Miscellaneous Trivia

Death by Daffodil

Roman soliders carried daffodil bulbs into battle with them so if they were mortally wounded they could eat the bulb insuring a quick and painless death.

Roman Bow-Puller

Stefano Benini, in his article "The Bow in Italy," wrote that recent excavations in the ancient Roman territory of Via Appia have unearthed many bronze broadheads, some barbed, with two and three blades. However, the most interesting find on the Via Appia site was a bronze bow-puller, similar in concept to a modern release aid. The bow-puller was a thin, bronze bar that lay inside the second knuckles of the string-hand with the ends of the bar wrapping around the pinky and forefinger. Two slightly curved bronze prongs protruded from the middle of the bar up the middle and third fingers to the first knuckle. Apparently the archers drew the string with their middle and third fingers, the arrow nocked on the string between them. Using the bow-puller, the archer could draw with all four fingers. The middle and third fingers pressed the curved bronze prongs onto the string (negating the need for a shooting glove), and the forefinger and pinky, curled around the ends of the bronze bar, added power to the draw with their pull. Members of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries in Rome tested the 'bow-puller' and said it performed satisfactorily.

Beware Scythians Bearing Gifts

Darius was preparing to invade and destroy the Scythians. On the eve of the battle, he was met by a Scythian emissary, who said nothing and left behind a bird, a frog, a mouse, and five arrows. Darius was, needless to say, puzzled by this act until his most trusted advisor, Gobrias, interpreted the message: fly away like a bird, swim away like a frog, hide like a mouse, or be destroyed in five days by Scythian archers. Darius went ahead with the invasion anyway and, being Darius, managed to survive, but never was able to bring the Scythians to heel.

Trivia from the History Channel

Despite the code of chivalry, medieval women had the legal status of children, and a respected advice manual at the time recommended starving them to gain their obedience. - In Search of History: The Knights of Camelot

Some claim that the unpopular Norman kings of England influenced monks to "discover" Arthur's grave, to prevent enemies pretending to be the immortal Arthur from rallying the people against them. - In Search of History: The Knights of Camelot

In the Middle Ages, "love madness," an obsession with a particular woman, was recognized as a medical disease for which physicians prescribed cures like bleeding and sexual intercourse. - In Search of History: The Knights of Camelot

The fictional character, D'Artagnan, is based on the historical figure, Seigneur D'Artagnan, who served as a soldier in the French Army during the reigns of King Louis the XIII & XIV. - Movies in Time: The Three Musketeers

For most of his life, Cardinal Richelieu suffered from many illnesses including abscesses and nervous exhaustion, which all lead to his death in December 1642. - Movies in Time: The Three Musketeers

During a severe storm in December 1637, King Louis XIII was forced to spend the night with his estranged wife, Queen Anne of Austria. Nine months later, the future King Louis the XIV was born. - Movies in Time: The Three Musketeers

The Origin of "Blueblood"

The word "blueblood" traces its origins back to the eighth century. At the time, the Moors ruled large parts of southern Europe, including Spain. The Spanish, who originally had milky complexions, began to intermarry with the Moors, producing the darker skinned Spanish people we see today.

Among the Spanish aristocracy, however, many didn't associate with the Moors. Instead they secluded themselves in the mountains of Castile, deliberately avoiding the sun in order to set themselves apart from the foreign invaders.

As a result, these aristocrats had such pale skin that their veins were visible. And, since veins seem to carry blue blood when they're seen though skin, these aristocrats became known as "bluebloods."

Life in the 1500s

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and were still smelling pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the B.O.

Baths equaled a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the pets — dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs — lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. So, they found if they made beds with big posts and hung a sheet over the top, it addressed that problem. Hence those beautiful big four poster beds with canopies.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors which would get slippery in the winter when wet. So they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed at the entry way, hence a "thresh hold."

They cooked in the kitchen in a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They mostly ate vegetables and didn't get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been in there for a month. Hence the rhyme: "peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork and would feel really special when that happened. When company came over, they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it off. It was a sign of wealth and that a man "could really bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food. This happened most often with tomatoes, so they stopped eating tomatoes... for 400 years. Most people didn't have pewter plates, but had trenchers - a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms got into the wood. After eating off wormy trenchers, they would get "trench mouth."

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small, and they started running out of places to bury people. So, they would dig up coffins and would take their bones to a house and re-use the grave. In reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell. Hence on the "graveyard shift" they would know that someone was "saved by the bell" or he was a "dead ringer."

