# 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:** 236
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4701 "2026-05-19T23:26:01Z")
I wonder how many of those last names were assigned to immigrants as they entered the country because that was the town they were from. When my great grandparents came to this country, they were given an entirely different last name. That said, their last name had been my great grandfather’s first name with a -sen added at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2026, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4702 "2026-05-20T00:14:30Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I’d never thought there were such dictionaries. You might be amused by this guy, who memorized the French dictionary and won a tournament despite not speaking any French. > [@](#): > > In 2015, despite not speaking French,[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards#cite_note-TheWorld-2)Richards won the [French World Scrabble Championships](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_World_Scrabble_Championships "French World Scrabble Championships"), after reportedly spending nine weeks studying the French dictionary.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards#cite_note-3) He won it again in 2018, and multiple [duplicate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplicate_Scrabble "Duplicate Scrabble")titles from 2017 to 2019.[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards#cite_note-4) In 2025, Richards won the blitz, paire and [duplicate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplicate_Scrabble "Duplicate Scrabble") title in [Trois-Rivières](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivi%C3%A8res "Trois-Rivières"), Canada.[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards#cite_note-5)[[6]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards#cite_note-6)[[7]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards#cite_note-7) > > In 2024, Richards accomplished a similar feat by winning the [Spanish-language World Championships](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_World_Scrabble_Championship "Spanish World Scrabble Championship").[[8]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards#cite_note-spanish-8)[[9]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards#cite_note-9) > **[Nigel Richards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Richards)** > > Nigel Richards (born 1967) is a New Zealand Scrabble player. Widely regarded as the greatest Scrabble player of all time, he became World Champion in 2007, and repeated the feat in 2011, 2013, 2018, and 2019. He also won the third World English-Language Scrabble Players' Association Championship (WESPAC) in 2019. > Richards is also a five-time U.S. national champion (four times consecutively from 2010 to 2013), a ten-time UK Open champion, a 12-time champion of the Singapore Open Scrabble Champ... ---
**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:** [May 20, 2026, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4703 "2026-05-20T00:22:47Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > You might be amused by this guy, who memorized the French dictionary and won a tournament despite not speaking any French. Wow! People like this, I have no explanation for, but they have my deepest respect. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2026, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4704 "2026-05-20T01:54:27Z")
Most people who have seen “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) are familiar with this [this musical number](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur7GnxTkS-M) after the group enters Oz. Nothing resembles this occurs in the first “Oz” book, but I guess it’s possible it occurs in a later one. Anyway. . . I was looking for early references to Santa Claus saying “Ho! Ho! Ho!” and I came across this little rhyme from Santa: “With a ho, ho ho! And a ha, ha, ha! And a ho, ho! ha, ha! hee! Now away we go O’er the frozen snow As merry as can be!” Sounds like it could be pretty much the same rhythm to my ears. This comes from a book called [The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1902)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_and_Adventures_of_Santa_Claus), written by. . . L. Frank Baum. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2026, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4705 "2026-05-20T01:57:36Z")
> [@billy-jack](#): > > I wonder how many of those last names were assigned to immigrants as they entered the country because that was the town they were from. That immigrants were assigned new names when they entered the U.S. is an urban legend. At places like Ellis Island, order depended upon the immigrants keeping the exact name shown on their entrance papers, such as boat tickets. Names were easily changeable once they were in the country. Those who became naturalized citizens had an opportunity to change them legally, but many simply adopted Americanized names and passed them on. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2026, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4706 "2026-05-20T02:00:02Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Maybe it’s just a coincidence. That would be quite the coincidence! ---
**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:** [May 20, 2026, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4707 "2026-05-20T14:03:26Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Most people who have seen “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) are familiar with this [this musical number](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur7GnxTkS-M) after the group enters Oz. Nothing resembles this occurs in the first “Oz” book, but I guess it’s possible it occurs in a later one. It wouldn’t have been possible in the first Oz book. Most people don’t realize that the “Emerald City” in L. Frank Baum’s books isn’t green at all. It’s probably White, like the “White City” that was the 1893 Columbian World Exposition in Chicago that made a big impression on Baum (and everyone else in the US) at the time. The city _appeared_ to be green because everyone entering the city was required, by law, to have green spectacles locked onto their faces. So _everything_ would have looked green, or at least be green-tinted. So you couldn’t have a “horse of a different color” that changed colors constantly. Only green. > **[LitCharts](https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-wizard-of-oz/symbols/the-green-spectacles)** > > The Green Spectacles Symbol in The Wizard of Oz | LitCharts ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2026, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4708 "2026-05-20T14:15:31Z")
Well, thanks for the edification, but I was referring to the musical number and its similarity to another Baum work, not the color-shifting equinery. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2026, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4709 "2026-05-20T16:57:01Z")
