# 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:** 37
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/721 "2020-09-11T12:55:55Z")
current queen of Belgium Mathilde is the first queen to be born there. ---
**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 11, 2020, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/722 "2020-09-11T13:51:36Z")
The most successful African musician in history was. . . Freddy Mercury, born in Zanzibar. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/723 "2020-09-11T13:58:34Z")
In France, custard is called crème anglaise. ---
**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 11, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/724 "2020-09-11T15:05:05Z")
I think it’s called that everywhere, except for the UK. ---
**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 11, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/725 "2020-09-11T16:05:47Z")
Custard is the more common term in the US. You only see “crème anglaise” in gourmet venues ---
**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 11, 2020, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/726 "2020-09-11T17:45:39Z")
On the subject of France, _voie sans issue_ is the French term for _cul de sac_. j [Disclaimer: This only makes any sense if _cul de sac_ is also widely used in US English, Australian English, etc. If not, then the post is incomprehensible, and I can only apologise.] ---
**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 11, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/727 "2020-09-11T17:59:33Z")
Well it is, but that doesn’t help it make any sense. ---
**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 11, 2020, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/728 "2020-09-11T18:04:27Z")
Well, you would think that as the English _cul de sac_ is kinda French, maybe those guys would use the same phrase. But no. You could argue that the French for _entrepreneur_ is _exploitant_, which also amuses me (but that one is a bit of a stretch). j ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/729 "2020-09-11T18:05:58Z")
The OED lists 1994 as the first use in print of mullet to refer to the haircut. It was the Beastie Boy’s song “Mullet Head“. I just listened to a fascinating podcast on the subject: > **[The Mystery of the Mullet](https://slate.com/podcasts/decoder-ring/2020/08/the-history-of-the-mullet)** > > Business in the front, false cultural memory in the back. ---
**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 11, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/730 "2020-09-11T19:00:57Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > Custard is the more common term in the US. You only see “crème anglaise” in gourmet venues There is a difference. “Creme anglaise” is a liquid custard, like thick soup. ---
**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 11, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/731 "2020-09-11T19:08:34Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Well, you would think that as the English _cul de sac_ is kinda French, maybe those guys would use the same phrase. But no. Right, so it doesn’t make sense that a French phrase for a French phrase is a different French phrase. Or does it? Not sure what you mean. Still, I think ‘bag’s ass’ is better name for a dead end than a ‘way without issue’. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/732 "2020-09-11T19:25:35Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > The OED lists 1994 as the first use in print of mullet to refer to the haircut. It was the Beastie Boy’s song “Mullet Head“. This is an incredible fact ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/733 "2020-09-11T19:27:20Z")
Wait, so what was the mullet called in its heyday? Surely there was some term for it. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/734 "2020-09-11T19:47:58Z")
Not sure but maybe a rattail? ---
**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 11, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/735 "2020-09-11T19:48:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wait, so what was the mullet called in its heyday? Surely there was some term for it. I don’t know about the US, but in Germany we had a perfectly cromulent acronym at least already in the late eighties: _Vokuhilla_, "vorne kurz, hinten lang, “short at the front, long in the back”. The nonplusultra was _Vokuhilamioliba_, “vorne kurz, hinten lang, mit Oberlippenbart”, “short at the front, long in the back, with moustache”. I have pictures of me from around 1988 to prove that I fell perfectly in the Vokuhilamioliba category 😆. ---
**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 11, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/736 "2020-09-11T19:48:36Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wait, so what was the mullet called in its heyday? We’d just ask the barber “Oh, and, can you leave it longer in the back?” And he’d drawl “Ahh, yeah, another kid who wants to look like McCartney… yeah, I can do that. Beats lookin’ like Ringo…” > **[Photographer Sues Playboy Over Fantastic Paul McCartney Mullet Photo - SPIN](https://www.spin.com/2016/11/photographer-sues-playboy-over-fantastic-paul-mccartney-mullet-photo/)** > > Sometime in the 1970s, rock photographer James Fortune snapped a wonderful picture of Paul McCartney sporting a feathery mullet and a suspect mustache. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/737 "2020-09-11T19:54:59Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > There is a difference. “Creme anglaise” is a liquid custard, like thick soup. 🤨 \<= that’s supposed to look confused… Custard is usually liquid (in the uk, esp. when it’s hot, which it usually is (the custard)) ---
**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 11, 2020, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/738 "2020-09-11T20:04:24Z")
Ahh, in the US, custard is usually a bit thicker, and never soupy in my experience. Flan is approximately the same thing, only more often seen in Hispanic restaurants (and almost always caramel flavored) Similar to how biscuit means two different things ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/739 "2020-09-11T20:30:47Z")
I know, right? You’d think the 80s for sure, but they do a deep dive into the origins of the word and even uncover a scandal in the process. It’s a really fun podcast. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/740 "2020-09-11T20:32:17Z")
A lot of people called it the hockey cut, there were a number of prominent hockey players who sported it. In fact in Sweden, there was a huge pop hit about the hockey cut that they play a clip of. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=36) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=38)