• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 22 answers

The term “man flu” stems from the idea that men are prone to exaggerating the severity of their symptoms when experiencing the common cold or another minor ailment. Although the phrase is most often used in a tongue-in-cheek way, there may be some merit to the male whine. In 2017’s customarily playful (but still peer-reviewed) Christmas edition of The BMJ, professor Kyle Sue pointed to research suggesting that men are more susceptible to complications when suffering from an acute respiratory disease. They’re also more likely to go to the hospital and, unfortunately, succumb to the flu.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 12 answers

The Democratic Party’s donkey can be traced back to the 1828 presidential campaign of Andrew Jackson, whose opponents referred to him as a “jackass.” Jackson embraced the image and featured the donkey on his campaign posters. Years later, a political cartoonist named Thomas Nast helped popularize the donkey as a symbol for the whole Democratic Party.

Nast was also responsible for promoting the elephant as a symbol for the Republican Party. He first used it in an 1874 drawing titled “The Third-Term Panic” featuring an elephant labeled “The Republican vote.” He continued to use the elephant as a symbol for the party, and other cartoonists followed suit, cementing the association.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 51 answers

Fresh water fish absorb water through their skin and gills, saltwater fish actually do drink water.

In saltwater fish, they have to drink because their body's concentration of salt is lower than the surrounding water. Therefore, they have to drink huge amounts of water every day to stay hydrated.

In freshwater fish, their salt concentration is higher than that of the surrounding water, and, as osmosis dictates, they absorb water through their highly permeable skin. To keep from bursting, freshwater fish actually have to excrete water, up to 10 times their body weight daily, unlike saltwater fish.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 66 answers

I prefer to shower at night because then I wash off all the sweat from the day and get into bed feeling clean and comfy.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 33 answers

This tradition has murky origins, but some believe it can be traced back to the ancient Greeks. They would put candles on round, moon-shaped cakes to pay tribute to the moon goddess, Artemis, with the glow of the candles symbolizing moonlight.

Many ancient cultures also believed that smoke could carry prayers up to the heavens, which could be the basis for why many people make a wish before blowing out their candles.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 30 answers

I guess I disagree with most of the other answers. Listening to audiobook in my opinion absolutely does count as reading it. I believe as a listener I get more out of the audio book than I would from reading it. Inflection and cadence of the narrator add something extra that I can't get from traditionally reading it.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 26 answers

The “Batman Effect” is a strategy used to motivate children and improve their perseverance by having them adopt the persona of their favorite superhero or other hardworking character. Studies have shown that children are better able to focus and complete repetitive or boring tasks when they think from the external perspective of a character they admire.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 21 answers

The first sports movie to win any kind of Oscar was 1931's The Champ, which centers on a washed-up, down-on-his-luck boxer hoping to make a comeback. It actually won two Oscars—Best Actor for Wallace Beery, who played the titular champ, and Best Writing (Original Story) for screenwriter Frances Marion. The movie was also nominated for Outstanding Production (the equivalent of the modern "Best Picture" award), and its director, King Vidor, was up for Best Director in the 5th Academy Awards.

Interestingly enough, the first sports movie to win that coveted Best Picture statuette was also about an unfortunate boxer—1976's Rocky.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 19 answers

Most states allow registered voters to cast their ballots before Election Day. However, the rules for early voting vary from state to state, so you’ll need to check with your state or territorial election office website for specifics. Due to the coronavirus, many states are making it easier for citizens to vote absentee by mail this year. Again, you'll have to check your individual state or territory's rules, but in most cases, you need to fill out an application for an absentee ballot and mail it in or drop it off at your local election office.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 46 answers

Any kind of privacy. And also polar bears.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 27 answers

Tetris was the first video game played in space—Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr A. Serebrov took his Game Boy with him on his 1993 mission to the MIR Space Station, and he played Tetris in his (limited) downtime.

In 2008, NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff played several remote games of chess from the International Space Station against different planet-bound Earthlings. He used a felt board and affixed velcro to the bottom of the pieces to make sure none of them disappeared into the void.

The first-ever space sport was a 2018 doubles badminton match between Russian, American, and Japanese crewmembers of the ISS. The zero gravity environment made things a little tricky, but at the end of the day, they didn't even keep score—"friendship won."

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 30 answers

My friend, you are in for a treat: That tiny little dot is, I kid you not, called a tittle. It comes from the Latin word titulus, which means inscription or heading. The humble tittle started off as a larger mark in 11th century Latin manuscripts, helping to differentiate the letters, and shrunk to the dot we know and love with the invention of typeface in the 1400s.

