Tina Fey likes baking cookies and sewing.
The word jazz was originally spelled “jass.” Posters promoting “jass” events were often defaced by prankster kids who would scratch off the “J,” and thus the spelling was changed.
The word “Caucasian” is derived from the Caucasus Mountains.
In the 1500s, French noblemen wore fitted heels so their feet stayed put in stirrups. “Well-heeled” came to mean a man who could afford such extravagances.
Director D.W. Griffith invented the first pair of false eyelashes.
This article appears in September 12 • 2008.