Read Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Wise Up! Online
Authors: Bathroom Readers’ Institute
Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Wise Up! (36 page)
William Sydney Porter wrote under the pen name of O. Henry while in prison.
In 1993, the town of Ismay, Montana, unofficially changed its name to Joe, Montana.
Washington Irving sometimes went by the pen name Geoffrey Crayon.
Mata Hari was actually a Dutch woman named Margaretha Geertruida Zelle.
Ben Franklin used the pen name Richard Saunders to publish
Poor Richard’s Almanack
.
Frederick Douglass named himself after a character in a Sir Walter Scott poem.
Cleo and Caesar were the early stage names of Cher and Sonny Bono.
Rolihlahla Mandela’s schoolteacher renamed him Nelson for Horatio Nelson.
During World War II, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles played together as the Steagles.
Outlaw Robert LeRoy Parker got his alias from his occupation (butcher) and his mentor, Mike Cassidy. The alias: Butch Cassidy.
In ancient Sparta, weak babies were left to die on hillsides or sent away to become slaves.
At the time of feminist Susan B. Anthony’s death in 1906, only four states (Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah) had given women the right to vote.
Henry Ford’s newspaper, the
Dearborn Independent
, was violently anti-Semitic…but after Jews boycotted and sued, Ford closed the paper and issued an apology.
In 1725, Dick Syme, the official whipper in East Hampton, New York, was paid three shillings for each person he whipped.
In 1619, a Dutch ship brought the first slaves to North America.
In ancient Rome, women were expected to cover their heads when walking outdoors.
“Sold down the river” entered the American language around 1837. It referred to sales of slaves along the Mississippi.
In 1790, Thomas Halford, a British convict, was found guilty of stealing three pounds of potatoes and was sentenced to 2,000 lashes.
In 1892, Italy raised the minimum age for a girl to be married to 12.
The last country in the Americas to abolish slavery was Cuba (1886).
Sir Thomas More was executed when he refused to acknowledge King Henry VIII as the supreme head of the Church of England.
At the height of its power, Sparta had 25,000 citizens and 500,000 slaves.
In ancient Greece, women didn’t start counting their age until they were married.
If your cat snores while sleeping or rolls over on his back to expose his belly, it means he trusts you.
Chocolate and avocados can be lethal to parrots.
Cat urine glows under a black light.
In the 12th century, the British government passed a law saying every farmer had to own at least one cat…for rodent control.
Cats lose almost as much fluid through grooming as they do through urination.
Studies show: most cats dislike men with long, dark beards.
Cats sleep an average of 16 hours a day.
Top five male cat names in the United States: Tiger, Tigger, Max, Smokey, and Sam.
Cats also have “whiskers” on the backs of their forelegs.
Most people who are allergic to cats aren’t allergic to cat fur or dander. They’re actually allergic to sebum, a fatty substance secreted by glands under the cat’s skin.
Ninety-five percent of cat owners admit that they talk to their cats daily.
Top three cat breeds in the United States: Persian, Maine Coon, and Exotic.
Most cats consume 28 times their weight in food annually.
Cats have three blood types: A, B, and AB. Most cats are type A.
Twenty percent of cats are “left-pawed,” meaning they favor that side. Forty percent are “right-pawed,” and the rest are ambidextrous.
During World War I, the Battle of the Somme resulted in more than a million casualties…and advanced the Allies just seven miles.
In 1928, the world powers outlawed war under the Kellogg-Briand Pact. (It didn’t work.)
The youngest known soldier to die in the Civil War was 12.
Of the 25 million military casualties during World War II, more than 10 million were from the Soviet Union.
Since the United Nations was founded in 1945, there have been an average of 2.2 wars per year.
Of the last 3,500 years, only 230 years saw no major wars.
The two largest military budgets in 2008: the United States ($651 billion) and China ($70 billion).
In the War of 1812, the United States burned down Toronto, and the British burned down Washington, D.C.
In Britain, rationing didn’t end until 1954, nine years after the end of World War II.
When the Civil War ended, some 40,000 former slaves became cowboys.
During World War II, the United States never declared war on two Axis powers: Thailand and Finland.
After the southern states seceded, prompting the Civil War, they created their own constitution…which banned the international slave trade.
Only Communist country attacked by the Warsaw Pact (an agreement among the Soviet Union and its allies to protect each other): Czechoslovakia.
Pamela Anderson
Dan Aykroyd
Raymond Burr
Neve Campbell
John Candy
Jim Carrey
Michael Cera
David Cronenberg
Michael J. Fox
Victor Garber
Tom Green
Graham Greene
Corey Haim
Monty Hall
Natasha Henstridge
Joshua Jackson
Margot Kidder
Diana Krall
Eugene Levy
Evangeline Lilly
Norm MacDonald
Howie Mandel
Rachel McAdams
Eric McCormack
Joni Mitchell
Rick Moranis
Alanis Morrisette
Mike Myers
Catherine O’Hara
Sandra Oh
Anna Paquin
Ellen Page
Mary Pickford
Christopher Plummer
Sarah Polley
Jason Priestley
Gloria Reuben
Ryan Reynolds
Seth Rogen
William Shatner
Norma Shearer
Donald Sutherland
Alan Thicke
Fay Wray
CORSET.
