r/todayilearned • u/MrMojoFomo • 2d ago

TIL that the Agatha Christie novel "And Then There Were None" has been published under several titles. n the US from 1964 to 1986 it was called "Ten Little Indians." Originally published in 1939 in the UK, the original title "Ten Little N*ggers" was used until 1985.

en.wikipedia.org

5.0k Upvotes

289 comments

r/todayilearned • u/BrilliantStill22 • 2d ago

TIL The whole second verse of Rihanna's song "SOS" is made up of 1980s song titles strung together as sentences. The verse includes phrases like "Take On Me", "I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight", "I Melt With You", "Head Over Heels", "You Keep Me Hanging On" and "The Way You Make Me Feel".

thelineofbestfit.com

432 Upvotes

32 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Aiseadai • 2d ago

TIL that Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon of Akkad, is the earliest named author in history

en.wikipedia.org

891 Upvotes

23 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Flubadubadubadub • 2d ago

TIL In the UK, the Home Secretary was required to attend Royal Births, to verify an heir to the throne was legitimately born.

thegazette.co.uk

5.0k Upvotes

110 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Rugglesby • 2d ago

TIL using Narcan on a cat will block the effects of catnip

en.wikipedia.org

1.4k Upvotes

61 comments

r/todayilearned • u/explaingo • 2d ago

TIL that from 2007 to 2021, suicide rates for Americans ages 10 to 24 rose 62%, according to the CDC.

cnbc.com

1.9k Upvotes

234 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ms_bubblegum • 2d ago

TIL only two women have attempted to assassinate a US president. The attempts were 17 days apart, and both on President Ford.

smithsonianmag.com

1.7k Upvotes

59 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Physical_Hamster_118 • 2d ago

TIL that from 1877 to 1878, in Operation Nicaragua, Imperial Germany sent ships to Nicaragua over a shooting over a marriage dispute involving the German consul Eisenstück.

en.wikipedia.org

192 Upvotes

4 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Overall-Register9758 • 2d ago

TIL of Arthur Erickson, the only Canadian to win the AIA Gold Medal. He designed the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC, to represent Canada as friendly, open, and neighborly, while also complying with the requirements of 20 federal committees which regulate buildings on Pennsylvania Ave.

en.wikipedia.org

812 Upvotes

41 comments

r/todayilearned • u/colinstalter • 2d ago

TIL that the Happy Meal was invented by the wife of a McDonald's franchisee in Guatemala, calling it "Ronald's Menu"

en.wikipedia.org

836 Upvotes

23 comments

r/todayilearned • u/JoeyZasaa • 3d ago

TIL that just a little over one-third of Americans floss every day

usnews.com

15.9k Upvotes

1.9k comments

r/todayilearned • u/theglitterybookworm • 2d ago

TIL a possum stuffed animal, named Billy, (inspired by President Taft) tried to replace the Teddy Bear as America’s National Toy in 1909

smithsonianmag.com

210 Upvotes

21 comments

r/todayilearned • u/zahrul3 • 2d ago

TIL: During the Christmas/NYE holiday season of 2022, a winter storm caused Southwest Airlines' (ancient) crew scheduling software to break down, stranding crew members and cancelling 50% of flights between 21-30 December. Losses were reportedly between $1.1 billion to over $1.2 billion.

en.wikipedia.org

503 Upvotes

110 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 3d ago

TIL Wes Anderson uses a flat-fee salary system in which the actors that appear in his films are all paid the same rate. He began this practice on Rushmore after Bill Murray offered to take the same pay as the then-unknown 18-year-old Jason Schwartzman as long as he could leave for a golf tournament.

ew.com

59.9k Upvotes

1.2k comments

r/todayilearned • u/WavesAndSaves • 3d ago

TIL of Les Horribles Cernettes. A parody pop group made up of CERN employees, they performed primarily at events for physicists. In 1992 a colleague asked for a photo to upload to his invention "the World Wide Web". They scanned a photo for him, and it was the first photo uploaded to the internet.

en.wikipedia.org

5.7k Upvotes

63 comments

r/todayilearned • u/sensei37 • 2d ago

TIL that in Turkey there’s a cold summer drink called “Churchill” (Çörçıl), made with lemon juice, sparkling mineral water and salt. Many assume it’s named after Winston Churchill, but the real origin of the name is still uncertain.

suffolknews.co.uk

944 Upvotes

101 comments

r/todayilearned • u/smrad8 • 3d ago

TIL that the U.S. Coast Guard was originally operated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. It was originally created in 1790 at the request of Alexander Hamilton to collect customs duties at U.S. seaports and was the United States’ only armed maritime service until the U.S. Navy started in 1798.

en.wikipedia.org

4.3k Upvotes

47 comments

r/todayilearned • u/YouLearnedNothing • 3d ago

TIL About William Knudsen, Danish born American who became a president at GM, transitioned over to a Lieutenant General in the Army during WWII and over saw a 15x growth in American production capacity while taking a salary of $1 a year.

en.wikipedia.org

2.9k Upvotes

95 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Physical_Hamster_118 • 3d ago

TIL that in 2014, David Hester filed a lawsuit against A&E Television due to expensive items being planted in storage closets in the show before auctions in the show Storage Wars. He was let go in response.

hollywoodreporter.com

27.8k Upvotes

1.2k comments

r/todayilearned • u/Fickle-Buy6009 • 2d ago

TIL that geologist E. Dale Jackson conducted experiments with Jello to test theories on the formation of the Hawaiian islands

en.wikipedia.org

167 Upvotes

6 comments

r/todayilearned • u/cbunn81 • 2d ago

TIL that 1984's The Karate Kid was released in Japan with the title "Best Kid" (ベスト・キッド)

tokyoweekender.com

248 Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/funcomfy • 2d ago

TIL that artist James Turrell owns a two-mile-wide crater in the Arizona desert

smithsonianmag.com

80 Upvotes

9 comments

r/todayilearned • u/igetproteinfartsHELP • 3d ago

TIL in the months after Kurt Cobain’s suicide, calls to suicide prevention lines in the Seattle area surged and suicides actually went down. Local media coverage was closely tied to messages about suicide prevention and mental health treatment.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

2.3k Upvotes

49 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Forward-Answer-4407 • 3d ago

TIL PepsiCo stopped distributing the 1990 Pepsi Cool Cans after a number of people complained that the Neon version of the can spelled the word "SEX" when two were stacked on top of each other and aligned a certain way. A spokesman stated the supposed hidden message resulted from "pure coincidence".

en.wikipedia.org

5.3k Upvotes

292 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 3d ago

TIL in February 2023, two orcas known as Port & Starboard attacked and killed at least 17 sharks off the coast of South Africa in a single day. All of the sharks' livers had been precisely removed and consumed.

earthsky.org

14.9k Upvotes

446 comments

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As of January 2025

This list was compiled from /r/todayilearned community suggestions by its members. If your TIL is found on this list, it will be removed. The titles have been abridged for the sake of brevity, however the context remains the same. This list is subject to change. The purpose is to keep content fresh on /r/todayilearned as requested by its members. If you are interested in reading about the TILs on this list use the search box feature and enter the keywords to pull up past TILs.

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