Languages are a funny thing. Among all the rules of grammar, syntax, and spelling, there are also regional dialects, vernaculars, and colloquialisms that can sometimes make understanding your native language (never mind a foreign one) difficult at times. The truth is we use slang terms and colloquial idioms every day and don’t even know were […]
Category: Interesting Stories
Interesting Stories for Curious People: A Collection of Fascinating Stories About History, Science, Pop Culture and Just About Anything Else You Can Think of
Oliver Stone and Alexander the Great
Oliver Stone is known for making epic historical and biographical movies (such as JFK and The Doors)that feature long runtimes and are successful at the box office. Many of Stone’s films revolve around a specific historical personality and offer plenty of conspiracy theories along the way. Although his 2004 biopic Alexander was short of conspiracy […]
The Dangerous Game?
Amid the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, and clearly related to it, was sensationalism around the popular role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, simply known as “D & D” by the players. Newspaper articles, “investigative journalists,” and a host of religious figures warned America’s mothers and fathers to watch their sons carefully and to make sure […]
Strange Signals
If you’re a shortwave radio enthusiast, or if you’ve had the chance to travel through Russia, then you may have heard one of three strangest radio stations ever known to man: UVB-76 (The Buzzer), 5448/3756 kHz (The Pip), and 3828/5473 (The Squeaky Wheel). Now, as much as these names might sound like normal nicknames that […]
The Sound of Heat
We’ve all been subjected to silly, inane conversations in our life, often over a few drinks and usually at a bar. These conversations usually involve one person who claims that something that is clearly fiction is actually a fact, and no matter what, you just can’t convince them otherwise. The one example that comes to […]
The Loch Ness Monster’s American Cousins
Since the 1970s, the Loch Ness Monster has become so famous that it doesn’t need much of an introduction. The craze surrounding the monster’s existence, however, has faded quite a bit since the 1980s. Basically, for several decades, there have been sporadic sightings of a large aquatic creature in Loch Ness, Scotland. A few pictures […]
Sequoyah, Where Did You Go?
Few American Indians were as impactful and important to their people and America as Sequoyah. Born in the late 1700s to a Cherokee mother and a German father in what is today eastern Tennessee, Sequoyah suffered a physical disability. This apparently pushed him in the direction of more academic pursuits. He worked as a silversmith […]
Murder on the Greyhound Express
Those of us who have ridden the Greyhound Line in North America know that it can get pretty sketchy sometimes. Fights, drug deals and usage, and prostitution are all known to have taken place there, and that’s just in the terminals! As twenty-two-year-old Canadian man Tim McLean unfortunately found out, things can get much worse […]
Get Outta Dodge!
If you’re an American, you’ve either used the phrase “Get Outta Dodge” or heard the phrase spoken at some point in your life. Chances are, you probably also know the origin of the term. If you don’t, that is a story worth telling. The phrase refers to the city of Dodge City, Kansas, which was […]
“Lingua Franca”
You’ve probably heard the term lingua franca at some point in your life. Lingua franca is simply a “common language” used to facilitate trade, diplomacy, or other functions where people of different backgrounds come together for a common purpose. The origin of the term can be traced to the Mediterranean region during the Middle Ages, […]