# 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:** 227
**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:** [April 22, 2026, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4521 "2026-04-22T23:17:19Z")
Frances McDormand has been nominated three times for the Best Actress Oscar and three times for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Her record is 3-0 for Best Actress and 0-3 for Best Supporting Actress. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4522 "2026-04-23T00:12:03Z")
In some places dandelions are called some variation of “piss the bed”. > **[Why are Dandelions Called Pee the Beds: History and Folklore - Seed Sheets](https://seedsheets.com/why-are-dandelions-called-pee-the-beds-history-and-folklore/)** > > Why were dandelions once called "pee the beds"? Learn the origin, herbal link, and old folklore tied to this curious name. > **[When I was a child we called dandelions "piss-in-the-beds". We were told that...](https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-2265,00.html)** ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4523 "2026-04-23T00:23:25Z")
I knew this, because I have a little French and know that dandelions in French are “pissenlits”. Btw., you can make a very good salad out of young dandelion leaves, it tastes similar to arugula, though I never felt the diuretic effect myself. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4524 "2026-04-23T00:55:08Z")
That’s weird, since the English word “dandelion” is from French “dent de lion”. Did the French change their word for the plant? Or maybe it was never actually used in French for the plant and the English word was just taken from a French phrase for some reason? ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4525 "2026-04-23T01:00:58Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Btw., you can make a very good salad out of young dandelion leaves, it tastes similar to arugula, though I never felt the diuretic effect myself. It’s definitely a very good salad (you have to harvest the leaves before they bloom, or they get bitter), but it doesn’t have the peppery taste that’s so characteristic of arugula. Dandelion salad with bacon dressing is a key Easter tradition in my family. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4526 "2026-04-23T01:08:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s definitely a very good salad (you have to harvest the leaves before they bloom, or they get bitter) Yeah, you got to pick the still light-green, smaller leaves, or else they get too bitter. Btw., in German the plant is also called “dent de lion”, “Löwenzahn”. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4527 "2026-04-23T03:08:54Z")
Holy moly! I guess I remember her winning one, but had no idea how decorated she is. I guess I just stopped caring about the Oscars during that period. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4528 "2026-04-23T03:17:00Z")
She’s also won an Oscar as a producer. And been nominated for another producer Oscar, which she didn’t win. So her overall record is 4-4. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4529 "2026-04-23T05:27:45Z")
It’s really common to have multiple names for herbs and plants. Both names are found in both French and English. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4530 "2026-04-23T07:20:06Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > multiple names for herbs and plants Indeed. **[Here](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraxacum#Noms_vernaculaires)** is the wikipage for common names for the genus taraxacum, or dandelion, in French (the etymology is just above). And this is the **[English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraxacum#In_food)** page for the food uses of the plant. I vagely remember someone in this board who planned to make a drink starting with dandelions, if it is not **Einsteinshund** perhaps it was @Treppenwitz? Wonder what happened to that project, or whether my memory is playing games with me. In Spanish the plant is also called _diente de león_, or lion’s tooth. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4531 "2026-04-23T11:30:45Z")
Not to be confused with diente de dragón (soya sprouts) > **[Diente de Dragon Solo - Nueva China - Comida China y Sushi Premium](https://www.nuevachina.cl/pedir/categoria/Du9tWFmoYqxmW5JYh/p/vRQ4DPsLAwWQarrdg/diente-de-dragon-solo)** > > Diente de Dragón salteado. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4532 "2026-04-23T12:23:03Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I vagely remember someone in this board who planned to make a drink starting with dandelions, if it is not **Einsteinshund** perhaps it was @Treppenwitz? Wonder what happened to that project, or whether my memory is playing games with me. Yes, I remember a conversation about dandelion wine, maybe even in this very thread, with you and @Treppenwitz participating, but it wasn’t me who wanted to try making some. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4533 "2026-04-23T13:19:16Z")
There is one and only one place in Europe where wild monkeys roam free: Gibraltar. They are **[Barbary Macaques](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_macaques_in_Gibraltar)** (_Macaca sylvanus_) and there are about 300 of them divided in five troops. The wikiarticle writes among other things that nobody knows whether they are the remnants of the original monkeys that lived in Southern Europe during the Pliocene up to 5.5 million years ago. Repeated introduction of animals and the lack of reliable data has obscured their origin. The fact that all extant Gibraltarian mtDNA haplotypes were also found in North Africa, combined with the lack of fossil evidence of _M. sylvanus_ in Gibraltar at the end of the last glaciation, greatly diminishes the possibility that the Gibraltar macaques represent or include any remnant of the original European population, a possibility which can nevertheless not be excluded. The poor beasts are often fed junk food by tourists. Too salty, too sweet, it seems the worst food for them is ice cream. They are resorting to **[geophagy](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-44607-0)**, that is: the deliberate consumption of earth, mainly clay, to automedicate against the unwanted effects of junk food. Most of the tourists in Gibraltar are British. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4534 "2026-04-23T13:22:19Z")
Isn’t there a legend that when there are no longer monkeys in Gibraltar the U.K. will lose it? and thus preservation efforts by the authorities in the same vein as the ones to keep the ravens in the Tower of London? ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4535 "2026-04-23T13:25:48Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > when there are no longer monkeys in Gibraltar the U.K. will lose it If there are no monkeys, we don’t _want_ it ! ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4536 "2026-04-23T13:26:04Z")
I knew about the ravens’, but never heard about the monkeys’ legend. Feeding them junk food will free Gibraltar from English oppression? Now that would be funny. And what do you have to exterminate to get the Malvinas back, according to your lore? 😉 ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4537 "2026-04-23T13:34:45Z")
Sheep? That’s what I’ve heard the islands are only good for, raising sheep… ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4538 "2026-04-23T13:41:46Z")
Here’s wiki on the legend and the efforts (by Winston Churchill no less!) to maintain the monkey population and avoid the prophecy: > **[Barbary macaques in Gibraltar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_macaques_in_Gibraltar#:~:text=A%20popular%20belief%20holds%20that,because%20of%20this%20traditional%20belief)** > > .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct,.mw-parser-output .geo-inline-hidden{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}36°07′56″N 5°20′56″W / 36.132248°N 5.348875°W / 36.132248; -5.348875 (Apes' Den) > Originally from the Atlas Mountains and the Rif Mountains of Morocco, the Barbary macaque population in Gibraltar is t... ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4539 "2026-04-23T14:48:52Z")
So today I learned the [Jewish Bund](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Jewish_Labour_Bund) is an entirely different thing than a [Jewish Bundt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundt_cake), although the German words _Bund_ and _Bundt_ are cognate. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2026, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4540 "2026-04-23T15:03:46Z")
And I had never heard about the Jewish Bund nor the word bundt cake (or German Bundkuchen), to me that has always been a Guglhupf, which is a funny word. The “Gugl” part is pronounced like “Google”, btw. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=226) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=228)