# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 25, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785 "2024-07-25T15:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 176
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3501 "2025-11-06T18:54:04Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > “Stove” to mean what you cook on is a chiefly American usage; “cooker” is the usual word elsewhere. I already knew that people in the UK use the word “cooker” but wasn’t aware that “stove” is mostly not used there. Here’s another “divided by a common culture” one I just ran into. I saw a YouTube video of two British guys visiting Boston and they were sampling the local clam chowder. And at one point, one of them said he was adding crackers to his chowder because this was a thing they did in America. So is this not a thing they do in Britain? British people don’t put crackers in their soup? ---
**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:** [November 6, 2025, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3502 "2025-11-06T18:59:15Z")
That would tend to wet the fireworks (“crackers”) so they would be squibs. There’s also stove as the past tense of stave, as in to stave in a container, especially a barrel. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2025, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3503 "2025-11-06T19:02:02Z")
You eat **[crackers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_(food))** instad of **[croutons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crouton)** with your soup? 😲 ---
**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:** [November 6, 2025, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3504 "2025-11-06T19:17:21Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > The word stove brings up another thing that took me a long time to catch on to. Its cognate word in German is _Stube_, which means a cozy room, or a room where you would go to warm up. A stove in German is either “Ofen” in the sense of oven, or “Herd” (for cooking). But there’s a word that’s definitely a cognate to “stove”, and that’s “Stövchen”. It’s a device to keep a kettle of tea warm, like this: [![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71XQ+PAiVyL.jpg) ](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71XQ+PAiVyL.jpg) The thing is, it’s a diminutive, marked by the ending -chen, but there’s no root noun in German where it’s derived from, like “Stov” or “Stove”. And the connection between “stove” and “Stube” is news for me. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2025, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3505 "2025-11-06T19:22:11Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > You eat **[crackers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_(food))** instad of **[croutons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crouton)** with your soup? Well I’m cheap, I just eat a slice of toast or a Brötchen (Semmel, Schrippe, Wecke, bread roll) with my soup, no hifalutin croutons… ---
**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:** [November 6, 2025, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3506 "2025-11-06T19:33:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > British people don’t put crackers in their soup? Of course they don’t. [![](https://ispotsanta.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/christmas-crackers-hands.jpg) ](https://ispotsanta.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/christmas-crackers-hands.jpg) ---
**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:** [November 6, 2025, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3507 "2025-11-06T20:04:00Z")
Try **[it](https://www.smarticular.net/croutons-selber-machen-aus-altem-brot/)** (or any other cooking webpage you wish, there are plenty). You won’t regret it. And there is hardly anything cheaper than that. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2025, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3508 "2025-11-06T20:15:48Z")
I was a bit tongue in cheek, Of course I had soup with croutons, in restaurants. But I’m too lazy to make them myself and just stick a slice of bread in the toaster. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2025, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3509 "2025-11-06T20:19:07Z")
One of the depressing experiences that made me realize that we are doomed as a species was when I discovered that they sold **[croutons in the supermarket](https://media.cdn.kaufland.de/product-images/1024x1024/290d5b7dff63b9ab103cd363d6116224.jpg)**. More expensive for less quality. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2025, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3510 "2025-11-06T20:19:55Z")
Now, this I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole! ---
**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:** [November 6, 2025, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3511 "2025-11-06T20:22:28Z")
How about with a twelve-foot Lithuanian? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2025, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3512 "2025-11-06T20:50:58Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > British people don’t put crackers in their soup? Well, I don’t. Bread sometimes, either just as it comes (a slice or a roll, with or without butter) or as croutons. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2025, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3513 "2025-11-06T20:52:45Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > How about with a twelve-foot Lithuanian? Did you get that from your Christmas cracker 🫠? ---
**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:** [November 6, 2025, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3514 "2025-11-06T20:55:36Z")
Sorry to say that we put croutons in the Caesar salads we make every week or two, but the notion of making them myself has never crossed my mind. I’ve only ever known croutons as a store-bought product. But Caesar salad is the only use we have for them. I put saltines in chili and in some soups, but not croutons. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2025, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3515 "2025-11-06T20:56:24Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I put saltines in chili and in some soups, but not croutons. This is the correct answer. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3516 "2025-11-06T21:08:10Z")
[Etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=ho) gives ho’s early use more like “hark”. > exclamation of surprise, etc., c. 1300; as an exclamation calling attention or demanding silence, late 14c. Used after the name of a place to which attention is called (as in _Westward-Ho_) it dates from 1590s, originally a cry of boatmen, etc., announcing departures for a particular destination. And that it precedes whoa: > 1620s, a cry to call attention from a distance, a variant of who. Obsolete in the original sense. As a command to stop a horse, it is attested from 1843, a variant of ho. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2025, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3517 "2025-11-07T07:36:10Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > “Stove” to mean what you cook on is a chiefly American usage; “cooker” is the usual word elsewhere. I already knew that people in the UK use the word “cooker” but wasn’t aware that “stove” is mostly not used there. IME here in Australia “stove” is pretty much universal. Folks would know what you meant by “cooker” though. “Hob” is another one, meaning the cooktop part of a stove, ie not the oven part. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2025, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3518 "2025-11-07T09:24:24Z")
Gung Ho, on the other hand, has a completely different etymology. > **[Gung ho](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gung_ho)** > > Gung ho (/ɡʌŋˈhoʊ/) is an English term, with the current meaning of 'enthusiastic or energetic', especially overly so. It originated during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) from a Chinese term, 工合 (pinyin: gōnghé; lit. 'to work together'), short for Chinese Industrial Cooperatives (Chinese: 工業合作社; pinyin: Gōngyè Hézuòshè). > The linguist Albert Moe concluded that the term is an "Americanism that is derived from the Chinese, but its several accepted American meanings have no resemblance... j ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3519 "2025-11-07T11:25:41Z")
Today I learned that the typography designer who originally created the HBO logo is also responsible for creating the logo for the band AC/DC. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/SbSaoU0dIWs/maxresdefault.jpg "“Who cares?”") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbSaoU0dIWs) ---
**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:** [November 7, 2025, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3520 "2025-11-07T15:15:17Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Gung Ho, on the other hand, has a completely different etymology. I suppose back in the day explaining its meaning as “war horny” wouldn’t have washed. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=175) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=177)