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[Misc] The official “Well I never knew that” thread



dadams2k11

ID10T Error
Jun 24, 2011
5,046
Brighton
Asked petrol cashier “Why, randomly, when filling up the nozzle cuts out sometimes but not other?”

It’s because if you let your tank get low, air fills in and the censor on the end of the nozzle is triggered believing the tank to be full.

“Thanks Petrol guy! Well, I never knew that…” :)
There's a thread within this.

When do you fill up your petrol*.

When it gets to half tank or near empty?

*Electric car users need not reply.
 








vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
28,324
If something is referred to as being " Decimated " as in a military unit or say, a football squad, it only refers to LOSING 10% of itself... which really isn't all that much.
 










Eeyore

Colonel Hee-Haw of Queen's Park
NSC Patron
Apr 5, 2014
26,663
I was 53 years old when I learned that a pony isn't a baby horse. I mentioned it to a friend who responded 'Well, I’m 61 - now I have found out that a pony is not a baby horse too'
 






Blue3

Well-known member
Jan 27, 2014
5,888
Lancing
If something is referred to as being " Decimated " as in a military unit or say, a football squad, it only refers to LOSING 10% of itself... which really isn't all that much.
Decimated originally related to the Roman army when a legionary cohort of the early empire consisted of six centuriae, or centuries, each consisting of 80 legionaries, for a total of 480 legionaries. Early in the Republic, each centuria consisted of 100 men, a Centurion was in charge of a cohort if that cohort was found guilty of some crime serious enough then the punishment might be decimation (from the Latin decimatio removal of a tenth') in which every tenth man in a group was executed by members of his own cohort
 


Elbow750

Well-known member
Jun 21, 2020
525
If something is referred to as being " Decimated " as in a military unit or say, a football squad, it only refers to LOSING 10% of itself... which really isn't all that much.
Or strictly speaking, the Roman military practice of executing 10 % of soldiers as a punishment, and an incentive for the rest to comply!!
 






AmexRuislip

Retired Spy 🕵️‍♂️
Feb 2, 2014
35,126
Ruislip
I only found out recently that @swindonseagull used to be a steward in the RAF.
Cavorting up and down the aisles of the Tristar, a regular pin up for the ladies.
 
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alanfp

Active member
Feb 23, 2024
156
Or strictly speaking, the Roman military practice of executing 10 % of soldiers as a punishment, and an incentive for the rest to comply!!
Sounds like a technique that FH could use, perhaps. That should sharpen the focus of the squad I would think.
 




alanfp

Active member
Feb 23, 2024
156
So back to the point of the thread:

Both my parents (a little tautology for you there!) grew up in East London so I always knew that to 'rabbit' meant to talk a lot (as in the Chas and Dave song). I was well into my thirties before realising that it was short for "rabbit and pork"=talk.
Also around the same time that I realised that "me old china" which I had heard all my life, was short for china plate=mate.

It suddenly made sense, although there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason (pun intended) why some cockney rhyming slang is quoted in full (e.g. apples and pears, trouble and strife, jamjar) and some are always abbreviated, as above.
 


thedonkeycentrehalf

Moved back to wear the gloves (again)
Jul 7, 2003
9,507
I didn’t realise Darts were a Brighton band until the Bob Grover RIP thread the other week
 










The Optimist

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Apr 6, 2008
2,853
Lewisham
So back to the point of the thread:

Both my parents (a little tautology for you there!) grew up in East London so I always knew that to 'rabbit' meant to talk a lot (as in the Chas and Dave song). I was well into my thirties before realising that it was short for "rabbit and pork"=talk.
Also around the same time that I realised that "me old china" which I had heard all my life, was short for china plate=mate.

It suddenly made sense, although there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason (pun intended) why some cockney rhyming slang is quoted in full (e.g. apples and pears, trouble and strife, jamjar) and some are always abbreviated, as above.
I’d never stopped to think why to rabbit on meant to talk lots, and I had no idea it was Cockney rhyming slang until now.
 


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