Factual Fiction

(yes JP you get to say, "HAHAHAHA I TOLD YOU SO!!!") *winks*

Reading fiction provide such a wealth of knowledge. You always expect to learn new things by reading non-fiction tomes, text books and such, but more and more I find that I pick up a lot of facts, just by enjoying a story.

I thought we could keep an ongoing catalog of facts you would not know if you hadn't read that book today.

here's a quick history of a drop of milk in 1906: freshly milked milk was poured into wide, deep pans and allowed to "set". after a while, cream separated from the milk and rose to the top to be skimmed off. this cream can be churned to make butter, when the butter is made the left over milk is called buttermilk. Wow.

mules are bred from a male donkey and a female horse (eww!).

go on! Share with us!

A hinny is bred from a male horse and a female donkey (weird, huh?).

JP says she calls this "stealth teaching." ;)

What happens if you breed a donkey and a mule?

mules are infertile, so nothing.

Mules can't breed. Go figure. ;)

That's a very disappointing answer; I was secretly hoping for the answer to be hippogriff or unicorn.

BTW, what is 'that' book?

in my case its A Northern Light, wich I suspect that Cat is reading too.

I think once I've learned something from a book and a decent amount of time passes that I could no longer pin whatever I learned down to the right book.

I'm in the middle of a detective novel called Find Me by Carol O'Connell right now and it's about cops tracking a serial killer along Route 66. It has all the interesting information about the old landmarks along the route that used to make it such a popular road trip for families.

I actually haven't read A Northern Light. It's just that I have a large store of weird facts in my head. ;)
It comes from reading all sorts of books. Somehow I remember them.

I've read and got so much stored useless info in my head but right now I can't recall something really cool so I will continue to think until something I think you guys might find interesting pops out.

*that children is called OVER EXPLAINING

I learned a lot about late 19th-early 20th century Egypt and archeology practices from reading the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters.

I learned about many interesting books from reading stories about characters walking into stories. Books like The Incredible Umbrella interested me in classics I never would have considered reading.

I learned that short people live longer than tall people from a Piers Anthony book.

I don't even know if that's true, but I like it so much I've convinced many people it is.

hehehehe Are you, by any chance, on the short side, ellevee? 8) You seem to be too happy about the life span difference. I do know that people who are SUPER tall do have a shorter life span because their hearts have to work harder(or something). But I thought that was only for people who were like 7 feet and over....

Yes, I'm 5'0", and I HATE it. So finding facts (regardless of their authenticity) like that makes me feel smug and superior.

8) LOL!! My baby sitter is 4'11'' and has totally embraced her smallness. She collects anything that is tiny or undersized (ex: 4oz Coke bottles; finger sized staplers) So she's always showing off her latest 'mini' find. I think it's great.
8) Don't beat me up but I will admit that when I stand in between her and her daughter (5'0'') I'll use their heads as armrests in defense of me being so much taller than them. We all get a laugh if we're all talking to someone unsuspecting and I just pop my elbows up on their heads. Then we just keep talking, like, whatever, and the person is like what the-?! 8)

How tall are you, MEM?

I"m 5'8''. So at the high end of average. I usually wear boots with heels because I feel short a lot of the time (just my own little neurosis) so with those I usually stand at about 5'9''/10''

My kid sister (12) will probably reach your height soon if she hasn't yet. She's tried using my and our other sisters heads as arm rests, but she's not tall enough for that yet. (My other two sisters and I are 5'3" and 5'4".)

6'1 right here baby!!! *runs away before he is mobbed by the shorties!!*

(btw i am probaly going to hate on short people now that i cant hate on old people!!)

*takes her 5'3" self over to where ellevee and Kerian are standing*

Wanna say that over here, buster? ;-)

Ill say it right to your face!! *grabs a cup and stands in front of the three short girls!!!* SHORTY!!

*takes the cup out of his hands before he gets himself tied up al gulliver*

so. spazziemagoo, how old did you say you were? and are you sure you're 6'1 and not 6'2? and are you English?

LOL! suge you're too funny!

*with great, innocent eyes*

what? I didn't do anything.... huh? what?

lol as in cup i ment like a sports cup, to protect the family jewels and i am 6'2 if you want me to be and i bet i could be half english too!! ;) i am 16!! or if you want me to be another age just tell me!