Dumb Deaths

Attila the Hun: One of the most notorious villains in history, Attila's army had conquered all of Asia by 450 AD — from Mongolia to the edge of the Russian Empire — by destroying villages and pillaging the countryside.

How he died: He got a nosebleed on his wedding night.

In 453 AD, Attila married a young girl named Ildico. Despite his reputation for ferocity on the battlefield, he tended to eat and drink lightly during large banquets. On his wedding night, however, he really cut loose, gorging himself on food and drink. Sometime during the night he suffered a nosebleed, but was too drunk to notice. He drowned in his own blood and was found dead the next morning.

Tycho Brahe: An important Danish astronomer of the 16th century. His ground breaking research allowed Sir Isaac Newton to come up with the theory of gravity.

How he died: Didn't get to the bathroom in time.

In the 16th century, it was considered an insult to leave a banquet table before the meal was over. Brahe, known to drink excessively, had a bladder condition — but failed to relieve himself before the banquet started. He made matters worse by drinking too much at dinner, and was too polite to ask to be excused. His bladder finally burst, killing him slowly and painfully over the next 11 days.

Francis Bacon: One of the most influential minds of the late 16th century. A statesman, a philosopher, a writer, and a scientist, he was even rumored to have written some of Shakespeare's plays.

How he died: Stuffing snow into a chicken.

One afternoon in 1625, Bacon was watching a snowstorm and was struck by the wondrous notion that maybe snow could be used to preserve meat in the same way that salt was used. Determined to find out, he purchased a chicken from a nearby village, killed it, and then, standing outside in the snow, attempted to stuff the chicken full of snow to freeze it. The chicken never froze, but Bacon did.

Aeschylus: A Greek playwright back in 500 BC. Many historians consider him the father of Greek tragedies.

How he died: An eagle dropped a tortoise on his head. According to legend, eagles picked up tortoises and attempt to crack them open by dropping them on rocks. An eagle mistook Aeschylus' head for a rock (he was bald) and dropped it on him instead.

And finally there's [Jean Baptiste] Lully, one of our fav composers, who wrote music for the king of France. While rehearsing the musicians [in 1687], he got too serious beating time with his staff, and drove it right through his foot. He died of infection.

The Origin of the Military Specification

The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and the first U.S. railroads were built by English expatriates.

Why did the English people build them like that? Because the first rail lines in Europe were designed and built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did "they" use that gauge then? Because the people who designed and built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing.

Okay, why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing? Well, when they tried to use any other spacing, the wagons were prone to breaking down on some of the old, long distance roads, because that's the spacing of the old wheel ruts.

So who built these old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were all made to certain specifications for or by Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

Thus, we have the answer to the original questions. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification (Military, as it were) for an Imperial Roman army war chariot.

But one "nagging" question still remains. Why did the design of the Roman army war chariots incorporate that specific wheelbase? Answer: Because the chariots were designed to be just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses.

More Miscellaneous Trivia

In the 10th century, the Grand Vizier of Persia took his entire library with him wherever he went. The 117,000 volume library was carried by camels trained to walk in alphabetical order.

During the Renaissance, fashionable aristocratic Italian women shaved their hair several inches back from their natural hairlines.

Early guns took so long to load and fire that bows and arrows — in trained hands — were twelve times more efficient.

Every queen named Jane has either been murdered, imprisoned, gone mad, died young, or been dethroned.

Gamblers in ancient Greece made dice from the ankle-bones and shoulder blades of sheep.

Hair from the tail of a mule ridden by the crusader Peter the Hermit brought high prices as sacred relics throughout Europe in the 14th century.

In 1400 B.C. it was the fashion among rich Egyptian women to place a large cone of scented grease on top their heads. As the day wore on, it melted and dripped down their bodies, covering their skin with an oily, glistening sheen and bathing their clothes in fragrance.

In 1500 B.C. in Egypt a shaved head was considered the ultimate in feminine beauty. Egyptian women removed every hair from their heads with special gold tweezers and polished their scalps to a high sheen with buffing clothes.

In ancient China people committed suicide by eating a pound of salt.

In ancient China, towns were often arranged in patterns so that if seen from the air the whole community would resemble and animal or a symbolic design. Some were arranged to resemble snakes, stars, sunbursts, and dragons.

