Random Thursday

Let's get back to fun Trivia facts from The Little Book of Answers by Doug Lennox! This chapter is perfect for this meme of mine as the trivia facts are all so random! There's no rhyme or reason to the ordering of these it seems! Lol.

(image borrowed from Amazon)

Ever wonder why local phone numbers never start with the number 1? It goes back to the original dial telephone that sent out "clicks" for each number dialed. One click for 1, two clicks for 2 and so on and so on. Zero was reserved for the operator. Number 1 was never used because the early switching systems read every signal as beginning with one click regardless of the number you were dialing. Basically, no phone number could start with a 1 and this continues today simply out of tradition.

Weird. I guess I never thought about it!

(image borrowed from Wikipedia)

Ever wonder how the prestigious Eastern schools of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia earned the name the Ivy League? It's not because of their ivy covered buildings either. These schools were originally called The Interscholastic Four League, however, "four" was always written in their Roman numeral format--IV. By the end of WWII the league expanded to include Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, and the University of Pennsylvania, making the four now eight. But instead of changing the name the league decided to spell the name the way it was being pronounced, and so the schools became known as the "Ivy League."

I honestly never gave thought to this before. It's rather interesting when all is said and done!

(image borrowed from BioLogos)

A man's Adam's Apple earned the name from an ancient embellishment on the story of Adam and Eve. When Adam ate the forbidden fruit--which is said to be an apple--a large piece of it got stuck in his throat and remained there, forming a lump. It's said that this lump is to be an eternal reminder of his humility in the eyes of God.

While I never really gave thought to this, it totally makes sense when you think about it! Lol.

(image borrowed from Youtube)

Courage and bravery are both acts of valor and imply a strength and fearlessness, however there is a subtle difference between the two words. "Courage" comes from the French word "coeur" meaning heart. It's the quality of a person's character that allows them to carry through a difficult course. "Bravery" comes from the Spanish word "bravado" meaning a single or spontaneous act of valor. It's not a planned action, but simply a knee-jerk reaction that happens often during a crisis.

Wow. That's surprising! I always thought the two words were more or less the same. And oh wow, "coeur" means heart in French? I live on the edge of Creve Coeur which loosely translates into "shattered heart" and the logo beneath it is a broken heart. Never really thought to look that up. How depressing.