EWW!!!!

to ALL of the above!!! *wipes hands*

(call me when you turn 20 *wink*)

Well i am legal at 18!!!!!! So how about then ;)

that is only a year and 2 months away!!!

legal yes, mature no, at least not for the thirty year old granny i'll be *burst into tears*

Happy (early) b-day!!! yey we'll throw you a sweet seventeen pary!

With um (darn i dont know if i can say this so i am not going to) well you can give me a car, and a cake and dont worry 30 is not that old ill be the man that makes you feel young!! ;) !!!!!!!

I have to go now!! dont worry suge ill be back at 730 in the morning (eastern time) to comfort you!! bye guys!!

look at em. they learn it early *shakes head* already running from teary women. *sigh*

It's okay suge.
And 30 is not old! Besides, no matter how old you get, I have a feeling you'll always be young at heart! ;)

BTW, spaz, for your information, I am only 5'2"! Hmph.
*starts crying* I got the short genes in the family! Waaahhhh!

*wipes tears* thanks cat! there, there cat! Its not how tall you are, its how tall you stand! (and how high your heels!) No matter how short you are, I have a feeling that you'll always be tall at heart! *hug*

Besides, cat, those of us who are not tall don't have to worry about how tall guys are! No 6'2" beanpoles for me! ;-)

Edit: Um, no offense, spaz . . .

Thanks suge! *hugs back*

LOL, that's true, foggi.

no beanpoles, please! 6'2 but not skinny!

Of course! They have to be well muscled.
But not too muscled. *shivers* That is just scary looking. ;)

in the last days by scott westerfeld, it suggests that the childrens song 'Ring Around The Rosie' might be speaking of a severe epidemic i believe is know as "The Black Death"

yes I've read that somewhere also.

oh yes, cat too much muscle is just wrong!!

truetrue

41- You're right, Smiley. I think that the original version went something like this:
A ring a ring of rosies,
A pocket full of posies,
Atishoo! Atishoo!
We all fall down!

The 'atishoo' part refers to how sufferers would sneeze before they died. The 'ashes, ashes' version tells how the sick person would look ashen faced. Pleasant nursery rhyme. ;)

#36 Lol its weird cause my nick name is bean stalk!!!!! but i have some muscle
but i gtg seeya tommorrow!

Did you know that coffee used to be forbidden by Roman priests because they thought it was invented by Satan? Then, one day, Pope Pius VIII asked that some coffee be brought to him. He liked the smell of it, so he took a sip. He declared it delicious, and blessed it, so that everyone else could have coffee.
Crazy, crazy history. ;)

what? your nickname's not spazziemagoo?

OK, 46 was just a strange factoid. Not in response to spaz. ;)

cat I heard that the ashes version was because all the corpses were burned. wow this is a really morbid convo? and yes, a very cheerful nursery rhyme.

I know cat, I read somewhere that in china no one used salt until a servant accidentally got some dirt on an emperors food. the emperor love it and from then on people started adding dirt to their food. Or maybe I have it all wrong?

50- That's funny! I can imagine a conversation in a restaurant:
"Waiter, what is that the emperor is eating?"
"Why, that is the emperor's favorite dish! And... it seems to have dirt on it. But he still loves it!"
"Give me the same."

ha ha its the same with the coffee! can you imagine the illegal cafes?

52- And meeting coffee dealers in dark alleys!
"You got the goods?"
"Yeah, 5 packets of coffee. Guaranteed to keep you up all night."
;)

coffee junkie: *takes a handful of coffe grounds and sniffs experimentally*
what regeon are they from? dont be trying to sell me some junk!
dealer: never I sell the best coffee in the world, it got smuggled in all the way from the new world!

LOL, I think there coffee junkies like that today!

dont even mention it. I had four cappuccinos today. by the time I got home my right leg was all shaky.

random factoid: President Garfield once got stuck in the bathtub or maybe it was one of the other ones not sure.

#21 LOL, you still tower over me. The other day I stood up after meeting my friend's sister for the first time, and she cried out,

"You're just a midgie-widgie, aren't you?"

They still haven't found her head.

