The reason why we nod our heads for “yes” and shake it for “no” was first explained by Charles Darwin. He related the gestures to a baby’s nursing habits. The nod, the forward head motion, is the breast-seeking pattern. Shaking the head from side to side – gesturing “no” – is a breast-rejecting motion. This [...]

The word “ton” is derived from the French “tonnerre,” or “thunder,” from the sound wine barrels made when rolled. But there are various standards of a ton. You get a long ton, a short ton and metric ton. A US ton, the short ton, is equivalent to 2000 pounds (907.185 kilograms). A British ton, the [...]

Only some nations have adopted national flowers: Egypt has the lotus; England, the rose; France, the iris, or fleur-de-lis; Ireland, the shamrock; Japan, the chrysanthemum; The Netherlands, the tulip; Scotland, the thistle; and Switzerland, the edelweiss. The national flower of Wales is the daffodil but the leek, the vegetable, is also considered a national emblem. [...]

The muscle that lets your eye blink is the fastest muscle in your body. It allows you to blink 5 times a second. On average, you blink 15 000 times a day. That’s about 10 times per minute, or more than five million times a year. Women blink more than men. Jean-Dominique Bauby, a French [...]

French may be known as the sexiest language but it actually is just one of five Romance languages. Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish also are called Romance languages. They derived from Latin dialects spoken in the Roman Empire. Modern Italian emerged in the 13th century. Spanish first appeared during the 10th century and was standardized [...]

What is the difference between a flag and a banner? A flag has metal rings on the fly end, the side that goes against the flagpole. It flies horizontally off a vertical flagpole. A banner has a sleeve instead of rings and usually hangs off a small wooded pole attached to a house or office [...]

What runs all around the yard without moving? The fence What is it that someone else has to take before you can get it? Your photograph When asked how old she was, Suzie replied, “In two years I will be twice as old as I was five years ago.” How old is she now? 12 [...]

In 1905 Einstein showed in his theory of relativity that time is affected by motion so that the faster one goes the slower time does. The first day of the year in the Gregorian calendar is 1 January. The first month in the Jewish calendar is Nisan (March/April in the Gregorian calendar), although years are [...]

It is widely proclaimed that April Fool’s Day originated in France in 1562, or thereabouts, when Pope Gregory replaced the Julian calender with the Gregorian calender in the Julian calender month of April. The day of introduction of the Gregorian calender was made the first day of January. Some people hadn’t heard about the change [...]

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the World that still survives. Can you name the other six wonders? They are: 1) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which were built on the banks of the Euphrates river by King Nebuchadnezzar II. 2) The gigantic gold statue of Zeus [...]