MOPED is the short term for ‘Motorized Pedaling’.

POP MUSIC is ‘Popular Music’ shortened.

BUS is the short term for ‘Omnibus’ that means everybody.

FORTNIGHT comes from ‘Fourteen Nights’ (Two Weeks).

DRAWING ROOM was actually a ‘withdrawing room’ where people withdrew after Dinner. Later the prefix ‘with’ was dropped.

NEWS refers to information from Four directions N, E, W and S.

AG-MARK, which some products bear, stems from ‘Agricultural Marketing’.

JOURNAL is a diary that tells about ‘Journey for a day’ during each Day’s business.

QUEUE comes from ‘Queen’s Quest’.. Long back a long row of people waiting to see the Queen. Someone made the comment Queen’s Quest.

TIPS come from ‘To Insure Prompt Service’.
In olden days to get Prompt service from servants in an inn, travelers used to drop coins in a Box on which was written ‘To Insure Prompt Service’. This gave rise to the custom of Tips.

JEEP is a vehicle with unique Gear system. It was invented during World War II (1939-1945). It was named ‘General Purpose Vehicle (GP)’. GP was changed into JEEP later.

I thought Woolworths i was an old company. At nearly 120 years old, it was one of the oldest companies in the United States, but that’s nothing when you expand your view to the rest of the world – these 10 are some of the oldest continuously-operating companies ever.

1. Kongo Gumi Co., Ltd, just saw the end of its long run a couple of years ago. Up until 2006, the Japanese construction company had been going strong since 578 A.D. Yep, you read that right – 578 A.D. The company was primarily involved in building temples but also had a stint building coffins during WWII. Things started going downhill in the ’80s, when they borrowed a lot of money to invest in real estate. By 2004, revenues were way down, and by 2006, they were $343 million in debt and ended up being absorbed by Takamatsu construction.

2. Hoshi, a traditional Japanese inn in operation since 718, took over the “World’s Oldest Continuously Operating Company” title when Kongo Gumi Co. folded. Located in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, the hotel has been in the same family for 46 generations so far.

3. Within the walls of St. Peter’s Archabbey in Salzburg, Vienna, lies Stiftskeller St. Peter, a restaurant and wine cellar that has been feeding the masses since at least 803 A.D. And apparently being in business that long has allowed them to perfect a thing or two, because it consistently gets outstanding reviews from the travelers who pass through its doors – and there are some pretty impressive travelers that are rumored to have eaten here. Supposedly Mephistopheles met Faust at Stiftskeller, Charlemagne liked to eat there, and Christopher Columbus downed a mug of beer there before he hopped on the Santa Maria.

4. It should come as no surprise that there is a brewery on the list – the Weihenstephan Brewery of Bavaria, to be exact, which has been serving patrons since 1040, and maybe even earlier. But that’s the year it was licensed by the city, so we have actual paperwork to prove it. It survived even when the monastery it was attached to was secularized under Napoleon in 1803. These days the brewery not only makes a selection of pale lagers and wheat beers, it’s also a learning facility for students at the Techincal University of Munich.
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The women of the Tiwi tribe in the South Pacific are married at birth.

When Albert Einstein died, his final words died with him. The nurse at his side didn’t understand German.

St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was not Irish.

The lance ceased to be an official battle weapon in the British Army in 1927.

St. John was the only one of the 12 Apostles to die a natural death.

Many sailors used to wear gold earrings so that they could afford a proper burial when they died.

Some very Orthodox Jew refuse to speak Hebrew, believing it to be a language reserved only for the Prophets.

A South African monkey was once awarded a medal and promoted to the rank of corporal during World War I.

Born 4 January 1838, General Tom Thumb’s growth slowed at the age of 6 months, at 5 years he was signed to the circus by P.T. Barnum, and at adulthood reached a height of only 1 metre.

Because they had no proper rubbish disposal system, the streets of ancient Mesopotamia became literally knee-deep in rubbish.

The Toltecs, Seventh-century native Mexicans, went into battle with wooden swords so as not to kill their enemies.

China banned the pigtail in 1911 as it was seen as a symbol of feudalism.

The Amayra guides of Bolivia are said to be able to keep pace with a trotting horse for a distance of 100 kilometres.

