# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674 "2020-04-13T03:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 224
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4469 "2022-05-24T02:02:28Z")
We like to think that we threw off all vestiges of the monarchy in the US. But actually two words still in use in the United States have a surprising royal connection. _County_ means a parcel of territory that is ruled by a Count. They’d call it an earldom today in the UK. Buy still that’s interesting. And _coroner_ literally means officer of the crown. It is ultimately derived from the Latin _corona_, meaning crown. I wonder if anyone has ever objected to the use of these two words in the US, for the reasons I just gave. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4470 "2022-05-24T02:19:24Z")
Ever heard of King Davids? They’re my favorite apple, and there’s only one orchard in central Indiana I know of where I can get them. King David apples taste like the apple Granny Smiths weakly aspire to be. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4471 "2022-05-24T02:58:06Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > _County_ means a parcel of territory that is ruled by a Count. They’d call it an earldom today in the UK. Buy still that’s interesting. And of course in Louisiana they aren’t counties, they’re parishes due to the state’s French heritage. Actually, I wonder how most states legally establish the county boundaries they do. West of the Mississippi a lot of rural land is divided up into square townships due to 19th century land partition. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4472 "2022-05-24T03:09:24Z")
**Prader Willi Syndrome,** [a genetically acquired condition of insatiable hunger](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prader%E2%80%93Willi_syndrome) [From an interesting “Am I the Asshole](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/ut5mbn/aita_for_telling_a_family_to_fly_private/) entry on Reddit, where a diabetic passenger was barred from necessary snacks by parent seatmates protecting their Prader Willi child from food. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4473 "2022-05-24T03:21:05Z")
A state legislature can establish any county boundaries it wants. Once they’re set, the leg can merge them, enlarge them, shrink them, create independent cities that officially fall into no county, or pretty much anything it wants. I’m sure that at some point, some court ruled that the federal government had to power to overturn something about county creation, but I’ve never read of such a case. Mandatory trivia. Louisiana is not the only state to call counties by a different name. Alaska uses boroughs. But the majority of land in the state falls into an unique [Unorganized Borough](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unorganized_Borough,_Alaska), which basically contradicts everything you’re taught about how state governments work. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4474 "2022-05-24T14:29:19Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Ever heard of King Davids? They’re my favorite apple, and there’s only one orchard in central Indiana I know of where I can get them. King David apples taste like the apple Granny Smiths weakly aspire to be. Not until now, but I want. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4475 "2022-05-24T16:48:38Z")
The Rev Dr Marton Luther King is strongly associated the South - he was born in Georgia, became well known for his civil rights work in Alabama, and was assassinated in Tennessee. But he earned his doctorate at Boston University, where he lived for several years in the early 1950s. ---
**Author:** ![kwintenstraler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kwintenstraler/32/10698_2.png) [@kwintenstraler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kwintenstraler)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4476 "2022-05-25T13:47:46Z")
[![](https://i.fokzine.net/upload/22/05/220522_1_daily633_33.jpg) ](https://i.fokzine.net/upload/22/05/220522_1_daily633_33.jpg) I did not know that or expect that ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4477 "2022-05-25T14:01:49Z")
That might be the weirdest thing for me in this whole thread. I think assumed there were floors inside at each level. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4478 "2022-05-25T17:54:36Z")
_My cousin told me this one while we were still kids…_ Zebras are actually black with white stripes, not the other way around. Because they started out as black animals, and the white stripes started slowly spreading… ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4479 "2022-05-26T00:52:52Z")
> [@kwintenstraler](#): > > I did not know that or expect that Interesting. Form follows function? I found this: > **[The bell-tower is the resonance chamber and together with the bells...](https://museoecologiahumana.org/en/obras/la-torre-caja-de-resonancia-que-forma-con-las-campanas-un-instrumento-unico-de-sonoridad-propia-e-irrepetible/)** > > The tower acts as a resonance chamber and modifies the sounds according to its internal structure, layout and the number, size and kind of bells, so each bell-tower has its own, unique and unrepeatable sonority. Therefore, changes to the structure of... When I visited, they wouldn’t let us go on it… ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4480 "2022-05-26T00:57:59Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > Interesting. Form follows function? I found this: > > [https://museoecologiahumana.org/en/obras/la-torre-caja-de-resonancia-que-forma-con-las-campanas-un-instrumento-unico-de-sonoridad-propia-e-irrepetible/](https://museoecologiahumana.org/en/obras/la-torre-caja-de-resonancia-que-forma-con-las-campanas-un-instrumento-unico-de-sonoridad-propia-e-irrepetible/) Yep. Just like the concert hall (including the occupants of the seating) is a part of the orchestra. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4481 "2022-05-26T01:56:42Z")
