Things you were shockingly old when you learned

Also, that 'mute site' on a Chrome tab mutes that site completely till you unmute it, even in fresh tabs. Very useful for stupid news sites that insist on autoplaying video after a few seconds, leaving you in a hunt for the offending tab.

Today I learned two things which have gently disconcerted me:
- 'Care of Cell 44' by the Zombies was originally called 'Care of Cell 69' but their American publisher told them they couldn't call it that.
- Gabriel Clarke, ITV football's rakish half-time roving reporter, is the son of film director Alan Clarke.

Talking of ITV football, I was shockingly old when I learned that Tom Rosenthal, of Friday Night Dinner fame, is Jim Rosenthal's son.

Funny story is that Jamaica, Queens is named for the Lenape word for "beaver" (yameco) and evolved from Dutch to English. Jamaica the country is named for the Arawak word for the island (Xaymaca) and evolved from Spanish to English. Totally unrelated! https://t.co/5jfFl8fw6k

— Jordan Fraade (@schadenfraade) August 9, 2021

How did they wind up with the same spelling tho

someone in the replies suggests that the spelling of the island did influence the town's official spelling, but nonetheless their independent origins was news to me! (not that I fact-checked this tweet)

so the spellings went that way... of their own accord

Gabriel Clarke, ITV football's rakish half-time roving reporter, is the son of film director Alan Clarke.

Cool.

The correct pronunciation of menarche. Never heard it out loud until watching an episode of handmaids tale the other night. I was surprised!

That one surprised me so much that I refuse to update it on the internal database

Is that the Midwestern hardware store where you'll save more?

Abolish the menarche

I just today realized that Spiritualized’s “Cop Shoot Cop…” isn’t about police but the more obvious one that fits the album.

None of the classic Hall & Oates albums say just “Hall & Oates” on the cover.

(Per recent Craig Jenkins/Vulture piece)

That the loud clicking sound generated by clicking/snapping one’s fingers is the sound of the finger hitting the fleshy part of the palm - seems obvious but I guess I always thought of it as being produced entirely by the friction of finger & thumb rubbing together, which now seems absurd when I give it any thought at all

Oh yeah!

I dont believe this

Not taking questions, not thinking any more about it

Easily tested--put a piece of cloth or a band aid where your middle finger strikes the base of your thumb and listen for the lack of snap.

Yeah I’ve been doing that a lot and I still barely believe it

Have also been obsessively clicking my fingers in the regular way probably slightly more than usual, hope my neighbours don’t think I’m insane

holy shit

Whoa

THere was a Virgin Megastore in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Just read that in passing in the Guardian from yesterday.

I was completely unable to snap my fingers until I realised that's how it worked. I'm still not very good at it

Oh yeah!

That Edgar and Johnny's real last name is Winter.

That Kurt's real last name is Vile.

yeah I thought that was a stage name derived from Mr Lotte Lenya

Wait what, it isn’t?

Apparently not! Unless his parents were fans.

I mean, I've literally never otherwise seen or heard the last name Vile before but anything is possible.

I think somebody specifically pointed out it wasn't what I'd taken it to be a couple of years ago. I had just assumed Weill was so well known it would have to be a reference

oh & I also think it had been something that had run through my head as a great punk name prior to me hearing about it being in use,

Curt Vile was a pseudonym used by Alan Moore early in his career.

Apparently not! Unless his parents were fans.

I seem to remember reading about this a while ago and him saying the parents didn't know anything about Kurt Weill. It does all seem a bit 'it was something little Julian Lennon said, not LSD' but they you go.

Here you go. From this NY Times article:

Mr. Vile – whose father and stay-at-home mother weren’t aware of the Weimar-era composer Kurt Weill when they named him – played the trumpet throughout elementary and middle school, initially intrigued that he only had to learn to work three valves before he’d be able to “make some cool sounds.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/arts/music/25wein.html

Kurt Vile also claims he doesn't smoke weed, so... take with a grain of salt

I had just assumed Weill was so well known it would have to be a reference

That may be a bit of a culture-bubble thing (no shade intended, just sayin).

Brimming with disambiguation:

https://i.imgur.com/Es5sUTY.png

Kurt Weil a Swiss vibraphonist born 1932, apparently. Maybe his parents really were Threepenny Opera fans.

Wait until you guys hear about Paul Potts!

OMG

the snapping thing is blowing my mind

Jennifer Jason Leigh is Vic Morrow's daughter?! I swear everyone in Hollywood is related to someone else in Hollywood.

Yeah, I think last week I learned that Josh Brolin's dad was an actor.

TWL
Today We Learned pic.twitter.com/oaUsivOIqK

— TRL Mailorder (@TRL_Mailorder) August 25, 2021

As a kid, always wondered which cities were in the other guitar/horseshoe crab-spaceships.

Cambridge and Dedham, iirc

actual LOLs