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Why do we call someone the “salt of the earth”? Or say someone’s “all that and a bag of chips”? In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy breaks down the surprising, strange, and sometimes murky origins of common food idioms. From medieval soup to colonial slang, we’re digging into five of the most popular phrases — including one submitted by a listener on TikTok.
Language is messy, and idiom histories aren’t always crystal clear — but these stories give you the best-supported theories we’ve got. Tune in for a tasty batch of etymological brain snacks you can drop at your next dinner party.
🧂 Phrases covered in this episode:
Salt of the earth
Have your cake and eat it too
Make no bones about it
All that and a bag of chips
Big cheese
Follow @SmartestYearEver on your favorite platforms for daily wit, wisdom, and conversational gold.
Sources:
Ayto, J. (2010). Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford University Press.
Green, J. (2010). Green’s Dictionary of Slang. Chambers.
Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.oed.com
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Dictionary and Thesaurus. https://www.merriam-webster.com
Smithsonian Magazine. (n.d.). The mysterious origins of everyday phrases. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-mysterious-origins-of-everyday-phrases-180974609/
Music thanks to Zapsplat. #languagefacts #etymology #FoodPhrases #SmartestYearEver #IdiomsExplained #LearnEveryDay #WittyWisdom #FunFacts #WordOrigins #EverydayEnglish
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Since 1951, Oscar winners have been legally blocked from selling their statuettes. Why? Because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences wants to keep the Oscars about artistic merit—not money.
Gordy breaks down the unusual contract every winner enters: they must offer the Oscar back to the Academy for one dollar before trying to sell, gift, or even bequeath it. That dollar isn’t random—it’s a legal requirement called “consideration.” Without it, the agreement wouldn’t hold up in court.
So while Oscar winners can cherish their awards forever, they’re not allowed to cash them in. Even their heirs can’t sell them—unless it’s a pre-1951 statuette, like the one Michael Jackson bought for $1.54 million.
And yes—the Academy enforces it. Heirs have been sued. Auctions have been shut down. And the courts have backed the Academy every time.
This is the rare award you can win… but never truly own.
Sources:
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. (n.d.). Regulations. Oscars.org. https://www.oscars.org/legal/regulations
CBS News. (n.d.). How much is an Oscar statue worth? The resale value of Academy Awards. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-much-oscar-statue-worth
TIME. (2014). If You Sell Your Oscar, You're Going to Get Sued. https://time.com/2948153/oscar-sold-sued-joseph-wright-briarbrook-auctions
#Oscars #FilmFacts #HollywoodHistory #DailyFacts #SmartestYearEver Music thanks to Zapsplat.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Why Do Cicadas Wait 17 Years to Emerge? The Evolutionary Secret Behind Prime Number Broods
Cicadas don’t hibernate for 17 years—they strategically wait underground, avoiding predators with one of the most fascinating evolutionary timelines on Earth.
In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy dives into Brood XIV, the massive group of cicadas emerging in 2025 across 13 U.S. states. Why do they come out every 13 or 17 years? And why those weird prime numbers?
Turns out, it’s a brilliant move called predator satiation—and the prime-number timing may help them avoid syncing up with predator life cycles entirely. Gordy breaks it all down with vivid, weirdly satisfying logic. You'll also learn how cicadas live as root-sucking nymphs underground for nearly two decades before emerging in a synchronized, noisy, reproductive flash mob.
If you're in the eastern U.S., get ready: the ground’s about to hum.
Sources:
U.S. Forest Service. (n.d.). Here come the cicadas!. U.S. Department of Agriculture. https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/features/here-come-cicadas
Live Science. (2011, May 13). Why Southern Cicadas Emerge In Exact Prime Number Cycles. https://www.livescience.com/14238-southern-cicadas-emerge-exact-prime-number-cycles.html
NBC Chicago. (2024, April). Which cicada broods you will see in different parts of Illinois. https://www.nbcchicago.com/cicadas-illinois-chicago-2024/which-cicada-broods-see-different-parts-illinois-historic-emergence-begins/3428725/
#Cicadas #NatureFacts #Evolution #BroodXIV #17Years #Entomology #FunFacts #PrimeNumbers #SmartestYearEver
Music thanks to Zapsplat.
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Can you legally go through life in the U.S. with just one name? In today’s episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy explores the strange paradox of naming laws in America: it’s not illegal to be nameless—but try living without one, and you’ll hit a bureaucratic wall. From government forms to bank accounts, our systems are built on two-name assumptions. Gordy investigates whether going mononym like Prince is actually possible, and what happens if you try.
