Whenever April 1st, or “April Fools’ Day” rolls around each year, as tricksters will pull out all the stops to play perfect pranks or hatch horrible hoaxes. Whether you love the occasion or dread it, you’ve probably wondered at one time or another how this weird tradition started. And the answer to that is…no one…
Even if you allow for miracles, angels, and pancake Jesus, the Easter Bunny still comes across as a pretty far-out choice as a holiday mascot. Where did the Easter Bunny come from? How did a rabbit become associated with a holiday that commemorates Christ’s resurrection? The Bible doesn’t mention a cheerful rabbit hopping house to…
Teeth whitening is a multibillion-dollar industry. Products are being used by more than 11% of households every year. We’re definitely paying for whiter teeth, but are we getting them? Do teeth whiteners really work? HOW do they work? First, do they work? Well…sort of. Their overall effectiveness really varies. Nearly all commercially available teeth whitening…
Unlike Christmas & Thanksgiving, Easter doesn’t really have a traditional food menu. Apart from the dyed, hard-boiled eggs that kids hunt on Easter morning, the foods we most closely associate with the Christian holiday of Easter are actually…mass-produced candies, like chocolate bunnies, marshmallow Peeps, and Cadbury Eggs, all of which make sense since Easter happens…
This weekend, kids everywhere will be hoping for a visit from The Easter Bunny, a friendly rabbit who leaves delightful gifts for kids to enjoy on Easter morning. But why is it not called “The Easter RABBIT”? I mean, as far as animal name abbreviations go, “doggy” for dog makes sense. As does “kitty” for…
On the heels of this year’s Oscars ceremony, where so many “box office blockbusters” were honored, have you ever wondered where the term “box office” originated? You couldn’t be blamed for thinking it sprouted from the box-like nature of many old-fashioned box offices, which were enclosed, detached booths situated just outside theaters…but you’d still be…
At some point in elementary school, you most likely learned that there are 365 days in a year, since that’s how long it takes for Earth to complete one full rotation around the sun. What you might not have learned, though, is that a year isn’t exactly 365 days…it’s actually more like 365.2421 days. So,…
Now that the 2nd month of the year is almost over, let’s address a common issue: just how is the month we’re in supposed to be pronounced? Here in the US, the most common pronunciation of the word is “FEB-yoo-air-ee.” Both The Merriam-Webster Dictionary & The American Heritage Dictionary consider the common pronunciation correct, along…
When someone needs to keep their hair in place (or they need to try & pick a lock at the spur of the moment), they’ll often reach for a bobby pin. But why are they called bobby pins in the first place? Did someone named Bobby have anything to do with their creation? Well, no…not…
Light eyes aren’t common in domestic canines. A dog with piercing blue eyes might be described as strikingly beautiful (or sometimes even unsettling). Rarely do we call their eye color cute, though, and apparently past generations of dog breeders agreed. And new research suggests we may have selectively bred dogs to have darker eyes to…