Recent comments in /f/todayilearned

Ameisen t1_ja2jc7f wrote

Reply to comment by blakerabbit in TIL Tolkien assisted on the Oxford Dictionary's first edition, focused on 'W' words waggle to warlock. He "learned more in those two years than in any other"; and certain etymologies continued to puzzle him for years, with many pages of notes written later on 'walrus' for a lecture at Leeds by PianoCharged

Yup, probably from Dutch for whale-horse. The native English word was, well, horsewhale (horshƿæl).

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quaffi0 t1_ja2j90o wrote

Reply to comment by DoomGoober in TIL of the Battle of San Jacinto. Just six weeks after the Texans terrible loss at The Alamo in 1836. The Texans regrouped under Sam Houston, and surprised the Mexican forces and overwhelming defeated the Mexicans. The Texans had 11 soldiers killed and the Mexicans lost 650. by triviafrenzy

Very succinct. The Alamo was lost against orders. Retreat to better redoubts was the subjectively better action at the time. Regardless, it was turned into a rallying cry to this day. Most people, including Texans, do not understand the nature of the sacrifice that was made.

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Spare-Competition-91 t1_ja2icty wrote

Reply to comment by todd10k in TIL that from 1991 to 2007, tobacco conglomerate Philip Morris Cos. successfully marketed Capri Sun to children, based on their executives' experience selling tobacco to young people. by 99-bottlesofbeer

It's only delicious until you're 18, start to be an adult, eat and drink things that are way more delicious and don't kill you, or do, and move on with your life and stop being a child with child's taste buds.

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tsaimaitreya t1_ja2hkx6 wrote

Reply to comment by Nixon4Prez in TIL Tolkien assisted on the Oxford Dictionary's first edition, focused on 'W' words waggle to warlock. He "learned more in those two years than in any other"; and certain etymologies continued to puzzle him for years, with many pages of notes written later on 'walrus' for a lecture at Leeds by PianoCharged

Tolkien was also deeply interested in mythology and fairy tales, it's not just linguistics

He started working on the silmarillion as early as during WWI

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GreyEilesy t1_ja2gso9 wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in TIL about the only double barrel cannon in the world. When it was its first tested during the American Civil War, the chain snapped immediately and one ball tore into a nearby cabin, knocking down its chimney; the other spun off erratically and struck a nearby cow, killing it instantly. by ExpertPreference8481

From a simple google search, neither of those claims are true.

Ironclads were invented by the French navy and submarines have been designed multiple times since the 16th century. And even if you stretch it to only include metal submarines, there is the Brandtaucher which predates the confederacy by 10 years.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandtaucher

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Hambredd t1_ja2gp57 wrote

Reply to comment by imapassenger1 in TIL Tolkien assisted on the Oxford Dictionary's first edition, focused on 'W' words waggle to warlock. He "learned more in those two years than in any other"; and certain etymologies continued to puzzle him for years, with many pages of notes written later on 'walrus' for a lecture at Leeds by PianoCharged

I mean pretty famously the names of the dwarves in The Hobbit are just straight up ripped from the poetic edda.

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p-d-ball t1_ja2fp2l wrote

Reply to comment by Chucks_u_Farley in TIL Tolkien assisted on the Oxford Dictionary's first edition, focused on 'W' words waggle to warlock. He "learned more in those two years than in any other"; and certain etymologies continued to puzzle him for years, with many pages of notes written later on 'walrus' for a lecture at Leeds by PianoCharged

"Etym" meaning "I have no freaking idea" and "ology" meaning "love of," which secretly means "study of" in Ancient Greek.

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