Plus: the story of a girl named Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii, and why a judge had to step in.
This episode is a great one to share with someone who loves quirky law, civic paradoxes, and name-related weirdness.
So… is it illegal not to have a last name? No. But good luck functioning in modern life without one.
Sources:
HowStuffWorks. (n.d.). Is it illegal not to have a name? Retrieved from https://people.howstuffworks.com/no-name.htm
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (n.d.). Verification of Identifying Information. Retrieved from https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-1-part-e-chapter-5
BBC News. (2008, July 24). New Zealand girl’s name deemed unacceptable. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7522952.stm
#NameLaws #WeirdFacts #LegalTrivia #CivicCuriosities #SmartestYearEver #DailyLearning #EverydayFacts #MindBlown Music thanks to Zapsplat.
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In this episode, Gordy digs into some wildly optimistic (and occasionally insulting) predictions made in 1925 about the world we’d be living in today, in 2025. From flying cars and rooftop airports to the disappearance of beauty itself, futurists from a century ago weren’t exactly short on opinions.Featuring forecasts from scientists, novelists, and newspaper editors, this episode unpacks five of the most striking predictions made in the roaring 1920s. Some came close—like H.G. Wells’s vision of a global trifecta of power. Others? Well… let’s just say humanity is still very beautiful and very much stuck in traffic.This episode commemorates over 100 episodes of Smartest Year Ever and asks: what will we get wrong about 2125?Source:Price, M. (2024, Jan 5). From immortality to ugly people: 100-year-old predictions about 2025. Akron Beacon Journal. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2024/01/05/what-people-in-1925-predicted-about-life-in-2025/72101552007/ #FuturePredictions #HistoryOfTheFuture #SmartestYearEver #1925to2025 #WildHistory #DidYouKnow #FunFacts #LearnEveryDay #futurology
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Why do donkeys and your backside share the same word? It’s not what you think.
In today’s episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy unpacks the linguistic mix-up that gave us the same word for both a pack animal and your posterior. Spoiler: it has nothing to do with donkeys being stubborn.
The term for a donkey comes from Latin asinus, while the word for your rear end traces back to Old English ærs, which became arse, and later the modern American version we all know—just spelled the same as the animal.
So, two meanings, two histories, and one awkward overlap. Blame the evolution of English, not the donkey.
Sources:
Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). Ass (animal) and arse. Oxford University Press.
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Ass and arse. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.
Harper, D. (n.d.). Ass and arse. Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com
Hashtags: #LanguageFacts #Etymology #Donkeys #SmartestYearEver #WordNerd #HistoryOfWords Music thanks to Zapsplat.
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Does your birth order actually influence your personality—or is your older sibling just using it to justify being bossy?
In Episode 100 of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy explores the classic theory that birth order shapes personality. Are firstborns really more responsible? Do youngest siblings actually tend to be rebellious? And what happens to middle children—besides being forgotten at Walmart?
From Alfred Adler’s early theories to modern scientific studies, we dig into whether there’s any real science behind these claims—or if we’ve just been enabling our siblings for years.
Find out:
Why firstborns might score higher on IQ tests
How youngest kids may have evolved into natural performers
Why middle children could be the true diplomats of the family
And whether the research actually backs any of it up
This 100th episode is your perfect chance to settle (or restart) that family debate—with facts.
Sources:
Rohrer, J. M., Egloff, B., & Schmukle, S. C. (2015). Examining the effects of birth order on personality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(46), 14224–14229. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1506451112
Salmon, C., & Schumann, K. (2012). The Secret Power of Middle Children. Plume.
Adler, A. (1928). Characteristics of the First, Second and Third Child. Routledge.
#BirthOrder #PersonalityScience #SmartestYearEver #DailyFacts #PsychologyFacts Music thanks to Zapsplat.
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What’s humanity’s backup plan if farming fails? Gordy explores the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a secure facility tucked inside a Norwegian mountain that stores over a million seed samples—a real-life "save game" button for civilization.
From war zones to climate change, agriculture has always been vulnerable. But Svalbard’s frozen vault preserves the genetic future of crops, offering hope if disaster ever strikes. And in 2015, it already proved its worth when seeds were withdrawn during the Syrian Civil War, helping restore what was lost.
