Ever heard the phrase, “Bah! Humbug!” around Christmastime & wonder what it means? The most famous examples of the phrase come from Charles Dickens’s timeless 1843 tale, A Christmas Carol, in which the curmudgeonly Ebenezer Scrooge regularly proclaims “Bah! Humbug!” when referring to Christmas. Since Scrooge particularly hates the otherwise happy holiday, it’s easy to…
Mistletoe is a strange plant. Certain varieties are poisonous, with their toxic white berries being able to cause a variety of digestive issues. It’s also a parasitic plant, attaching itself onto other trees to steal their water & nutrients. Mistletoe seeds are then dispersed by birds that eat its berries, allowing the plant to grow…
Most families that celebrate Christmas here in the US leave out cookies & milk for Santa & carrots for his reindeer. But is that a worldwide habit? What do other countries provide as snack food for Santa? Well actually, the big guy doesn’t spend his entire 24-hour present-delivery schedule eating only cookies & milk. Santa…
Ever been tempted to pour some bourbon into your coffee, or a little vodka into your O.J., the morning after an alcohol-fueled night out? Basically, combating your hangover with more alcohol, better known as “hair of the dog”? Why do we call it that? And does it really work? The full phrase, “the hair of…
Driving next to an 18-wheeler can be a bit of a nail-biter. Especially when you see some of the truck’s wheels covered in metal spikes. What are those spikes even there for? They may look menacing, but they’re actually not there to terrify you. The main purpose of wheel spikes is to simply cover the…
The word “coffee” comes from the Turkish word kahveh, which entered into the European vernacular around 1600. Coffee beans first were first imported into Italy from North Africa & the Middle East in 1615, then into France in 1644 where the Turkish ambassador to France helped make coffee the “it” beverage in the court of…
Have you ever been told “you have a chip on your shoulder”? What does that even mean? And what kind of chip are we talking about? From what we now understand about having a chip on your shoulder, you know that it can motivate you to be better, learn from mistakes, or reach goals, even…
No one ever wants to hear their doctor say “you have pneumonia”. Because, even though it’s a highly treatable lung infection, it’s still contagious & makes you feel terrible. Plus, it’s possible that it could become potentially life-threatening. Some people attempt to minimize a pneumonia diagnosis by telling others they just have a case of…
When zebras got loose in Prince Georges County recently, the fiasco brought a great question into the light: are zebras black with white stripes, or white with black stripes? I know, it sounds a bit philosophical, but there actually is a definitive scientific answer. And it all comes down to zebra hair microbiology, where their…
When you think Thanksgiving, you usually think…turkey. Turkey is the 4th favorite meat in America, while chicken is #1. We eat both chicken meat AND chicken eggs, right? So why don’t we eat Turkey eggs? Why are turkey eggs never available at grocery stores or specialty markets? It really doesn’t have anything to do with…