The Ultimate Trivia Thread

[hussamabd]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

Water is toxic. The lethal dose for humans is about 6 litres.

actually drinking a gallon of water a day has alot of benefits
Water eases thirst even before it reaches your bloodstream
It cleans your kidneys and helps it to function properly
Water ensures your cognitive performance and being deprived of water can cause a serious short-term memory damage
Water keeps you happy as mild dehydration causes significant dips in the mood
Water reduces joint pain as it maintains the right amount of cushioning in your joints
Water protects your spinal cord as it is an essential part of one of the nervous system’s most powerful protective mechanisms: Cerebrospinal Fluid.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by hussamabd

actually drinking a gallon of water a day has alot of benefits
Water eases thirst even before it reaches your bloodstream
It cleans your kidneys and helps it to function properly
Water ensures your cognitive performance and being deprived of water can cause a serious short-term memory damage
Water keeps you happy as mild dehydration causes significant dips in the mood
Water reduces joint pain as it maintains the right amount of cushioning in your joints
Water protects your spinal cord as it is an essential part of one of the nervous system’s most powerful protective mechanisms: Cerebrospinal Fluid.

I think ds meant 6 liters at once.

[Dazrin]

Wow, ancient thread Batman!

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I think ds meant 6 liters at once.

Indeed. And I certainly didn't mean to prevent folks from drinking water...

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

Indeed. And I certainly didn't mean to prevent folks from drinking water...

Did you want hot, cold or room temperature?
I have all three. Oh it is filtered water, not plain tap water.

[BetterRed]

Ants don't like walking on talcum powder coated surfaces 'coz its slippery

An elderly lady told me that, and by George she's right.

[trichobezoar]

According to Scoopify.org/fun-trivia-questions, 25% of Americans believe that this imaginary character is a real person. Who is he?

Sherlock Holmes

[trichobezoar]

Words at Play

Prat

Although Merriam-Webster is a dictionary of American English, it contains a range of words rarely heard outside Britain. Here are some of our favourites.

Definition - a stupid or foolish person

Prat has been British slang for the sort of person with whom you’d rather not share a long train journey since the middle of the 20th century. Prior to this the word served a number of other useful functions, with such meanings as “the buttocks” and “to nudge or push (as a person) with the buttocks.” A pratfall, now commonly used to mean “a humiliating mishap or blunder,” originally meant “a fall on the buttocks.”

"His father was ailing and Ravel dearly wanted him to see the première." (Silly prat: did he not know why the father was ailing? Could he not have stopped his febrile pacing and enquired whether there might be any connection between the father’s illness and this opera?)

— Frank Delaney, Punch (London, Eng.), 26 Aug. 1987

Whinge

Definition - to complain fretfully: whine

Whinge and whine may look like simple variants, but the two words are fairly distinct, with meanings and histories that are independent. Whinge comes from an Old English word, hwinsian, meaning “to wait or moan discontentedly,” whereas whine comes from the Old English hwinan (“to make a humming or whirring sound”). Whinge, in use since the 12th century, has always had a meaning related to complaining; whine, on the other hand, did not begin to have its now-familiar meaning until the 16th century.

O it is a sweet thing ay to be whinging, and crying, and seeking about Christ's Pantry Doors, and to hold ay an Eye upon Christ when he goes into the House of Wine, into His Fathers fair Luckie Wine-Celler where there are many Wines, and bout in at Christ's back.

— Samuel Rutherford, Christs Napkin, 1660

Source: Words at Play: Please Don't Whinge About Being Knackered, You Prat

[Solitaire1]

Phil Collins auditioned for a part on the Sid & Marty Krofft show The Bugaloos. He wasn't selected.

[BetterRed]

I'm a Londoner and I'd never heard "whinge' until I came to Australia, where it was/is mainly used to refer to "Whingeing Poms".

I'm not disputing the word's etymology, just commenting on its usage.

[trichobezoar]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I'm a Londoner and I'd never heard "whinge' until I came to Australia, where it was/is mainly used to refer to "Whingeing Poms".

I'm not disputing the word's etymology, just commenting on its usage.

That's interesting. I wonder if the originator of the article is British. Probably not. And he/she's probably generalizing if it's used in a particular region of Britain.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by trichobezoar

That's interesting. I wonder if the originator of the article is British. Probably not. And he/she's probably generalizing if it's used in a particular region of Britain.

"Whinge" seems to have come into common usage more broadly in the UK in recent times. I suggest the Poms 'borrowed' the word as a result of watching too many Aussie TV soap operas.

The term 'borrowed/loan word' is silly, no one ever returns them to the people from whom they borrowed them

BR

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

The term 'borrowed/loan word' is silly, no one ever returns them to the people from whom they borrowed them

"We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." -- James Nicoll (1961 - )


Having said that, I come from Norwich, Norfolk, and whinge is certainly a native word as far as I'm concerned.

[drjd]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

"We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." -- James Nicoll (1961 - )

Stealing that one!

[crich70]

They say that English is the hardest language to learn because we have borrowed so many words from other languages.