# Questions you should know (the answers to) but don't **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 29, 2025, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148 "2025-12-29T19:43:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/81 "2026-01-02T02:46:46Z")
NASA has an animation of tidal locking and how it affects our moon (though no sun in this one): [Tidal Locking - NASA Science](https://science.nasa.gov/moon/tidal-locking/) [https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/simple-tidal-comparison-of-earth-moon.mp4](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/simple-tidal-comparison-of-earth-moon.mp4) Maybe @Chronos can confirm the correctness of that one? There’s a few more animations and explanations on that page too. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/82 "2026-01-02T02:50:06Z")
Yeah, pretty much, although Mr. Moon isn’t usually that happy. Also, the image that they have labeled as “Not Tidally Locked” is one possible situation, but there are a bunch of others, as well. In that particular one, the Moon isn’t rotating at all, but it could still have almost any rotation at all and still be in a state describable as “Not Tidally Locked”. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/83 "2026-01-02T02:57:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > but it could still have almost any rotation at all and still be in a state describable as “Not Tidally Locked”. Ah, thanks for clarifying that. Is there a specific term for that second one, when it’s, uh, “not rotating at all relative to the thing it’s orbiting”? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/84 "2026-01-02T03:13:39Z")
I’d just say “not rotating”. But it’s not, so far as I know, a state that occurs anywhere in nature, so there’s no real need for a more concise term. (“Tidally locked”, by contrast, is a fairly common situation in nature, and applies to most moons in the Solar System). ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/85 "2026-01-02T15:45:25Z")
Here is something I am honestly shocked to find that there are adults unaware of it, and yet I frequently meet adults with no idea of this fact. If it were children, I wouldn’t be so shocked, but these are adults who have graduated from high school-- some with BAs, and they do not know this. It’s the fact that humans came from Africa. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/86 "2026-01-02T15:54:58Z")
@griffin1977 Things may have changed but when I was in the Army 45 years ago it was IIRC roughly: A fire team was five men. Two teams made a squad. four squads make a platoon. Three or four platoons make a company. Two to four companies make a battalion. Two to four battalions make a brigade. Two or three brigades make a division. Two or three divisions make a corps. Two or three divisions make an Army. Two or more armies make an army group(don’t think they were around after WWII). The units from brigade on up have various support units attached. An armor brigade would likely have an artillery and aviation company attached etc. Of course there was a lot of variation. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/87 "2026-01-02T16:12:58Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > Two or three divisions make a corps. Two or three divisions make an Army. Think you made a mistake here? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/88 "2026-01-02T16:20:35Z")
Huh, I knew some of that, but I hadn’t known that “an army” was a standard unit size. I thought that “an army” was just all of the troops operating in some general geographic area, however many that was. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/89 "2026-01-02T22:39:33Z")
**@Railer13** yes two or three corps make an army. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/90 "2026-01-05T10:45:02Z")
What does “O” mean in the song title “O Sole Mio”? “The.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/91 "2026-01-05T14:48:05Z")
I will speculate that the prevalence of this ignorance is strongly correlated with the skin color of the person not knowing. Some ideas are just unthinkably horrific for some people. So even if they were exposed to it in high school, it didn’t stick. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/92 "2026-01-05T15:04:42Z")
Right - you would use _uno spaghetto_ when you would say “a piece (or strand) of spaghetti” in English. For example, "you throw a strand of spaghetti at the ceiling to test for doneness. " ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/93 "2026-01-05T21:00:17Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > What does “O” mean in the song title “O Sole Mio”? > > “The.” “The My Soul”? That doesn’t seem to make sense. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/94 "2026-01-05T21:05:14Z")
It’s one of those things - like in Italian you would say _la mia amica_ which literally would translate as “the my friend” but it actually means “my friend” . The “O” in the song title translates as “the” but the whole phrase translates as “my sunshine” or “my sun” Although I wouldn’t say anyone who doesn’t speak _napulitano_ should know that. ---
**Author:** ![Meatwater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meatwater/32/20074_2.png) [@Meatwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatwater)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/95 "2026-01-05T22:51:53Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > It’s the fact that humans came from Africa. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > I will speculate that the prevalence of this ignorance is strongly correlated with the skin color of the person not knowing. I just want to add that there are still many people who reject the idea of evolution. And I think those same people reject the idea of distant human African heritage. I found out someone I have known for almost a decade, whom isn’t religious at all, doesn’t believe in evolution and thinks it was all Adam & Eve. In every other sense of their beliefs, they are a person of science and fact. I was floored. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/96 "2026-01-06T00:40:25Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Although I wouldn’t say anyone who doesn’t speak _napulitano_ should know that. Hebrew has similar quicks, so I totally believe you. There is even a very difficult to translate article, which is used before definite nouns that are the direct object of a verb (can’t really be the object of anything else in Hebrew, but since English has things like "object of a preposition, trying to be clear). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/97 "2026-01-06T02:26:02Z")
It’s sometimes argued that the three hardest words to translate are “the”, “a”, and “an”. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/98 "2026-01-06T04:19:37Z")
> [@Meatwater](#): > > whom isn’t religious at all Then where did Adam and Eve come from? ---
**Author:** ![Meatwater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meatwater/32/20074_2.png) [@Meatwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatwater)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/99 "2026-01-06T13:58:14Z")
Right, next time I’ll try and bring that question up organically to them. At the moment I was trying to show evidence in evolution but their main argument for disagreeing was basically ‘if we come from monkey’s then why are there still monkeys?’. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148/100 "2026-01-06T14:13:06Z")
Here’s an embarrassing admission-- I only have a very basic, vague understanding of how electricity works. Don’t bother trying to explain any of this to me, or sending me helpful links-- though I know and understand a fair amount about a lot of different things, when it comes to electricity I’ve looked up and learned this stuff before, I just can’t seem to retain it. Ohms, amps, volts, watts…what does it all mean, exactly? I’ve read ‘Electricity for Dummies’ style comparisons to pipes and water pressure-- amps is like the pipe’s diameter and ohms is like the water pressure. Or is it the opposite? And alternating current-- why is there always a hot wire and a neutral wire? Shouldn’t it, like, _alternate_? Again, I’ve read and (somewhat) understood the explanation, I just can’t retain it. Thing is, I’ve done basic household electrical work several times over the years. And when I do, I’m careful to do everything correctly and safely. I make sure the current is cut off at the breaker. I know how to use a multimeter (though I always have to check the instructions to figure out how to set it to AC, DC or continuity). I always make sure I’m using proper gauge wiring for the application. I look up what I need to know…but my brain treats it on a ‘need to know’ basis and forgets most of it until I need to know it again 🙄 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-you-should-know-the-answers-to-but-dont/1026148.md?page=6)