Our houses are full of things. Some of them seem so familiar to us that we can never connect them with the biography that is hidden in their history. And she can not only surprise, but also shock.
Treadmill
If you've ever been on a treadmill and thought to yourself that this is torture, then you are more right than meets the eye. Treadmills are originally designed to make people suffer. The first treadmill was built in 1818 by William Cubit. It was a wooden platform equipped with handrails that worked like a hamster wheel. Cubit supplied these devices to prisons, where they forced convicted criminals to walk on them for up to 10 hours a day. After a while, inspectors realized that they could connect treadmills to grain grinders and water pumps in order to find a cheap source of energy. Treadmills soon appeared in prisons across the UK. But when the twentieth century approached, the people declared that it was too inhuman even for the most notorious criminals.
Lettuce salad
This plant is about 5000 years old. The earliest evidence comes from Egypt (2680 BC) when people used this salad to enhance sexual energy. The Egyptians did not eat this salad, considering it disgusting. But they secreted liquid from it, which they drank in order to become sex gods. They believed that lettuce juice is one of the best aphrodisiacs in the world. This salad had its own patron divine, whose name was Min - this is the same deity with an erect penis (he was really portrayed that way).
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Wireless Internet
The history of the wireless Internet began with a physicist named John O'Sullivan. He studied Stephen Hawking's theory that small black holes can evaporate by sending radio signals when they do. O'Sullivan wanted to prove it. There was a possibility that these signals could be detected from Earth. They would have been minor and almost invisible, but O'Sullivan worked hard to devise a way to find these signals. But his work was not crowned with success. In 1992, he joined a company that was trying to build wireless computer networks. No one could do this until O'Sullivan applied his black hole research to a new field. It worked, O'Sullivan's ideas helped create Wi-Fi.
Bowling
Bowling technically started in Egypt. In the tomb of an Egyptian child buried in 3200 BC, a set of nine elongated stones and one stone ball was discovered. Some historians have concluded that these stones were used in much the same way as in modern bowling. This could be considered a coincidence, but another find was discovered - this time in Germany of the third century AD. There were several such archaeological discoveries, which led to a certain interpretation. Surprisingly, in Europe this game appeared primarily in the first Christian churches. The parishioners took the ball in their hands and tried to knock down wooden pegs that represented the pagans. If a "worthy Christian" knocked down all the stones, then he cleansed himself from sin. Subsequently, people turned this strange ritual into an ordinary game. So if you hit the strike, you don't have to worry about your sins.
Crotch shaving
Muslims are probably the last people you consider to be trendsetters. But during the Crusades, the Islamic world represented a real alternative to European civilization. The Arab world was distinguished by a developed science and culture. In an amazing way, the Arabs have preserved the ancient heritage of Europe. There were baths in their cities, which the Europeans forgot about. So when the crusaders saw a naked Arab, they found that he would be shaved “there”. As far as we can tell, it was the Crusaders who brought crotch shaving to Europe. And it came from the Arabs.
Middle finger
Showing your middle finger is not a good idea, especially if you are in some Siberian bar. We all know this is offensive, but most of us don't really understand why it is. As it turns out, the middle finger is one of the oldest obscene gestures. The first mention comes from the 4th century BC. The Greek philosopher Diogenes gave a speech in front of a crowd of sleepy people, but they did not listen to him well, so in order to provide decent feedback, Diogenes extended his middle finger so that his hand looked like a penis and balls. The gesture was promoted by Diogenes as a natural disaster. Soon the poet Aristophanes got involved in this game.
Animal balloon
The first balloon in the form of an animal was made by the Aztecs, but it had nothing to do with children's fun. The Aztecs made their balloon out of cat intestines, which was dried and sealed with an airtight seal. Such "balls" were an attribute of rituals, a kind of sacrifice to the Aztec gods. It is unlikely that the clown Henry Maar, who rolled a balloon in the shape of an animal in 1939, thought that he was parodying an ancient Aztec ritual. The next time you buy such a ball, remember that bloodthirsty gods are looking at you from above, who want more offerings.
Chinese checkers
If you are a fan of board games, then you probably played "Chinese checkers". How are they remarkable? The fact that they have no connection with China at all. Chinese checkers were invented by the German company Ravensburg. The first board with this game appeared in 1892. Then the Chinese checkers became a hit in Germany, then spread throughout Europe and the United States. After World War I, Germany fell into disgrace, so the manufacturers of "Chinese checkers" decided to pretend that the game was really created in China, although there were many names in the early stages of the game's life. For example, in Germany it was known as "Star Jump".
Mini golf
1867 is the dawn of the Victorian era. The 18-hole golf course, which opened in St Andrews, Scotland, was considered one of the most indecent places in the country. The women, shamelessly playing in public, openly and brazenly raised their hands, exposing their shoulders. The Victorians considered this so obscene that they forbade women to play regular golf. But the initiative friends did not put up with this. They created the world's first miniature golf team and it was a female one. A little later, mini golf became popular not only among women, but also among men.
Birthday Candles
There are many different theories about why we started sticking candles in our birthday cake, and no one has ever proven anything definite. However, there is an episode in history that serves as a pretext for explaining the phenomenon. The ancient Greeks were the first people to cook honey cakes and insert candles into them. It was an essential part of the celebration of the Munychia Spring Festival. Women used honey cakes as a gift to the goddess Artemis. But the Greeks did not confine themselves to the honey cake, they also bled the goat. If you decide to organize holidays for children, then it is better not to copy the Greeks.
Based on materials from Mark Oliver, author: Ivan Kalyagin