Sliced bread was patented by a jeweller, Otto Rohwedder, in 1928. He had been working on it for 16 years, having started in 1912.

Before it was stopped by the British, it was the not uncommon for women in some areas of India to choose to be burnt alive on their husband’s funeral pyre.

Ivan the terrible claimed to have ‘deflowered thousands of virgins and butchered a similar number of resulting offspring’.

Before the Second World War, it was considered a sacrilege to even touch an Emperor of Japan.

An American aircraft in Vietnam shot itself down with one of its own missiles.

The Anglo-Saxons believed Friday to be such an unlucky day that they ritually slaughtered any child unfortunate enough to be born on that day.

During the eighteenth century, laws had to be brought in to curb the seemingly insatiable appetite for gin amongst the poor. Their annual intake was as much as five million gallons.

Ancient drinkers warded off the devil by clinking their cups

The Nobel Prize resulted form a late change in the will of Alfred Nobel, who did not want to be remembered after his death as a propagator of violence – he invented dynamite.

The cost of the first pay-toilets installed in England was tuppence.

Pogonophobia is the fear of beards.

In 1647 the English Parliament abolished Christmas.

Mao Rse-Tang, the first chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, was born 26 December 1893. Before his rise to power, he occupied the humble position of Assistant Librarian at the University of Peking.

Coffee is the second largest item of international commerce in the world. The largest is petrol.

King George III was declared violently insane in 1811, 9 years before he died.

In Ancient Peru, when a woman found an ‘ugly’ potato, it was the custom for her to push it into the face of the nearest man.

For Roman Catholics, 5 January is St Simeon Stylites’ Day. He was a fifth-century hermit who showed his devotion to God by spending literally years sitting on top of a huge flagpole.

When George I became King of England in 1714, his wife did not become Queen. He placed her under house arrest for 32 years.

The richest 10 per cent of the French people are approximately fifty times better off than the poorest 10 per cent.

Henry VII was the only British King to be crowned on the field of battle

During World War One, the future Pope John XXIII was a sergeant in the Italian Army.

Richard II died aged 33 in 1400. A hole was left in the side of his tomb so people could touch his royal head, but 376 years later some took advantage of this and stole his jawbone.

The magic word “Abracadabra” was originally intended for the specific purpose of curing hay fever.

The Puritans forbade the singing of Christmas Carols, judging them to be out of keeping with the true spirit of Christmas.

Albert Einstein was once offered the Presidency of Israel. He declined saying he had no head for problems.

Uri Geller, the professional psychic was born on December 20 1946. As to the origin of his alleged powers, Mr Geller maintains that they come from the distant planet of Hoova.

Ralph and Carolyn Cummins had 5 children between 1952 and 1966, all were born on the 20 February.

John D. Rockefeller gave away over US$ 500,000,000 during his lifetime.

Only 1 child in 20 are born on the day predicted by the doctor.

In the 1970’s, the Rhode Island Legislature in the US entertained a proposal that there be a $2 tax on every act of sexual intercourse in the State.

Widows in equatorial Africa actually wear sackcloth and ashes when attending a funeral.

The ‘Hundred Years War’ lasted 116 years.

The British did not release the body of Napoleon Bonaparte to the French until twenty days after his death.

Admiral Lord Nelson was less than 1.6 metres tall.

John Glenn, the American who first orbited the Earth, was showered with 3,529 tonnes of ticker tape when he got back.

Native American Indians used to name their children after the first thing they saw as they left their tepees subsequent to the birth. Hence such strange names as Sitting Bull and Running Water.

Catherine the First of Russia, made a rule that no man was allowed to get drunk at one of her parties before nine o’clock.

Queen Elizabeth I passed a law which forced everyone except for the rich to wear a flat cap on Sundays. Read the rest of this entry »

Inside the post you will see the ten best and ten worst cities of our planet, according to Mercer’s 2009 Quality of Living survey.
Let’s start with the best cities. So, the tenth place is going to Sydney, Australia.

10. Sydney, Australia
Australia’s largest city, with a population of nearly four and a half million, Sydney’s beaches, beautiful harbour and cultural attractions – including the Sydney Opera House – are its big draws, although, according to Mercer, it is the world’s 15th most expensive city.

