# 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:** 260
**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:** [September 2, 2022, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5189 "2022-09-02T01:55:28Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Today I learned India is considered part of Asia. And by extension Indians are Asians – as are Filipinos. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2022, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5190 "2022-09-02T02:13:17Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Today I learned India is considered part of Asia. > [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > Which continent did you think it was in? If I recall correctly, India was not, originally, part of EurAsia. It was its own separate continent and continental drift has been shoving it into EurAsia. We got the Himalayas out of this slow-speed collision. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5191 "2022-09-02T02:17:56Z")
True. But it would be odd to be aware that the Indian subcontinent was once not part of Asia, but not know that it currently is. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5192 "2022-09-02T02:52:25Z")
If India is in Asia why do the Indians live here? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5193 "2022-09-02T03:31:24Z")
By some definitions, moving from west to east, Asia begins with Turkey and includes all of what is generally called the Middle East: Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, etc. > **[Western Asia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Asia)** > > Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, and sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Middle East, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenian Highlands, the Levant, the island of Cyprus, the Sinai Peninsula, and partly the Caucasus Region (Transcaucasia). The region is consid... I was surprised when I learned that (well into my adulthood), because I had always thought of Asia as being China, Southeast Asia, Japan, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5194 "2022-09-02T08:53:46Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > By some definitions, moving from west to east, Asia begins with Turkey and includes all of what is generally called the Middle East: Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, etc. > > [West Asia - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Asia) I don’t know of any geographical definitions that put the Middle East - except for its African part - in any continent other than Asia. Look, it’s simple: there are 7 continents. If you’re not an island, you’re on one of them. And really, the only place where there’s any grounds for debate is the border between Asia and Europe; all of the other continents are clearly delineated (all right, I’ll give you Central America. But other than that, nothing). - Alessan, posting from the west coast of Asia. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5195 "2022-09-02T13:00:56Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Striktly speaking, it is the words that have gender, not the things the words denote… [Big snip] > > …Now you got me looking for three synonims for the same concept, one female (_die_), one male (_der_) and one neuter (_das_) to make my point even clearer. Can’t think of one right now, but I bet they exist. Perhaps @EinsteinsHund or @Treppenwitz have an idea? Heh. Strictly speaking, it’s my name that’s German, not the person that the name denotes… 😉 (I need a bigger wink smiley). But I’m flattered and will do my very best to contribute (but carefully leaving the heavy lifting to @EinsteinsHund.) Slightly interesting fact thrown in for free: as an example of what @Pardel-Lux is talking about, the usual German word for _girl_ is neuter: Das Mädchen. I was taught (a long time ago) that this is because it’s a diminutive (-chen). So my best effort at a contribution here is this: does that mean that if you have masculine and feminine words for a particular concept, if you throw in a diminutive of one of them, do you get the neuter for free? (Over to you, Smart Dog!) j ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5196 "2022-09-02T13:16:02Z")
Oh, _Smart Dog_, I’m blushing here 😊. You’re absolutely right though. The diminutives -chen and -lein make every noun neuter. So “die Frau” (woman) becomes “das Fräulein” (miss, literally little woman), and “der Mann” “das Männlein/das Männchen” (little man). “Das Mädchen” has its roots in the word “die Magd” which means maiden. This does not only work for words that denote persons, but for every other noun. So “der Tisch” (table) becomes “das Tischchen/das Tischlein”, “die Weile” (while) “das Weilchen” and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5197 "2022-09-02T13:24:11Z")
Der Tisch, Die Tafel, Das Tischchen. Bingo! And I never saw a word with a double ch before. j ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5198 "2022-09-02T13:35:52Z")