#47 No sugey my nickname is not spazziemagoo, but you can call me that if you want too. Dont be said if yall are short, lots of guys like short girls/ladies!!!

#59--> he he

I'm 5'6 and alternate between feeling like a total "widgie" around tall people, and a rampaging elephant around short people.

Rofl!!! I can imagine you being a rampaging elephant suge!! So are you married suge? *wink wink*

EWWWW!! NO!! I dont even know that I'm the marrying type, maybe when I'm *niffle* older.

oh sweety! did you get something in your eye?

Oh uh yea, um wanna get it out for me?? ;)

are you flirting with me, sir? ;)

#20 spaz:
Wasn't it you who called me and someone else a hater last week? Now look who's the hater. ;)

#21 foggi:
Yey for short people!

#30 suge:
*hug for suge*

#34 cat:
You'll get taller! You may have years still till you reach your final heights. *hugs cat*

#41 Smiley:
I heard about that in the seventh grade.

#44 cat & #49 suge:
My sisters and I always said 'ashes' when we sang it. :)

#65 i never said hatter i said hater!! SO HA!!! Cant catch me in the one K XD

#64 It depends are you flirting with me? *wink*

#66 spaz:
What are you talking about? I never said hatter, either.

Little boy, do you think she's flirting with you? Watch this. ;)

EDWARD CULLEN!

*passes out cold*

*uses the well-worn-out smelling salts on suge*

Now where did we put that couch?

We've had a few. There's no telling where. The traveling table, however, was returned to Snape's birthday party.

*summons a tablecouch, and uses a spell to place suge on the couch*

Wakie, wakie, suge!

Look what happens. I talked about a table, and nearly summoned the wrong thing!

*waking up, wipes drool and glares at K*

Stop doing that!

What?

*innocent look*

Okay, I'm sorry.

good! now get to work! bale bale!

OK, suge



I wonder what she wants him for?

oh I cant see you the pic in your last post jp!

Hmmm...I'll let cat work on it. I've got to run!

See, Bale turned invisible for a little bit.



Here he is! I hope. ;)

mucho caliente! gracias!

De nada! ;)

*covers eyes and tries to walk out of the room*

Aw, it's not that bad, spaz! He's fully clothed, at least!

Spaz, You don't like Batman?

poor spaz!


here's fergie.
altho i prefer to see more HEGs, u shouldnt be left out

*stands up to her full 5'3" height* I am not short. Everyone else is just tall.

Except cat. :o)

THAT'S RIGHT RISSA!!!!
Hey usafspaz, nice to meet you.

I'm the same height as Cat, JP.
We should form the "small end of the gene pool" club or something. I've stopped growing taller...so I can only result to boots. (I hate high heels).

Did you know yoga can make you 3 inches taller by stretching your spine?

Hi A_R!
I actually did know that. I used to practice Bikram yoga (the hot and painful kind) from a 60something woman who said her height had actually increased as she got older from her yoga practice.

This will be inspiration for cat to practice more often. ;o)

#85 rissa:
I love that line! Can I borrow it? :)

#88 A_R:
Everyone's spine except mine. ;)

I've always been curious about yoga, but I don't think I can do it with a fused back. :(

you can use it as much as you want. it is an integral part of my belief system.

#83 Of course i like Bat Man when he is Bat Man cat, but not when he is out of character.

#84 Thanks for the post smiley, but Fergie is not my type of HE/AW sorry :( , i was thinking more along the lines of like Keria Knightly or Natalie Portman.

#87 Hey A_R its nice to me you too!

#85 Um Rissa is the average girl height like 5'5? So wouldn't that actually make you short?

88- Yes! I want to be a member of the SEOTGP club!

#92 spaz:
According to a survey from 1999-2002 that I just read, the average height for a woman is 5 feet 3.8 inches. Our rissa's normal height. :)

i 5'1" so dont feel bad rissa.

sorrs spaz. i just named a random person.

here:



all better?
NOW SOMEONE PLEASE POST MORE HEGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Never i will not allow it!! *puts up HEG filter*

#94 that is an old survey the new one is newer!

u wish!!!!





HEGS!HEGS!HEGS!HEGS!HEGS!

Patrick Dempsey isn't English, he was born in Maine.

i dont care, he's decently hot. therefore i claim the ones that are not english......EHGs! extremely hot guys.

