# 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:** 242
**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:** [June 9, 2026, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4821 "2026-06-09T19:48:00Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > [Surfing - Newquay](https://www.visitnewquay.org/things-to-do/water-sports/surfing#:~:text=Newquay%20is%20well%20known%20for,worldwide%20%2D%20and%20that's%20the%20surfing). I would be _very_ surprised if anybody was surfing there in 1958. ---
**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:** [June 9, 2026, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4822 "2026-06-09T19:51:38Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Just wondering where he found something approximating a surfboard in England in 1958. I’m sure I remember something about the original windsurfing board being an old door. But I’m in a hotel in Normandy right now, with my phone pressed against the window to find enough signal to reply. I’ll look it up when I can. j ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4823 "2026-06-09T19:53:00Z")
Yeah, just beat me to it- surfing is really popular in Cornwall especially, with a few other spots around England. Not the warmest place to surf, but why would you assume there’s no waves? ---
**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:** [June 9, 2026, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4824 "2026-06-09T19:53:30Z")
Likewise a fair point. j ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4825 "2026-06-09T20:04:05Z")
Be prepared to be very surprised then. Please excuse the appallingly difficult to read website, but there are records of people surfing in Newquay from the 1920s. > **[Lewis Rosenberg builds a wooden board and records the earliest known film of...](https://www.museumofbritishsurfing.org.uk/timeline/lewis-rosenberg-builds-a-wooden-board-and-records-the-earliest-known-film-of-an-attempt-at-stand-up-surfing-in-britain/)** > > Lewis Rosenberg builds a wooden board and records the earliest known film of an attempt at stand up surfing in Britain in c1929. Lewis Rosenberg and his chums had seen a (Australian or Hawaiian) newsreel of surfers standing on their boards riding in... ETA: by the late 1930s they were actually using surf images for adverts for Newquay holidays. I expect it tailed off a bit over the next few years, mind. ---
**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:** [June 9, 2026, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4826 "2026-06-09T20:11:02Z")
Now I remember, as detailed recently on these boards, Agatha Christie stated surfing in - accounts vary - maybe 1922. She lived in Greenway, a short drive from Cornwall. So, y’know? j j ---
**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:** [June 9, 2026, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4827 "2026-06-09T20:13:09Z")
Let’s call that a simulpost. j ---
**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:** [June 9, 2026, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4828 "2026-06-09T21:16:32Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Just learned that the Straight of Hormuz is named for the Zoastrian god (or technically one half of the dualist god) Ahura Mazda. It’s also the [planet Jupiter](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D9%87%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%B2#Proper_noun_2). and a cognate of _mind_, _mental_, and _mantra._ ---
**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:** [June 10, 2026, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4829 "2026-06-10T03:48:43Z")
TIL today: the car manufacturer Mazda is also named for the god Ahura Mazda. I’d always assumed that it was a Japanese word. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2026, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4830 "2026-06-10T04:50:52Z")
One clue is that all Japanese syllables end in a vowel or “n”…I think. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4831 "2026-06-10T07:43:37Z")
An explanation of the Japanese syllable structure is at this URL: > **[Japanese Syllables](https://www2.latech.edu/~sajones/Foreign%20Languages/Japanese%20Syllables.htm)** ---
**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:** [June 10, 2026, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4832 "2026-06-10T12:23:38Z")
[That’s one explanation.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda) According to the wiki, its Japanese name is “Matsuda,” which by sheer coincidence was also the founder’s name. They might have come up with Mazda and the alternate etymology to appeal to Western ears. Similarly, I once saw an interview with some of the founders of “Sony,” and that name was alleged to have been a combination of the Latin word “sonus” for “sound,” and the fact that they were all young “sonny boys.” ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4833 "2026-06-10T14:58:30Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > TIL today: the car manufacturer Mazda is also named for the god Ahura Mazda. I’d always assumed that it was a Japanese word I’m also learning that today, I assumed it was coincidence, Zoarastrianism having never being particularly influential in Japan. Apparently not, I do wonder how the people who named it came up with the name (though wiki says it “also derives from the name of the company’s founder, [Jujiro Matsuda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jujiro_Matsuda "Jujiro Matsuda")”) > Mazda comes from [Ahura Mazda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahura_Mazda "Ahura Mazda"), the god of harmony, intelligence and wisdom from the [earliest civilization in West Asia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Iran "History of Iran"). Key members of Toyo Kogyo interpreted Mazda as a symbol of the beginning of the East and the West civilization, but also a symbol of the automotive civilization and culture."[[14]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda#cite_note-14) ---
**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:** [June 11, 2026, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4834 "2026-06-11T00:10:19Z")
The last living son of a Civil War veteran died on June 7, 2026. Chester Parker Pool, born on March 27, 1844, served with the West Virginia Infantry. He was 80 when his son, William Pool, was born on January 13, 1925. Charles died eight years later. Charles had married Clara Belle Straw when he was 71 and she was 27. They had five children together. William was 101 when he died. ---
**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:** [June 11, 2026, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4835 "2026-06-11T14:53:21Z")
Chester = Charles? ---
**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:** [June 11, 2026, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4836 "2026-06-11T17:47:49Z")
Charles. Chester was the name he gave to the leg he lost in the war. (Losing the leg is real. The name is speculation.) ---
**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:** [June 11, 2026, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4837 "2026-06-11T17:50:41Z")
So he was the man with one leg called Chester, what was the name of his other leg? ---
**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:** [June 11, 2026, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4838 "2026-06-11T18:02:26Z")
Fields. ---
**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:** [June 11, 2026, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4839 "2026-06-11T18:03:31Z")
That’s in case the lost leg was the left leg, if it was the right leg then the other leg was called “man”. ---
**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:** [June 11, 2026, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4840 "2026-06-11T18:22:57Z")
Must have been his left leg. If Charles lost his man parts, how did he father five kids in his seventies? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=241) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=243)