# 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:** 199
**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:** [January 11, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3961 "2026-01-11T22:01:27Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Well there’s _some_ reason why Val-u-Cola doesn’t taste as good as Coca-Cola or Pepsi. Does it? Have you ever done a blind taste test? And is the “better” taste inherent, or just what you’re more used to? ---
**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:** [January 11, 2026, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3962 "2026-01-11T22:21:16Z")
At least for diet cola where the flavors aren’t drowned in sugar, yes the taste really is different/better. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2026, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3963 "2026-01-11T22:25:16Z")
Mark Pendergrast’s meticulously researched 1993 book, _For God, Country, and Coca-Cola_, included the original secret formula, which he found in a search of the company archives, and confirmed from more recent exposures. (I know that William Poundstone’s _Big Secrets_ had a formula in 1983, but Pengergrast said that while it was very close it did not quite match the original.) He told also a Coke spokesman that he might print the formula in his book and thereby let competitors use it under a different name. The spokesman provided this wonderfully cynical quote: > Fine. Now what? What are they going to charge for it? How are they going to distribute it? How are they going to advertise? See what I’m driving at? We’ve spent over a hundred years and untold amounts of money building the equity of the brand name. Without our economies of scale and our incredible marketing system, whoever tried to duplicate out product would go nowhere, and they’d have to charge too much. Why would anyone go out of their way to buy Yum-Yum, which is really just like Coca-Cola, but costs more, when they can buy the Real Thing anywhere in the world? Coke continues to outsell Pepsi almost everywhere, with about five countries being exceptions. Pepsi has made many successful acquisitions within the food and beverage world and therefore makes even more money. They’re both doing OK. They could slide me a billion without missing it. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3964 "2026-01-11T23:27:15Z")
Coca-Cola hasn’t been the same since they took the cocaine out of the recipe. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2026, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3965 "2026-01-11T23:59:29Z")
Elston Howard was a catcher for the Yankees, playing in New York from 1955 through 1967, when he was traded to the Red Sox. He made the all-star team each year from 1957 till 1965, and was MVP in 1963. The Yanks played in the World Series 9 times during Howard’s tenure with them. Today I learned that Elston Howard was the first African-American to play for the Yankees. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2026, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3966 "2026-01-12T01:07:50Z")
I know this is a standard joke, but it gives me a chance to drop a random fact that few people know. From 1886-1903 the company used ecgonine, a precursor and metabolite to cocaine and today a Schedule II controlled substance. Google AI - I’m lazy tonite - tells me: > Ecgonine, along with benzoylecgonine and ecgonine methyl ester, are the primary breakdown products (metabolites) of cocaine in the human body. These metabolites are generally considered to be **pharmacologically inactive** or have significantly less effect than cocaine. … its psychoactive effects are minimal to non-existent. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2026, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3967 "2026-01-12T02:48:37Z")
Anna Leonowens, known for _Anna and the King of Siam_ and, of course, _The King and I,_ was Boris Karloff’s great-aunt. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3968 "2026-01-12T04:01:55Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Which makes me wonder if the alternate Earth Howard was from was one inhabited by essentially human beings who just happened to be shaped a lot like ducks. Supported by the storyline in which Howard was temporarily mutated by Dr. Bong into fully human appearance. They didn’t go that route in Howard’s MCU tenure. He started off as a member of Collector’s collections at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, then had a few cameo roles before appearing in What If? They didn’t touch his pre-MCU background. He’s more like the Bob Newhart “Only sane person in the room” archetype. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2026, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3969 "2026-01-12T13:23:52Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Anna Leonowens, known for _Anna and the King of Siam_ and, of course, _The King and I,_ was Boris Karloff’s great-aunt. And his name at birth was William Henry Pratt - not the most striking name for a wouldbe actor (especially in slang on this side of the water) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3970 "2026-01-12T13:51:00Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > The inspiration for Esgaroth (Lake-Town) in _The Hobbit_. I’ve long thought so, too, although I’ve seen reconstructions that have the houses sitting on the ghround with the “stilts” forming a palisade. In any event, the image of houses sitting on pilings over lake, rather than over marshy ground or in a palisade (as used to be depicted in a diorama at the Field Museum in Chicago, and in countless illustrations I saw as a kid) is pretty much not believed these days. So good-bye to Esgaroth. Tolkien, despite his denigration of modern science and technology, pretty evidently uses its findings in his writings. So you’ve got Saruman saying that white light can be broken into colors, and you’ve got him and his orcs using gunpowder. And the flying Nazgul seem, from the description in the books, to be riding pterosaurs (as depicted in the Ralph Bakshi movie, even if it’s some different kind of beastie in the Peter Jacson movie and the Brothers Hildebrandt