This is an Old French term for “little body,” from the Latin
corpus
, or “body.” The garment has its origins in ancient Greece and Rome, where women sometimes wrapped broad bands around their bodies. By the 17th century, it had evolved into a tight inner bodice, sometimes of leather, stiffened with whalebone, wooden splints, or steel, and worn by both men and women. By 1900, the corset was again primarily a female garment, and was modified to conform to the natural lines of a woman’s body.
TANK TOP.
The term became popular around 1968, deriving from “tank suit,” a one-piece “bathing costume” for men (and later, women) in the 1920s. The tank suit was so called because it was worn in a pool, or “swimming tank.” The tank top became a fashion staple (on the outside) in the 1970s.
DRAWERS.
This old-fashioned term for underwear was originally a men’s garment, adopted by 18th-century women to wear under hoopskirts. Before the Civil War, American men’s underwear were made of wool flannel. Most were knee-length with a simple button overlap in front and a drawstring at the waist. The word “drawers” dates from 1567 and indicates a garment that is pulled, or “drawn,” on, from the Norse
draga
, “to draw.”
NEGLIGEE.
From the French
négliger
, “to neglect,” although in this case the meaning is closer to “to let go.” This sense originates with 18th-century women who, during rest periods after lunch, put on a lightweight, loose-fitting garment that released them temporarily from the tight-fitting dresses of the time. The modern negligee was popularized by a 1941 photo of Rita Hayworth in
Life
magazine. After World War II, it became a much-sought-after item of lingerie.
Top three condiments in the United States: salsa, ketchup, and mustard.
More than 1.5 million Americans are allergic to peanuts.
The three foods Americans say they hate the most: tofu, liver, and yogurt.
In the colonies, pumpkins were used to make pie crusts, not the filling.
Only about one-fourth of all American adults eat three meals a day.
U.S. town with the highest annual per-capita consumption of Spaghetti-Os: Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The average American eats about 67 pickles per year.
Sixty percent of American men say they can eat a hot dog in five bites or less.
The average American eats 200 sandwiches a year.
According to Hormel, Hawaiians eat the most Spam per capita annually.
Americans eat twice as much meat as Europeans do.
About 70 Oscar Mayer bologna sandwiches are eaten every second in America.
Five most popular lunches in U.S. schools: pizza, chicken nuggets, tacos, burritos, and hamburgers.
Most popular sandwich to serve American kids for lunch: peanut butter and jelly.
Thin Mints account for 25 percent of the Girl Scout cookies sold in the United States.
In 1714, the favorite nonalcoholic drink of American colonists was cocoa.
@ symbol,
109
& symbol,
123
1040EZ (tax form),
12
13, number (unlucky),
13
1980s (milestones),
100
20th Century Fox,
116
7-Eleven (store),
110
A
Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem,
87
a-ha (band),
2
acid rain,
86
ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union),
134
acupuncture,
351
Adams, Abigail,
348
Adams, Douglas,
26
additives (food),
86
advice,
96
Afghanistan,
99
African Queen, The
(movie),
248
age,
157
agriculture,
318
Aida
(opera),
253
Ainsley, Ray,
2
air fresheners,
220
Albert, Prince,
12
Alcatraz (prison),
357
alcohol,
269
alcoholism,
121
Alcott, Amy,
91
Alfred, King,
104
Ali, Laila,
17
alibi,
115
All in the Family
(TV show),
321
Allen, Euphemia,
136
allergies,
137
almonds,
150
alphabet,
301
Amazon River,
284
American Flyer (toy train),
80
American Gigolo
(movie),
111
American Idol
(TV show),
357
American Indians,
118
American Revolution,
3
,
139
,
283
,
332
American Symphony Orchestra,
136
Amin, Idi,
114
Ampere, André-Marie,
149
Anderson, Marian,
253
anesthesia,
81
animals,
75
,
82
,
158
,
178
,
192
,
244
,
251
,
265
,
287
,
297
,
312
,
330
,
339
,
353
,
362
antacids,
140
antelope,
82
anthems,
234
Antoinette, Marie,
104–5
ants,
292
aphrodisiac,
318
Apollo (space program),
113
Apollo 13
(mission),
13
apostles,
150
Apple (company),
100
Apple, Fiona,
98
aquifers,
245
archangels,
261
architecture,
153
Arctic,
94
Aristides (horse),
14
Armstrong Limit,
29
Arnocorps (band),
8
arrests,
162
Arthur, King,
98
Asimov, Isaac,
365
Assyrians (Ancient),
129
astrologers,
327
astronomers,
327
Atkinson, Rowan,
32
atluk,
361
atoms,
98
“Au Claire de la Lune” (song),
352
Austin, Stephen F.,
366
aviators (female),
64
awards,
347
Aykroyd, Dan
321