This episode explains why the vault was built, how it’s kept secure, and the real story of how it quietly protects global food security—while also being threatened by the very thing it guards against: climate change.
A story of science, planning, and just-in-case brilliance.
Sources:
Fowler, C. (2008). The Svalbard Global Seed Vault: Securing the Future of Agriculture. Global Crop Diversity Trust. Retrieved from https://cdn.croptrust.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Svalbard-Global-Seed-Vault-FactSheet.pdf
Westengen, O.T., Jeppson, S., & Guarino, L. (2013). Global Ex-Situ Crop Diversity Conservation and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault: Assessing the Current Status. PLOS ONE, 8(5), e64146. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064146
Qvenild, M. (2008). Svalbard Global Seed Vault: A ‘Noah’s Ark’ for the World’s Seeds. Development in Practice, 18(1), 110–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/09614520701778934
Carrington, D. (2015). Syrian war spurs first withdrawal from doomsday Arctic seed vault. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/23/syrian-war-spurs-first-withdrawal-from-doomsday-arctic-seed-vault
Crop Trust. (2025). Svalbard Global Seed Vault Official Website. Retrieved from https://www.croptrust.org/work/svalbard-global-seed-vault/
#SmartestYearEver #SeedVault #Svalbard #ClimateResilience #DailyLearning Music thanks to Zapsplat.
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How did a melted candy bar lead to a kitchen revolution?
In this episode, Gordy dives into the accidental invention of the microwave oven—a story that starts not with culinary ambition, but with a confused radar engineer and a pocket full of chocolate. Learn how microwaves work, why they don’t cook from the inside out, and what really happens when you put metal inside one. From dancing water molecules to the explosive first test with an egg, this episode breaks down the science and the strange origin of a device that transformed kitchens around the world.
Plus: what do pink lemonade and microwave ovens have in common? A surprising theory about the power of a good origin story.
Microwave myths, molecule raves, and one of the most delicious accidents in tech history—this one’s loaded.
Sources
Gallawa, J.C. (2013). How Do Microwave Ovens Work? U.S. Food & Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/radiation-emitting-products/resources-you-radiation-emitting-products/microwave-oven-radiation
Blitz, M. (2016). The amazing true story of how the microwave was invented by accident. Popular Mechanics. https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a23841/microwave-oven-history/
Kennedy, J. (2021). Why can’t you put metal in the microwave? MIT School of Engineering. https://engineering.mit.edu/engage/ask-an-engineer/why-cant-we-put-metal-objects-in-a-microwave/
Butler, S. (2017). A brief history of the microwave oven. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/brief-history-microwave-oven-180962837/
Music thanks to Zapsplat. #MicrowaveHistory #KitchenScience #SmartestYearEver #ScienceFacts #EverydayScience #FoodTech #MicrowaveMyths #CuriousMinds
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Ever wondered why your name comes with a bonus round in the middle? Gordy dives into the unexpected history of middle names—from ancient Roman status symbols to modern-day family dramas.
Discover how "Julius Hairy Caesar" wasn’t just a bold branding choice, why John Quincy Adams helped make middle names mainstream, and how adding a middle initial makes you seem smarter (seriously, science says so).
Gordy also explores cultures that skip the middle name entirely, like Japan and Iceland, and drops a bombshell: Richard Gere’s middle name is Tiffany. You're welcome.
Whether your middle name is sentimental, unfortunate, or just confusing, this episode explains why we even have them—and what they really say about us.
Sources:
Wilson, S. (1998). The means of naming: A social and cultural history of personal naming in Western Europe. Routledge.
Evans, C. K. (2006). The great big book of baby names. Publications International, Ltd.
Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Igou, E. R. (2014). The impact of middle names: Middle name initials enhance evaluations of intellectual performance. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44(4), 400–411. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2026
Algeo, J., & Butcher, C. A. (2013). The origins and development of the English language (7th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Bryson, B. (2001). Made in America: An informal history of the English language in the United States. William Morrow Paperbacks.
#MiddleNames #NameHistory #SmartestYearEver #FunFacts #DailyKnowledge Music thanks to Zapsplat.
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Neanderthals had bigger brains, stronger bodies, and possibly even faster sprinting speed than modern humans. So… why are we the ones still around?
In this episode, Gordy dives into what made Neanderthals such a powerhouse species—from their barrel-chested strength and visual-spatial superbrains to their survival skills in the Ice Age wilderness. We now know they weren’t just primitive brutes—they buried their dead, used medicine, maybe even made early art.
