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

[dadams2k11]

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.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

We have three cars in my household, two point to direction of the cap, one doesn't

Is this the new "Where can I watch a game in ..." tactic? Good old Johnny 3 Cars.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

Is this the new "Where can I watch a game in ..." tactic? Good old Johnny 3 Cars.

Noo, My wife has a car, I have a car and my daughter(now back home) also has a car.
I have now got my Albion towel, so I'm sure I can participate in the 'look at me' threads very soon

 

[vegster]

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.

 

[ROSM]

That Blondie wrote the alternative theme music for For Your Eyes Only but it wasn't used. Sheena Easton sang two different songs, one of which was picked.

Here it is

 

[POSKETT AT THE VALLEY]

it’s irrelevant what side of the tin foil is on the outside when roasting chicken and turkey.

 

[smillie's garden]

You don't even need "to the ground" after razed. It's a tautology.

It’s not just a tautology; it’s repetitive and redundant.

 

[Eeyore]

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'

 

[Bakero]

Why is it that when something is difficult it‘s an uphill struggle but if you fail it’s downhill from now on in. Weird.

Because you climb up a hill but fall down one

 

[Blue3]

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]

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!!

 

[happypig]

From 1976, when I first heard him, until 2020 I believed Billy Ocean was American.

 

[AmexRuislip]

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.

 

[alanfp]

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]

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]

I didn’t realise Darts were a Brighton band until the Bob Grover RIP thread the other week

 

[zeemeeuw]

That my bathroom scales are not telling me my weight in kg but my mass.

 

[maffew]

My sister was astonished when she discovered (allegedly) "Good king Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen" not "Good king Wencess last looked out"

 

[swindonseagull]

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.

The honey wagon driver shows his jealousy again,

 

[The Optimist]

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.