# 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:** 248
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4949 "2022-08-03T12:17:19Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > Are we including hybrids, like broccolini (broccoli crossed with Gai Lan)? That way madness lies. Especially when you’re talking about cabbage. “Training is nothing…cauliflower is just cabbage with a college education.” – Mark Twain One of Twain’s real quotes. Also, Cauliflower is yet another variant of _Brassica oleracea_ (It’s from _Pudd’nhead Wilson_ (1894)) ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4950 "2022-08-03T13:30:28Z")
I just learned that Dairy Queen ‘soft serve’, is called that because it’s technically wrong to call it ice cream, as it lacks sufficient dairy proteins, I believe. ---
**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:** [August 3, 2022, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4951 "2022-08-03T13:35:03Z")
Close. Soft serve has a lower fat content than ice cream; it also doesn’t get frozen. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4952 "2022-08-03T14:54:51Z")
So is that what they used to call “ice milk” back in the olden days? ---
**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:** [August 3, 2022, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4953 "2022-08-03T15:13:47Z")
Freeze soft serve and you pretty much get ice milk, yeah. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4954 "2022-08-03T23:14:55Z")
When I worked at a McDonald’s 40 years ago, we were explicitly told to call them Shakes and not Milk Shakes because they were made from ice milk. Also the different sizes of fries were Regular, Medium and Large and not to use the word Small. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2022, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4955 "2022-08-04T02:11:43Z")
Ice milk is an obsolete term for “low-fat” or “reduced-fat” ice creams with less than 10% milkfat. Soft serve would be low-fat ice cream with air pumped in. I don’t think that has a separate definition today, but my copy of the Code of Federal Regulations defining dairy terms is sadly out of date. True story. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4956 "2022-08-04T03:05:36Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Regular, Medium and Large I thought this was a rather recent invention (I’ve noticed it being used a lot at pizza places), along with various service tiers labeled (or advertised as) Good, Better, Best. Interesting that such a concept was used 40 years ago. I guess I just didn’t notice until recently. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4957 "2022-08-04T03:59:28Z")
the funny thing is everyone on the editorial side of ST said lucy didn’t or pretended she didn’t understand almost anything about the show. other than it was on a spaceship and spaceships were popular on tv Some people thought it was her acting that way so paramount wouldn’t hassle her and them over the scripts of the show too much ---
**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:** [August 4, 2022, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4958 "2022-08-04T04:12:32Z")
Mustard greens are just as good as collards! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4959 "2022-08-04T05:17:38Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > I thought this was a rather recent invention (I’ve noticed it being used a lot at pizza places), along with various service tiers labeled (or advertised as) Good, Better, Best. Interesting that such a concept was used 40 years ago. I guess I just didn’t notice until recently. I probably wouldn’t have noticed either if I hadn’t gone through McDonald’s training in 1980. It was heavily emphasized. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4960 "2022-08-04T06:00:55Z")
I once went thru a McD’s, and for the beverage I wanted all they sold were medium and large. Htf can it be a medium? ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4961 "2022-08-04T09:04:29Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > When I worked at a McDonald’s 40 years ago, we were explicitly told to call them Shakes and not Milk Shakes because they were made from ice milk. Also the different sizes of fries were Regular, Medium and Large and not to use the word Small. I worked at Burger King in the late 80’s and management seemed to have a strange fetish about not using the word small. Fries and drinks all started at regular. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4962 "2022-08-04T09:51:13Z")
Avoiding the word “small” has led the dilution of coffee to unbearable levels: it has become watery and insipid. You need more than small, actually, you also need tiny! Just as sometimes an espresso is not enough and you crave for a [ristretto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ristretto). I can’t make that at home, now I have to go out. But not without pointing out first that the systematics of _Brassica oleracea_ varieties is one possible approximation of infinity. I would not recommend tackling that without a lot of idle time. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4963 "2022-08-04T12:59:37Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > I worked at Burger King in the late 80’s and management seemed to have a strange fetish about not using the word small. Fries and drinks all started at regular. I’m betting it’s because calling it “small” would lead to a lot of customers complaining that it’s priced too high because, after all, it’s a “small” serving. Calling it “regular” makes them think there’s a standard serving size and this is it, so they don’t see the price as too high. I think. Not a marketing specialist or a psychologist/psychiatrist. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4964 "2022-08-04T13:10:04Z")
I could be way off base here, but I always assumed that the omission of an officially designated small size was that it might be thought of as inferior in some way. This is, after all, the same industry that has given us Big Macs and Whoppers and supersized orders of fries and whatnot, amid much ballyhoo and marketing hype. I’m pretty sure that many (maybe most) of us who were around when the ad campaign was in full swing can still sing the “two all-beef patties…” jingle that rattles off the ingredients of the Big Mac, which emphasizes that you’re getting a lot of stuff on that burger. They had trained us to think that _small_ just isn’t up to the job. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4965 "2022-08-04T13:10:57Z")
TIL the reason why in typography capital letters are called “upper case” and non-capitals are called “lower case.” In the early days of printing, individual letters were cast on small metal blocks to be assembled together for words. The terms refer to their bin locations. The capital letters were kept in the upper case while the non-capitals were kept in the lower case. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4966 "2022-08-04T13:23:35Z")
Which brings us back to the word “small” which is the correct term for non-capital letters in handwriting. Technically, “lowercase” and “uppercase” only apply to typeface. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4967 "2022-08-04T15:10:30Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > I’m betting it’s because calling it “small” would lead to a lot of customers complaining that it’s priced too high because, after all, it’s a “small” serving. Calling it “regular” makes them think there’s a standard serving size and this is it, so they don’t see the price as too high. Well of course. That’s how the 20 year old manager explained it to me when I was 16. It’s basic marketing. On a similar subject, a few years later a good friend of mine worked at Sea World. She was given a list of words never to be used such as: cage, tank, capture… ---
**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:** [August 4, 2022, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/4968 "2022-08-04T19:10:56Z")
Grump. No. Words evolve. It absolutely doesn’t matter how they were used originally. > [# lowercase](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/lowercase) > adjective > > 1. (of an alphabetical letter) of a particular form often different from and smaller than its corresponding capital letter, and occurring after the initial letter of a proper name, of the first word in a sentence, etc. Examples: a, b, q, r. > > 2. Printing. pertaining to or belonging in the lower case.Compare [case2 (def. 8)](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/case). > > verb (used with object), low·er·cased, low·er·cas·ing. > > 1. to print or write with a lowercase letter or letters. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=247) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=249)