A Conversation for Ask h2g2

Useless Facts

Post 9101

Baron Grim

We take a liberal stance on utility.

As I've stated deep in the back log of this thread, any fact could be useful...


You could be captured by a deranged terrorist who would cut you into small bits and feed them to her cat unless you can tell her that on Gilligan's Island, the Skipper's name was Jonas Grumby, or that The 'bumpers' on the bottom of toilet seats are called 'buculets'.

You just never know when you might need to know these things.


Useless Facts

Post 9102

clare

smiley - space
ooooo smiley - yikes buculets! Avec accent francaise, je presume?


Useless Facts

Post 9103

Baron Grim

Yo no se. Es un hecho inútil de otra persona.


Useless Facts

Post 9104

clare

smiley - space
huh smiley - huh


Useless Facts

Post 9105

Mr. X ---> "Be excellent to each other. And party on, dudes!"

~*~Harry S. Truman had no middle name, only a middle initial.~*~

So does my father, come to that. I, however, DO have a middle name. It's the first name of my favorite extended relative, and he hated it too.

smiley - pirate


Useless Facts

Post 9106

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - snork Old names never die, they just get passed around like white elephants.


Useless Facts

Post 9107

Mr. X ---> "Be excellent to each other. And party on, dudes!"

"Avec accent francaise, je presume?"

You have a French accent, I presume?


"Yo no se. Es un hecho inútil de otra persona."

I don't know. It's a useless fact of another person.


I think. smiley - erm

smiley - pirate


Useless Facts

Post 9108

Mr. X ---> "Be excellent to each other. And party on, dudes!"

smiley - simpostsmiley - simpost

smiley - pirate


Useless Facts

Post 9109

clare

smiley - space
Unfortunately, those simpost emoticons are dancing in sync with the polka music playing on the Mollie B Polka Party (a truly authentic piece of Americana, airing on RFDTV rural farm something tv)


Useless Facts

Post 9110

Baron Grim

My grandfather at some point in his young adulthood legally changed his name to initials; B. T.

Very few of the living relatives before he died knew his original given name. He insisted it was just B.T. but he pronounced it "Buddy". I found out after he died that he was originally named Beulah Thurmon. Yeah. I don't blame Grampa Buddy one bit.


Useless Facts

Post 9111

Mr. X ---> "Be excellent to each other. And party on, dudes!"

Mine went by his last name.



That sounds like BJ Hunnicut from M*A*S*H.

Hawkeye: "This is ridiculous. What does 'BJ' stand for?!"

BJ: "Whatever you want."

smiley - pirate


Useless Facts

Post 9112

Florida Sailor All is well with the world

My Mother's father was named Kenneth Henderson. In RL I bear his name as my middle name. He was raised in an orphanage, although we all knew he was Irish in background, no one knew anything more. He spent most of his life as a Rail Road Engineer (Engine Driver in the UK). The Rail Road had their own retirement system (separate from the US Social Security System). When he decided to apply for his pension at age 65, he had to send to the orphanage for his records. For the first time in his life he learned that his legal name was 'Kennedy Henderson' (This was at the time John F. Kennedy was president of the US.) I never got to learn what his own reaction was, but most of the family was shocked.

Fsmiley - dolphinS


Useless Facts

Post 9113

Rod

Ronly Bonly Jones?


Useless Facts

Post 9114

Baron Grim

I have a... I hesitate to call him a relative, but he's my sister's widower... Anyways... When he and my sister got married, my mother took it upon herself to help him get several years of unpaid taxes straightened out. It was while doing so that they discovered that his first name was spelt "Louis", not "Lewis" as he'd been spelling it his entire life.

Not as nifty as finding out you're a "Kennedy", of course. smiley - ok


Oh, while we're on names smiley - offtopic.

In my life I've met a Harry Dick, a Rock Musick, a girl named Dorcas (biblical) and a baby named Guana (feminine for bat pooh?). In Houston in the 80's, a noted local news traffic reporter was named Anita Martini. Never name your child Anita. While Martini is a good name, the child could end up marrying a Koch, Dick or Wang.


Useless Facts

Post 9115

~ jwf ~ scribblo ergo sum



Meanwhile... The earliest reference to Groundhog Day comes from a storekeeper in Berks County Pennsylvania on February 4th 1841. James Morris wrote that February 2nd was Candlemas Day, celebrated by local Germans who waited to see if groundhogs would appear from their burrows. If the animals saw their shadows, they would retreat for a six week nap, but, “if the day be cloudy, they remain out, as they weather is to be moderate."

smiley - angel
~jwf~


Useless Facts

Post 9116

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

That's the earliest reference in *English*, of course. smiley - laugh

People talked about it all the time. But they referred to the beast as 'der Grundsau'.

The idea was for the men to wake up the Grundsau, let it fuss at them, make a decision, then go back to the 'Grundsau Lodge' to drink beer and tell jokes in funny German. smiley - whistle

These people refer to everyone in Philadephia as 'the English'. Even if they're Italian, say, or African American...smiley - run


Useless Facts

Post 9117

You can call me TC

"Sau" is feminine, so it would be "die Grundsau" (If such a word existed)


smiley - sorry
smiley - shrug


Useless Facts

Post 9118

You can call me TC

OK - so wiki says it does exist (in Pennsylvanian Dutch, or whatever that is)


Useless Facts

Post 9119

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - rofl The Pennsylvania Dutch are not sticklers for accuracy...

Very popular song, in various forms:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvIefmFEu2U


Useless Facts

Post 9120

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

According to today's Google Doodle, Jackie Robinson's player number was 42.


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