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darkness.
    Lachanophobia is the fear of vegetables.
    Entomophobia is the fear of insects.
    Eosophobia is the fear of dawn.
    Clinophobia is the fear of beds.
    A gynaephobic man fears women.
    Arnold Schonberg suffered from triskaidecphobia, the fear of the number thirteen. He died thirteen minutes from midnight on Friday the thirteenth.
    Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.
    Zoophobia is the fear of animals.
    Tonsurphobia is the fear of haircuts.
    Xenophobia is the fear of strangers or foreigners.
    Phobatrivaphobia is fear of trivia about phobias.
    NOW SAY IT THREE TIMES FAST
    The world’s longest name is Adolph Blaine Charles Daivid Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorft Sr.
    A hydrodaktulpsychicharmonica is a variety of musical glass.

The Book of Useless Information

The Book of Useless Information

The Book of Useless Information
    Hydroxydesoxycorticosterone and hydroxydeoxycorticosterones…
    The letters KGB stand for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnos.
    The longest place name still in use is Taumatawhakatangihangaoauauotameteaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu—a New Zealand hill.
    The longest place name in Great Britain is that of a Welsh village: Gorsafawddachaidraigddanheddogleddollonpenrhynareurdraethceredigion.
    The most difficult tongue-?twister is “The sixth sick Sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.”

FORGET ME NOT
    According to German legend, this flower gets its name from the last words of a knight, who was drowned while trying to pick some from the riverside for his lady.

IN THE BEGINNING
    During early years of feudal rule in England, each shire had a reeve who was the law for that shire, called the shire reeve. When the term was taken to America, it was shortened to sheriff.
    The phrase “rule of thumb” is derived from an old English law stating that you cannot beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
    The phrase “sleep tight” originated when mattresses were set upon ropes woven through the bed frame. To remedy sagging ropes, one would use a bed key to tighten the rope.
    The term potty comes from the pint-?sized chamber pot built for children.
    The word noon came from an old church term none, meaning “three.” There was a monastic order that was so devout they declared they would not eat until that time. Because they rang the bells indicating time, “none” came earlier and earlier. The townspeople called midday noon to ridicule them.
    Before the turn of the century, newspapers were called tabloids, chronicles, gazettes, etc. Most had local stories, and far away stories were quite old because it took a while for stories to travel (and of course, they were subject to changes from hand to hand). With the advent of the teletype, stories could be broadcast all over at unheard-?of speed. Several of the papers started carrying a section with stories from all over—north, east, west, and south—and that’s why they are called newspapers.
    Some coins used in the American colonies before the Revolutionary War were Spanish dollars, which could be cut into pieces, or bits. Because two pieces equaled one-?quarter dollar, the expression “two bits” came into being as a name for twenty-?five cents.
    Ham radio operators coined the word ham from the expression “ham-?fisted operators,” a term used to describe early radio users who sent Morse code by pounding their fists.
    Happy as a clam” is from the expression “happy as a clam at high tide.” Clams are only harvested when the tide is out.
    The grand jury used to write ignoramus on the backs of indictments not found or not to be sent to court. This was often misconstrued as an indication of the stupidity of the jury, hence its present meaning.
    In the 1940s, the Bich pen was changed to Bic for fear that Americans would pronounce it