*Blinks* I thought this was the factual fiction thread?
*Walks outside and checks nameplate on door*
It is! suge, you hijacked your own thread!

lol!

*hearing the call of the HEG*


Henry "lucious lips" Cavill


come on show us your shirt Ed! *wolf whistles*


the rhys looking a little metro but delectable nonetheless ;D


Pauly-OH! He cant be human....


Gerard Butler


call him Colin Firth... Call him Fitzwilliam Darcy... He's still smokin'


clive owen: too hot for his own good


garrett Hedlund


bad boy extraordinare Colin Farrell


Gaspard Ulliel is actually French, but I'm sure he wont mind doing an English accent for me :))

lol
like the last one

*sputters*

h- h- h- JP! How do I get blamed for EVERYTHING??!! I wasn't doing nothing!

yea! i helped suge in the crime!
(after all, a good friend will bail you out of jail...a best friend will be sittin in the cell with you sayin"wow, WE screwed up")

LOL. Actually I think that JP and I started it with the pictures of Christian Bale. ;)

JP can't come to her computer right now, it's been taken over by pirates. ;)

#97 Smiley:
My sister would pull a suge and faint if she saw McDreamy's pic on this thread. ;)

#100 jp:
LOL! I was thinking of posting pictures but those were my thoughts as well, so I hadn't posted any. But funny enough, have you realized you blamed suge, when she didn't pot any till later? Simply a prediction! ;)

#104 suge:
ROFL. It's your reputation, dear. Hehehe! :)

#106 cat:
*gasps* And she pointed her finger at suge! ;)
Pirates, what do you mean pirates? :)

lol

My dad was on a Pirates of the Caribbean game and took over the computer. ;)

But to be fair, Christian Bale isn't English. We only brought him because suge said "bale, bale!"
;)

hehehehehe.

hehe bale-bale as in quickly, quickly! not Bale Bale as in sexy-dreamy-yummy!!

but look what you started Cat/JP! And then you tried to pass the buck on ME!!

Hey I read somewhere (see we are back to the topic!) that a fried will help you move, a best friend will help you move... a body!

hehehe

LOL! suge dear, I'm sorry we posted Christian. It was a joke. ;o) I said somewhere else that no one understands me today.

But it was K who first mentioned E***** C*****.

*Walks away, whistling innocently*

#109 cat:
Ah! Hehe.

#110 cat:
My fault. I had already said on another thread that I would leave because of work, and then posted on this one after that. ;)

#112 suge:
Well I pity the people who are your best friends and will have to help you move any bodies. ;)

#114 jp:
I said I was sorry!! Hehe. :)

hehehehehehehehehehehehe!

Wow....... yall are crazy....... to many pictures of men..........bad bad bad!

Not that many guys in the group to post women other than ones who may read the threads and not post. Then there's the lurkers.

JP why in the world would you be sorry to post BALE?? and I totally got your joke! See? I got you!

'Cause it makes her guilty of being the first to post a picture of a guy on the thread, and perhaps of being the thread hijacker herself. ;)

oh. in that case, your very very naughty jat!

Well, for the original intention of the thread, or sort of perhaps, I wasn't really sure what a moor was till reading some classics.

........wha?.....................

This should help, Smiley:

moor

There's a medieval poem called "The Maiden on the Moor"
The maiden on the moor lay, on the moor lay.
Seven nights full, seven nights full.
The maiden on the moor lay, on the moor lay,
Seven nights full and a day.

It has good rhythm.

Ah yes. Something always happens in the moors. Like that Hound of the Baskervilles.
Or to the Moors. (snuffle. Poor Othello)

...........i'm lost..................................

in a moor?

That always happens on the moors.

yup i have no view to this covo.

how did we get to moors?

Smiley, are you lost still as to what a moor is? It's sort of a big area of wild land.

I've read about moors in books by Austen, about and by the Brontes, and right now in The Secret Garden. I know I've come across the term in other books as well, but have temporarily forgotten them.

#130 Smiley:
I was getting the thread un-hijacked. ;)

It's a piece of factual fiction, which is the name of this thread. ;)

ok. \

I KNOW WAT A MOOR IS!!!!!

"Please, sir. I want some moor?"
;)

hehehehehe!