In ancient Egypt, when merchants left the country on business trips they carried small stone models of themselves. If they died while abroad, these figures were sent back to Egypt for proxy burial.

In ancient Rome it was considered a sign of leadership to be born with a crooked nose.

In early Europe, there was a popular superstition that the wearer of turquoise could never suffer a broken bone. Instead, the turquoise itself would shatter and thus prevent the accident. The stones were also set into horses' bridles to keep them from stumbling and falling. These days, it is common for horses' bridles to be decorated with turquoise (usually imitation), although not many people who own them know the custom's origin.

In medieval China it was not unusual for a mother to breast-feed a child until the child was seven years old.

In sixteenth and seventeenth century Peking, one took revenge against one's enemies by placing finely chopped tiger's whiskers in their food. The whisker barbs would get caught in the victim's digestive tract and cause sores and infections.

In the 18th century the French Comte d'Artois owned a set of diamond buttons, each of which had a miniature clock encased inside it.

The toe of the metal statue of St. Peter in St. Peter's Cathedral, Rome, is worn down almost to a nub by the great number of pilgrims who have kissed it through the centuries.

In the harem of Mughal kings in India, ladies of royal blood changed their garments several times a day and never put them on again. They were then given to slaves.

In the marriage ceremony of the ancient Incas, the couple was considered officially wed when they took off their sandals and handed them to each other.

In the Middle Ages, chicken soup was believed to be an aphrodisiac.

How much do you really know about Christmas?

You hear about it pretty much nonstop from Thanksgiving through New Year's, but how much do you really know about Christmas?

If you're like most people, you put up a tree without having any idea why, send out a batch of Christmas cards, sing the first verse of "Jingle Bells" and call it a holiday.

But there's a story behind the story of Rudolph with the bright nose. And wouldn't it be nice to impress everyone at the office holiday party with your extensive knowledge about the origins of Christmas cards?

Here's our holiday cheat sheet. What follows is a compendium of Christmas history, trivia and lore - fun facts that will make you the hit of every Christmas party and reindeer game from here to the North Pole.

SANTA CLAUS

Yes, Virginia, there is a St. Nicholas. Or rather, was. St. Nicholas of Myra was a real person - a Christian bishop born in Asia Minor around 280 A.D. After his death, he became associated with gift giving, and he was traditionally depicted on a white horse, bringing presents to good children on Dec. 6, St. Nicholas' Day. Not to be confused with . . .

Father Christmas, a jolly character popular in Britain. Father Christmas likely developed from pagan characters, not St. Nicholas.

Since Santa is so elusive, no one knows for sure what he really looks like. But we can thank Thomas Nast, Clement Moore and Coca-Cola for our modern image of Santa Claus.

Moore, a university professor, wrote "A Visit from St. Nicholas" — often called by its first line, "Twas the Night Before Christmas" — as a poem for his children in 1822. It soon became famous across the U.S. (Editor's Note: Scholars continue to debate whether Clement Clarke Moore or Major Henry Livingston Jr. wrote this classic poem. Thanks to Alan C. for the link.)

Based on Moore's description, Thomas Nast drew illustrations of Santa for Harper's Weekly in the 1860s, portraying him as a jolly, rotund old elf with a bushy beard and fur-trimmed suit. And the rosy-cheeked man we now know as Santa was created for an ad for Coca-Cola.

TREES

Origins: The ancient Romans decorated trees with small pieces of metal during Saturnalia, a winter festival honoring the god of agriculture. During the Middle Ages, people decorated evergreen trees with apples during the feast of Adam and Eve, on Dec. 24.

There are varying accounts of who put up the first Christmas tree in America. Some German families in Pennsylvania were decorating Christmas trees by the 1820s, though it was not a common practice for years. Before 1900, one in five American families had a decorated tree at Christmas.

Lights: One of Thomas Edison's inventors wrapped small electric bulbs in red, white and blue crepe paper and strung them on a Christmas tree, creating what many say were the first Christmas tree lights. President Grover Cleveland soon had lights put on the White House Christmas tree, though it was years before they were widely used, both because of their cost and the mistrust many people had for electric lights.

Vocabulary

Wassail: A strong ale drink with spices, often including nutmeg, honey and ginger. The word comes from the old Anglo Saxon "Waes hael" or "Be well."

Xmas: In this abbreviation, 'X" represents the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of Christ's name in Greek. The term was used by early Christians, but as centuries passed and fewer people understood Greek, people believed the word was disrespectful.

