used cheese in tin foil rather than cling film and it'll last much longer. Cling film causes the cheese to sweat and it goes mouldy quicker.

30 Dec 2008

I'd like to instruct all the sexy girlies ( and a few blokies too :twisted: ) on how to read a map of the British Isles and find Cardiff then make your way here :twisted:
What? dunno

30 Dec 2008

If you dont want an electric shock off your car when you get out on a sunny day, make sure that before your bum leaves the seat you touch the outside of the car on the metal and keep hold of it until said bum is clear of the seat. It really does work!!!!!

30 Dec 2008

In all of his work - the plays, the sonnets and the narrative poems - Shakespeare uses 17,677 words: Of those, 1,700 were first used by Shakespeare.
This list of words that we use in our daily speech were all brought into usage by Shakespeare:
accommodation; aerial; amazement; apostrophe; assassination; auspicious; baseless; bloody; bump;
castigate; countless; courtship; critic; critical;
dexterously; dishearten; dislocate; dwindle; eventful
exposure; fitful; frugal; generous; gloomy; gnarled;
hurry; impartial; lapse; lonely; majestic; misplaced;
monumental; multitudinous; obscene; pious; premeditated; radiance; reliance; sanctimonious; submerge; suspicious.
Basically his was the first recorded usage of most of these words. Flippin' brilliant.

30 Dec 2008

Mallemaroking.
There, you've all learnt a new word! (most of you that is, one or two in here might know what it is already!)

30 Dec 2008

And as if all of the words Shakespeare invented were not enough, he also put common words together to make up phrases new to the English language.
Many of these are still commonly used, and include the phrases below:
all that glitters isn't gold
barefaced
be all and end all
break the ice
breathe one's last
brevity is the soul of wit
catch a cold
clothes make the man
disgraceful conduct
dog will have his day
eat out of house and home
elbowroom
fair play
fancy-free
flaming youth
foregone conclusion
frailty, thy name is woman
give the devil his due
green eyed monster
heart of gold
heartsick
hot-blooded
housekeeping
it smells to heaven
it's Greek to me
lackluster
leapfrog
live long day
long-haired
method in his madness
mind's eye
ministering angel
more sinned against than sinning
naked truth
neither a borrower nor a lender be
one fell swoop
pitched battle
primrose path
strange bedfellows
the course of true love never did run smooth
the lady doth protest too much
the milk of human kindness
to thine own self be true
too much of a good thing
towering passion
wear one's heart on one's sleeve
witching time of the night
worship

30 Dec 2008

Did you know Facetious is the only word in the English language with all the vowels in the right order? lol

*Her*

30 Dec 2008

Tarantulas have on average 33 different muscles in each leg. Wonderful eh?

30 Dec 2008

Stewardesses is the longest word that can be typed solely with the left hand!

30 Dec 2008

Quote by Calista
Stewardesses is the longest word that can be typed solely with the left hand!

I can type any word one handed.

30 Dec 2008

Quote by essex34m
Stewardesses is the longest word that can be typed solely with the left hand!

I can type any word one handed.
You know what I meant!

30 Dec 2008

Quote by Calista
Stewardesses is the longest word that can be typed solely with the left hand!

You know I just checked!! :giggle:

30 Dec 2008

Quote by Dirtygirlie
Stewardesses is the longest word that can be typed solely with the left hand!

You know I just checked!! :giggle:
Typewriter is the longest word you can type using the top row of letters!

30 Dec 2008

Useless factet number 43.
Peanuts are not nuts.
So when a packet says "may contain nuts" it's not referring to the peanuts.
(Ok I know it does mean the peanuts :giggle smile

PS. they are legumes like peas and beans.
One thing I would love to know - how were the speed limits chosen? Why 30 and 40 rather than 35 and 45 for instance?

31 Dec 2008

The dot over the letter i is called a tittle
A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate. (glad im not a ferret!)
Upper and lower case letters are named “upper” and “lower” because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the upper case letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the lower case letters.
The phrase “rule of thumb” is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn’t beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb. :shock:
It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. (good news for the dieters amongst us biggrin

)
Hedenophobic means fear of pleasure.
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite (boy doesnt that explain a lot!!)
Your thumb is the same length as your nose (and yes youre probably checking right now wink

31 Dec 2008

Quote by Calista
Stewardesses is the longest word that can be typed solely with the left hand!

I can type any word one handed.
You know what I meant!
And you probably know why he has to! rolleyes

.

31 Dec 2008

one of my faves.....a DORK is the name for a whales penis!!
all the times ive bandied that word around and never known :giggle: