# 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:** 263
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5249 "2022-09-20T20:12:52Z")
Today I learned that the smell of Play-Doh is trademarked in the U.S. > **[Hasbro trademarks Play-Doh's signature scent, and WTF you can trademark a smell?](https://mashable.com/article/hasbro-play-doh-smell-trademark)** > > It's described as "the combination of a sweet, slightly musky, vanilla-like fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, and the natural smell of a salted, wheat-based dough." ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5250 "2022-09-20T20:14:14Z")
I can’t believe it either: > > > Star Wars Holocron @sw\_holocron ---
**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 20, 2022, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5251 "2022-09-20T20:34:04Z")
Hell, Harley-Davidson tried to trademark **a sound**. > **[Did You Know Harley-Davidson Tried To Trademark Their Exhaust Sound?](https://imotorbike.my/news/en/2020/01/harley-davidson-sound-trademark/)** > > In 1994 Harley filed a sound trademark application for their distinctive exhaust note. However, nine other competitors filed individual oppositions with Harley’s registrability for the trademark. As we all know, Harley has been famous for its... ---
**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:** [September 20, 2022, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5252 "2022-09-20T20:53:00Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Hell, Harley-Davidson tried to trademark **a sound**. Tried being the operative word. I tried jumping the Atlantic and similarly got nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5253 "2022-09-20T20:57:02Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Hell, Harley-Davidson tried to trademark **a sound**. There are lots of companies that use a sound as part of their branding (e.g. the NBC chimes, or Netflix’s “tudum” sound). They’re usually slightly more musical, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5254 "2022-09-20T21:03:26Z")
The article states: ‘The Court stressed that the feature could not serve as a trademark. As the functional element is essential to the use or purpose. Meaning, what Harley was trying to trademark is a feature which is crucial to the “use or purpose” of the motorcycle in general’ IOW, the sound was a side effect of the function, rather than a separate construction ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5255 "2022-09-24T15:15:09Z")
I recently learned that, near Oklo, Gabon, a series of nuclear fission reactions naturally occurred 1.7 billion years ago. Apparently the right conditions were present to allow uranium to go critical in 16 sites. [Natural nuclear fission reactor - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor) ---
**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 24, 2022, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5256 "2022-09-24T15:34:18Z")
You win the Nobel Prize in Literature for your writings, right? It’s not always that simple. > The Nobel Prize in Literature 1953 was awarded to Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill “for his mastery of historical and biographical description **as well as for brilliant oratory** in defending exalted human values” My bold. [Cite](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1953/summary/). j ---
**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 24, 2022, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5257 "2022-09-24T22:30:40Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > You win the Nobel Prize in Literature for your writings, right? I mean, didn’t Bob Dylan win for songwriting? I don’t see how oratory is any less literature. ---
**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 24, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5258 "2022-09-24T22:32:00Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I don’t see how oratory is any less literature Especially since he _wrote_ the speeches! ---
**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 24, 2022, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5259 "2022-09-24T23:27:10Z")
Dylan? “For having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition” Thing is, this is something I found out about at Chartwell - home of Churchill - and yes, my immediate thought was “Hmmm - Dylan?” But I think it’s different. Churchill’s citation specifies performance. Interesting? I think so. j ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5260 "2022-09-28T21:14:47Z")
“Brazilian Bombshell” Carmen Miranda was actually Portuguese. ---
**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 28, 2022, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5261 "2022-09-28T23:41:18Z")
Well, she was born in Portugal and lived there for 10 months until her family emigrated to Brazil. Even though she never returned to Portugal she did retain that as her nationality for some reason. ---
**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 29, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5263 "2022-09-29T20:23:05Z")
-ent at the end of a French word is pronounced something like a short ‘o’, followed by a nasal ‘n’, The ‘t’ is silent. There’s no exactly corresponding sound in English. But yes, it’s pronounced. ---
**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:** [September 29, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5264 "2022-09-29T20:31:54Z")
French: the language that doesn’t use a single letter of the Latin alphabet the way the Romans intended. 😛 ---
**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 29, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5265 "2022-09-29T20:41:19Z")
You laugh, but coming from German where more or less most words are pronounced as written (of course there are exceptions), for me French pronunciation is easier than English, because it’s more consistent. Yes, the sounds often don’t match the letters, but in general the same combinations are always pronounced the same way. In English, not so much. When I encounter an unknown French word, I mostly know how to pronounce it, but I’m sometimes lost at a new English word and have to look (or better listen) it up. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5266 "2022-09-29T21:02:23Z")
General guideline: don’t pronounce the last letter of a french word. The Gauls will even add letters if they want you to pronounce the final letter, resulting in -tte being used a lot. So _La Grand Jatte_ (as in the famous pointilist painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” is pronounced _La Grahn Jhott._ ---
**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 29, 2022, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5267 "2022-09-29T21:13:03Z")
> [@digs](#): > > So _La Grand Jatte_ (as in the famous pointilist painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” is pronounced _La Grahn Jhott._ Nitpick: La Grande Jatte is feminine and la Grande has an ending ‘e’, so the ‘d’ would be spoken. If overpronounced, even with a short closing ‘e’. The ‘e’ in Jatte though is silent. ---
**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:** [September 29, 2022, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5268 "2022-09-29T21:37:45Z")
> [@digs](#): > > General guideline: don’t pronounce the last letter of a french word. Mnemonic: Be CaReFuL about which consonants get pronounced at the end of French words. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2022, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/5269 "2022-09-29T22:11:12Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > There’s no exactly corresponding sound in English. But yes, it’s pronounced. The way I would describe it, is that you start to pronounce the letter, but then you stop before the sound comes out. Doing so puts your tongue and jaw in the correct position for what, to English-speaking ears, isn’t a sound but it is to the French. Clear as mud, I suppose, but it works for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=262) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=264)