1-31-06

It is technically incorrect to use the word "hopefully" in phrases such as "Hopefully it will not rain flaming acid tomorrow." This usage has become more or less accepted, but hardcore grammarians will tell you that such sentences should instead begin with "I hope that", because "hopefully" is only supposed to mean "full of hope," i.e., "He opened the letter from Princeton hopefully, then drowned himself in a well upon seeing he was rejected."

1-30-06

Gibraltar is still owned by Britain. It's where English people go when they want a warm but cheap holiday.

1-29-06

When women gave birth aboard a military ship, the delivery typically took place on the main deck by the ship's big gun. Hence the phrase, "Son of a gun."

1-28-06

If you're buying alcohol and someone is standing with you in the line, they can get carded as well as you.

1-27-06

"Eating club." Such things exist.

1-26-06

Shakespeare didn't have a dictionary. Of course, neither did anyone until 1604, which was when the first dictionary of the English language was published.

1-25-06

Solving cryptograms when you aren't given the spaces between words is damned difficult.

1-24-06

"Frig," the word so often used as an interjection in polite company, actually means, among other things, "to have sexual intercourse." Another juicy definition: "to perform the act of masturbation on." Frig, who knew!

1-23-06

The letter 'e' appears more often than any other letter in the English language, accounting for a whopping 12% of all letters used. 't' is in second place with 10%, and the rest peter out after that. Strangely enough, 'j' is one of the four least frequently used letters, right up there with 'q', 'x', and 'z'.

1-22-06

The recipe for gunpowder is 74% saltpeter, 16% sulfur, and 10% charcoal. I have no idea how exactly you're supposed to mix them, though -- that'll be something to learn for another day.

1-21-06

You can drastically reduce the length of a game of poker by doubling the blinds on a fixed schedule.

1-20-06

The ancient Greeks employed a clever method of concealment to deliver top-secret messages. They would write the message on the shaved head of a young messenger, then send him to the desired location after all his hair had grown again.

Previously in Britain there was a law prohibiting more than one prostitute from working out of the same address, but there's a new law coming soon which ups the limit to three prostitutes.