Carols: This word probably comes from the ancient Greek choros, which means a circular dance. The singing of Christmas carols was banned in England by Oliver Cromwell during the mid-1600s, because he believed the holiday should be a solemn occasion.

BY THE NUMBERS

Nine Reindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen and Rudolph.

And yes, it's Donder, not Donner - at least according to Louisville, Ky., lawyer Donald Heavrin. Heavrin is so bent on getting the word out about the reindeer name that he's founded a national society devoted to correcting the alleged misnomer.

Many blame Gene Autry for the confusion, since he sang "Donner" when he recorded "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" around 1950. Also, "Donner" and "Blitzen" are thunder and lightning in German. But "Donder" is thunder in Dutch, Donder advocates say. And Heavrin has pointed to his copy of an original handwritten version of "A Visit from St. Nicholas," which says Donder.

Rudolph, by the way, was the brainchild of a Montgomery Ward's ad man, who wrote a poem for a store promotion in 1939 about one of Santa's deer with a bright red nose. He first thought of "Rollo," then "Reginald" for names, but it was decided that neither had the right ring.

Twelfth Night: The traditional end of Christmas is Jan. 6., the date of Epiphany. It marks when Jesus was visited by . . .

The Three Kings of Orient: Melchior, Balthazar and Caspar (or Gaspar) aren't mentioned in the Bible by name. They aren't called kings, either, but rather, wise men.

SYMBOLS/CUSTOMS

Yule Log: This Christmas custom is likely rooted in pagan practices. The Celts are believed to have lit bonfires to commemorate the return of the sun. As kindling, they used a carefully chosen log, which they blessed. It is said that a piece of the log was often kept to light the next year's fire.

Chimney, stockings: According to legend, St. Nicholas once met a poor man who could not afford dowries for his three daughters. He worried that if his daughters couldn't marry, he would have to sell them into slavery or prostitution. Nicholas wanted to help, without being showy. So he threw three bags of gold into a window of the man's house. (In some versions of the story, Nicholas throws the bags down the chimney.) They landed in freshly washed stockings that had been hung by the chimney to dry.

Christmas cards: Their invention was not part of some conspiracy to give you more things to do than you can possibly manage, but rather a conspiracy to give the postal system more to do. An Englishman named Sir Henry Cole is often recognized as the brains behind the mass-produced Christmas card. In 1843, he asked an artist friend to design a card, both to save himself time in writing Christmas letters and to encourage the expansion of the British postal service.

Sources: "The Christmas Almanack" by Gerard and Patricia Del Re, The National Archives and Records Administration, "Christmas Customs Around the World" by Herbert Wernecke, the University of Illinois Extension, "The Time-Life Book of Christmas."

Wedding Trivia

Q: Where does the expression "tie the knot" come from?
A: "Tying the knot" dates to Roman times, when the bride wore a girdle that was tied in knots — which the groom then had the fun of untying.

Q: Which Roman goddess rules over marriage, the hearth and childbirth?
A: Juno, queen of heaven and partner to Jupiter (a.k.a Zeus, the king of gods). The month of June takes its name from her, making it most appropriate for weddings.

Q: Which bridal tradition dates back the furthest?
A: The veil dates back to ancient Rome, when it was flame-yellow, always worn over the face, and called a flammeum.

Q: What does a sapphire used in a wedding ring represent?
A: Marital happiness.

Q: According to English folklore, which is the unluckiest day to marry?
A: Saturday; the most popular American choice!

Q: Why do the cars in a wedding motorcade honk their horns?
A: It recalls the ancient tradition of making loud noise to frighten away evil spirits.

Q: The wedding toast "May you grow old on one pillow" is from which culture?
A: Armenian.

Left-Handed Compliment

Why do we falsely praise something with a "left-handed compliment?"

The Answer:
There they go again, beating up on lefties. This time being a southpaw is short-hand for being insincere or false. I'm just waiting for them to say that someone in a bad mood must have gotten up from the left-hand side of the bed.

The phrase left-handed compliment refers to marriage in medieval Germany. But then you probably guessed that, right? In those days the powers that be sought to discourage the nobility from marrying commoners. A nobleman who did marry down had to give his bride not the usual right hand at their wedding but his left. Neither his wife nor his children could inherit his property or title. In many ways it was a marriage in name only. It was left-handed, meaning not really what it seemed. Hence the insincerity of a left-handed compliment.