World’s first recorded women’s test match was played in 1725 in Surrey, England, between Bramley and Hambledon villages. The Bramley team sported white dress and blue ribbons while the Hambledon team wore white dress and red ribbons. This report appeared in The Reading Mercury on July 26, 1745.
Spoonerism is a verbal mistake in which the speaker unintentionally switches the first sounds of two or more words often producing humorous results. The noun ‘spoonerism’ was formed after William Archibald Spooner, a highly respected university don in England. Spooner was known to be very absent-minded and he often transposed the letters of two words accidentally. One…
The original word for chess is the Sanskrit chaturanga, meaning four members of an army, which were most likely elephants, horses, chariots and foot soldiers. According to a German Indologist researching on the origin of chess, in the 6th century, the Maukhari rulers of Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh, used to play chaturanga with 16 cabinet terracotta…
Goats have no upper front teeth. In place of the upper front teeth, they have a padded gum plate known as a dental pad. However, they do have a full set of lower teeth along with very strong molars at the back of the mouth. Cows, antelopes and other ruminants also do not have front incisors.
Prof. Henrich Focke, a German inventor, devised the first practical helicopter called the Focke-Wulf Fw 16, which was successfully flown in 1936. By 1938 it set many world records for altitude, speed and flight duration. It could be flown by a pilot after only one hour of pilot briefing.
A fortnight means fourteen days. The word ‘fortnight’ is derived from the old English word ‘fēowertīene niht’ which means ‘fourteen nights’. In the US, ‘two weeks’ is more commonly used instead of ‘a fortnight’. ‘Fortnightly’ is commonly used in the context of payment of salaries. In North America, however, ‘biweekly’ is more frequently used.