I wonder what happened to Wishbone.

Wait. Wishbone the salad dressing or Wishbone the dog.

What's the story, Wishbone?
What's this you're dreamin' of?
Such a big imagination on such a little pup!

The dog. I love salad but prefer Ranch dressing.

I only ever watched a few episodes, but it was always interesting.

I'm guessing the dog, I think his human's got too old.

We love Wishbone! (the dog, not the salad)

Smiley a moor is a specific type of habitat. The ones mentioned above are all in the Uk and and characterized by heather and other scrubby plants and dampness. In the hound of the baskervilles there are muddy pits and sink holes that people can fall into and be lost.

And a Moor with a capital M is one of the Muslim people of north Africa of mixed Arab and Berber descent, which is what Shakespeare's Othello was, which is why I mentioned him.

and "more" is a homonym that means an additional amount. Oliver Twist asked for it, followed by Wishbone :)

and "Moore" one of the hottest guys alive!

Ugh more posting of the HG's ugh!

Hehe, and suge brings the thread back to HEGs. ;)

OMFnG PEOPLE! I KNOW WHAT A MOOR AND A MORE AND A MOORE IS!!!!! I KNEW IT ALREADY!!!!!! I TOLD U I GOT CONFUZZLED CAUSE I DIDNT KNOW HOW THAT CONVO STARTED!!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

OK, Smiley, just calm down, we understand.

*utters under breath: someone grab her candy bars while she's distracted.*

:o)

yeah.... no "more" explanations needed ;)

i am not posting on this thread anymore(not HE, this thread. but if yall give me crap on other threads i'll stop on those too)
:|

Don't go, Smiley! We're sorry! :(



Chocolate bar?

come back smiley! how about a car made of chocolate?



*whispers* i think she's too busy dancing in the pizza thread...

this is the last time i'm posting on here for now. i shall not be bribed.
153:so wat if i'm dancing? its fun. dont yall give me crap about that either.

>#154: i noticed that you took the chocolate, though.

dancing's cool. you go girl.

(comes in and looks at the mad smiley smiley turns and looks at MrsG) Whats wrong smiley did I do something wrong? :(

WE SO SAWWY! :( :( :(

We were just having fun with the word moor. We didn't mean to hurt your feelings. *sniff*
Smiley doesn't like us. *starts bawling*

Im so confuzzled what did you guys do?

*cat stops bawling long enough to answer*
See posts #122 to #148.
*resumes bawling*

ohhh poor smiley I would have been confuzzled too come back smiley they are sorry

I think we're overdue for a group hug. This is the HE where everything is said in fun but never to cause any sort of pain or tears. We would never want that for anyone!! Seriously, each of you are always so very welcome and we enjoy the company of each and every one of you! You each bring something unique to the group and we have a wonderful time chatting with all of you. It's part of the experience that has made HE such an amazing place where someone is always there for others and hugs and support come in high supply. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were there for each other and always made up, didn't they?



**GROUP HUG**

( joines in group hug after just reading something not on LT that depressed her)

Oh my! *Joins group hug and wonders if we should start a group hug thread.*

*joins hug*

*gasps* My photo is gone. Well, it was Harry, Ron, and Hermione hugging from the PoA movie.

#162 MrsG:
Feel better soon. Hope your spirits rise.

#163 jp:
(I wondered the same thing)

*sniffle*
*joins hug*
I feel a little better now.
I see the picture.

Glad you feel better, cat!

Dare I go back to the actual topic of this thread??

I was playing a trivia game the other day and I got a question -
what was the former name of the country now known as Myanmar?
The answer was Burma and the only reason I knew it was cause I remembered it from
the Amy Tan book Saving Fish From Drowning.

Yay for reading, it really does make you smrt. ;)

Yay reading!

Factual Fiction, back from the grave...

I'm finishing up Many Dimensions and was very curious about some of the spellings.

Esquimaux = Eskimo
connexion = connection

Are these British spellings, or is it just that the book was written in 1931? LadyN or anyone else care to enlighten me? (This was the book with the endless exposition, but it actually got pretty good toward the last third of the book. I just needed to focus all of my attention on it when I read. Which is not easy for a multi-tasker whose mind wanders.)