Putting “ho, ho ho!” “ha, ha, ha!” into a newspaper database brings up dozens of hits from the period 1890-1900. It was used as the standard form of a jolly or extended laugh by many writers in many situations. Heck, it even appears in a reprint of Poe’s “The Purloined Letter”! Baum surely knew this and used this standard phrase as a jumping off point. The writers of the song surely knew this as well. Of course, it’s possible they read more of Baum than just the Oz book, saw this rhyme and borrowed its start. But, probably coincidence, just like the use of any standard phrase in multiple works. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2026, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4710 "2026-05-20T20:50:27Z")
I learned a while back that José Cuervo was a real person, not just some marketing mascot, and he was instrumental in creating modern tequila as we know it today (there were agave spirits before that, of course, but he refined it into modern tequila). The name, “tequila”, incidentally is one of those protected region of origin names – you can only call an agave spirit “tequila” if it comes from the city of Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico. And I’m pretty sure Cuervo or at least his company had a lot to do with that, as well. [https://www.foodandwine.com/jose-cuervo-sauza-tequila-wars-11799242](https://www.foodandwine.com/jose-cuervo-sauza-tequila-wars-11799242) > [@CalMeacham](#): > > Most people don’t realize that the “Emerald City” in L. Frank Baum’s books isn’t green at all. It’s probably White, like the “White City” that was the 1893 Columbian World Exposition in Chicago that made a big impression on Baum (and everyone else in the US) at the time. When they made the movie they really wanted to show off the fact that it was in color, so they very intentionally put in a lot of bright, contrasting colors in the sets. Apparently that’s also why the Wicked Witch was green; there’s nothing about her being green in the books. That could be why they made the Emerald City green as well, but of course it’s also just easier to show a green city on film than it is to show the characters looking at it through green spectacles. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2026, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4711 "2026-05-20T21:09:35Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I learned a while back that José Cuervo was a real person, not just some marketing mascot, and he was instrumental in creating modern tequila as we know it today (there were agave spirits before that, of course, but he refined it into modern tequila). The name, “tequila”, incidentally is one of those protected region of origin names – you can only call an agave spirit “tequila” if it comes from the city of Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico. And I’m pretty sure Cuervo or at least his company had a lot to do with that, as well. _The Cuervo Gold_ _The fine Colombian_ _Make tonight a wonderful thing_ Took me years to parse that line. Damn, was I innocent! ---
**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:** [May 20, 2026, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4712 "2026-05-20T21:12:31Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > The name, “tequila”, incidentally is one of those protected region of origin names – you can only call an agave spirit “tequila” if it comes from the city of Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico. Almost. It has to be made in the _State_ of Jalisco and a few other designated nearby areas. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2026, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4713 "2026-05-20T21:44:37Z")
Some of the designated regions are in four other Mexican states: Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit, and Tamaulipas. But the thing that mostly distiquishes tequila from other mezcals is the use of blue agave. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4714 "2026-05-20T22:29:19Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > _The Cuervo Gold_ > _The fine Colombian_ > _Make tonight a wonderful thing_ > > Took me years to parse that line. Damn, was I innocent! I got the drug and alcohol references. But I always thought that the last line was ambiguous. Was it [_please_] Make tonight a wonderful thing, a plea to have this shaky relationship go well, or was it [_will_] Make tonight a wonderful thing, a confident boast? The rest of the song, and the spin Fagan puts on the word “make”, indicates it could go either way. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4715 "2026-05-21T05:03:02Z")
If you could walk in a straight line around the earth at the equator, your head would travel 37 more feet than your feet (assuming 6’ high). ---
**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:** [May 21, 2026, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4716 "2026-05-21T09:10:21Z")
12’ x pi comes out to just over 37’ 8" . ---
**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:** [May 21, 2026, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4717 "2026-05-21T12:48:37Z")
That does not depend on the straight line or the equator, it is just because of the distance and the curvature of the Earth, and that is quite constant everywhere and in all directions when on flat terrain. The length of equator being about 40,075 kilometers (24,901 miles), and a normal athletic track being 400 m long on the innermost lane, you would get the same result if you went around one such track 100,187.5 times. It sounds boring, but at least you don’t have to walk on water. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4718 "2026-05-21T15:28:27Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > but at least you don’t have to walk on water. But that’s the fun part! ---
**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:** [May 21, 2026, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4719 "2026-05-21T17:35:17Z")
But the Earth is oblate, not a perfect sphere so the equatoral distance is more than a Great Circle (what I think was meant by “straight line”) passing through the poles. **ETA:** or are you saying that due to Earth’s gravity producing an (approximately) equipotential, the total curvature would always work out the same? ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4720 "2026-05-21T18:09:41Z")
If you are in the right place, you can walk around the world in just a few minutes. I have read that it has been done by several people. If you define walking around the world to mean crossing every line of longitude, all you need to do is to go the South Pole. Plot out a circle a few feet from the precise point of the South Pole and walk around it. In doing so, you would cross every line of longitude and would thus have walked around the world. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=235) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=237)