Fun
Curious customs and everyday oddities: where “OK” came from, why we say “break a leg” and why dads tell dad jokes, plus DAD-9000, our robot comic.
FEATUREDAD-9000: Robots Telling Dad Jokes
A dry robot comic walks into a comedy club and tells dad jokes. Listen to Episode 01 of DAD-9000, our Robots Telling Dad Jokes feature.
Episode 01 · Audio
60-SEC READWhy do we clink glasses when we toast?
The popular story that clinking proved a drink wasn't poisoned has no real historical evidence behind it. Toasting itself goes back to shared ritual drinking in the ancient world.
Full write-up · 3 sources
60-SEC READWhere did “OK” come from?
OK began as a joke: an 1839 Boston newspaper abbreviation for “oll korrect,” a deliberate misspelling of “all correct.” A presidential campaign made it stick.
Full write-up · 3 sources
60-SEC READWhy is Friday the 13th considered unlucky?
Thirteen and Fridays were each thought unlucky for centuries, but the combined superstition is surprisingly modern, boosted by a 1907 bestselling novel.
Full write-up · 4 sources
60-SEC READWhy do we say “bless you” when someone sneezes?
Nobody knows for sure. The custom is at least 2,000 years old: the Roman writer Pliny the Elder was already asking why people saluted a sneeze around 77 CE.
Full write-up · 4 sources
60-SEC READWhy is a baker’s dozen 13?
Probably to stay on the right side of medieval bread laws, or to give resellers a profit. Nobody can prove which, but bakers have long thrown in a 13th loaf.
Full write-up · 4 sources
60-SEC READWhy do golf courses have 18 holes?
Because of a decision at St Andrews in 1764. Golfers there merged four short holes into two, which cut a round from 22 holes to 18, and other courses gradually followed.
Full write-up · 3 sources
60-SEC READWhy is it called Black Friday?
It started as a complaint. In the 1950s, Philadelphia police called the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” because of the traffic jams and chaos. Retailers later spun it as the day stores go “into the black.”
Full write-up · 4 sources
60-SEC READWhy do we say “break a leg”?
Nobody knows for sure. Theater superstition says wishing someone “good luck” invites the opposite, and the phrase caught on in the 1920s and 1930s, but its exact origin is unknown.
Full write-up · 4 sources
60-SEC READWhy do dads tell dad jokes?
Nobody has proven why, but researchers have ideas. A dad joke is a wholesome, usually punny joke “of the type said to be told by fathers,” and it may be as much about bonding and play as the punchline.
Full write-up · 6 sources
60-SEC READDid Coca-Cola invent Santa’s red suit?
No. Santa was already wearing red in 19th-century illustrations and postcards. Coca-Cola’s ads, which began in 1931, helped make the jolly red-and-white Santa the standard image.
Full write-up · 6 sources
60-SEC READWhy do we kiss under the mistletoe?
Nobody knows for sure. The Norse myth often cited has no kissing in it, and the earliest known mention of kissing under mistletoe is an English poem from 1784. The custom seems to have started with servants.
Full write-up · 7 sources