18 Little-Known, But Extremely Obvious Facts That Are Making Me Feel Suuuuper Dumb For Never Knowing Them Before

There are definite facts that, erstwhile idiosyncratic points them retired to you, marque you wonderment however you went your full beingness without noticing. The reply was usually close determination — successful the connection itself, successful the plan of the object, oregon successful thing you've looked astatine a 1000 times without reasoning astir it. Here are 18 of them:

1. "Footage" virtually means "amount measured successful feet." Early 35mm movie was measured and sold by the ft successful cutting rooms, with 16 frames per foot. The connection dates backmost to 1916, and it stuck adjacent aft movie went digital.

2. "Podcast" is simply a operation of "iPod" and "broadcast." The word was coined successful 2004 erstwhile astir radical listened to them connected iPods. The sanction stuck adjacent though astir radical present perceive connected their phones.

3. "Goodbye" is simply a contraction of "God beryllium with ye." In the 1570s, radical shortened the parting blessing "God beryllium with ye" to "Godbwye," which yet became "goodbye." The "God" became "good" by relation with phrases similar "good morning" and "good night."

Source: Online Etymology Dictionary

4. A "dashboard" was primitively a committee mounted connected the beforehand of a horse-drawn carriage to artifact the mud and rocks that horses "dashed up" with their hooves. When cars replaced carriages, the sanction carried over.

5. Most days of the week are named aft Norse gods, not Roman ones. Tuesday is Tyr (the deity of war). Wednesday is Woden, oregon Odin. Thursday is Thor. Friday is Frigg oregon Freya. The Anglo-Saxons swapped retired the Roman gods for their ain Germanic equivalents. Saturday — named for Saturn — is the lone 1 that kept its Roman name.

Source: Britannica

6. September, October, November, and December virtually mean 7, 8, 9, and 10 successful Latin — septem, octo, novem, decem. The Roman calendar primitively started successful March, which made the numbering work. Then January and February were added to the beginning, pushing everything backmost by two. That was astir 2,000 years ago.

Source: Britannica

7. Alaska is the westernmost, easternmost, AND northernmost US state. The Aleutian Islands transverse the 180th meridian, which puts portion of Alaska technically successful the Eastern Hemisphere.

8. The spread successful the grip of a cookware oregon cookware is sized to clasp a cooking spoon. It fits the extremity of a woody spoon oregon spatula truthful you don't person to acceptable it connected the antagonistic oregon equilibrium it connected the rim.

Source: Tasting Table

9. The tiny pouch connected your jeans was primitively designed for a pouch watch. Levi Strauss & Co. confirms it appears connected the oldest brace of Levi's successful their archive, dated 1879. Cowboys, railroad workers, and miners carried chain-attached pouch watches, and the tiny denim pouch kept them from getting scratched oregon yanked out.

10. Movie trailers are called "trailers" due to the fact that they primitively played aft the movie, not before. Studios moved them to the opening erstwhile they realized audiences kept leaving arsenic soon arsenic the movie ended.

Source: Interesting Facts

11. Manhole covers are reasoned to beryllium circular due to the fact that a ellipse is the lone signifier that can't autumn done its ain opening. A quadrate oregon rectangular cover, turned diagonally, tin gaffe through. A ellipse has the aforesaid width nary substance however you rotate it.

12. "Breakfast" virtually means "break the fast." You're breaking the overnight accelerated from sleeping.

Source: Online Etymology Dictionary

13. Tennis balls are fuzzy due to the fact that without the fuzz, a served shot would determination excessively accelerated for anyone to return. The felt covering — technically called the "nap" — creates aerodynamic resistance that slows the shot importantly and lets the racket grip it for spin.

14. The "X" successful "Xmas" isn't removing Christ from Christmas. The "X" comes from the Greek missive chi (Χ), which is the archetypal missive of the Greek connection for Christ (Χριστός). It's been utilized arsenic a written abbreviation for Christ since astatine slightest the 16th century.

Source: Merriam-Webster

15. Baby onesies person those envelope folds astatine the shoulders truthful you tin propulsion them down implicit the legs alternatively of up implicit the head. This is specifically designed for diaper blowouts.

16. "Uppercase" and "lowercase" travel from literal woody cases. When printers acceptable benignant by hand, superior letters were stored successful the precocious lawsuit and tiny letters successful the little case.

17. "Alphabet" comes from "alpha" and "beta," virtually the archetypal 2 letters of the Greek alphabet. It's the equivalent of calling it the "ABCs," which, erstwhile you deliberation astir it, is precisely what we besides bash successful English.

Source: Online Etymology Dictionary

18. The spread successful the headdress of a Bic pen is determination truthful that if a kid swallows it, aerial tin inactive walk through. It's a choking information feature, not a manufacturing defect.

If you conscionable had an "oh my god, duh" infinitesimal speechmaking immoderate of these, you're not alone. Share the 1 that got you — oregon 1 we missed — successful the comments below!