48 Names for Things You Didn't Know Had Names - mental_floss on YouTube (Ep. 26)

A weekly show where knowledge junkies get their fix of trivia-tastic information. This week, John looks at the names of 48 things you might not have known had names such as a "tittle", "scroop" or "contronym".

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[tiff]

I did know about aglets, and yes, it was from Phineas and Ferb.

[Ultrasound]

Why isn't a group of squids called a squad?

[grawlix]

Watching this video 8 years ago is the origin story for my Online name; games, YouTube, etc.
Thank you John Green of Mental Floss (not the realtor!)

[chakatfirepaw]

For collective nouns you should have covered giraffes.

As in "there was a tower of giraffes by the pond until you scared them and now a journey of giraffes are running away." With giraffes, the collective noun changes depending on whether or not the group is moving.

[GeneralNickles]

how can you sleep at night knowing you mentioned so many little known collective terms and DIDN'T MENTION UNICORNS!!!

a group of unicorns is called a blessing.

you're welcome.

[CarokonekoSubs]

The pronounciation of "Zugzwang" killed my German ears :DD

[SetsugekkaRikimaru]

It's not just Madonna, It's Madonna Louise Ciccone, according to wikipedia.

[ajmittendorf]

For more examples (254 of them) of contronyms (a.k.a. Autoantonyms) see the book "Autoantonyms" by A. J. Mittendorf, now in its 3rd edition, available in June 2020 from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Indigo. 2nd edition is still available.

[storyspren]

So if someone has a unibrow, are they missing a glabella or is it just hairy?
As in, is the glabella defined by one's nose (being right above it) or by one's eyebrows (being between them)?

[UncleJiggysCoffee]

John: "glabbella"
The Phandom: OMG"

[patrickhodson]

6:25 "thanks for watching menopause here on youtube"
lolwut

[waterblonk]

I'm watching this to find a name for a band

[funkyabi]

did anyone else know about the glabella from dan and phil?

[hiccuphufflepuff]

I learned the word petrichor from that episode of Doctor Who ("The Doctor's Wife") and had no idea it was so recently invented. It's meaning was part of a secret pass code and was defined as "the smell of dust after rain."

[Trigonography]

The bottom of a wine bottle is called the "punt" because that is where the punty is attached. The punty is, of course, a steel rod used by glassblowers for holding hot glass while it is worked. The word "punty", according to Google, is ultimately derived from a Latin word meaning "point". 

And now you know. 

[popsecret]

Myodesopsia: seeing those squiggly eye floaters in your eye

[MiskyWilkshake]

I'd like to submit to the list of collective nouns a few modern additions: A 'torrent' of pirates, a 'collective' of nouns, a 'wunch' of bankers, a 'fistful' of wankers, a 'handful' of muppets, a 'fraid' of spiders, a 'heard' of homonyms, an 'epic' of fail, a 'shamble' of zombies, a 'round' of robins, a 'lack' of principles, a 'conspiracy' of theorists, a 'jam' of tarts, a 'pie' of fish, a 'muff' of divers, a 'rhapsody' of bohemians, a 'crow' of murderers, a 'shitload' of toilets, a 'shortage' of dwarves, a 'tinkle' of euphemisms, and a 'bunch' of florists.

[staceyme]

Honestly started watching the video because I was curious whether you would put aglet in, and then if you'd mention Fineas & Ferb, and both didn't disappoint. As soon as you mentioned smell of rain/ petrichore I was like, please mention Doc- and you did it! Triple win! Btw cool collection in the background 👍👍

[kathyberken]

You are one of the best hosts on the net. You're fun to listen to and watch. Thanks for the smiles!

[Theexpertgamerful]

I just found out that this guy wrote The Fault in our Stars





well shit