# 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:** 451
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9011 "2024-02-20T08:20:07Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Yes, the early 1960s, when everyone was getting into shape with Royal Canadian Air Force exercises Not the _early_ sixties… that book has the stylized maple leaf from the 1965 flag. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9012 "2024-02-20T12:48:52Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > Daisy Pearce I was going by an article that might have some errors. But, the “interesting” thing for me is that German in German Chocolate Cake is the last name of a person, not the country. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2024, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9013 "2024-02-20T13:00:36Z")
That is right, and the German wikipedia does not include an entry for German Chocolate Cake. My guess is that it is unknown here, as you cannot beat the [Sachertorte](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachertorte) anyway. The French wikipedia lists it correctly as “[gâteau au chocolat German](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A2teau_au_chocolat_German)”, the Italian wikipedia writes about the “[German chocolate cake](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_chocolate_cake)”, but both the Spanish and the Catalan entries are wrong: “[pastel alemán](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastel_alem%C3%A1n)” and “[pastís alemany](https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past%C3%ADs_alemany)”, although they say in the text that it is not German, but US-American. The other seven languages have alphabets I cannot read, no idea what they say. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2024, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9014 "2024-02-20T20:00:04Z")
I grew up with mom making german chocolate cake- my brother always asked for it for his birthday. When I was young, you could still get that brand ---
**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:** [February 20, 2024, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9015 "2024-02-20T23:01:21Z")
In the same vein, the Polaroid Land camera was [named after its inventor Edwin Land](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Camera), not to indicate it wasn’t suitable for use elsewhere necessarily! ---
**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:** [February 20, 2024, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9016 "2024-02-20T23:52:25Z")
In Santa Barbara we have the Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden, named of course after Alice Keck Park who donated the land. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9017 "2024-02-21T00:00:11Z")
Park Park? Missed opportunity if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9018 "2024-02-21T02:19:48Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > the Polaroid Land camera was [named after its inventor Edwin Land](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Camera), not to indicate it was I’ve always wondered about that! ---
**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:** [February 21, 2024, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9019 "2024-02-21T02:26:35Z")
Sydney University’s museum is called the Chau Chak Wing museum. I live in hope they’ll need to open an annex to it, called … ---
**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:** [February 21, 2024, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9020 "2024-02-21T02:26:40Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > I grew up with mom making german chocolate cake- my brother always asked for it for his birthday. When I was young you could still get that brand There’s a brand of baking chocolate that comes in different varieties. One of them is called German’s chocolate, although I have no idea if that’s at all the same as what your mother used. [![](https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.ajI7IwkMtEC4KuOAYnLf4AHaHa) ](https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.ajI7IwkMtEC4KuOAYnLf4AHaHa) It’s basically sweet chocolate that’s not _milk_ chocolate. Why that might work better than unsweetened chocolate that you just add sugar to the recipe, I don’t know. Because it doesn’t melt as easily as milk chocolate it’s not dissimilar to hiking or ration chocolate bars. P.S. fond as I usually am of all things chocolate, German Chocolate Cake is for me ruined by the inclusion of coconut. What a disappointment when I first tried some. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2024, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9021 "2024-02-21T02:50:44Z")
That is the brand. I did a cursory search and didn’t get anything, so I assumed they had been absorbed by someone else (I once made brownies with German chocolate. They were disappointing) > [@Lumpy](#): > > Chocolate Cake is for me ruined by the inclusion of coconut. Yeah, the coconut and pecan frosting is really what makes it a German chocolate cake. Otherwise, it would just be cake ---
**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:** [February 21, 2024, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9022 "2024-02-21T02:53:52Z")
I wouldn’t say ruined. But it’d definitely be better without the coconut. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9023 "2024-02-21T03:23:17Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > …the “interesting” thing for me is that German in German Chocolate Cake is the last name of a person, not the country. Similarly, [Baker’s Chocolate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker%27s_Chocolate) is now a brand name for baking chocolate. However, the brand name has nothing to do with bakers or baking. The name instead comes from the original name of the company, the [Baker Chocolate Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Baker_%26_Company#History), later known as Walter Baker & Company. The Baker Chocolate Company was founded in 1780 by James Baker and was the first company to produce chocolate in the USA. Before it was bought by Kraft and turned into a brand name, they made all types of chocolate, not just baking chocolate. As an aside, my ex-wife’s uncle worked at the Walter Baker & Company factory in Dorchester, Massachusetts until the company relocated to Delaware in 1965. The uncle lived at home with his mother and couldn’t conceive of the idea of relocating and leaving his mother behind so he lost his job when they left, which he seemed to regret for the rest of his life. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9024 "2024-02-21T03:58:57Z")
(Send **Lumpy’s** and **Chronos** ’ coconut-sullied slices my way, _s’il vous plait_) ---
**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:** [February 21, 2024, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9025 "2024-02-21T04:53:27Z")
Instead of chocolate, the Bakers should have made bullion cubes, to correspond with Fleischmann’s Yeast. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9026 "2024-02-21T05:09:42Z")
In the early 1900s it was legal to mail young children Parcel Post if they met the 50 lb. weight limit. The child would be kept in the mail car the entire trip. [https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/grangeville-girl-was-mailed-to-her-grandmother/277-61ddd389-ae6e-4cf3-ae1c-0f918d387be7?fbclid=IwAR0y3lK-zNci5vpWYic5\_LFPKmVBgt3dGvPlU9jxCHcjSyWcVXC5O2gAmNo](https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/grangeville-girl-was-mailed-to-her-grandmother/277-61ddd389-ae6e-4cf3-ae1c-0f918d387be7?fbclid=IwAR0y3lK-zNci5vpWYic5_LFPKmVBgt3dGvPlU9jxCHcjSyWcVXC5O2gAmNo) ---
**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:** [February 21, 2024, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9027 "2024-02-21T13:45:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But it’d definitely be better without the coconut. That applies to almost everything. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9028 "2024-02-21T15:54:45Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Park Park? Missed opportunity if you ask me. We used to live near an area (and former town) whose name ended in “Park” (after a famous nearby park). It has a park. The word is attached to the area name. So it ends with a double “Park”. When we went there we parked in the — Park Park parking lot. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9029 "2024-02-21T15:56:18Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > When we went there we parked in the — Park Park parking lot. The one they paved paradise to put in? ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9030 "2024-02-21T16:07:33Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > (I once made brownies with German chocolate. They were disappointing) Not nearly so much as the time my daughter and her friend used hot cocoa mix instead of cocoa powder - they were “tannies” 🤣 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=450) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=452)