painings) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3971 "2026-01-12T14:00:56Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Mark Pendergrast’s meticulously researched 1993 book, _For God, Country, and Coca-Cola_, included the original secret formula, which he found in a search of the company archives, and confirmed from more recent exposures. (I know that William Poundstone’s _Big Secrets_ had a formula in 1983, but Pengergrast said that while it was very close it did not quite match the original.) > > He told also a Coke spokesman that he might print the formula in his book and thereby let competitors use it under a different name. The spokesman provided this wonderfully cynical quote: I read both books, too. But observe that lots of companies DO sell a “Cola Beverage” – not just C&C and Jolt (or the HoJo cola they used to see at Howard Johnson’s, and the Fritz Cola they now sell in Germany). Even my home town soda bottlers (back when we had such things) sold and marketed a “Cola Soda” that tasted not far removed from Coke. The reason, as Poundstone points out in his book, is that non of these formulations taste at all like coca leaves or kola buts – both of whose active ingredients are bitter – but taste instead like the “Fantasia” blend that is used to cover that up. And that fantasia blend is available from places like Merory’s recipe book (which Poundstone cites). It’s essentially a mix of vanilla, cinnamon, and citrus oil (not juice). Once this was pointed out to me I couldn’t help but notice it. In fact, I found that meads flavored with vanilla and cinnamon taste an awful lot like Coca Cola. It’s thought that Coca Cola uses more orange oil and Pe[psi more lemon. That consistent with recent blends of “lemon Pepsi” and “orange Coke”, or the old commercials about drinking Pepsi warm with lemon in the winter. What makes both brands unique are the other, obscure flavorings added – maybe lavender oil, or ylang-ylang, or something else. As has been pointe out, someone with a mass spectrometer and gas chromatographer can break down just about anything. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2026, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3972 "2026-01-12T16:45:53Z")
How many cola drinks have been on the market over the years? Thousands, maybe. Does Coke taste better than all of them? No, because taste is subjective. New Coke only happened because people preferred Pepsi in blind taste tests. Coke dominates, as its spokesman said, because of a century of relentless marketing, advertising, and branding. Taste is far down the list. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2026, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3973 "2026-01-12T17:31:19Z")
When I was a Cola drinker, it was Coke or nothing. I could definitely 100% taste the difference. Obviously it wasn’t better, it was what I was used to drinking. I probably had Coke first at McDonald’s; Mom would never have it in the house. I was talking to this about a co-worker who was a Pepsi fan. A third co-worker asked us why we didn’t like the other one and we simultaneously said, “it’s too sweet”. I switched to Sprite for many years. Slice was just awful to my tastes but its replacement Sierra Mist was close enough to be acceptable. Apparently there is Starry now but I gave up soda six years ago and I haven’t tried it. Now it’s plain soda water. I have a carbonator at home and I just add a splash of pomegranate juice. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3974 "2026-01-12T19:37:25Z")
It’s the combo of cinnamon and coriander that makes the biggest contribution to the taste of cola drink and bubblegum. I don’t like the effect, which is why I never use cinnamon and coriander in the same curry, and I omit coriander from my garam masala formula. I like coriander for the tasty way it combines with other spices. Especially cumin with coriander is a classic pairup. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3975 "2026-01-12T20:30:49Z")
Neither Cunningham’s nor Pundstone’s books list coriander as a flavor component in Coca Cola. Nor cumin, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3976 "2026-01-12T22:32:59Z")
I read it in a book. I can’t remember the title. It was one of the _Big Secrets_ books or something similar. I didn’t imply that cumin had anything to do with it—that was just an aside. Try mixing cinnamon with coriander and fruit flavors, and taste what I mean. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2026, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3977 "2026-01-12T23:26:05Z")
The city of Yukon, Oklahoma, is in “Canadian” county. (yes - both have the origins of their names from Canada). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3978 "2026-01-12T23:32:47Z")
Oklahoma also has an Ottawa County, and, of course, the Canadian River. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3979 "2026-01-13T12:39:35Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I read it in a book. I can’t remember the title. It was one of the _Big Secrets_ books or something similar. I didn’t imply that cumin had anything to do with it—that was just an aside. My copies of Big Secrets and For God, Country and Coca Cola are buried away, so I can’t check them. I don’t recall coriander as a major ingredient, like the vanilla, cinnamon, and citrus oil, A quick look on the internet shows that it appears Pendergast did list coriander among the minor flavorings. I can’t verify Poundstone’s recipe. But the page in Wikipedia on Coca ola formula does list three of them that include coriander as a minor ingredient. So my apologies – coriander is listed as an ingredient, but it’s down among the lavender and neroli oils in importance. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2026, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3980 "2026-01-15T06:49:04Z")
Speaking of Lake Superior, I just this very evening learned that Duluth, Minnesota calls itself: **The Zenith City of Unsalted Seas** If there exists a more poetic civic nickname than that, I’d like to hear it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=198) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=200)