Pencils & other random items of interest

In the late 1700s many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair.. Commonly, a long wide board was folded down from the wall and used fordining. The "head of the household"always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Once in a while an invited guest would be offered to sit in this chair during a meal (who was almost always a man).
To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge.
Sitting in the chair, one was called the "chair man."
Today in business we use the _expression/title"Chairman or Chairman of the Board"

The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. The only other word with the same amount of letters is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural.

It is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "a factitious word alleged to mean 'a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust' but occurring chiefly as an instance of a very long word."

It was claimed that Plato's real name was Aristocles, and that 'Plato' was a nickname (roughly 'the broad') derived either from the width of his shoulders, the results of training for wrestling, or from the breadth of his style, or from the size of his forehead.

The sound of the ork army marching to battle in The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers was a recording of England cricket fans during a match with New Zealand.

...and the crowd in the stadium was delighted to participate for the greater glory of the New Zealand film industry.


On the other hand....there were warts.

Michelangelos' dad flew into a rage when Mich. told him he wanted to be an artist. His dad thought artists were lowly.

Noddy - who's got warts?

Excalibur had one wart. As for the third hand-me-down.

As for the 35 mile pencil. Obviously this archtypical pencil did not inhabit an elementary school classroom with an elementary school pencil sharpener within strolling distance.

If you have one singleton in a bridge hand, there is likely to be a second singleton somewhere else at the table.

Leonardo da Vinci peers described him as being fickled, capricious, and unreliable. He worked slowly and finished projects when he was good and ready.
He loved people with odd shaped heads and once followed a man around all day until he was confident he could go home and draw him perfectly. He had a terrific sense of humor.

Oh yes, he was strikingly handsome.

In 2000, Americans spent $1.9 billion on Easter candy.

When Isaac Newton was asked on his death bed what he thought his greatest accomplishment was he supposedly replied "celibacy"

If that's the case, it must have been awfully "hard" on him (couldn't resist)

If I put my mind to it, I can fiddle away as much as six hours of a single day communicating on this forum, more if there are martinis.


I spent six minutes trying to decide if I should say "piss away".

Joe.

A single kiwi fruit needs more than its own weight in aviation fuel to be flown from New Zealand to Europe.

Ladies - I have a 9 inch tongue and I can breath through my ears... :wink:

(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

...and is approximately 17 times more densely popluated.

SORRY......I couldn't resist either


Carry on.......

Socrates was the most unconventional of teachers and the least tactful. He delighted in assuming all sorts of rough and even vulgar mannerisms, and purposely shocked the more refined sensibilities of his fellow citizens.

That's the best offer I've had all year, Brooke! Have you an interesting fact to add to our evergrowing collection?

Paulaj - thanks for helping me keep this thread going! I now know loads about ancient thinkers to impress my friends down the pub!

So that's what initiated this thread, drinking conversation fodder! Give'm hell.

<joe in a contemplative state>
Fiddle-piss-fiddle-piss................Let's see, I like to ~fiddle~ more than I like to ~piss~ ......................FIDDLE!