Category: Omnibit

Ancient Egypt had two King Scorpions as rulers. Nobody knows their real names but their handle comes from the depictions of scorpions with hieroglyphics relating to them. The scorpion represented things like “storm” and “gale” to the Egyptians. Of course, it also represented “bad breath“. Mull that Dwayne Johnson.

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-4-16 King Scorpions

How do you say “empty orchestra” in Japanese? Karaoke. Well, it’s a clipped compound, anyway. How do you say “orchestra” in Japanese? ōkesutora.

“Kara” does mean empty.

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-3-16 empty orchestra

So what do the songs “The Unicorn” by the Irish Rovers and “The Cover of Rolling Stone” by Dr. Hook have in common? Shel Silverstine wrote the words. He did the same for the Johnny Cash hit “A Boy Named Sue”.

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-2-16 Shel Silverstine

November was called Blōtmōnaþ by the Anglo-Saxons.  How would one pronounce “in the cold Blōtmōnaþ rain?”

 

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-1-16 Blōtmōnaþ

Herophilos of Alexandria reportedly vivisected at least 600 live prisoners.

Happy Halloween.

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 10-31-16 Herophilos

Bramble vs Briar — You’ve heard the phrase “briar and bramble.” So what’s a bramble? It’s basically the blackberry bush — which is very common in Britain — although it can extend to any bush with thorns and berries.

And a briar? It’s any bush with thorns including the blackberry. The words may not be perfect synonyms but bramble is redundant when used with briar.

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 10-30-16 Bramble vs Briar

In the movie “Caddyshack,” Carl, the greens keeper played by Bill Murray, describes how he once caddied for The Dalai Lama in Tibet. He says the Dali Lama hit a ball into a 10,000 foot crevice at the base of a glacier and said Gunga gunga galunga.

Around the turn of the Millennium, the Dalai Lama visited the United States. Among the the people with whom he met was then Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura. Ventura asked him if he had ever seen “Caddyshack” and the Dalai Lama said no.

Just before leaving, however, The Dalai Lama looked at the Governor and said Gunga, gunga galunga.

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 10-29-16

Rufus was Latin for redhead. Flavus meant blond.

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 10-28-16 Rufus

 

What does the Buddy Holly hit That’ll Be The Day have in common with the British pop group The Searchers? The names of both were inspired by the John Ford/John Wayne western The Searchers.

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 10-27-16 The Searchers

What did Roman’s do when they were bored? They played Nine Man Morris. It’s considered the forerunner of Tic Tac Toe.

Nine Man Morris William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 10-26-16