The Diners Club card was originally made of cardboard.

According to author Robert Cowley’s book Experience of War, Adolf Hitler was reportedly plagued by a nightmare in which he was overcome by a trio of naked Amazons riding through space.

The phrase “cooking the books” – meaning distorting a company’s financial accounts – dates back to the Earl of Strafford in 1636.

Soramimi is a Japanese word whose literal meaning is “fancy hearing.” Usually, it refers to musical lyrics that are misheard as nonsensical Japanese. The English equivalent of soramimi is “mondegreen.”

Jerry Lewis likes to collect clown statues.

This article appears in April 10 • 2009.

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