# 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:** 248
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4941 "2026-06-21T11:25:29Z")
Thanks, I should try that one. In doing a little googling I did learn that Dundee is a style not a brand name - ignorance fought! I really like the bitter Seville orange marmalades that are very set, not runny and sweet. Pretty much everything I’ve found in the US is dessert-sweet with little or no peel in it. I sense a rabbit hole in my future 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4942 "2026-06-21T14:00:43Z")
There should be an English equivalent because duels were governed by social conventions called the [Code duello](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_duello), and that code was roughly the same across Western cultures. But I asked an LLM what the English name was for someone who’s eligible to fight duels under the Code duello, and the answer I got was simply “gentleman”, so my guess is that while the concept exists, there is no snappy idiomatic adjective in English that would be equivalent to German “satisfaktionsfähig“. A good read (and short - it’s basically just a somewhat lengthy short story, not a novel) about this way of thinking is Arthur Schnitzler’s “Lieutenant Gustl” (1900), about a parvenu officer who’s tormented by the fact that he has been insulted by someone who is not “satisfaktionsfähig“, so he can’t restore his honour by way of a duel. It’s one of the first pieces of modern literature that uses a “stream of consciousness” style of internal monologue, and caused quite a stir when it was published. ---
**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:** [June 21, 2026, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4943 "2026-06-21T17:15:09Z")
I knew you would know about it if there was a law ruling it, thanks for the reference to code duello (sounds almost like a parody). I also found the story in German. Stream of conciousness indeed, I see why it caused a stir 126 years ago in k.u.k. Austria. **[Wehrkraftzersetzend](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schnitzler#Ruhm_und_Skandal_(1896%E2%80%931901))**! If the Austrians felt hurt it must have hit a nerve. > **[Arthur\_Schnitzler\_-\_Leutnant\_Gustl.pdf](https://www.literaturdownload.at/pdf/Arthur_Schnitzler_-_Leutnant_Gustl.pdf)** > > 149.10 KB ---
**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:** [June 21, 2026, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4944 "2026-06-21T21:14:33Z")
If the insulter was that much lower on the social scale, wasn’t the traditional response to have the miscreant whipped or beaten, without any obligation of making a fair fight of it? ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4945 "2026-06-21T23:03:21Z")
Today, chasing down a rabbit hole, I found this on Wikipedia: > For gem identification purposes, a pick-up response to a strong [neodymium magnet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neodymium_magnet "Neodymium magnet") separates garnet from all other natural transparent gemstones commonly used in the jewelry trade. [Magnetic susceptibility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_susceptibility "Magnetic susceptibility") measurements in conjunction with refractive index can be used to distinguish garnet species and varieties, and determine the composition of garnets in terms of percentages of end-member species within an individual gem.[[15]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garnet#cite_note-15) [Wikiepia: Garnet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garnet#Gemstones) ---
**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:** [June 22, 2026, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4946 "2026-06-22T13:48:19Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I have no idea how to translate “nicht satisfaktionsfähig” into English, but of course I know the meaning. It’s “you’re below your ranks to be given the chance for getting satisfaction in a duel against someone nobler”, but there’s not one word that captures it. Interesting word. There doesn’t appear to be a single-word English equivalent. I’d create a calque “satisfactionable”. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2026, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4947 "2026-06-22T14:16:28Z")
How about we make up a word, like “Duelworthy” Like Elaine’s “Spongeworthy” guys on _Seinfeld_. ---
**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 22, 2026, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4948 "2026-06-22T14:23:20Z")
I took up fencing in college but dropped out because my French wasn’t up to snuff. I think Anglo-sphere duelists kept the Continental terminology to keep the riff-raff out. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4949 "2026-06-22T15:17:37Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > > > I have no idea how to translate “nicht satisfaktionsfähig” into English, but of course I know the meaning. It’s “you’re below your ranks to be given the chance for getting satisfaction in a duel against someone nobler”, but there’s not one word that captures it . > > Interesting word. There doesn’t appear to be a single-word English equivalent. I’d create a calque “satisfactionable” . I could see a haughty gentlemen spitting out at a fire-in-the-belly plebe “_You’re not_ **owed** _satisfaction!_” ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4950 "2026-06-22T17:45:42Z")
