> 1. In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames
> by ropes when you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened,
> making the bed firmer to sleep on. That's where the phrase,
> "goodnight, sleep tight" came from.
>
> 2. The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
> uses ever letter in the alphabet. (developed by Western Union
> to test telex/twx communications)
>
> 3. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without
> repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
>
> 4. When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not "playing."
> They actually pass out from sheer terror.
>
> 5. The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch
> every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take
> into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the
> building.
>
> 6. The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots
> in the Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the
> .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet,
> before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all
> their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."
>
> 7. 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.
>
> 8. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
>
> 9. The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army
> for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.
>
> 10. The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six
> inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
>
> 11. Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
>
> 12. No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium
> has ever won a Super Bowl.
>
> 13. The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It
> To Beaver."
>
> 14. Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or
> older.
>
> 15. In Cleveland, Ohio, it's illegal to catch mice without a
> hunting license.
>
> 16. It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather
> for a year's supply of footballs.
>
> 17. Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for
> dating are already married.
>
> 18. There are an average of 178 sesame seeds on a McDonald's
> Big Mac bun.
>
> 19. The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1.
>
> 20. The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro,
> Coca-Cola, and Budweiser, in that order.
>
> 21. When Heinz ketchup leaves the bottle, it travels at a rate
> of 25 miles per year.
>
> 22. Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from
> the sale of vodka.
>
> 23. On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens
> every year.
>
> 24. In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all
> the world's nuclear weapons combined.
>
> 25. It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago
> that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would
> supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead
> is a honey beer, and because their calendar was lunar based,
> this period was called the "honey month" or what we know today
> as the "honeymoon."
>
> 26. In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in
> old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell
> at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's
> where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's."
>
> 27. Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle
> baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they
> needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service.
> "Wet your whistle," is the phrase inspired by this practice.
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