# 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:** 67
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1321 "2025-01-13T15:16:36Z")
There’s quite often a ping-pong of proposals and objections till a watered-down proposal is put forward (which may well be probably what the developer realistically expected to be acceptable in the first place) ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1322 "2025-01-15T14:55:47Z")
I can imagine the Queen reacting quite calmly to the news of a spy in her household… A lifetime in the media aquarium will teach you to manage your emotions very quickly. > **[Queen Elizabeth II was kept in the dark for years about a Soviet spy in the...](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna187552)** > > Anthony Blunt confessed in 1964 to spying for the Soviet Union as part of the notorious Cambridge Five spy ring during World War II. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1323 "2025-01-16T08:55:45Z")
Actress Ann B. Davis, best known for playing the part of Alice on the Brady Bunch TV show, had an identical twin sister. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1324 "2025-01-16T09:21:58Z")
Don’t know about the USA, but in Europe child actors both for series and films are disproportionally often identical twins, because as per health and safety children can only work half as long as adults on set. After half day with one is done, the other takes over, and the adults keep on filming as if nothing has happened. In case it isn’t clear, I have no clue who Ann B. Davis was and how old she was when she played Alice ([Alice? Who the 💥 is Alice?](https://youtu.be/bUy83PKjkOI?t=53)) on the Brady Bunch TV show (Brady what?). I am just talking about children in TV and film studios. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1325 "2025-01-16T09:35:45Z")
Sorry, I forgot we have many people here who are not Americans. Davis was in her 40s when she played the roll of the Brady family’s maid, Alice. Her twin sister as far as I know never was in any movie or TV show. There are some clips of the show on youtube and here is the wikipedia article about the Brady Bunch: > **[The Brady Bunch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brady_Bunch)** > > The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family of six children, with three boys and three girls. After its cancellation in 1974, the series debuted in syndication in September 1975. Though it was never a ratings hit or a critical success during its original run, the program has since become a popular syndicated staple, especially among children and teenage viewers ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1326 "2025-01-16T13:32:32Z")
That’s funny because I seem to recall a Brady Bunch episode when Alice’s twin sister came to visit, and they used split screen effects to show them both in the same scene. Might have been easier just to hire her real-life twin! ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1327 "2025-01-16T13:53:58Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > In case it isn’t clear, I have no clue who Ann B. Davis was and how old she was when she played Alice ([Alice? Who the 💥 is Alice?](https://youtu.be/bUy83PKjkOI?t=53)) I am truly impressed by the breadth of your cultural knowledge. (Though not necessarily your taste in music). 😉 j ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1328 "2025-01-16T14:32:27Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > In case it isn’t clear, I have no clue who Ann B. Davis was and how old she was when she played Alice ([Alice? Who the 💥 is Alice?](https://youtu.be/bUy83PKjkOI?t=53)) on the Brady Bunch TV show (Brady what?). I am just talking about children in TV and film studios. Even in the US if you don’t refer to her as ‘the maid on the Brady Bunch’ they may not recognize here name. Not sure how well the Brady Bunch is known to millennials but certainly known by the vast majority of Americans born in the 1900s. The character Alice was referenced in an episode of Cheers where the gang was pondering the question “If the Brady Bunch crashes in the Andes who who’s gonna eat who first?”. Woody knew the answer, “Well they’d probably eat the maid 'cause she ain’t kin.” ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1329 "2025-01-16T14:46:24Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > That’s funny because I seem to recall a Brady Bunch episode when Alice’s twin sister came to visit, and they used split screen effects to show them both in the same scene. I don’t remember that one but I remember the one where Alice tells Jan that she was also the middle of three sisters. Continuity wasn’t a strong suit of 1970s sitcoms. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1330 "2025-01-16T15:24:08Z")
Might not have been a twin sister, but it was a double of some sort. Identical cousins? ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1331 "2025-01-16T15:25:19Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The character Alice was referenced in an episode of Cheers where the gang was pondering the question “If the Brady Bunch crashes in the Andes who who’s gonna eat who first?”. Woody knew the answer, “Well they’d probably eat the maid 'cause she ain’t kin.” But the maid Alice was the only one who knew how to cook. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1332 "2025-01-16T15:27:01Z")
I think it would depend on whether her boyfriend Sam the butcher was on board. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1333 "2025-01-16T15:34:05Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > But the maid Alice was the only one who knew how to cook. > [@Cliff Clavin](#): > > Well you know if they’re smart there they’ll ask her first how she should best prepare herself. [Cheers S10 E8](https://clip.cafe/cheers-1982/if-the-brady-bunch-crashes-in-the-andes/) ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1334 "2025-01-16T16:30:15Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Shawarma _Shawarma_ is the Arabicized form of Turkish _çevirme_, from the verb _çevirmek_ ‘to rotate, turn, spin’, and means the act of rotation. It’s a synonym of _dönmek_ ‘to rotate, turn, spin’, so _döner_ is the verb conjugation meaning ‘it (always) turns’. Related to _dönme_, the act of turning, referring to Sabbatean Jews who “turned” into Muslims. In Turkey you can see _Dönme_ people eating _döner kebap._ ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1335 "2025-01-16T16:37:49Z")
Presumably not related to the Donner Party. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1336 "2025-01-16T16:41:03Z")
I was in a group where at some point someone mentioned the Donner party and some of the non-Americans thought it was a typo. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1337 "2025-01-16T16:49:48Z")
There a lot of cultural references that we non-USAians struggle with. 24(!) years ago when I started lurking I remember wondering what the heck was a GOP, who was the Johnny that was heeeeere, and who was this “Fonzie” person. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1338 "2025-01-16T17:02:18Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > who was the Johnny that was heeeeere I’m an American and don’t know that reference. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1339 "2025-01-16T17:06:29Z")
Johnny Carson, for decades the iconic host of the Tonight Show. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/1340 "2025-01-16T17:09:39Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Johnny Carson, for decades the iconic host of the Tonight Show.   Ah, I’m familiar with him, but I guess not the previous reference. I see the 20th anniversary of this death is a week from today. > **[Johnny Carson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Carson)** > > John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, and writer best known as the host of NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992). Carson received six Primetime Emmy Awards, the Television Academy's 1980 Governor's Award and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993. > During World... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=66) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=68)