> [@saje](#): > > I really like the bitter Seville orange marmalades that are very set, not runny and sweet. Pretty much everything I’ve found in the US is dessert-sweet with little or no peel in it. I sense a rabbit hole in my future 😛 I thoroughly agree with you. Thick and bitter. My favorite is a Citrus Orange Marmalade made by a Madison, WI company, Quince&Apple. They recently changed hands, and I stockpiled some beforehand, so I can’t speak to the “new” stuff, but the previous owner says they’re using the same recipes. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4951 "2026-06-22T19:32:43Z")
_Kummerspeck_- literally “grief bacon” means the weight you gain due to sadness, stress, etc. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2026, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4952 "2026-06-22T19:41:44Z")
Almost technically right, but note that “Speck” in German doesn’t only mean “bacon” in the culinary sense, but also the body fat people gather on the hips and belly by overeating (in this case caused by personal grief). So the right translation rather is “grief fat”. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2026, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4953 "2026-06-22T20:18:21Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > I could see a haughty gentlemen spitting out at a fire-in-the-belly plebe “_You’re not_ **owed** _satisfaction!_” As I answered **Frodo** in **[#4936](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4936)** it also means “You could not give me satisfaction even if you died in a duell at my hands, you lowly worthless scum!” No one owns you satisfaction when they insult you because you are not worth it, and you cannot grant satisfaction when you insult someone because your life is worthless. Both meanings reinforce each other. Thus I claim **nicht satisfaktionsfähig** is a concept best used by **[reappropiation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reappropriation)**. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4954 "2026-06-23T21:32:49Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > . we live and learn I thought they were native to Southern Africa. Live and learn indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4955 "2026-06-24T10:26:31Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > If the insulter was that much lower on the social scale, wasn’t the traditional response to have the miscreant whipped or beaten, without any obligation of making a fair fight of it? Killing your servants is, as Kipling put it, “wasteful as well as unkind”. Your inferiors are untrained because they aren’t allowed weapons, and raising your hand against your superior is a crime. If those people were permitted to train and dual, you bet that life for the upper class would be shorter. ---
**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 24, 2026, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4956 "2026-06-24T20:14:42Z")
I may be the only person who didn’t know this - and if that’s the case my apologies, and I lay the blame entirely on the way history is taught in this country (UK). I recently heard a passing comment on TV (or maybe read something) and hours later thought to myself: hang on, did they just suggest that Sugar Cane didn’t originate in the Americas? Looked it up. It certainly did not. I mean, _chemically refined sugar_ dates back to India 2500 years ago(!). _Christopher Columbus took sugar cane to the Caribbean._ j ---
**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:** [June 25, 2026, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4957 "2026-06-25T00:04:58Z")
One of the lesser-known areas of the independent invention of agriculture was New Guinea, where originated sugar cane, bananas, and taro among others. ---
**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 25, 2026, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4958 "2026-06-25T13:19:43Z")
And one candidate for the first domesticated plant ever was squash, in the Americas. Of course, it’s hard to be sure of the first, since once one plant is domesticated it’s much easier to domesticate others, and once one group of people practices agriculture, it’ll quickly spread to all other groups they’re in contact with. Plus, as you say, it was independently developed in many different places that weren’t in contact with each other. ---
**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 25, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4959 "2026-06-25T17:37:56Z")
Localities in Britain have 78 definitions for the size a hole has to be before it can officially be declared a pothole. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2026, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4960 "2026-06-25T19:47:37Z")
Today I learned bald eagles live in North America, and… just North America. (But apparently golden eagles can be found all over the world.) However, in 1987, [a bald eagle somehow flew to Ireland](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/12/23/Wayward-American-eagle-wings-home-from-Ireland-in-style/1684567234000/). Wildlife officials in Ireland nursed it back to health, and then sent it back on a jet to New York. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=247) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=249)