An Archive of Curious Facts for the Curious
Circumstances We are strange beings, we seem to go free, but we go in chains — chains of training, custom, convention, association, environment—in a word. Circumstance — and against these bonds the strongest of us struggle in vain. — Mark Twain, “3,000 Years Among the Microbes”, 1905 A man is worked upon by what he works on. He […]
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“We often pay our debts not because it is only fair that we should, but to make future loans easier.” — La Rochefoucauld “The ideas of debtor and creditor as to what constitutes a good time never coincide.” — P.G. Wodehouse, Love Among the Chickens, 1906 “The customer is always right — until his bill is overdue:.” — Anon., […]
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Growing a blog isn’t simple. It takes time, patience, and dedication before others would begin to notice your blog. While I can’t offer you a magic formula that would increase your blog’s popularity overnight, I can at least help you to promote your blog and find new readers. Here’s what you’ll need to […]
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The butcher bet me $50 I couldn’t guess the weight of the meat up on the top shelf of his cooler. I decided not to gamble; the steaks were too high. — Tim Vine
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When the Berry Brothers, who were famous London wine sellers during the eighteenth century, sent a bill too early to Irish poet and playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 – 1816), he was not amused. He called it a “mulled up” bill, then proceeded to write the following reply: You have sent me your Bilberry, Before […]
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Consonants and Vowels In normal speech there are four times as many consonants as vowels, corresponding to the relation between breathing and blood circulation (eighteen breaths to seventy-two pulsebeats). — Noah Jonathan Jacobs, Naming Day in Eden: The Creation and Recreation of Language, 1958 Natural Vanity Lord Houghton’s vanity is amusingly natural. Something was said […]
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At the end of the nineteenth century, an English journal offered a prize to anyone who can write the longest twelve-word telegram. The telegram must be written must be comprehensible (well, as comprehensible as a telegram message can be) and it should be short enough to be considered a standard length. More than 450 people […]
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American writer Gertrude Stein (1874 – 1946) received the following quaint rejection letter from editor A. J. Fifield: I am only one, only one, only. Only one being, one at the same time. Not two, not three, only one. Only one life to live, only sixty minutes in one hour. Only one pair of eyes. Only one […]
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“The greatest enemy of all is considered he who tells the truth.” — Plato, The Republic “Time will reveal everything. It is a babbler and speaks even when not asked.” — Euripides, Euripidean Fragments “Yet the deepest truths are best read between the lines, and, for the most part, refuse to be written.” — Amos […]
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A farmer sent three sons to college. On their return home, wishing to see how their college education had fitted them for business, he gave to his youngest son ten eggs, to the second son thirty eggs, and to the eldest son fifty eggs. He told them to take their eggs to the market to […]
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