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According to one etymological theory, the word ‘decrepit’ comes from the prefix ‘de’ + the verb ‘crepare’, which can mean ‘to break wind’, and thus the word ‘decrepit’ describes someone who can’t fart because of old age.
552
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People can only agree about what they’re not really interested in. BERTRAND RUSSELL
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Mount Etna has erupted so much in the last six months, it’s grown about 100 feet (30m).
554
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One factory in Hull produces 900 million Yorkshire puddings a year.
555
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Ever wondered where the expression 'devil's advocate' comes from? 🤔
556
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In the 1820s the water in the river Thames was portrayed as ‘monster soup’.
Image: Wellcome Collection CC BY-NC 4.0
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Word of the day GRUNTLING, n. the old term for a young pig.
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Word of the Day: MULLIGRUBS — low spirits, bad temper.
559
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In Georgian-era slang, ‘a gentleman of three outs’ was a man without manners, money, and wit. ‘A gentleman of three ins’ was a man in debt, in gaol, and in danger of remaining there for life.
560
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UK company Crafted Beds is looking for a ‘Netflix and nap fanatic’ to be their mattress tester. The position pays £24,000 per year and entails spending 37.5 hours per week on a mattress assessing its comfortability.
561
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In medieval Europe, royal courts often had a special person called mustardarius who was in charge of growing and preparing mustard.
562
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Your heartbeat will synchronise with your date's if the date is going well.
563
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There is a three-way bridge in Michigan. It is called the "Tridge".
(Image: Phil Squattrito; CC BY.)
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Since hibernation is not sleep, animals emerge from hibernation sleep-deprived and tired.
Therefore, animals that hibernate come out of hibernation periodically in order to get some sleep.
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"Most books on witchcraft will tell you that witches work naked. This is because most books on witchcraft were written by men." NEIL GAIMAN and TERRY PRATCHETT
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This year, New Zealand's "Bird of the Year" contest was won by a bat.
(Image: Shellie; CC-BY-NC-ND.)
567
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Spiders can have arachnophobia.
(Image: Thomas Shahan; CC BY-NC-ND.)
568
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Word of the Day: BACKFRIEND - a friend who secretly does not like you at all
569
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The more you spend on an engagement ring, the more likely you are to get divorced.
570
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Word of the day: INEMURI, a Japanese term for sleeping at work (literally ‘sleeping while present’), which is considered completely acceptable and often regarded as a sign of diligence.
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Word of the Day: WISH-CYCLING — putting an item in a recycling bin in the hope that it can be recycled, usually when the item is not actually recyclable.
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"I called him Simon Ferocious or something, and he didn't like it at all.” - Freddie Mercury on meeting Sid Vicious.
573
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Strangolapreti is a type of pasta whose name in Italian means ‘priest-strangler’.
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People are worse at detecting sarcasm than they think they are.
575
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It is possible to see colours that can't exist, such as blue darker than black or red brighter than white.
Chimerical colours can be produced by staring at one colour until your cone cells are fatigued, and then briefly looking at another, as below.
(Image: Zowie; CC BY.)
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A Quite Interesting Twitter feed from the team behind the BBC TV show QI.
linktr.ee/TheQIElves