Play-Doh, that salty treat for children, was originally developed as a wallpaper cleaner.

The word "denim" comes from Nimes ("serge de Nimes"), while the word "jeans" is thought to derive from Genoa ("bleu de Gênes"), where it originated and whose sailors wore the tough denim trousers.

From the north pole to the equator, there are 90 degrees of latitude. From the equator to the south pole, there are again 90 degrees of latitude. Thus the earth is 180 degrees of latitude from north to south. The flat lines are the lat lines.

A Nebuchadnezzar is a bottle measurement equal to twenty standard bottles of champagne. Larger sized bottles are rare, but they exist.

The origin of the name of Seoul is probably derived from an old Korean word, seo'ul, meaning "capital city." Or perhaps it is an abbreviation of Seorabeol, a name for an ancient local capital. The exact origins are uncertain. An alternate name, Gyeongseong, also means "capital city," and that doesn't seem akin to "Seoul" at all. Hmmm.

Sriracha hot sauce is named after the Thai city of Si Racha. It is also known as rooster sauce because of the bird on the bottle.

Fighting Falcon

The F-16 is a jet, designated the Fighting Falcon, used by the US Air Force since 1974. Despite officially being the Falcon, it is also known by some pilots as the Viper.

Bruce Willis goes by his middle name; his birth first name is Walter. Somehow, he makes "Bruce" seem manly. Walter B. Willis. Walt Willis. Good ol' Wally Willis, born in West Germany.

The coffee break was officially made an employee benefit in 1902 at the Barcalo Company, which later became Barcalounger. This is possibly the first official coffee break, but there may have been earlier, less-noted similar perks. Ha! Perks.

Zaftig, the Yiddish term used in English as a euphemism for slightly fat, literally means "juicy." Yeah, baby!

The Hydra-Matic was the first fully automatic transmission, developed by General Motors for Cadillac and Oldsmobile in 1939.

Maya Angelou was born with the name Marguerite Johnson. The name "Maya" was derived from her brother's nickname for her, apparently from "my-a sister" (or from "Mayan," for some reason?). Also, she worked as a prostitute in her teen years and got the name "Angelou" when she wanted something exotic for her work as a nightclub singer and dancer.

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, in Basque Country, Spain, was designed by Frank Gehry. It opened in 1997 and features lots of curved surfaces. In 2007 it was chosen as one of the Twelve Treasures of Spain.

The top ten highest peaks in the Unites States are all found in Alaska. According to some counts, Mount Whitney, in California, pokes in at number eleven; otherwise, Alaska could claim the top twelve. According to others, Alaska has the top sixteen highest peaks.

The nave is the long central part of a church where the congregation sits. Go sit in that nave, knave!

Myology is the study of muscles. It is very important not to confuse this with mycology, which is the study of fungi. Look, my muscles don't make me a fun guy. That's Mike, he's the fun guy.

Emirates is the national airline of Dubai, UAE. It is the largest airline in the Middle East.

Scarlett O'Hara, the heroine of "Gone With the Wind," was originally named Pansy O'Hara in early drafts of the novel.

The udon is a thick wheat-flour noodle used in Japanese cuisine. They differ from soba, which are also wheat noodles, in that soba are thin.

TV tour of the White House

In 1962, Jackie Kennedy hosted a TV tour of the White House with news anchor Charles Collingswood. The show got huge ratings and was given an honorary Emmy Award, which was accepted by Lady Bird Johnson.

Lipstick Effect

In economics, the "lipstick effect" indicates the trend for consumers to buy small, comforting items during times of financial uncertainty or hardship. Supposedly coined by Estee Lauder, who saw a jump in cosmetic sales after 9/11.

The "Sesame Street" character Big Bird's costume is composed in part of (dyed) turkey tail feathers. Huh. I would have thought it totally synthetic.

In the movie "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" (which may be the only major motion picture to have a period and a colon adjoining each other), E.T. watches the kissing scene of the 1952 John Wayne movie "The Quiet Man," which makes Elliot act out the scene at school.

The word "Honolulu" (the name of the city and county on O'ahu) means "sheltered bay" or "place of shalter" in the Hawaiian language. "Hono" means "a bay" and "lulu" indicates "sheltered."

The Bellini is a cocktail made from sparkling wine and peach puree. Supposedly it was named for its color, which reminded its inventor, Giuseppi Cipriani, of the color of a Bellini painting (the sunset, or a robe --- accounts differ).

John Luther Adams is a composer whose works primarily focus on themes of the natural world and the landscape of the North, primarily Alaska.

Bugaboo is a Dutch company, founded in 1996, that specializes in infant strollers. Many of its products have animal names, such as the donkey, cameleon (sic) and frog.

A chimichanga is a deep-fried burrito popular in Tex-Mex cuisine, first popularized sometime in the early twentieth century.

Wagyu cattle, originally from Japan, are bred for producing beef with heavy marbling, making it high in unsaturated fats and omega fatty acids.

The Flamingo is a casino opened in 1946 by gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. It is said he named it after his girlfriend, who had the same nickname due to her long, skinny legs. Currently named The Famingo Las Vegas, it was the third resort opened on the strip and is the oldest continuously operated casino on the strip today (as of 2011).