What's that Called Again? - Everyday Objects with Forgotten Names

Dictionaries across the globe are filled with thousands of words that define any object in the universe. It is practically impossible to know all of them, especially those we don’t come across frequently. And, as you will find out after reading this entry, most probably you will never come across. Yet, it might be interesting to mention a few I found out about in my search for useless things. For example; how many of you know what the sugary leftovers at the bottom of cereal boxes are called? Or the space in a wine bottle not occupied by wine? These are fairly usual objects, and there really is no reason these words remain unknown; other than, (let’s face it), they’re useless.  

What is the dot on the top of an i or j called? A tittle; if you’ve dotted an i, you have just tittled. How do you call the spikes on a fork? Tines. Did you know that the surplus of skin in your elbow is called a Eunice? The plastic ending on a shoe lace is called an aglet. What word refers to the estimation that something is valueless? Floccinaucinihilipilification. What do you call the day before yesterday? Nudiustertian. Did you know that zenzizenzizenzic is the eighth power of a number; a good word to bring up in your math class!  The art of counting on your fingers is dactylonomy. What is another name for one dollar? A dollar may be referred as a simoleon. Borborygums are the rumbling sounds made by the moving of fluids in your stomach. What do you call the thin trail of smoke left by an aircraft? A contrail. Finally, in order not to let the initial questions unanswered; let me inform you that the sugary leftovers at the bottom of cereal boxes are called fines, and the space in a wine bottle not occupied by wine is called an ullage.

On the right is a picture which illustrates a man tongue-tied trying to figure out how to name the objects he is surrounded with. If he’d read this blog, he would probably be in a better shape!

I hope these unusual words have widened your vocabulary list and despite their uselessness, they can be handy whenever you want to show off in front of your friends, who even might consider you pretty smart for knowing them! 

Izzie

Picture from http://www.curiousread.com/2008/11/35-uncommon-useless-words-you-may-never.html

This is Pointless

What are laws? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, laws are “a rule or order that it is advisable or obligatory to observe”. Anywhere you go, you will find rules which draw a line between what is right or wrong, whose purpose is to ensure that order is maintained in a society.

Have you ever disagreed with a law, or believe it wrong? Today, fellow bloggers, I will post some laws which might seem false, but do exist; yet they are merely enforced.

·         In Philadelphia, you are not allowed to put pretzels in a bag.

·         According to Alaska’s laws, you can’t look at a moose from an airplane.

·         In Miami, you cannot imitate an animal.

·         In the state of Arkansas, within its boundaries, it is illegal to mispronounce its name.

·         In the state of Louisiana, a bill was presented to the State of Representatives which introduced the idea of making a law of giving the price of haircuts of bald men a maximum of 25 cents. 

·         In Kentucky, it is stated in the law that a person must take a bath once a year.

·         In the state of Kansas, you cannot drive a buffalo through the street.

·         Virginia has a law stating that chicken cannot lay eggs before or after the time period 8am to 4pm.

·         North Carolina has a law prohibiting cats and dogs to fight.

·         In the state of Michigan, it is illegal for a woman to raise her skirt more than 6 inches while walking on a mud puddle.

·         In Missouri, it is obligatory for a man to have a permit in order to shave.

·         In Thailand, it is against the law to leave the house not wearing underwear.

·         In Canada, citizens cannot remove bandages publicly. 

·         In Switzerland, it is illegal to flush the toilet after 10 pm.

·         In Sweden, you must have the government’s permission if you want to paint your house.

·         In Denmark, it is illegal for restaurants to charge for water unless it comes accompanied with lemon or ice.

·         In Singapore, it is illegal to pee in the elevator.

·         In Italy, a man can be imprisoned for wearing a skirt.

·         In Australia, it is illegal to wear hot pink trousers after midday Sunday.

·         In Canada, it is against the law to climb trees. 

·         In Denmark, one cannot be charged for food unless that person is, according to themselves, full.

·         In Israel it is illegal to bring a bear to the beach.

·         In South Africa, young people wearing swim suits are not allowed to sit less than 12 inches apart from one another.

There you have it; absolutely pointless laws! Which one appears to you as being the most useless of all? Do you know any other pointless laws? I’m curious to know!

