What's the Most Absurd Thing You Learned This Week?

[Kattriella]

What's the most random thing you learned this week? I was doing research into medieval life for a project, and ended up in a rabbit hole about how streets used to get their names based on what businesses were placed along them (there were regulations about where certain businesses could set up, like butchers and tanners, because of the smell and waste they created). For instance, Butcher Street, Bread Street (yes, that was a real place), etc. This rabbit hole inevitably mentioned the world's oldest profession . . .

Which is why I now know that multiple cities and ye old towns once had a Gropecunt Lane. It was the street where the brothels were located. You seriously could not make this stuff up.

So yeah, guys, what's the most ridiculous piece of information YOU'VE learned recently?

[Stormlight]

I dunno about ridiculous but I recently learned that back in the 60s, a US publishing firm called Ace Books pirated JRR Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings. He was understandably quite salty about it, even mentioning it in a letter to a fan about why he had to put the writing of The Silmarillion on hold to deal with legal matters.

Makes me wonder what he’d think of publishing nowadays, where anyone can slap an author’s book up on a pirating website and be done with it. It’s such a problem now that it isn’t even worth pursuing legal action over it anymore.

[Kattriella]

I'd say that counts.

Pirating media is so prevalent nowadays that we don't even think twice about it.

[victoriavictrix]

At one point calico was banned.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_Acts

[Kattriella]

Newest weird thing I learned: The term "upper crust", a term sometimes used to refer to the wealthy, comes from the days when bakers and bakeries were largely controlled by the local lords. Because of a lack of way to clean the stone ovens well, the bottoms of loaves would eventually end up blackened because of the buildup. The bottoms of loaves would be cut off and given to the poor peasants, while the top of the loaves, the "upper crust", was reserved for the wealthy, usually local lords or nobles.

[DollyKim]

Now that is interesting, I always wondered where the phrase came from.

[victoriavictrix]

It's not "with baited breath."

It's "with BATED breath." It comes from "abate," which means "to stop or hold." So when you are doing this, you are holding your breath in anticipation.

If a teacher tells you differently, they're wrong. It's "With bated breath."

[Tam I am]

Eeensy dogs sometimes growl loudly just because they want attention.

[Kattriella]

Learned from the Coca-Cola vendor at work yesterday: Regular soda (as in full sugar soda) has a shelf life of around 8-12 months from the date of manufacture, but diet and zero sugar drinks only have a shelf life of around 3 months.

[victoriavictrix]

Learned from the Coca-Cola vendor at work yesterday: Regular soda (as in full sugar soda) has a shelf life of around 8-12 months from the date of manufacture, but diet and zero sugar drinks only have a shelf life of around 3 months.

That's because aspartame degrades faster than high-fructose corn syrup. It also degrades faster in the heat. It degrades into aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. Aspartic acid is made by your body. Phenylalanine is an essential amino acid BUT there are people who can't handle it. There is less methanol in a can of Coke than there is in a similar sized glass of tomato juice.