Teddy Roosevelt had a pet snake named Emily Spinach.
The 2% of Scotch that naturally evaporates in any given barrel of Scotch whisky is referred to as the “angel’s share.”
If you dance the Apache Dance, it has nothing to do with a Native American tribe. The Apache (pronounced a-pash) is a dramatic dance associated with Parisian street culture in the early 20th century.
In the third century BC, King Devanampiya Tissa in Sri Lanka created the first officially protected nature reserve. It took until 1821 for a European to get a similar idea, when Charles Waterton created a preserve in West Yorkshire.
The toggle light switch was invented by William J. Newton in 1916. In the U.S., Canada, and European countries, up is on; but in commonwealth countries, up is off.
This article appears in The Stress Issue.