# 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:** 253
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2026, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5041 "2026-07-05T14:04:17Z")
Did you get up close! I’ve been watching its progress online, super cool! ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2026, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5042 "2026-07-05T15:52:20Z")
I did! The line to look at the cab of #4012 was huge, but worth the 2 hour wait. I got some really cool pictures, and I think Steamtown is on my list for a return visit. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2026, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5043 "2026-07-07T06:49:17Z")
We stopped by the side of the road because, reasons, and the place we stopped had a plant growing there that I was unfamiliar with. It had tall, fuzzy magenta inflorescences that the bumblers were going over. I took some pictures in which I later noticed that some some of the flowers had transformed into raspberry-like fruits, except that they were the same odd magenta color. Loaded onto this here device, the photos app observed the foliage, and it identified it as rose spirea. Looking that up, I learned that it produces salicylates, which explains why it is a fruit that not many people are familiar with. It cannot be pleasant to eat, and could cause issues if eaten in quantity. I further learned that this plant, spirea, provides the etymology for “aspirin”. [![](https://www.thetreecenter.com/c/uploads/2022/02/Rose_Spirea_1-copy-600x600.jpg) ](https://www.thetreecenter.com/c/uploads/2022/02/Rose_Spirea_1-copy-600x600.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2026, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5044 "2026-07-07T12:16:23Z")
Cool! Two of our big, shrubby hedges are spireas — the “Renaissance” variety, with springtime white inflorescences, but not in stalks. I never knew the connection to aspirin. (The technical name for aspirin is salicylic acid, from Salix, the botanical name for a willow. This Latin word became the Spanish “sauce” (SAOUW-say, more or less). Hence, “soy sauce” means “I am a willow tree” in Spanish!). ---
**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:** [July 7, 2026, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5045 "2026-07-07T13:45:33Z")
😆 It would usually be “Soy **un** sauce”, “soy sauce” is “I am willow tree” not “I am **a** willow tree” “Soy sauce” though, is grammatically correct. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2026, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5046 "2026-07-07T15:34:33Z")
While we’re here … Would constructions like “soy sauce” be used in “caveman” Spanish in Spanish-language media? Or Spanish marked in some other way, meant to convey “otherness”? EDIT: _Soy Groot!_ – was that a thing back when _Guardians of the Galaxy_ was a new hit film? ---
**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:** [July 7, 2026, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5047 "2026-07-07T16:09:38Z")
If you say “soy XX” and XX is a name, or a nationality, like “soy Pedro” or “soy Argentino” (speaking for @Frodo here, who is probably watching a football game right now), or an adjective like tall (_soy alto_) it would be absolutely correct. But if you say you are something that can be counted, like willows (_sauce_ in Spanish) you should say how many you are (usually one, I guess) or you will sound like a caveman or a stupid foreigner. But some adjectives also require an _un_, like idiot: _soy un idiota_. It is probably even more complicated than that, but that is a start. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2026, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5048 "2026-07-07T16:13:43Z")
“Idiot” is a noun, not an adjective. The adjective would be “idiotic”. In English, both “I’m an idiot” and “I’m idiotic” would be correct, but the former would be much more common. For nationalities, both “I’m American” and “I’m an American” would be correct, though I can’t help but feel that there’s some shade of nuance different between them. On the other hand, for some nationalities it would differ: “I’m British”, vs. “I’m a Brit”. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2026, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5049 "2026-07-07T16:18:36Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > “Idiot” is a noun, not an adjective. The adjective would be “idiotic”. You’re correct. In Spanish both the noun and the adjective are identical: _idiota_, which is both feminine and masculine. But in some cases _idiota_ is a noun, in others it is an adjective. Thinking about it, in _soy un idiota_ “idiota” is a name, in _soy idiota_ it would be an adjective. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2026, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5050 "2026-07-07T19:34:25Z")
Yeah, “soy sauce” only works if “sauce” means something different than the tree, suppose for example that there is a team whose nickname is “Los Sauces” if you are a fan of that team you may say “Soy sauce” ---
**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:** [July 8, 2026, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5051 "2026-07-08T12:14:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > For nationalities, both “I’m American” and “I’m an American” would be correct, though I can’t help but feel that there’s some shade of nuance different between them. I would think that “I’m an American” is an abbreviated way of saying “I’m an American person” (or inhabitant/citizen/something), ie, it’s an adjective in that case. ---
**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:** [July 8, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5052 "2026-07-08T12:29:16Z")
A substantive adjective. ---
**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:** [July 11, 2026, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5053 "2026-07-11T02:17:09Z")
Garry Trudeau, of _Doonesbury_ fame, named his first-born twins Rachel and Ross. In 1983, a decade before the _Friends_ sitcom. World’s Most Prescient Cartoonist. ---
**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:** [July 11, 2026, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5054 "2026-07-11T03:07:42Z")
I thought Monica was Ross’s sister. ---
**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:** [July 11, 2026, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5055 "2026-07-11T03:36:41Z")
Maybe they’re conjoined? ---
**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:** [July 11, 2026, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5056 "2026-07-11T16:31:54Z")
Ross and Rachel were a couple whose on/off love pervaded the series. People kept talking about Ross and Rachel, Ross and Rachel, until it became a meme. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2026, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5057 "2026-07-12T02:24:55Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Garry Trudeau, of _Doonesbury_ fame, named his first-born twins Rachel and Ross. The girl’s name is Rachel Grandison Trudeau (named after mother Jane Pauley’s father Richard Grandison Pauley), but her twin brother was evidently named [Richard Ross Trudeau](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/01/04/The-twins-born-last-Friday-to-Jane-Pauley-co-host/8894442040400/). Also, it’s likely that Jane Pauley had as much, if not more, to do with naming them as Garry. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2026, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5058 "2026-07-12T15:37:52Z")
Trudeau himself calls them Rachel and Ross, according to the new biography of him, so I feel okay making the claim. Trudeau’s actual name is Garretson, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5059 "2026-07-13T03:16:01Z")
I’ve been bingeing Petticoat Junction episodes. Always loved Dog, the dog adopted early in the show. I remember him from Green Acres and Beverly Hillbillies too. Cute terrier, looks like Benji. He actually IS BENJI! Real name is Higgins. Trained by same guy all his life. Won a PATSY award. Actually came out of retirement (age 16) to film Benji. > **[Higgins (dog)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgins_(dog))** > > Higgins (December 12, 1957\[dubious – discuss\] – November 11, 1975) was a well-known American dog actor during the 1960s and 1970s. He is most remembered for his roles in the original Benji film, and his uncredited role in Petticoat Junction, two of the most popular roles he played during a 14-year career in show business. In 1960, animal trainer Frank Inn found the dog at the Burbank Animal Shelter as a puppy. He was believed to be a mix of Miniature Poodle, Cocker Spaniel, and Schnauzer, or a B... ---
**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:** [July 13, 2026, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/5060 "2026-07-13T17:17:22Z")
The inverse of a production with long-since departed players is the oldest film with a still-living cast member: _Rosalie_ (1937) — Caren Marsh, who was born in 1919 and is 107 years old as of 2026, appears as a dancer in an uncredited role. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=252) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=254)