Hey, that’s a good one, @Treppenwitz. As for the double ch, I can’t think of such an instance where: a. there’s only the combination “chch” instead of “schch” b. it’s not a compound of a word that ends with “sch” and the diminutive “chen” ---
**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:** [September 2, 2022, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5199 "2022-09-02T13:40:49Z")
Thinking of a chaotic creek, or of somebody making a mess of Bach’s music: Bachchaos. Thinking of somebody who laughs in a chaotic way: Lachchaot. And you thought you were the only one to make up construed words? 🤡 Buchcharade. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5200 "2022-09-02T13:42:42Z")
👍 Good constructions though. I once more underestimated the flexibility of my mother’s tongue. ETA: I first parsed “Bachchaos” as “Bahnchaos”. That’s definitely not a construed word, but you read it almost every day in the news… ---
**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:** [September 2, 2022, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5201 "2022-09-02T16:11:09Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > For much the same reason that people don’t have insects taking bites out of our skin, healthy plants don’t either. But we do: Mosquitoes, lice, face mites. Being unhealthy isn’t a prerequisite for any of these. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5202 "2022-09-02T16:37:50Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > But we do: Mosquitoes, lice, face mites. Being unhealthy isn’t a prerequisite for any of these. I took his concept as a general rule, not a hard one. He does mention, at the end, that grasshoppers and crickets don’t care too much and will chomp on anything and I expect that there are other critters that have flouted the norm. Likewise, I assume that plant diseases can always form novel variants and cause a blight - similar as a novel disease can come to fore and start a pandemic among humans. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2022, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5203 "2022-09-03T19:31:24Z")
Watched an F1 race on TV this morning, from Zandvoort, Netherlands. Most of the fans were wearing orange, which finally sparked my curiosity: why do Dutch athletes and sports fans wear orange so frequently? A bit of googling turned up a solid answer: [https://dutchreview.com/culture/history/why-do-the-netherlands-love-orange-the-full-explainer/](https://dutchreview.com/culture/history/why-do-the-netherlands-love-orange-the-full-explainer/) ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5204 "2022-09-04T00:39:19Z")
Ahem > [@Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across/851674/3119): > > Neal Stephenson’s new book Termination Shock features both RDS and the Netherlands’ Royal House of Orange extensively. Speaking of which, the House of Orange has a fascinating history: Sitting on the Rhône river near Avignon in southern France, the small Principality of Orange (1163–1713) has had a disproportionate part to play in world affairs. In 1544 by historical accident it became ruled by the same man as was the northern French county of Nassau, and that line went on to establish the … ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5205 "2022-09-04T12:26:23Z")
The team colors of the New York Mets are orange and blue. Officially, they are taken from the colors of the Dodgers (blue) and Giants (orange), but they are also the shades of the NYC flag – and going back, the colors of the Dutch East India Company, which had the first settlement in New Amsterdam ---
**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:** [September 4, 2022, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5206 "2022-09-04T12:40:32Z")
And according to folclore the orange colour of carrots goes back to the House of Orange too, in whose honor the color was presented. Although the patriotic aspect is contested, it is almost certain that it was [the Dutch](https://plewsgardendesign.co.uk/why-are-carrots-orange-a-brief-history-of-a-favourite-vegetable/) who first cultivated orange carrots. Beta carotin makes them sweeter. The original carrots used to be white, but purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars also exist. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5207 "2022-09-04T14:26:02Z")
They have a full blown American Football league in Brazil, with 40 teams. Looks like it was shut down for COVID the last couple of years, but here are today’s standings: > **[BRAZIL: BFA](https://www.flashscore.com/standings/Iu9YOCwd/KOvvACi7/#/table/overall)** > > BRAZIL: BFA The last champion in 2019 was the Joao Pessoa Espectros: [BRAZIL: BFA](https://www.flashscore.com/draw/Ch1QroKQ/AD2t1ybh/#/draw) There’s a league in Norway as well, with only 4 teams: [NORWAY: Eliteserien](https://www.flashscore.com/standings/4dZO0GU6/SEc3zWPu/#/table) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5208 "2022-09-04T14:43:27Z")
John Grisham’s “Playing For Pizza” is a novel set in the Italian Football League. Winner of this year’s Italian Bowl - **Firenze Guelfi**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=259) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=261)