Well that is interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connexion
Connexion is the original variant spelling of "connection", common until at least the 18th century, and still used in Britain well into the 20th century.

Esquimau
• noun (pl. Esquimaux) archaic spelling of ESKIMO.


I have some Edgar Rice Burroughs books where "boulder" is always spelled "bowlder". You just prompted me to look that up, it's a similar thing - archaic spelling. Weird.

Thanks for the enlightenment MrA! You don't know how many words I tripped over in this book! I had to read the Esquimaux paragraph a couple of times before I understood what it was!

Interesting side fact. Cat told me that Eskimo means something along the lines of "stupid people who eat raw meat." She found that out in Do Fish Drink Water? I live with Encyclopedia Brown. In girl form. :o)

Now you're making remember my "History and Grammar of the English Language" class and wished that I still remembered something from it...

#173 biblio:
That sounds like a class I would love to take! :)

Anyone here ever see the PBS series "The Story of English?" I fell in love with linguistics because of it.

grrr....too many connexions! I feel so disconnexded. Disconnexied? Disconnexetated?

Hmm, that is a tough one! Disconnexed?

discombobulated.

shenanigan - oops did this just become the fun words thread?

How about when Austen drops a "chuse" instead of "choose", or "stopt" instead of "stopped". The evolution of languages is extremely interesting to me.

I just want to know who the first guy (or gal) was, who suddenly stopped (stopt) grunting, gesticulating, and using sign language, and started naming things and assigning words or sounds to express them self... tres, tres interesante. Kam-sa ham-ni-da. Auf Wiedersehen (you're all out).

Ah suge I chuse my connexions carefully for once friendship blossoms it is not easily stopt.

nay, my dearest Mar. Your ideas, give credit to your widsom! But, I fear, I must disagree with your most honorable opinionation. I beg, you forgive such an abominable, and impertinent intrusion. But, I must insist, and humbly to dissagree. Let my heart be the fertilizer that nurtures all my new aquaitences, so that one day we can all build a forest together.

Heh?

Hee Hee suge or rather you give cheere and myrthe to mine belly.

You are making my head hurt

Whan that aprille with ys shoures soot the droughte of marche hathe perced to the roothe and bethed evry vein in swich liqour of which vertue engendred is the fleur.

(my mangled middle english spelling I was going from memory)

thou doth, my hart kindle. onely, i feer the dangers that doe appeare, from lorving thee too deeply. i judg augh but mine empolyers can keep me from ye lters. ye lters rocketh

ooh la la! zut alors! esprits criminels esta en la teevee. oodgay yebay!

#186 Who is that quoting. I know it's a poem, and I want to say Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, but I'm just not thinking that's right.

I particularly love the old script that makes all of the "s"s look like "f"s.

Deareft friendf, you gladden my countenance and brighten my quiet leifure hourf.

LOL, suge. Archaic english, franglaise, german, pig latin, suge-speak... did i miss any?

"opinionation". lol

>#190: foggi, do you have a lispf now?

I had to wipe down my screen after i read that out loud. Sufferin' Soccatash!

191 - opinionation is not a word? Well, gorsh!

And pleafe MrA, don't fpew on your fcreen.

189 I was quoting the opening lines of The Canterbury Tales in Middle English so it is Chaucer.

How about this classic:

Hwaet! we gar-dena on geardagum

I may be mangling the spelling there as well- well that and no special characters- my husband says when I read Anglo-Saxon I sound possessed.

188. Salut suge! Comment ca va au jour d'hui?

That explains why I got it mixed up. We went straight from Canterbury Tales to Howard.

Beowulf, of course.

I remember in class that my teacher was trying to explain what Hwaet! meant to us since Seamus Heaney translated it as "so." He said that one translation he had read translated "hwaet!" as "Yo-Yo!" I about died laughing.

Canterbury Ebonics, yo?

Canterbury Ebonics would be a great name for an electronica band...

Awwww yeeeah! Chaucy Chaucer in the hiz-ouse, yo!

My goodness, I need to start reading more classics so I may join in. The words just vanish from my mind if I don't keep reading them. I recognise them, though.

#191--> Korean, Meester.

198--> tuti fruti!

ha ha ha Word to yo mama!! Now that's a classic k!

#200 suge:
:P~~~