What interesting things have you only recently learned about?
To be clear, this is about things which have been true for some time and you only recently learned about, not things that only happened recently. In particular, recent deaths of celebrities and other high-profile individuals should go in the General RIP Thread
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So, what interesting things have you guys...and gals...only recently learned about?
Edited by Twiddler on Apr 8th 2023 at 1:07:55 AM
The water type starter of Pokémon Gold and Silver is named Feraligatr and not Feraligator due to a 10 character name cap in the older games.
The thing I learned was not that the games had a 10 letter name cap but that Feraligatr was spelled without an "o".
Edit:
I also learned from
that Denmark and Sweden engage in twitter wars occasionally.
Edited by BackSet1 on Jan 5th 2021 at 4:04:13 AM
Read Pokemon Ultimate EmeraldBradford Cox had a small role in Dallas Buyers Club.
“We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” - Lewis CarrollMF DOOM died in October.
Edited by Spinosegnosaurus77 on Jan 5th 2021 at 2:10:29 PM
Peace is the only battle worth waging.Domain Holder is a trope we already have a page on.
Suddenly I'm... still rotating Fallen London in my mind even though I've stopped actively playing it.The verb "to alight" exists and means, among other things, to get out of a car.
Spiral out, keep going.Doesn't count as "very recently", I've known for a while, but still:
Cats are literally incapable of mimicking facial expressions the way dogs can because they lack certain facial muscles. In other words, cats have a permanent case of Resting Bitch-uh, I mean Queen Face.
And on that note: Dogs have learned to mimic human facial expressions to a certain extent.
My AO3 profile. Let sleeping cats lie and be cute and calming.Giorgio Moroder co-wrote "Call Me" by Blondie. Not sure how I didn't know that because it has his sound
She/they. Hirrus Clutumnus is my comfort characterThird-person-singular present-tense form of the verb "to dice", as in to cut into small cubes?
fuck i forgot i don't know grammar terminology
Edited by wingedcatgirl on Jan 8th 2021 at 9:36:43 AM
Suddenly I'm... still rotating Fallen London in my mind even though I've stopped actively playing it.Our page on Cyberpunk 2077 is locked because of how much of a controversy magnet it is.
Also, apparently the controversies over Pokémon Sword and Shield got so bad that we actually had to redefine Internet Backdraft and put restrictions on Overshadowed by Controversy.
Read Pokemon Ultimate EmeraldThere might be mud volcanoes on Mars.
Another one: there’s an author whose last name is the same as my first name: Heather Demetrios.
Edited by Demetrios on Jan 8th 2021 at 2:04:53 PM
Come on! Let's bless them all until we get fershnickered!Chinese alligators also used to live in western Japan.
Come on! Let's bless them all until we get fershnickered!Snake's taunt where he hides in a cardboard box does damage if you're close enough to your opponent when he throws the box off
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Gerald Ford was fairly sympathetic to gay rights for his time.
Edited by Spinosegnosaurus77 on Jan 9th 2021 at 1:15:49 PM
Peace is the only battle worth waging.More of a personal one: An acquaintance of my family managed to avoid a mugging once due to being The Dreaded.
But not because she's particularly physically intimidating - She's a normal-sized woman. But she can apparently have quite the chip on her shoulder and was a massive pain in the ass to deal with at her kids' schools.
So, one time, like 10 or 15 years ago, she and a friend of hers were walking to her home from a Christmas party that her job had hosted. They were wearing Santa masks, and yes, they were a bit tipsy. And during this time, there was a gang, consisting of young people between the ages of 15 and 25, that was making life difficult for the people in the neighbourhood; They were robbing people and attacking bus drivers, among other things.
Anyway, these thugs saw these drunk women and probably thought: "Oooh, easy targets. Let's rob them and beat them up if they resist!". So, they tailed them and surrounded them. Again, we're talking two ordinary women against about 10-15 young, tall, fit guys - Those two wouldn't have stood a chance if things got ugly.
But instead of getting scared, our acquaintance got pissed the hell off. She tore off her Santa mask and started shouting something akin to "What the fuck! How dare you, you little shits!"
... And the whole gang reacted with a collective (And this is verbatim) "Oh fuck, it's her! Let's get out of here!", and they all bolted from the scene.
My AO3 profile. Let sleeping cats lie and be cute and calming.

The official Sweden Twitter
once posted a Hetalia meme making fun of Denmark. I wonder if they even know what it was from....
Reindeer in the direction of reindeer