phartuccio was also the name of an obscure flavor of Italian ice cream made from donkey mare’s cream, maple sugar, anise, and sunflower nuts. Although it was quite popular for a time in the late nineteenth century, it fell into obscurity after the invention of automobiles and the subsequent decline in donkey breeding. The price of donkey milk became too high to remain competitive and cow’s milk yielded an inferior product.
A didgeridoo was originally a hybrid of a donkey and kangaroo mating. The later musical instrument was named after it because it sounded like the animal’s mournful call.
For a short period of time, the Stanley Steamer ran on donkey milk forced at 2000 psi through an espresso machine attached to the engine.
Espresso is an early Etruscan word meaning “Don’t even talk to me until I’ve had my coffee.”
Pliny the Elder wrote extensively about Etruscan culture in his classic work Pliny’s Guide to Europe. Pliny Jr. Did the illustrations, which are considered by many experts to be whimsical artistic masterpieces.
Pliny III was a deadbeat, an alcoholic and rapscallion who is remembered, if at all, for his book, What Kind of Asshole Names His Son ‘Pliny,’ Anyway?, And My Other Grievances. The book was recently reissued in Sanskrit and Urdu by Simon & Schuster.
Urdu is the official language spoken in Switzerland. It used to be called Swiss, but no one outside the country believed there was a Swiss language. Bowing to foreign pressure, the Swiss government changed the name to Urdu and sold it to Pakistan in 1748.
In 1968, Switzerland was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the most Urdu-speaking citizens per capita in the world. Pakistan was third.
The only American university to offer a major in Urdu is Purdue.
Urdu is a mandatory course for all Physical Education majors at Purdue. The college administration insists on including Urdu within PE.
South Carolina, the eighth state to ratify the Constitution, once had a law that manadated any child born in the month of August had to be named August, Augusta, Augustine, Augustina, Octavius, or Octavia.
The detective C. Auguste Dupin was actually Poe’s son from a previous marriage.
The 19th century tradition of people using an initial for their first name came about from a fad in the previous generation for giving children “whimsically” insulting or absurd names. For example, C. Auguste Dupin’s first name was “Catamite”.
It’s a practice that continues to this day. M. Paul McCartney, for instance: he’d have you believe the M. is for Michael, but actually it’s for Masterbator.
e.e. cummings stands for “early ejaculator.” Apparently the man had a problem in that area…
Spelled that way too. 
:: golf clap ::
In play:
Paul McCartney and John Lennon were actually conjoined twins, separated in a painstaking seven-hour operation at the Royal Hospital of Liverpool three days after birth. They were both given up for adoption and didn’t meet again until they were in their teens and discovered their shared love of rock and roll.
The famous Kardashian sisters have publically disputed rumors that they were adopted. They insist they can trace their lineage to great-grandparents Joshua and Beulah Kardashian of Idaho, who were brother and sister and never legally married.
“Idaho” is the Shoshone word for “potato”.
A mummified potato was discovered in the sarcophagus of Pharoah Hatshepsut. Eyes found on the well-preserved potato had grown nearly 15 inches, some wrapping around the potato itself many times beneath the rags. It is speculated that this mummy potato “lived” up to 15 years after being entombed. The potato is believed to be an early type of russet, which according to ancient papyrus hieroglyphic texts, was her favorite.
Stanley Phartuccio was convinced by Shirley MacLaine in 1973 that he was the Pharaoh Hatshepsut reincarnated.