So what happened? Why did we make it, and they didn’t?
It might come down to something as simple—and powerful—as long-distance running, gossip, and better group coordination. Oh, and if you’re non-African? You’re still carrying a little Neanderthal in your DNA.
Follow @SmartestYearEver everywhere
Stay curious, stay clever—on our quest to become the world’s greatest conversationalists.
Sources:
Green, R. E., et al. (2010). A draft sequence of the Neandertal genome. Science, 328(5979), 710–722. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1188021
Pääbo, S. (2014). Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes. Basic Books.
Pearce, E., Stringer, C., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2013). New insights into differences in brain organization between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 280(1758). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.0168
Stringer, C. (2012). The Origin of Our Species. Penguin Books.
Weaver, T. D. (2009). The meaning of Neandertal skeletal morphology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(38), 16028–16033. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0903864106
#Neanderthals #HumanEvolution #Anthropology #SmartestYearEver #SciencePodcast #DailyFacts Music thanks to Zapsplat.
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Rome had traffic jams before cars were even invented. In this episode, Gordy reveals which city in history was the first to reach a population of one million—and why the answer might surprise you.
Spoiler: It wasn’t New York. Or London. It happened over 2,000 years ago in a marble-and-mud metropolis powered by aqueducts and political drama. After that ancient milestone, it took more than a thousand years for another city to hit the same mark.
Gordy breaks down the next big leaps: • Chang’an in the Tang Dynasty • Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age • London by the 1800s • New York during the Gilded Age • Tokyo, which went from 10 million to 30 million faster than any city in history
It’s the story of urban population explosions—and how humans became really good at living shoulder to shoulder.
Follow Smartest Year Ever on 🎙️ YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts for full episodes 📱 TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts for daily clips @SmartestYearEver
Sources:
Chandler, T. (1987). Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census. Edwin Mellen Press.
Chandler, T., & Fox, G. (1974). 3000 Years of Urban Growth. Academic Press.
Britannica. (n.d.). Rome: Historical Population Facts. Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/facts/Rome
Gascoigne, B. (2001). History of Baghdad. HistoryWorld. https://www.historyworld.net
Murphey, R. (1973). The City as a Centre of Change in Asia. University of Hong Kong Press.
Demographia. (2023). World Urban Areas Report: Population and Density Estimates for 1,000+ Urban Areas.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2022). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2022 Revision.
Music thanks to Zapsplat. Hashtags: #UrbanHistory #PopulationMilestones #SmartestYearEver #EducationalPodcast #DailyFacts
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Why do we stash our savings inside a ceramic pig? Why not an owl? Or a vault? Or literally anything else?
In this episode, Gordy digs into the surprisingly strange history of the piggy bank—a financial icon born not from porcine symbolism, but from a Middle Ages typo. It turns out that “piggy” used to mean something very different… and one potter’s confusion changed the shape of savings forever.
You’ll learn:
What the word “pygg” originally meant
Why breaking the bank was literally how you got your money back
And how a clay pun snowballed into a global pig-shaped tradition
So if you’ve ever cracked open a piggy bank and wondered where this odd little ritual came from—this one’s for you.
Stay curious. Stay clever. Welcome to the Smartest Year Ever.
Sources:
Smith, A. (2015). Piggy Banks and the Origins of Saving. Financial History Review, 22(3), 341–356. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0968565015000197
Oxford English Dictionary. Entry on “pygg” (n.) and etymology notes.
Etymonline.com. “Piggy Bank.” https://www.etymonline.com/word/piggy-bank
British Museum. (n.d.). Clay Money Boxes in the Shape of Pigs. Artifact collection and origin notes.
National Geographic. (2013). Why We Save in Piggy Banks. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/piggy-banks
Music thanks to Zapsplat #PiggyBankHistory #EtymologyFacts #FunHistory #DidYouKnow #SmartestYearEver #WordOrigins #FinancialHistory #MoneyFacts #EducationalPodcast #ShortFacts
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The nuchal ligament is a weird little strap in the back of your neck—but it might be one of the reasons humans became the sweatiest, slowest apex predators on Earth.
In this episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy explores why humans are built to run, and how a hidden ligament connecting your skull to your spine helps keep your head from bouncing like a bobblehead. This simple structure shows up in horses, dogs… and us. And it may have been crucial in the rise of persistence hunting—the strategy our ancestors used to chase antelope to death.
