Why is Boxing Day called Boxing Day? Boxing Day is most likely called Boxing Day because of the tradition of wealthy families giving boxes of gifts, money, or leftover food to their servants and tradespeople. However, it could also come from churches giving charitable boxes to people in their congregation. It could be a combination […]
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Why do we write Xmas for Christmas? The “X” isn’t an X from the Latin alphabet; it is from the Greek alphabet, and it is “chi”, the first letter of the Greek word Christos, meaning Christ. I didn’t actually know until I started researching this topic today that some people think Xmas is an attempt
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When did people start using surnames? People started using surnames at different times in different countries. In Europe, surnames started in the 11th century. I am from the UK, so I am going to begin by looking at the origin of surnames in Europe and then look at other parts of the world. The word
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Was Dracula a real person? Yes and no. There was a real person behind the legend of Dracula. He was a 15th century prince who ruled Wallachia, called Vlad III. However, he was not a vampire, and he definitely did die. Vlad III was born Vlad Dracula, and it is from him that we have
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When did the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted list start? The FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted list started on March 14th, 1950. The first person on the FBI’s most wanted list was an accused murderer called Thomas James Holden. He was part of a gang that had been involved in robbing trains, banks, and payroll
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What is the tragedy of the commons? The tragedy of the commons is the idea that if anybody can use a finite resource as much as they want, they will usually overuse it and destroy it. That is human nature. The common that the tragedy of the commons refers to is common land that most
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What is a Stirling engine? A Stirling engine is an engine that uses the expansion and contraction of a gas when heated and cooled to carry out mechanical work. A Stirling engine works on the principle that gases expand when heated and contract when cooled. When thermal energy is applied to a gas, the molecules
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What were penny auctions? Penny auctions were a way for communities to stop farms and properties being sold by the banks that foreclosed on them during the Great Depression. The 1920s and the 1930s were a hard time for a lot of Americans. The Great Depression began in 1929, which destroyed the life savings of
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How did Bubble Wrap start? Bubble Wrap began as a type of wallpaper. We see Bubble Wrap fairly often, probably more so since Amazon has taken over our shopping. Bubble Wrap is actually a trademarked brand, and it is owned by Sealed Air Corporation, although it has become somewhat like Kleenex, Aspirin, and Kerosene, in
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Why did the Titanic sink? The Titanic sank because of poor quality materials, problems with the design, the temperature of the water, and a lack of equipment for the crew. I’m sure you are all familiar with what happened to the Titanic. The Titanic was built in Britain, and she was an ocean liner owned
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