Just try saying this nonsensical tongue-twister - worthy of Frank Key's Hooting Yard, in today's weird Wikipedia discovery from the Wikiworm Aldiborontiphoskyphorniostikos was a book that contained a game in which players had to read the snippet for each letter of the alphabet as fast as they could without making a mistake. Alternatively, several players could ... Read More...
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Man's inhumanity to man features large in today's sad tale, culled from the weirder side of Wikipedia by The Wikiworm Ota Benga (circa 1883 – March 20, 1916) was a Congolese pygmy who featured in an anthropology exhibit at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904, and in a controversial human zoo exhibit in 1906 at the Bronx ... Read More...
A strange form of culture shock, or something more? The Wikiworm uncovers more odd goings on, courtesy of this week's weird Wikipedia article... Paris syndrome (French: Syndrome de Paris, Japanese: Pari shōkōgun) is a transient psychological disorder encountered by some individuals visiting or vacationing in Paris, France or elsewhere in Western Europe. It is characterized by a number ... Read More...
Were the Dark Ages all just a bit of made up fun? Find out more with today's weird wikipedia article, courtesy of The Wikiworm... The phantom time hypothesis is a revisionist history and conspiracy theory developed in the 1980s and '90s by German historian and publisher Heribert Illig (born 1947 in Vohenstrauß, Germany). The hypothesis proposes that periods of history, specifically that of ... Read More...
A post in honour of our new footballing overlords this week, as the Wikiworm presents another unusual wikipedia article The Weißwurstäquator (literally: white sausage equator) is a humorous term describing the supposed cultural boundary separating Southern Germany, especially Bavaria, from Central Germany. It is named for the Weißwurst sausage of Bavaria. There is no precise definition of the Weißwurstäquator; ... Read More...
Another strange wikipedia article for this saturday's Wikiworm, and disappointingly nothing to do with George Melly... Mellified man, or human mummy confection, was a legendary medicinal substance created by steeping a human cadaver in honey. The concoction is mentioned only in Chinese sources, most significantly the Bencao Gangmu of the 16th-century Chinese pharmacologist Li Shizhen. Relying on a second-hand ... Read More...
Imaginary minerals are the topic of today's bizarre Wikipedia article, brought to you by the Wikiworm, ceaseless miner of useless knowledge... Unobtainium is a word used in engineering, fiction, and thought experiments, to describe any fictional, extremely rare, costly, or impossible material, or (less commonly) device needed to fulfill a given design for a ... Read More...
One of those very divisive bits of folklore gleaned from the wonderful world of Wikipedia for today's Wikiworm - which side are you on? The five-second rule is a widely repeated belief that food dropped on the ground will not be significantly contaminated with bacteria if it is picked up within five seconds of being ... Read More...
The Wikiworm burrows deeper into Wikipedia... The man on the Clapham omnibus is a hypothetical reasonable person, used by the courts in English law where it is necessary to decide whether a party has acted as a reasonable person would — for example, in a civil action for negligence. The man ... Read More...
Every Saturday the Wikiworm burrows deeper into the stranger recesses of Wikipedia... Brian Douglas Wells (November 15, 1956 – August 28, 2003) was an unfortunate American pizza delivery man who was killed by a time bomb fastened to his neck, purportedly under coercion from the maker of the bomb. After he ... Read More...