You’ll also hear about:
• How the nuchal ligament acts like a biological Steadicam
• The fossil record that links it to Homo erectus
• Why evolution didn’t prioritize speed—but stamina
• What early anatomists got wrong about this tissue
So if your head isn’t flopping while you jog… thank your neck.
Sources:
• Bramble, D. M., & Lieberman, D. E. (2004). Endurance running and the evolution of Homo. Nature, 432(7015), 345–352. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03052
• Carrier, D. R. (1984). The energetic paradox of human running and hominid evolution. Current Anthropology, 25(4), 483–495. https://doi.org/10.1086/203165
• Lieberman, D. E., et al. (2006). The evolution of endurance running and the tyranny of ethnography: A reply to Pickering and Bunn (2007). Current Anthropology, 48(3), 433–444. https://doi.org/10.1086/512494
• Tuttle, R. H. (1981). Functional and evolutionary biology of hominoid locomotion. Harvard University Press.
• University of Utah. (2004). Born to Run: Humans Evolved To Be Athletes. ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041123163757.htm
Music thanks to Zapsplat
#EnduranceRunning #Evolution #SmartestYearEver #PersistenceHunting #NuchalLigament #RunningFacts #DailyScience #SciencePodcast #NeckLigament #HumanEvolution
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After a rainstorm, you know exactly the smell—that earthy, oddly comforting scent that makes you want to bottle the sidewalk. It’s called petrichor, and today, Gordy breaks down what’s actually causing it, why our noses are absurdly sensitive to it, and how it might’ve helped early humans survive.
From geosmin (a compound made by soil-dwelling bacteria) to the way raindrops launch micro-particles into the air, this episode dives into the biochemistry of nostalgia, plant oils, and even the camel's desert superpowers. Oh, and yes—someone did try to bottle it. His mom was not a fan.
Topics covered:
Why geosmin smells so strong (even in trillionths)
What “petrichor” actually means and who coined it
How raindrops work like confetti cannons for scent
Why we might be evolutionarily wired to love it
Whether you can bottle rain smell (spoiler: maybe don’t)
So there you have it—petrichor: the scent of bacteria, plants, and survival.
Sources: Bear, I. J., & Thomas, R. G. (1964). Nature of argillaceous odour. Nature, 201(4923), 993–995. https://doi.org/10.1038/201993a0 Young, C., et al. (2015). Rain-induced aerosolization of soil bacteria and geosmin detected by high-speed imaging. Nature Communications, 6, 7563. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8563 Polak, E. H., & Provasi, J. (1992). Odor sensitivity to geosmin enantiomers. Chemical Senses, 17(1), 23–26. https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/17.1.23 Mazzatenta, A., et al. (2017). Olfactory system adaptations in camelids. BMC Neuroscience, 18(1), 28. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12868-017-0352-2
Music thanks to Zapsplat #Petrichor #RainSmell #SmartestYearEver #Geosmin #DailyScienceFacts #Podcast
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April is known for showers, fertility goddesses, and Easter eggs—but how much of that reputation holds up? In today’s episode, Gordy cracks open the surprisingly weird truth behind April’s soggy rep, name origins, and ancient roots.
You’ll learn: • Why April isn’t actually the rainiest month in most places • Where the phrase “April showers bring May flowers” comes from • What Aphrodite, Venus, and Ēostre have to do with April • How Easter got its name—and why most languages call it something else
From Roman love goddesses to springtime pagan festivals, April is messier than your weather app—and a whole lot older.
Sources: Bede. (c. 725). De Temporum Ratione (The Reckoning of Time). Hutton, R. (1996). The Stations of the Sun. Oxford University Press. Online Etymology Dictionary. (n.d.). April and Easter. https://www.etymonline.com/ National Weather Service (NOAA). (n.d.). Monthly Precipitation Normals. https://www.weather.gov Australian Bureau of Meteorology. (n.d.). Climate Data Online. http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/data/
Music thanks to Zapsplat. #AprilShowers #EasterOrigins #WeatherMyths #PaganGoddess #SmartestYearEver #DailyFacts #SpringTrivia
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At 16 years old, Benjamin Franklin pulled off one of the greatest literary pranks in colonial America—he catfished Boston as a snarky, opinionated widow named Mrs. Silence Dogood.
In today’s episode, Gordy uncovers the wild true story behind the Silence Dogood letters, the essays that tricked Franklin’s brother, captivated readers, and launched Ben’s obsession with fake names. From mocking the elite to receiving marriage proposals, Franklin’s teenage troll campaign helped launch his career.
