Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Wise Up! Read Free

in and around the Palace of Versailles.
    Britain’s Prince Charles owns a collection of toilet seats.
    Emperor Vespasian introduced pay toilets to Rome in the first century AD.
    Golfers Walter Hagen and Joe Kirkwood once played a round in downtown Tijuana, Mexico, using the toilet in their hotel room as the 18th hole.
    British government toilet paper used to be stamped with “Govt. Property, Now Wash Your Hands.”
    In Australia, outhouses are called “dunnies.”
    The Spike Jones Orchestra used an instrument called the latrinophone—a toilet seat with strings.
    Montana’s Cow Pasture Open golf tournament includes a toilet-seat hole.
    Liberace owned a retracting toilet that sank into the bathroom floor.
    Jack Nicholson has a rattlesnake embedded in his toilet seat.
    During the 1790s, the White House lavatory consisted of an outdoor wooden privy. In 1801, Thomas Jefferson had two outhouses installed, one at each end of the house.
    Thirty-three percent of Americans flush the toilet while still sitting on it.

Why’s It Called That?
    Canned herring are called sardines because the canning process was developed in Sardinia.
    Producer Terry Melcher wrote “(untitled)” as a placeholder for the name of the Byrds’ ninth album. It mistakenly went to press with the title (Untitled) .
    In the 1920s, the nickname “the Big Apple” was popularized by New York newspaper columnist John J. FitzGerald.
    Pink Floyd got its name from two Georgia bluesmen, “Pink” Anderson and Floyd Council.
    The original “quisling” (traitor) was Norwegian fascist Vidkun Quisling, who helped the Nazis invade his own country.
    The word “maverick” came into common use in 1845. It referred to unbranded cattle owned by Texas rancher Samuel Maverick.
    The term “ritzy” comes from the posh European hotels run by Swiss innkeeper César Ritz.
    Billboard magazine was founded in 1894 as a trade publication for people who manufactured and used billboards.
    Bingo was originally called “beano” because players used beans to mark their cards.
    In golf, the word “green” once meant the entire course.
    The Pet Shop Boys claim they titled their album Please so people would have to ask for it politely.
    The word “aftermath” was originally “aftermowth,” and it referred to the new growth of grass after mowing.
    “Acid rock,” “country rock,” and “hard rock” were all geological terms before they were musical genres.

Loony
    Loons are aquatic birds that look like small ducks with black and white spots and red eyes.
    There are five species of loons: common, red-throated, Pacific, arctic, and yellow-billed.
    Loons get their name from their high-pitched yodeling cry. Many people say that it sounds like maniacal laughter.
    Minnesota’s state bird: the common loon.
    The birds have sharp beaks that they use to stab prey.
    Loons are clumsy on land, and typically leave the water only to nest. They’re much faster and more agile when swimming.
    Unlike most birds whose bones are hollow, loons’ bones are solid.
    Loons can fly as fast as 75 mph.
    A swimming loon appears on Canada’s one-dollar coin, nicknamed the “loonie.”
    In England, loons are also called “divers” because they can dive as deep as 250 feet to look for fish, and can stay underwater for five minutes.

Food!
    Gerber once tried to market premade foods for adults.
    Until about 200 years ago, people in many Asian countries used bricks of tea as money.
    Huey Lewis’s grandfather invented the red wax sealant used on some varieties of cheese.
    Most widely used herb in the world: parsley.
    Throughout The Big Lebowski , the Dude (Jeff Bridges) drinks nine White Russians.
    There are more than 20,000 brands of beer worldwide.
    Seventeenth-century Italian cardinal Jules Mazarin took his personal chocolate-maker with him everywhere.
    Before he made it big in films, actor Alan Ladd operated a hot-dog stand called Tiny’s.
    The world’s most expensive spice: Spanish saffron. It