# 99 very interesting facts about soil that are absolutely true in my mind **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 5, 2013, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585 "2013-12-05T17:00:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/21 "2013-12-05T21:14:49Z")
Romans put the “Ro” into “Rourking.” ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/22 "2013-12-05T22:47:00Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Romans put the “Ro” into “Rourking.” I swear it wasn’t us who put in the “urking”. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/23 "2013-12-06T04:48:07Z")
In Soviet Russia, soil…I gots nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/24 "2013-12-06T10:24:23Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > Soil is the largest living organism in the world. Cite please? You cited your other claims… ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/25 "2013-12-07T15:43:29Z")
[http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2010/01/27/the-soil-is-a-living-thing-treat-it-that-way/](http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2010/01/27/the-soil-is-a-living-thing-treat-it-that-way/) > **[Our soil is a living breathing organism](https://rebeccakd.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/our-soil-is-a-living-breathing-organism/)** > > Wheat seeds, seven days after sprouting, from plants grown in an microorganism rich environment, a bio-dynamic environment, contained 42 percent protein compared with 23 percent protein for wheat s… [http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=oASmzpNJBdA%3D&tabid=147](http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=oASmzpNJBdA%3D&tabid=147) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/26 "2013-12-07T17:04:32Z")
A spoonful of dirt contains all the minerals you need to last a lifetime. The typical backyard contains more nematodes than the Milky Way has stars. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/27 "2013-12-31T08:50:41Z")
The guy who thought Earth was a good name was really unimaginative. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/28 "2014-01-03T21:43:41Z")
Actually that guy was very imaginative. He devised the word “Earth” from scratch as a name for the planet. The unimaginative guy was the one who started using " earth" to mean soil. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/29 "2014-01-03T22:41:19Z")
The word ‘soil’ is derived from a sailor’s acronym for **S** olids **O** f **I** nshore **L** and. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/30 "2014-01-03T23:50:49Z")
Actually that can’t be correct. The first written example of the use of the word “soil” predates the earliest example of an acronym by 23 years. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/31 "2014-01-04T00:23:43Z")
Apple Inc. owns the patent on soil. Google and Microsoft pay a small licence fee each time one of their employees steps on bare earth. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/32 "2014-01-04T02:22:51Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > No matter how many times I tell her it’s “soil”, Mrs. J. still asks me why I need to buy more “dirt”. Why would you question a gardener? We do what we gotta do, man. > [@lieu](#): > > \ > > If you hold soil up to your ear you can the the roar of tiny earthquakes. I KNEW IT! Soil is the largest organism in the world, and it goes into hibernation each winter. If you go out into your yard, you might be able to hear it gently snoring. ETA: The internet - helping people make shit up since 1988. ---
**Author:** ![HorkusBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@HorkusBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorkusBoy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/33 "2014-01-04T02:27:48Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > -A town in the Netherlands is said to have a soil that can float in the air. Wrong! That’s in Nepal. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/34 "2014-01-04T11:43:35Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > I read somewhere once that the Romans would have sex in their fields in the spring to ensure fertility of the crops. Not sure if that’s true, but it’s how I talk my wife into having sex outside at least once a year! That was found to be the source of bedrock. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585/35 "2014-01-04T20:41:27Z")
Soil is transparent from underneath - anyone who has ever been buried alive could confirm this, if they were not dead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/99-very-interesting-facts-about-soil-that-are-absolutely-true-in-my-mind/675585.md?page=1)