# Tell me something new **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 22, 2001, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-new/55444 "2001-02-22T07:48:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-new/55444/21 "2001-02-23T10:46:36Z")
The principal export of Lesotho is mohair. Peppermint Altoids contain sugar, gum arabic, oil of peppermint, gelatin, and glucose syrup. The fallout shelter at Dartmouth College is on the third floor of Dartmouth Hall. ---
**Author:** ![Mooney252](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7c8e57/32.png) [@Mooney252](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooney252)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-new/55444/22 "2001-02-23T12:45:10Z")
The Barbie and Ken dolls were named after the children of Mattel’s founders. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-new/55444/23 "2001-02-23T13:55:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bad Hat \* > the term “SOCCER” is a derogatory slang for Associated Football League, devised by the members from Rugby, who were kicked out of the league for picking up the ball with tier hands. > or so I’ve heard… > anybody confirm or deny? Not quite right **Bad Hat**. The word “soccer” is indeed an abbreviation of Association (Football), and was first used by English public (= private) schoolboys to distinguish it from Rugby Football (= “rugger”), but it was never intended to be a derogatory term. People who played rugby weren’t really kicked out of any league either. An introduction to rugby football and how it was invented can be found [here](http://www.rugby-school.co.uk/ru.htm) if you’re interested. You might find that British people get annoyed by the use of the word “soccer” though, especially by Americans. The feeling is that our game is the _real_ football and so doesn’t deserve to be renamed to distinuish it from American Football. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-new/55444/24 "2001-02-23T14:42:03Z")
The rough points on an osprey’s feet that allow it to grasp slippery fish are called “spicules”. The Palm-nut Vulture (found in sub-Sahara Africa) is one of the few raptors to eat plant material: as well as carrion, it eats the husks of the palm nut, the seed of the oil palm. [Other raptors that eat plant material are the Swallow-tailed Kites, Caracara, African Harrier-hawks and Black Kites, but not to the extent that the palm-nut vulture does.] The Bald Eagle has the highest juvenile mortality rate among North American raptors (78.5%). The Black Kite has the lowest juvenile mortality rate (30.9%). One egg from an American Kestrel is about 11.4% of the female’s body weight (average female weight ranges from 132 to 160 grams): average clutch size is four to six eggs. The Snail Kite (formerly known as the Everglades Kite) subsists solely on apple snails. The Philippine Eagle was once known as the Monkey-eating Eagle. An osprey in flight carries a fish headfirst (better aerodynamics). “Sky bruials” are still practiced in India, Tibet, and Mongolia: the corpse, placed on a sacred tower, is devoured by vultures, including red-headed, griffon and cincereous, to name but a few of the species. This practice began out of the Zoroastrian belief that burial or cremation of the corpse defiled the sacred elements of earth and fire. Few people have heard a screech-owl actually screech, but I started taking voice lessons and soon sounded better at singing. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-new/55444/25 "2001-02-23T14:45:06Z")
There is no such creature as a **cincerous** vulture. There is, however, a bird called the **cinereous** vulture. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-something-new/55444.md?page=1)