The word is seldom used today, which is a real shame, but it does have ties to the phrase "to a T"—it started off as "to a tittle." I don't know about you, but I think we should bring it back.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 22 answers

Comic Sans was originally developed by typographer Vincent Connare in 1994 to pair with a cartoon dog that helped folks navigate the Microsoft Windows interface. The font that was dubbed “playful” and “friendly” by its creator has since become a pariah in the typography community and a laughing stock on the internet at large. The reason could have to do with the font being used out of context, so to speak. Here’s how Jo Mackiwicz, a professor of rhetoric of and professional communication who’s researched how people perceive fonts, explained it to LiveScience:

“People, especially typographers, get upset when it's used improperly. For example, if someone sends an email or writes a document using it, it results in a mismatch — an informal, childlike, 'funny' typeface for a potentially serious topic. I think a lot of the reasons people hate it is that it's seen so often, and in places where it should not be used. The fact that it was being used outside of its rather limited purpose — that became obnoxious to people who knew better.”

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 25 answers

Because the product is relatively new, there isn’t a lot of definitive research on the subject. According to most advertisements, the benefits of blue light blocking glasses include improved sleep habits, less eye strain, and prevention of eye disease. But whether the product delivers on the promise is still up for debate.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology doesn’t endorse the glasses, stating that “there is no evidence that the kind or amount of light coming from computer screens is damaging to the eyes.” Other eye professionals, including The Vision Council and Samuel Pierce, former president of the American Optometric Association, will tell you that they can be helpful in reducing eye strain. Others have suggested that those who experience relief from the glasses may only be experiencing a placebo effect.

The general consensus so far seems to be that while there is no solid data backing up their effectiveness, many people who’ve tried the glasses claim to have found relief from wearing them.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 29 answers

Yes, because it’s actually the UV radiation, not the sunlight, that damages your skin. Although the shade offers some protection, it does not block UV rays entirely. That’s why it’s always important to wear sunscreen regardless of whether it’s bright and sunny or cool and cloudy.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 13 answers

In modern times, the dog days of summer refer generally to July and August in the Northern Hemisphere—the hottest, muggiest, most miserable days of the year.

However, the phrase has its origins in ancient Greece and Rome as a reference to the star Sirius, also known as "the Dog Star." Sometime in July, Sirius aligns with the sun, and since Sirius is the second brightest star in our sky, the Greeks and Romans thought it was literally adding heat to that of the sun, making the days that much more sweltering. They considered the dog days to be dangerous times of drought, unrest, and bad luck, all of which could all lead to madness. That connotation is a bit dramatic, though, and it's mostly been dropped.

• 
• 
• 
• 17 answers

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 15 answers

There are a few theories about why different meats are often compared to chicken. One explanation is that chicken is generally more bland than other meats, making it the most generic choice for comparison. Chicken is also mass-produced, meaning the animals are bred to have large muscle mass and are slaughtered earlier in their lifespan. Therefore, they do not develop the complex flavors that a wild animal would.

Another possible suggestion came from Joe Staton of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. He explained that amphibians, reptiles, and certain birds taste more like chicken due to a similar “evolutionary origin.”

• 
• 
• 
• 8 answers

Lincoln Logs were invented by John Lloyd Wright. Name sound familiar? John was the son of arguably the world’s most famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.

He got the idea, no surprise, while working with his dad. At 24, he accompanied his father in Japan to help design a new, earthquake-proof version of Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel. Frank concocted an ingenious system of interlocking timber beams that, yes, later withstood an earthquake. Young John went home and—yada yada yada, father–son drama—got fired by his dad. In 1918, with the Imperial Hotel’s design in mind (as well as, some suspect, log cabin toys he played with as a kid), he designed the toy construction set that’s been unshakeable from kids’ playrooms ever since. The original toys came with instructions on how to build Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home, hence the “Lincoln Logs” name.

John’s father’s Imperial Hotel came down in 1968. Lincoln Logs were inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1999.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 23 answers

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 16 answers

Doomscrolling is a relatively new term for when you're stuck scrolling through bad news on your phone—even though you might want to, you just can't look away.

The psychology behind this phenomenon is pretty simple. Part of it relates to the concept of automaticity—actions you do without your conscious mind acknowledging it, often divorced from the passage of time. Endless scrolling is one of those things. The other part is that the human brain is hardwired to prioritize things that scare us as well as information related to survival, and bad news often fits into both of those categories. Combine those two elements of human nature with the intentionally addictive designs of our electronics, and that makes doomscrolling all but inevitable.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 10 answers

When you consider the fact that the Wiffle Ball was created to curve like crazy, the origin’s clear: It’s a play on the word “whiff,” which is what the poor sap at the plate often does with that skinny yellow bat. The inventor’s son and his friends, the original Wiffleballers, referred to strikeouts as “whiffs,” and he dropped the “h” when he decided to sell the balls. Three up, three down, baby—it’s all about efficiency.

“It also meant he needed one less letter for the sign on the building,” said David Mullany, president of The Wiffle Ball, Inc., and grandson of the ball’s inventor.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 24 answers

In 2010, the Common Core Standards Initiative removed the requirement that cursive be taught in public elementary schools. It made sense given the rise in computer usage and a greater emphasis placed on keyboarding in the school curriculum. However, several states have since reinstated the cursive requirement, thanks to lobbyists and lawmakers who advocate for the importance of the skill. So yes, some schools do still teach cursive writing.