# 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:** 51
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1001 "2020-12-05T15:15:30Z")
It smells to me like part of that post was left off. 😉 ---
**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:** [December 5, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1002 "2020-12-05T15:19:38Z")
Rhyming slang can get rather convoluted. An American is a Yank, and so rhyming slang for an American is Sceptic Tank. Listerine is a brand of antiseptic in the UK so the term for being anti-American is listerine. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1003 "2020-12-05T15:39:16Z")
That is _just barely_ plausible enough it might even be true. But I hope you’re kidding and I’m being whooshed. ---
**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:** [December 5, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1004 "2020-12-05T17:00:05Z")
It’s true: [https://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/slang/listerine](https://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/slang/listerine) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1005 "2020-12-05T17:22:20Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > rhyming slang is so ingrained in British English that this sort of ignorance as to a phrase’s origins is not at all unusual Yup, it’s particularly true when the slang term is contracted to hide the rhyme. As a kid growing up in London, I thought there was a slang word of uncertain spelling “buchas”, as in “take a buchas”, meaning take a look. And “berk” just seemed to be a common derogatory term for a fool. As a kid it never occurred to me that either of these were rhyming slang. (The full terms are butcher’s hook, Berkeley/Berkshire [fox] Hunt.) ---
**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:** [December 5, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1006 "2020-12-05T19:28:12Z")
I’m with you there - those are two further terms which I knew for decades before finding out they were rhyming slang. Here’s another that foxed me for most of my life - _pins_ meaning legs: _Pins_ = Pins and pegs = Legs > [@Chronos](#): > > Rhyming slang isn’t common in US English, though, which makes the occasions where it does show up all the more surprising. I can think of another couple of examples which come from British lexicographer Jonathan Green, so as an American you have the option to overrule: _Eighty-six_ = nix (I think this is also US waiters’ slang/number code) _Duke it out_ comes from Duke of York = Fork, used to mean hand and thus fist j ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1007 "2020-12-05T20:37:35Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > _Pins_ = Pins and pegs = Legs I did’t know that. I guess I had never questioned some notion that legs are vaguely pin-shaped. I’m starting to think I should go and read a rhyming slang dictionary cover to cover. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1008 "2020-12-05T20:48:10Z")
I had a Brit friend who would use rhyming slang in the most annoying way. He’d say something obscure, and when I, as an American English speaker, didn’t get it, would use the most condescending tone to spell out the slang. I frequently thought he was just making shit up. Like, “That’s a bad bunny.” What. “Bunny rabbit=habit.” I’m supposed to follow your weird brain down these paths? F off with that crap. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1009 "2020-12-05T21:16:28Z")
Similarly, I learned somewhere that Australian slang for an American is “seppo”. Hey, no problem, we don’t always much like ourselves, either. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1010 "2020-12-05T22:17:03Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > Like, “That’s a bad bunny.” What. “Bunny rabbit=habit.” I’m supposed to follow your weird brain down these paths? F off with that crap. That’s pretty much my reaction. But culture is like that. What you’re used to is normal and what you’re not is weird. For sure they think your and my habits from our countrymens’ culture is weird. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1011 "2020-12-06T13:06:55Z")
The six numbers in this week’s drawing for the South Africa lottery were 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The Law of Random Numbers strikes again, but fraud is being investigated. > **[Six in a row: winning numbers in South African lottery are: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/02/six-in-a-row-winning-numbers-in-south-african-lottery-are-5-6-7-8-9-and-10)** > > Surprising winning combination sparks accusations of fraud as 20 people win share of jackpot ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1012 "2020-12-06T13:15:13Z")
The numbers were drawn in the order 8, 5, 9, 7, 6, 10. There were 20 winners. There are usually less than 5 winners. All winners picked their numbers manually - no automated number picking. [https://mybroadband.co.za/news/science/378674-nothing-strange-about-consecutive-lotto-numbers.html](https://mybroadband.co.za/news/science/378674-nothing-strange-about-consecutive-lotto-numbers.html) ---
