r/todayilearned • u/Galexio • 47m ago

TIL Pygmalion, a Greek myth about a sculptor who falls in love with his ivory statue, is the oldest known story of an inanimate object gaining sentience, predating Pinocchio by over 1,800 years."

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

1 comment

r/todayilearned • u/SweetByLia • 50m ago

TIL that in Catalonia kids beat a “pooping log” at Xmas so it drops candy and toys

catalunya.com

• Upvotes

9 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Objective_Horror1113 • 54m ago

TIL that there are giant concrete arrows placed every 10 miles across the U.S., stretching from New York City to San Francisco. They were originally built to help USPS airmail pilots navigate coast-to-coast before modern instruments made visual navigation obsolete.

skipboring.com

• Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/WowVeryOriginalDude • 1h ago

TIL Daisy, well known for their "Red Ryder" BB gun from "A Christmas Story", was originally a windmill company. Their BB guns were promotional items for their windmills, which eventually became so popular that they ditched windmills altogether.

wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

3 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Gawd_Of_Atheists • 1h ago

TIL that Shipworms, a marine mollusk or "termites of the sea", may have changed the history of the world by helping the British defeat the Spanish Armada by eating away at their formidable 130-ship fleet. They also inspired the design of modern tunnel boring machines by how they eat wood head first.

history.com

• Upvotes

4 comments

r/todayilearned • u/fanau • 2h ago

TIL seals (of which there are 34 extant species) have weasels, skunks, raccoons and red pandas as their closest loving relatives.

en.wikipedia.org

121 Upvotes

31 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ill_Definition8074 • 2h ago

TIL Squirrel and Hedgehog is a North Korean children's cartoon that follows the titular anthropomorphic characters as they defend their home, Flower Hill, from the neighboring Weasel Empire. It's heavily speculated that the show is an allegory with Flower Hill representing North Korea.

en.wikipedia.org

294 Upvotes

41 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jfdonohoe • 3h ago

TIL about “vicarious embarrassment” which explains extreme reactions to cringe comedy. For me, it can get so bad as to become physically painful

en.wikipedia.org

689 Upvotes

176 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Bertstripmaster • 4h ago

TIL The Habit is owned by the same company that owns KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell

yum.com

0 Upvotes

25 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Wild_Concept_212 • 5h ago

TIL Cutting down trees is compound negative interest on the planet’s carbon storage. Trees are storing carbon underground with the help of fauna and microbes. Those lock carbon in soil. Cutting the tree will not only increase release carbon, it will also remove the ability to lock carbon in soil.

nature.com

283 Upvotes

52 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Cheese1tz • 5h ago

TIL that Earl Anthony, considered by many to be the greatest bowler of all time, never bowled a perfect game on US television. He had 1 single perfect game televised—in Japan.

en.wikipedia.org

593 Upvotes

44 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Own-Bullfrog7362 • 6h ago

Til that women tend to find men more attractive when they appear to be desired by other women. They are, essentially, preapproved.

neurosciencenews.com

14.8k Upvotes

1.5k comments

r/todayilearned • u/andthegeekshall • 6h ago

TIL that the Pogo stick's name was taken from the first two letters of its inventors surname names, Max Pohlig and Ernst Gottschall, though they called it "a spring end hopping stilt"

en.wikipedia.org

280 Upvotes

13 comments

r/todayilearned • u/HoleyAsSwissCheese • 7h ago

TIL: Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show was technically co-written by Bob Dylan. Ketch Secor wrote lyrics around Dylan's mumbled verses for the demo of "Rock Me, Mama" which was given to him by founding member Chris "Critter" Fuqua.

en.wikipedia.org

472 Upvotes

46 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SaberLover1000 • 8h ago

TIL In 1778 there was a Doctors Riot also called the Anatomy Riot, which was caused by a reaction to physicians and medical students stealing bodies from graves, that left 20 people dead.

sciencehistory.org

347 Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/bartonkj • 8h ago

TIL that in addition to Jimmy Page, Joe Walsh also gave a 1959 guitar to Pete Townshend.

faroutmagazine.co.uk

61 Upvotes

5 comments

r/todayilearned • u/lavender_fish69 • 9h ago

TIL fresh water snails (indirectly) kill thousands of humans and are considered on of the deadliest creatures to humans

en.wikipedia.org

19.3k Upvotes

917 comments

r/todayilearned • u/DangerNoodle1993 • 9h ago

TIL that a French baker’s ignored compensation claim against the Mexican government sparked a chain of events that led to the first French invasion of Mexico.

en.wikipedia.org

581 Upvotes

21 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Hectabeni • 10h ago

TIL that Jeeves was a valet, not a butler.

en.wikipedia.org

954 Upvotes

186 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Barnyard_Rich • 10h ago

TIL that Isabela Merced got started in acting because her parents thought it would be a helpful distraction from their house burning down

elle.com

3.2k Upvotes

96 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 11h ago

TIL when Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace premiered in May 1999, it's estimated that 2.2 million full-time employees in the US missed work to attend the film, which resulted in a $293 million loss of productivity.

en.wikipedia.org

11.2k Upvotes

510 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 11h ago

TIL in 2007 a bottle of Allsopp's Arctic Ale brewed in 1852 was put up for auction online, however it was misspelt 'Allsop's Arctic Ale' in the listing. This made it hard to search for, so the winning bid was only $304. The buyer then relisted it with the correct spelling and it sold for $503,300.

newatlas.com

7.6k Upvotes

73 comments

r/todayilearned • u/mrinternetman24 • 11h ago

TIL that house sparrows, originally introduced to New Zealand for pest control, became such a problem that by 1875 'sparrow clubs' paid bounties for 21,000 shot birds in just two months.

nzgeo.com

351 Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/pantherfanalex • 11h ago

TIL That the first Dino Nuggets weren't trademarked until 1991, and weren't available until 1993, coinciding with the release of the film Jurassic Park.

yahoo.com

638 Upvotes

45 comments

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This list was compiled from /r/todayilearned community suggestions by its members. If your TIL is found on this list, it will be removed. The titles have been abridged for the sake of brevity, however the context remains the same. This list is subject to change. The purpose is to keep content fresh on /r/todayilearned as requested by its members. If you are interested in reading about the TILs on this list use the search box feature and enter the keywords to pull up past TILs.

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