Izzie

Picture from http://ipostr.com/pic-605-This-is-Pointless

My Sister's Keeper

As I mentioned in my first entry, I’m a ninth grader and this blog is a project for my English class. Every month our teacher gives us an assigned topic which we have to write about in one entry. This month’s topic must be about a book we are currently reading or read a couple of weeks ago. The book I decided to talk to you about is called “My Sister’s Keeper”, which is an amazing book written by Jodi Picoult. You’ve probably heard about the movie which was released a couple of months ago.

The book focuses on several different stories, the main one being about the everyday life of a family who has three kids; the oldest is a boy, Jesse, and the other two are Anna and Kate. The family revolves around Kate, the second child, who suffers from a rare disease of Leukemia. Kate was diagnosed with this terrible disease when she was two years old. She needed a severe bone marrow transplant, and none of the family members were a donor match. Her parents decided to have another child, specifically designed to be a perfect donor for Kate. They called her Anna.

The book is written when Anna is 12 years old, with flashbacks of all the surgeries she had to undergo to benefit Kate. Jesse, their brother, never received much attention from his family due to Kate’s sickness, which turned him into a complete rebel. He has become yet another problem for this family due to his drinking and setting on fire various buildings. Anna, tired of being used for surgeries without her permission, decides to file a law suit against her parents for the rights of her own body while Kate gets worse by the day, needing an urgent kidney transplant which Anna doesn’t want to give her.

There also is another important character in the novel, who is Anna’s lawyer, Campbell. He is able to relate with Ana and her case, also because of his personal and family background, especially when he was a teenager. In this novel, Picoult depicts a variety of themes such as family, support, freedom, sacrifice, and hope.

The ending, which is very different from the ending of the movie, is really surprising – it displays how fate can change in the matter of a second.

I really loved reading this novel because of the intense feelings the characters transmit, which range from sadness to happiness, sorrow to resignation, and faith and hope. It really is a great story, and I hope you decide to read it! Believe me – you won’t regret it! So, I hope you liked this brief summary, and found it helpful. If you have any questions, don’t think twice - leave a comment.               

Picture from http://www.glenrowangazette.org.au/dbookreviews.html#mys

Super Useless Superpowers

If someone grants you the wish of choosing any super power, which one would you choose? Have you ever wondered how it would be like to have a special, supernatural trait which no one else has? It sounds super cool, doesn’t it? Even if it is the most useless super power, wouldn’t it be great not to be an ordinary person? Just think about it, you would no longer be one of the bunch! This entry, as you might have already guessed, will focus on utterly useless superpowers.

Here are some useless super powers which might catch your attention:

Picture from http://theawesomer.com/useless-superpowers-tee/13978/

If none of the above super powers convince you, let me suggest a few more you may want to pick as your choice: being able to predict coin tosses only 50% of the time; see one second into the future; be invisible, but only when you’re completely alone and – why not - fly, but only inside your house. 

Now that I think about it, it would be great if we could make a survey and single out the most popular useless superpowers. Just pick the useless power of your dream and submit your choice through this blog by October 30, 2010. Once the survey is over, I will announce the top three most wanted useless super powers.

So, post your answer!   

Feeding Your Curiosity

Useless facts can be found everywhere. Admit it or not, no matter how useless the fact is, the great majority of us usually are interested in knowing about it – which is what this blog is all about. Today I will feed your curiosity by referring to some absolutely useless, totally unimportant and yet very interesting facts about a variety of foods.

Did you know that lemons contain more sugar than strawberries and that there are more than one hundred chemicals in one cup of coffee? Now, that’s a fact to tell your parents! Can you tell me which types of food are blue? Actually, there is no such thing as blue food; even blueberries are actually purple. Did you know that seaweed is one of the main ingredients in some ice-creams? I know – it seems impossible! And that vanilla is used to make chocolate? Could you have guessed that chewing gum will actually stop you from crying when you peel onions? What does the 57 in Heinz bottles mean? It actually goes back to when the company had 57 different varieties of pickles. How often do you eat hamburgers? Did you know that if you collect the same amount of pounds a car weighs in hamburgers, the pile of hamburgers will cost significantly more than the car? Aren’t you surprised to know that when you eat celeries, your body uses more calories to digest it than the calories the celery actually contains? And, finally, the fact of the day – Did you know that grapes explode when you put them in a microwave?

There you have it – useless and yet interesting facts about food!

Pictures from http://www.oberholtzer-creative.com/visualculture/2010/01/how-to-make-hot-coffee/jan5-graphic/ and http://www.oberholtzer-creative.com/visualculture/2009/11/learn-something-everyday/nov3/