**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:** [December 6, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1013 "2020-12-06T13:20:31Z")
Really, if you were going to try to defraud the lottery somehow, are those the numbers you’d choose? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1014 "2020-12-06T16:16:22Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > All winners picked their numbers manually - no automated number picking. That’s a darn good bet. 😉 Not that 5-10 is any less random than any other combo, but rather it’s vanishingly unlikely, as is any other combo, to appear on any given given randomly generated ticket. Much less 20 of them. ---
**Author:** ![Yogeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yogeekgirl/32/4129_2.png) [@Yogeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yogeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1015 "2020-12-06T16:17:49Z")
Woody Harrelson’s dad was a hit man. As a true crime and conspiracy theory buff, I’m embarrassed. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles\_Harrelson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Harrelson) ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1016 "2020-12-06T16:46:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Really, if you were going to try to defraud the lottery somehow, are those the numbers you’d choose? Another case of suspected fraud: they call them “fortune” cookies for a reason. > **[Fortune Cookie Leads to Record Number of Powerball Winners](https://www.foxnews.com/story/fortune-cookie-leads-to-record-number-of-powerball-winners)** > > Dozens of people recently got an extra-special dessert with their Chinese food: a winning lottery number. > A record 110 players won $500,000 and $100,000 prizes in Wednesday’s **Powerball** ([search](http://javascript:siteSearch('Powerball');/)) drawing, most of whom apparently used the numbers included in a fortune-cookie message. Ordinarily the multistate lottery expects only four tickets to win at the Match 5 prize level. > [@Yogeekgirl](#): > > Woody Harrelson’s dad was a hit man. I’d heard that, as that article states, some accused him of involvement in the JFK assassination. Did you notice in the article what his wife’s name was? Diane Lou Oswald (m. Feb 1959; div. 1964) Remember Caine’s Arcade? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/faIFNkdq96U/maxresdefault.jpg "Caine's Arcade") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faIFNkdq96U) He’s still playing…and designing. This video is from May 2019. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/kdS7FFvHq1s/maxresdefault.jpg "Caine Monroy: Inventors Challenge 2019") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdS7FFvHq1s) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1017 "2020-12-06T17:22:28Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > … > Another case of suspected fraud: they call them “fortune” cookies for a reason. > … Good one. I tried to hunt up a link to that story but I’d misremembered some details and stymied myself. Glad somebody could come up with it. ---
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1018 "2020-12-06T18:22:33Z")
For that lottery, 20 people picked 5,6,7,8,9 then 10 as the powerball, and won. However there were 79 ticketholders who picked 5,6,7,8,9 then went for something other than 10 for the powerball. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1019 "2020-12-06T19:45:18Z")
Missed it by _that much_! ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/1020 "2020-12-06T21:16:21Z")
Not sure if this will be paywalled or not, but it looks like the story I saw on TV many years ago. When the jackpot got high enough, Australians had a syndicate to buy every combination of lottery tickets in Virginia. At that time, you had to pick 6 of (only) 44 numbers correctly to win…that meant 7 million -ish to buy. They had computers printing the tickets. They’d take stacks of slips to places that sold tickets and just monopolize the lines. And they knew that if there were multiple winners they’d have to share. Spend $7M to win $27M, and even if there were 2 other winners you’d get $9M? Sure, why not? They’re getting them all printed so they’ll have a guaranteed winner and…the system went down. They couldn’t finish buying every combination; they were no longer guaranteed a winner, despite the **millions** of dollars they’d already spent. The machines were fixed before the deadline, but the syndicate couldn’t purchase all 7 million before time ran out. What if they hadn’t bought the winner? As luck would have it, it turned out they did buy the one they needed. So the system going down saved them a couple million dollars. Add to that the (smaller value) winners for matching 4 of 6 or 5 of 6 to the payday… I wonder what they spent in computer ink, wear and tear and gas for the trips to the ticket printing places, etc. And how many hours did it take to find the needle in a haystack of 5M? If they hadn’t already bought the winner… 😬 > **[Group Invests $5 Million To Hedge Bets in Lottery (Published 1992)](https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/25/us/group-invests-5-million-to-hedge-bets-in-lottery.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm)** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=50) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=52)