There is no evidence Marie Antoinette ever said, “Let them eat cake.” The phrase, “Let them eat brioche” was attributed to an unnamed princess by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his autobiography, which he wrote before Marie Antoinette’s arrival in France.
According to author Michael Shore, the hand for Thing in The Addams Family belonged to Ted Cassidy (Lurch). Another hand starred in scenes with both Lurch and Thing on camera.
The plural octopi is hypercorrect, coming from the mistaken notion that the “us” in octops is a Latin second declension ending. The word is actually a third declension noun in Latin: the plural octopodes follows the Ancient Greek plural, οktωpoδeς (októpodes). The plural octopii is an incorrect attempt to pluralize the word based on an incorrect assumption of its origin, and is rare and considered nonstandard.
According to NASA, Antarctica, technically, is the world’s largest desert.
The White House was called “the Executive Mansion” until the 20th century.
This article appears in April 21 • 2017.