Official Random Fact/Random Thought Thread!

[Treeaddict]

Secretariat (horse) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It blows my mind that the greatest horse that ever raced did so over 50 years ago.

Yeah, you’d think that they would just keep getting better and better through the years.

 

[lxskllr]

 

[Burnham]

Or "hot water heater"?

 

[Knotorious]

@lxskllr The term "tuna fish" is used to distinguish between tuna in the sea and tuna in a can. The word "tuna" refers to the fish, while "tuna fish" refers to the canned product.

It still seems ridiculous to me. They are both tuna...and tuna is a fish. Either way you use it, it's correct as far as I'm concerned lol

 

[Mellow]

Or "hot water heater"?

It makes more sense to call it a cold water heater. Better yet, a water heater.

 

[Burnham]

Yup.

 

[Nutball]

@lxskllr The term "tuna fish" is used to distinguish between tuna in the sea and tuna in a can. The word "tuna" refers to the fish, while "tuna fish" refers to the canned product.

It still seems ridiculous to me. They are both tuna...and tuna is a fish. Either way you use it, it's correct as far as I'm concerned lol

Then you call it canned tuna.

Moo cow is another one that gets me. I never hear of oink pigs.

 

[Mick!]

I Europe it’s just tuna fyi.

 

[Knotorious]

 

[Knotorious]

Animal Group Names​

Antelope: a herd

Ants: a colony or an army

Apes: a shrewdness

Baboons: a troop

Badgers: a cete

Bass: a shoal

Bats: a colony, cloud or cauldron

Bears: a sloth or sleuth; Cubs: a litter

Beavers: a colony

Bees: a swarm

Boar: a sounder

Buffalo: a gang or obstinacy

Camels: a caravan

Caterpillars: an army

Cats: a clowder, glaring, pounce, nuisance or clutter; Kittens: a litter or kindle; Wild cats: a destruction

Cattle: a herd or drove

Cheetahs: a coalition

Chickens: a brood or peep; Chicks: a clutch or chattering

Clams: a bed

Cobras: a quiver

Colts: a rag

Cows: a kine, drove, herd or fold; twelve or more cows are a flink

Coyotes: a band

Cranes: a sedge

Crocodiles: a float or bask

Crows: a murder

Deer: a herd

Dogs: a pack or cowardice; Puppies: a litter

Dolphins: a pod

Donkeys: a drove

Doves: a dule

Ducks: a brace, paddling or team

Eagles: a convocation

Elephants: a herd or parade

Elk: a gang or herd

Emus: a mob

Falcons: a cast

Ferrets: a business or fesnyng

Finches: a charm

Fish: a school, shoal, run, haul or catch

Flamingos: a stand or flamboyance

Flies: a swarm, hatch or business

Foxes: a skulk or leash

Frogs: an army or a colony

Geese: a gaggle or flock, a skein when in flight

Giraffes: a tower

Gnats: a cloud or horde

Goats: a herd, tribe or trip

Goldfinches: a charm

Goldfish: a troubling

Gorillas: a band

Grasshoppers: a cloud

Greyhounds: a leach

Hares: a down or husk

Hawks: a cast or kettle

Hippopotami: a bloat or thunder

Hogs: a drift or parcel

Horses: a team or harras

Hounds: a pack, mute or cry

Hyenas: a cackle

Jaguars: a shadow

Jellyfish: a smack or brood

Kangaroos: a troop or mob

Larks: an ascension or exaltation

Lemurs: a conspiracy

Leopards: a leap

Lice: a flock

Lions: a pride

Locust: a plague or cloud

Magpies: a tiding or tittering

Mallards: a sord

Manatees: an aggregation

Mares: a stud

Martens: a richness

Minnows: a steam

Moles: a labor

Monkeys: a barrel, cartload or troop

Mules: a pack, barren or span

Nightingales: a watch

Otters: a family, romp or raft

Owls: a parliament

Oxen: a team or yoke

Oysters: a bed

Parrots: a pandemonium or company

Partridges: a covey

Peacocks: a muster or ostentation

Penguins: a colony

Pheasants: a nest, nide or bouquet

Pigeons: a flock or flights

Pigs: a drift or drove (younger pigs), or a sounder, litter or team (older pigs)

Ponies: a string

Porcupines: a prickle

Rabbits: a colony or warren

Raccoons: a gaze

Rats: a colony, pack, swarm or mischief

Rattlesnakes: a rhumba

Ravens: an unkindness

Rhinoceroses: a crash

Sharks: a shiver

Sheep: a drove or flock

Skunks: a stench

Snakes: a nest or knot

Sparrows: a host

Squirrels: a dray or scurry

Starlings: a murmuration

Stingrays: a fever

Storks: a mustering

Swans: a bevy or lamentation, a wedge when in flight

Tigers: an ambush or a streak

Toads: a knot or knab

Trout: a hover

Turkeys: a gang, posse or rafter

Turtles: a bale or nest

Vultures: a venue

Wasps: a pledge

Weasels: a colony, gang or pack

Whales: a pod, school or gam

Wolves: a pack or route

Wombats: a wisdom

Woodpeckers: a descent

Zebras: a zeal

 

[Cobleskill]

Bees are a colony. A swarm is when half of the bees and the queen leave their old home and cluster somewhere while they look around for a new place to live.

Lots of cool names. I will have to ask my primate loving neighbor if he knows all the terms for apes, lemurs, monkeys....

 

[Knotorious]

Bees are a colony. A swarm is when half of the bees and the queen leave their old home and cluster somewhere while they look around for a new place to live.

Lots of cool names. I will have to ask my primate loving neighbor if he knows all the terms for apes, lemurs, monkeys....

I love the one for ferrets. They're all "business!"

Ba-dun ting!

 

[lxskllr]

An interesting fruit(tree)...

The Forgotten Medieval Fruit With a Vulgar Name

Medieval Europeans were fanatical about a strange fruit that could only be eaten rotten. Then it was forgotten altogether. Why did they love it so much? And why did it disappear?

getpocket.com

 

[Knotorious]

An interesting fruit(tree)...

The Forgotten Medieval Fruit With a Vulgar Name

Medieval Europeans were fanatical about a strange fruit that could only be eaten rotten. Then it was forgotten altogether. Why did they love it so much? And why did it disappear?

getpocket.com

That was so fun to read! Thanks for contributing!

 

[Mick!]

There’s a few medlars around here in hedgerows and suchlike.
With an actual dogs arse as a bonus.

 

[lxskllr]

Have you ever eaten one? Is it worth the effort to try growing a tree?

 

[Mick!]

Have you ever eaten one? Is it worth the effort to try growing a tree?

No, they’re not very nice for the modern palate apparently.

Re. The article, I had read somewhere that they were an importance source of vitamin C in medieval Europe, before oranges and other stuff started appearing.

 

[lxskllr]

 

[Knotorious]

View attachment 139391

What a random animal!

Here's a better picture of a full grown Chevrotain...

 

[Kaveman]

I found it interesting that they have fangs.

Vampire deer

 

[lxskllr]

I noticed that too! Made me wonder what they do with them.

 

[Kaveman]

Suck the life out of their local equivalent of clover? Maybe the males spar with them?

 

[Knotorious]

Male chevrotain use their long canine teeth, which protrude like fangs, to compete for mates and territory. These fights are usually brief and involve biting, charging, and high-pitched vocalizations. Chevrotain are small and lack horns or antlers, so their fangs are especially important for them.

 

[Kaveman]

Nature is kinda predictable, boys will be boys, and they'll kill eachother and themselves over girls.

 

[Burnham]

That's a very strange looking critter, for sure.