The "Did you know" thread.....

[tygrkhat40]

Originally Posted by Estreeter

Did you know ..... That a cat is able jump higher than a house?

It's true, mostly due to the cat having powerful hind legs and the fact that a house cant jump

What say we move this one to corny jokes...?

[stardust2003]

Originally Posted by richardoe

Alaska is the most western , northern and eastern state in the USA. It also has a longer coastline than all the other states combined.

Talking of coastlines ... I was looking at a map of Canada and the US and
a surrpising length of Canadas western coastline is actually part of the US

dont know who drew up the boundaries but Canada lost out big time on its
western coast !

[Lurk_D]

Nah. This one is more of a potato.

[vo1v0d]

Originally Posted by Greenman

Origins of phrases pt2:
The phrase "going doolally" meaning to go mad, also has it's origins in the military. The Indian garrison town of Deolali was where soldiers waited to be taken back to Britain after touring the country, often for many months. THere was little to do to keep them entertained and many suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Not Quite. Deolali was one of the hottest places in the Empire and sunstroke among troops was common. It was called Deolali Tap.Not reporting for duty/on parade became he has gone Deolali

[vo1v0d]

Originally Posted by Greenman

Apologies if this is here on another page but...they used to film the studio audience applauding first before recordings of 'A Question of Sport'(I know because I was once in the audience and it was part of the warm-up) I am pretty sure that when you see an audience reaction on anything these days it is pre-recorded and then slotted in here and there. I also found out, through watching it each day when it was on, that repeats of quiz show Wipeout, with the late, great Bob Monkhouse used the same audience shot time and time again at the beginning and it even appeared on another show - I've heard of canned laughter, but canned audiences??

Quite true. What there is no recording of is the bloke who knew this beforehand and held up an piece of card with HA HA written on it

[Mal Hombre]

Expanding or Dum Dum bullets are named after the British arsenal near Calcutta where they were first developed.

[Greenman]

Originally Posted by vo1v0d

Not Quite. Deolali was one of the hottest places in the Empire and sunstroke among troops was common. It was called Deolali Tap.Not reporting for duty/on parade became he has gone Deolali

Don't blame me, send your complaint to the Daily Mail.

[vo1v0d]

Originally Posted by Greenman

Don't blame me, send your complaint to the Daily Mail.

AAAAAAAAAARGH:e ek:

[vo1v0d]

The Full Monty is the dumbest title in history.
The largest chain of tailors in the depression years was Montague Burton which later got shortened to Burtons. During the years after the depression when money was scarce buying clothes from this chain was the cheapest option. A pair of trousers or a jacket if you had a few bob. Doing better means you had yourself a two piece suit. Raising more money meant you were able to afford a waistcoat making a three piece suit. Anyone seeing you in a new three piece suit would remark you had the Full Monty.
The Full Monty meaning fully clothed.......................words fail me.

[Greenman]

It is also believe that the phrase "going/gone for a Burton"(as in to disappear from sight) came from that too although in one case it could "Burton on Trent" cockney rhyming slang. I seem to recall Sir Michael Caine made the case for the Full Monty name at some award ceremony too. In the other case Full Monty meant having everything that someone could need as in "he had the car, the house, the full monty"