As the odd person out during someone else’s date, we say we are the third wheel. In China, they say that they are the big, fat lightbulb.

Chlorophyll Kid, a superhero in the DC Universe, had the superpower to make plants grow faster. He was rejected for membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Fizz will leak out of a plastic bottle of Coke faster than it will from a can. Even in the new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, over 12 weeks of storage in poor conditions – a hot place with direct sunlight – soda can lose up to 15% of its carbon dioxide.

During World War II, Nazi officers in occupied Czechoslovakia were banned from driving the speedy rear-engined Tatras because so many had been killed behind the wheel.

The Greeks used the term “idiot” to mean those who remain aloof from civic duty – they were regarded by the Greeks with disdain.

This article appears in August 1 • 2014.

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