Figured this could be a fun and informative thread. Topic title says it all.

Actual historical discussion should be toned down, to some degree. We don't want to start getting into anything too political, of course. However, discussion of the history posted by other posters is allowed so long as it is just discussion and doesn't devolve into anything else. If someone gets something historically innaccurate, correct them politely with evidence and links to that evidence. It just makes everything go smoothly. Just a fair warning..

Anywho, time for posting interesting little historical tidbits.

The word amok, as in running amok, comes from an Indonesian culture in Malay that carried knives around their neck at all times. When someone in their village just couldn't take life anymore, they yanked out their knife and started to 'run amok', killing everyone and anyone until someone yanked out their own knife and put them down. Odd way to commit suicide but hey, that is the origin of the term running amok. Sometimes it is spelt amuk.

In Ancient Egypt, the heart was considered to be responsible for intelligence, as opposed to the brain. Egyptians thought the brain was just a stuffing for the head. As a result, they removed it during embalming and disposed of it, all the while the heart was given special care and placed in a jar.

The Salem witch trail never actually involved the burning at the stake. Instead, witches were hung.

The US constitution contains numerous spelling and grammar mistakes.

The pyramids were build by paid men, not slaves. It was seen as both a job and a way to serve the pharo.

for the last 4,000 years (roughly) there have only been 230-ish years without any wars occurring.

Napoleon was NOT all that short, being about the same height as the average man.

The Romans were NOT the largest empire in history, being only the 19th.

The Christian savoir, Jesus, had his name mistranslated by the Greeks. It was actually Yeshua, or Joshua (in English).

That's all I got

EDIT: OH! In Ancient Rome, a thumbs up meant the person was to be killed, not thumbs down.

Someone should fix those up.

I wouldn't say mistranslated. Jesus is a latinized greek rendition for Yeshua.

Somebody obviously read their Cracked.

Actually, I use to read a book of about 1000 pages of just useless facts. Granted I was little at the time, but a lot of it stuck

Go on....

The story of the fig leaves and the ole box of stone dikes-
A counter movement to the Rennaissance in the Catholic church saw the destruction and/or defacement of countless works of art depicting any kind of
sixual content. From genitals, to briasts to butts. These were removed brutally and then later patched over with fig leaves and such. This period lasted like 5 centuries and saw the destruction of much of the Vatican Cities art. The reasoning behind it was that the stone dikes, butts and briasts would cause undue arousal in the 'members' of the Catholic Church.
A little more detail from another site.

Titbit. It's titbit. That is all.

Actually, no, that is a synonym of tidbit.

http://i.word.com/idictionary/tidbit

No it isn't.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/titbit?q=Titbit

Of course, in the US they say tid, for some reason (I suspect it is because it sounds naughty), but the etymology, even in your reference, says it all. It started as, and will always be, a tit.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=define%3Atidbit

tid·bit

I am a Canadian and I endorse this message. The other countries can shove it up their preferential ass this time. No offense or anything.

[censored]. It's [censored]. That is all.

Oh yes, I always forget about that well-established piece, the Google English Dictionary.

-> George Washington's teeth were NOT made of wood, but from various other teeths. Yeah, he had very horrible dental health. I doubt he had even a single tooth he could call his own toward the end of his life.

-> Pirates didn't wear an eyepatch because they lost an eye, they wore it so that whenever they had to get below deck, they could quickly switch the eyepatch around to the other eye, and the previously covered eye would have been so accustomed to the dark that they could easily navigate without trouble. That's right, under the right circumstances, our own eyes can act as night vision.

-> Catherine the Great did NOT die trying to mate with a horse.

-> King Tutankhamum was not, as pop culture might tell you, murdered. Recent investigations by Egyptian scholars on Tutankhamun's body suggests that he died due to complications resulting from a leg fracture.

Wow, we got a badass over here guys. Everyone watch out for bonalste getting angry at perfectly valid alternate spellings to words and trying to force his petty narrow view on a dumb debate. It's about as intelligent looking as two different countries arguing which word they like better. The french word for toast or the spanish.

You then went on to stereotypically say they don't say tit because of sixual reasons, but then Canada also uses it. Completely shattering your silly model for judging humanity. Peace out.

Edit

As a matter of fact some accents here do say titbit, but it's rare. Do we go ape[censored]? No because we are smart enough to understand what it means and not get all bent out of shape. *sigh* I feel significantly dumber.

PEOPLE! THE TOPIC!!! Who gives a Skeever's butt how people pronounce different words?!

--> King George III apparently went insane later in life.

--> Queen Elizabeth Tudor was effectively the world's most badass ruler ever. Bar none.

--> In 1941, the Russians excavated the tomb of Tamurlane was opened, and shortly thereafter the Soviets were invaded by the Nazis. When he was returned with full rites, the Soviets were able to beat the Nazis back out of Russia. Some say Tamurlane put a curse on Russia for what they did.

--> Alexander the Great never got to beat Darius III of Persia. The man was killed by Bessus. Alexander the Great was so pissed off that he was robbed of his chance, that he hunted Bessus down, and soon executed him in 329 BC.

Thank you, I lost it there. My logic sensors auto fired, they're twitchy on a lack of sleep. Calming down now. http://static.tumblr.com/t3brpu7/8Xxlzf46g/iron5-1.png.

Fun story my Uncle doesn't believe Oda Nobunaga existed or had anything to do with Tokugawa. He is taking a Japanese history class (granted it is a little after that period), but still. I want to face desk every time he starts trying to act smart.

Emperor Caligula once decided to go to war with Poseidon, God of Sea… he ordered his soldiers to randomly throw spears in the water.

How does he think this?

I rememer this. Was hilarious back when I heard it and is hilarious now.

Idi Amin, dictator of Uganda, proposed marriage to Queen Elizabeth II.

MOAR......MOARRR...

I SHALL FEED YOU.

-Alaska law says that you can't look at a moose from an airplane.

-The Little Sisters from BioShock didn't start their life as little girls at all, but rather tiny mole-like creatures who scuttled around Rapture collecting Adam. Early concept art also shows them as retro '50s-style robots, too.

-Sonic The Hedgehog isn't only the name of Sega's speedy mascot, but also a gene on chromosome 7 of the human genome.

-In the early stages of its development, Half-Life 2 featured a friendly alien that would follow Gordon Freeman around, feasting on the bodies of his fallen enemies. It was taken out when Valve discovered that the AI would be too difficult to convincingly program.

Source: Copy and pasted from Google, the almighty overlord.

Einstein never learned how to drive a car.