Learn why Franklin:
Used a fake identity to get published
Wrote 14 letters as a fictional widow
Got his brother arrested and took over the paper
Spent his life writing under dozens of pseudonyms
If Franklin had Twitter, he'd have burner accounts—and still be roasting people anonymously.
Sources: Franklin, B. (2003). The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Harvard University Press. Isaacson, W. (2003). Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. Simon & Schuster. Morgan, E. S. (2002). Benjamin Franklin. Yale University Press. Labaree, L. W. (1959). The Silence Dogood Letters. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Yale University.
Music thanks to Zapsplat. #BenFranklin #SilenceDogood #FoundingFathers #HistoryPodcast #DailyFacts #ColonialHistory #SmartestYearEver
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Why do we prank people on April Fools’ Day? And how did it get so weirdly universal? In this episode, Gordy untangles the strange, murky origins of one of the world’s most chaotic non-holidays. From French calendar reforms to fake spaghetti trees and medieval mistranslations, this lighthearted deep dive is part history lesson, part conspiracy theory, and part cultural facepalm.
Find out:
Why some people think April Fools’ Day began in 1582 France
How a bad translation of Chaucer may have fueled the confusion
What ancient Roman festivals like Hilaria have to do with it
And how the BBC convinced people that spaghetti grows on trees
Whether it started as a calendar mix-up or just human nature being messy, April Fools’ is one tradition no one fully understands—and that might be the most fitting prank of all.
Sources:Thompson, D. (2015). The Fixation of Belief: Historical and Cultural Perspectives on April Fools' Day. Oxford University Press. Parker, M. (2018). The History of Hoaxes and Pranks. HarperCollins. BBC Archives. (1957). The Spaghetti Tree Hoax. BBC News. Lévesque, C. (2020). Poisson d’Avril: The French Tradition of April Fools’ Day. Journal of European Folklore Studies.
Music thanks to Zapsplat. #AprilFools #HistoryOfPranks #SmartestYearEver #WeirdTraditions #DailyFacts #FunHistory #CulturalFacts #SpaghettiTree
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Why does asparagus turn your bathroom break into a sulfur-scented science experiment? In today’s episode, Gordy explores the bizarre phenomenon of asparagus pee—why it happens, why some people can’t smell it, and why others can’t stop smelling it. Spoiler: it’s not your imagination. It's sulfur chemistry and genetics at work. From asparagusic acid to a strange condition called asparagus anosmia, this episode dives into a stinky subject with surprising depth—and just the right amount of disgust.
Find out:
What chemical compound causes the smell
Why some people produce the smell while others don’t
Why some people literally can’t smell it, even if it’s there
And why cooking methods don’t make any difference
Whether you're one of the lucky immune few or part of the cursed, once you learn this, you’ll never look at asparagus the same way again.
Sources: Mitchell, S. C. (2001). Food idiosyncrasies: beetroot and asparagus. British Journal of Urology International, 87(4), 322–323. Pelchat, M. L., Bykowski, C., Duke, F. F., & Reed, D. R. (2011). Examination of the human ability to smell asparagusic acid’s sulfurous metabolites. Chemical Senses, 36(1), 9–17. Lison, M., Blondheim, S. H., & Melmed, R. N. (1980). A polymorphism of the ability to smell urinary metabolites of asparagus. British Medical Journal, 281(6256), 1676–1678.
Music thanks to Zapsplat. #Asparagus #WeirdScience #Genetics #HealthFacts #DailyPodcast #FunFacts #SciencePodcast #SmellScience #Urine #SmartestYearEver
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Ever wonder why people say “Pardon my French” after cussing? It has nothing to do with actual French—and everything to do with irony.Originally, British and American elites used it to excuse real French words in conversation—because, you know, being bilingual is a flex. But then, people started using it sarcastically to excuse swearing instead. By the 20th century, it had nothing to do with actual French—it was just a polite way to pretend you didn’t just say something profane.🔍 Sources:
Ayto, John. Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang. Oxford University Press, 2009.Rawson, Hugh. Wicked Words: A Treasury of Curses, Insults, Put-Downs, and Other Formerly Unprintable Terms. Crown, 1991.Oxford English Dictionary. Pardon My French: Historical Usage and Development.Wilton, David. Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends. Oxford University Press, 2004.📣 Follow @SmartestYearEver for more daily facts!
- Visa fler