We all know what a criminals Rap Sheet is but I just recently learned that Rap stands for **R** ecord of **A** rrests and **P** rosecution. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4482 "2022-05-26T02:35:31Z")
Virtually no words until fairly recently came from acronyms. They are almost universally backronyms, or phrases people made up later that sound good but have [no historical evidence](https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/rap). > The term _rap sheet_ , meaning a police record of a person’s criminal arrests and charges dates to at least 1949. Some incorrectly believe this use is from an acronym for _record of arrests and prosecutions_ , but while you can find this etymology in police manuals and forms, it is a _backronym_ and not the origin of _rap_ . ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4483 "2022-05-26T04:40:48Z")
According to Cornell University RAP stands for Record of Arrest and Prosecution. Link: [https://cjei.cornell.edu/about-your-record/what-rap-sheet](https://cjei.cornell.edu/about-your-record/what-rap-sheet) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4484 "2022-05-26T05:04:36Z")
People who create webpages for reputable universities can succumb to popular false beliefs: they cite no source. See: tip, posh, sos, etc. The OED, on the other hand, takes it back to the word meaning “loud noise,” like a rap on the door, found in Middle English, to American criminal slang (from 1870) meaning “prison sentence.” It’s not hard to get from that meaning of “rap sheet,” first attested in 1949. I can’t find any attestation of the phrase “Record of Arrest and Prosecution” before 1953, and that’s via google books snippet view, so I can’t verify that 1953 is the actual date of publication. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4485 "2022-05-26T07:54:42Z")
Well, sorry to take the discussion in a new direction (you agree you have exhausted the RAP/acronym subject 😉 🙂 ). But here’s an obscure but interesting reference. In the late 90’s, just before what was the age of the internet, Straightdope had a trivia show on cable, I remember. Anyway, one topic was mortuary science. Did you know morticians have two solutions they put in the corpse. One slims them down. And one plumps them up. Because you know, when someone dies, that’s the biggest complaint. Either they’ve lost too much weight while terminally ill. Or maybe they’ve absorbed fluid. Interesting, no? (Now if you wish, you can go back to your former topic 😉 🙂 .) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4486 "2022-05-26T13:36:08Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > The OED, on the other hand, takes it back to the word meaning “loud noise,” like a rap on the door, Or the pounding of a gavel. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4487 "2022-05-26T16:36:35Z")
A [newspapers.com](http://newspapers.com) search found “rap sheet” first emerging in 1933 in the W_aterloo, IA, Courier_, Aug. 22, 1933. The article is titled “Chain-Gang” Man Given Jail Term. > Joe’s rap sheet shows that in his 30 short years he has been an inmate of 15 jails, usually for comparatively minor offenses. The _Courier_ used it again on June 3, 1934, Feb. 11, 1935, and June 19, 1935. It was used satirically as “rapp sheet” in the October 1935 _Oklahoma City Federalist_, a monthly labor newspaper, when a feature writer named to the executive board wrote a joking autobiography. Then the _Springfield, MO, Leader and Press_ used it on Feb. 23, 1939. I stopped on May 11, 1939, when the _Visalia, CA, Times-Delta_, mentions “The ‘rap’ sheet sent out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” The _Courier’s_ omission of quotes around its first use of rap sheet implies that the term was already familiar, although some later papers did indeed use quotes. None of the 30’s stories gave any indication that the term was an acronym. The earlier uses were all for local crimes and the FBI was not involved. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4488 "2022-05-26T16:56:03Z")
Record of Arrest and Prosecution has a much longer history that can be seen evolving. The first hit I found was from the _Nebraska State Journal_, April 11, 1882, in a report from the Lincoln Chief of Police. > Yet I believe that the record of arrests, prosecutions and successful convictions of the criminal classes who prey continually upon society … will compare exceeding favorally with former reports of this department… A long phrase pops up again the next year in the _Topeka Daily Commonwealth_, June 2, 1883. > a pretended record of arrests, prosecutions, plea and fine, of each of the persons keeping and maintaining said places… I found the short form for the first time in the _Philadelphia Times_ for Oct. 29, 1887. > The Democratic nominee for the Board of Public Works, Ed. W. Clark, has been forced to resign on account of a record of arrest and prosecution for burglary, forgery and counterfeiting away back in 1851, unearthed upon him since he became a candidate. A record of arrests and prosecutions appears to be lawyer talk, standard legal language that newspapers could use to call someone a criminal without incurring libel charges. The _St. Joseph, MO, Herald_, April 11, 1893, printed General Ordinance No. 406. > Sec. 5 It shall be the duty of the city attorney to keep a record of every arrest and prosecution under the provisions of this ordinance and the result thereof; and he shall semi-annually report the same to the common council. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=223) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=225)