9. Bern, Switzerland
With a population of around 128,000, Bern is Switzerland’s fifth most inhabited city. The medieval centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, while Albert Einstein once lived and worked in the city as a patent office clerk.

8. Frankfurt, Germany
The largest financial centre on the continent, Frankfurt is the seat of the European Central Bank and the German Federal Bank. The city’s key sights include its 14th-century Gothic cathedral and a host of futuristic skyscrapers.

7. Munich, Germany
Germany’s third-largest city with around 1.36 million inhabitants, the Bavarian capital also boasts plenty of Gothic architecture. Munich was heavily damaged by allied bombing during World War II, but recovered to host the Olympic Games in 1972.

6. Dusseldorf, Germany
Situated on the Rhine, the city is renowned as a centre for German fashion, advertising and telecommunications, while the Dusseldorf Karneval attracts millions of visitors each year. The city is twinned with Warsaw, Moscow, Cairo and Reading.

5= Auckland, New Zealand
Home to 31 per cent of New Zealand’s population, Auckland boast two harbours – Waitemata to the north and Manukau to the south, helping earn its nickname: the City of Sails.
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1. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was born on and died on days when Halley’s Comet can be seen. During his life he predicted that he would die when it could be seen.

2. US Dollar bills are made out of cotton and linen.

3. The “57″ on the Heinz ketchup bottle represents the number of pickle types the company once had.

4. Americans are responsible for about 1/5 of the world’s garbage annually. On average, that’s 3 pounds a day per person.

5. Giraffes and rats can last longer without water than camels.

6. Your stomach produces a new layer of mucus every two weeks so that it doesn’t digest itself.

7. 98% of all murders and rapes are by a close family member or friend of the victim.

8. A B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building on July 28, 1945.

9. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (marijuana) paper.

10. The dot over the letter “i” is called a tittle.

11. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

12. Benjamin Franklin was the fifth in a series of the youngest son of the youngest son.

13. Triskaidekaphobia means fear of the number 13. Paraskevidekatriaphobia means fear of Friday the 13th (which occurs one to three times a year). In Italy, 17 is considered an unlucky number. In Japan, 4 is considered an unlucky number.

14. A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.

15. All the chemicals in a human body combined are worth about 6.25 euro (if sold separately).

16. In ancient Rome, when a man testified in court he would swear on his testicles.

17. The ZIP in “ZIP code” means Zoning Improvement Plan.

18. Coca-Cola contained Coca (whose active ingredient is cocaine) from 1885 to 1903.

19. A “2 by 4″ is really 1 1/2 by 3 1/2.

20. It’s estimated that at any one time around 0.7% of the world’s population is drunk.

21. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades = David ; Clubs = Alexander the Great ; Hearts = Charlemagne ; Diamonds = Caesar

22. 40% of McDonald’s profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

23. Every person, including identical twins, has a unique eye and tongue print along with their finger print.

24. The “spot” on the 7-Up logo comes from its inventor who had red eyes. He was an albino.

25. 315 entries in Webster’s 1996 dictionary were misspelled.

26. The “save” icon in Microsoft Office programs shows a floppy disk with the shutter on backwards.

27. Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin both married their first cousins (Elsa Löwenthal and Emma Wedgewood respectively).

28. Camel’s have three eyelids.

29. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents every day.

30. John Wilkes Booth’s brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln’s son.

31. Warren Beatty and Shirley McLaine are brother and sister.

32. Chocolate can kill dogs; it directly affects their heart and nervous system.

33. Daniel Boone hated coonskin caps.

34. Playing cards were issued to British pilots in WWII. If captured, they could be soaked in water and unfolded to reveal a map for escape.

35. 55.1% of all US prisoners are in prison for drug offenses.

36. Most lipstick contains fish scales.

37. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark’s stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.

38. Dr. Seuss pronounced his name “soyce”.

39. Slugs have four noses.

40. Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.
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1. If you’re too open minded, your brains will fall out.

2. Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

3. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a mechanic.

4. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

5. If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you’ve never tried before.

6. My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.

7. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.

8. It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.

9. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.

10. If you look like your passport picture, you’re probably too sick to travel.

11. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.

12. A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

13. Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.

14. Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.

15. No husband has ever been shot while doing the dishes.
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