Humans Actually Have Four Nostrils

After studying fish it has been discovered that we actually have a set of nostrils out of sight, which makes them internal nostrils. They connect with the throat and are what allows us to breathe through the nose.

Scotland, Bagpipes, Haggis, Kilts, Porridge and Tartan Are Not Scottish

I’ll work my way backwards over that list starting with Tartan. This came about because of English garrison regiments designing their own tartans to mark the visit of King George IV to Edinburgh in 1822. Queen Victoria encouraged the trend, which set off a Victorian craze.

The idea of a system of tartans for each clan is a complete myth stemming from the nineteenth century.

Porridge, widely to be thought of as Scottish, has actually been found in the stomachs of 5,000 year old Neolithic bog bodies across central Europe and Scandinavia.

The dubious honour of inventing kilts goes to the Irish, although the word itself is actually Danish.

In 423BC in Ancient Greece, Aristophanes mentions Haggis exploding, which is a Greek sausage.

Bagpipes are mentioned as far back as the Old Testament and are thought to be of Central Asian origin.

Finally, Scotland was named after a Celtic tribe from Ireland named the “Scoti”, who arrived approximately between the fifth and sixth century.

Jaffa Cakes Are Not Made With Oranges

The only thing that comes close to being part of an orange in a Jaffa Cake is a squirt of tangerine oil. In a Daily Telegraph back in September 2002, McVities stated that it was actually apricot pulp, sugar, and a squirt of tangerine oil that made up the ‘orange jam’.

Bangkok, Thailand Doesn’t Exist

It’s not been around for over 200 years, after being built over in 1782 by King Rama I. The capital of Thailand is actually Krung Thep, which is the shortened version of its full name that contains, in it’s Thai language as one word, 152 letters or 64 syllables. If you’re interested the full name is Krungthep Mahanakhon Amorn Rattanakosin Mahintara Yudthaya Mahadilok Pohp Noparat Rajathanee Bureerom Udomrajniwes Mahasatarn Amorn Pimarn Avaltarnsatit Sakatattiya Visanukram Prasit.

We Are Living In An Ice Age

Yes, all the doom merchants out there telling us about global warming and how it’s affecting the polar ice caps should check out this fact. The period within an ice age when the ice is retreating is known as an “interglacial” period. The current period we are in begun 10,000 years ago and the duration of this can last anywhere between 12,000 and 50,000 years. The fact that there is polar ice caps means that we are in an ice age, and any geographer will tell you this is how they are defined.