1Popcorn as Breakfast
In 1800s America, popcorn was used as a breakfast food, with it being mixed with milk and a sweetener similar to cereal.
2. Town planning was once an Olympic event, as were several other architectural disciplines. The Olympics were to be about the arts as much as sport, and contestants could compete in literature, music, and several other non-sporting pursuits.
3. People used to grind human bones into flour to make 'bone bread.'
4. Hotmail used to be written as HoTMaiL because it was designed to include the letters HTML.
5. In the 1950s, there used to be a bus route from London in England to Calcutta in India. It took about 50 days for the bus to reach Calcutta from London.
Latest FactRepublic Video:
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
6American Chestnut Tree Loss
There used to be 4 billion American chestnut trees in the USA, but they all disappeared because of a fungus that killed them as saplings.
7. Plane hijackings used to be common in the US among Cuban-Americans wanting to return to Cuba. In a 7-year span from 1968 to 1974, 130 planes were hijacked.
8. The "nut" in "Honey Nut Cheerios" used to be ground almonds in the recipe, but it is now made from natural almond flavoring, typically manufactured not from almonds but from peach pits.
9. The word 'apron' used to be 'napron,' but people so frequently misheard 'a napron' as 'an apron' that it changed.
10. The eye sockets of the Moai statues on Easter Island used to have eyes made of coral.
11France's Time Zone Change
France used to be on the same time zone as Britain, but during the German occupation of France, its time zone was changed to Central European Time, and it has since remained unchanged.
12. A color named Tyrian purple used to be worth its weight in gold, as it took 250,000 snails to make one ounce of this dye.
13. There used to be a government agency in the United States whose only responsibility was tasting imported tea.
14. Giraffes used to be called "camelopards" because medieval Europeans believed them to be mythical hybrid creatures born from the union of a leopard and a camel. As such, giraffes are still called "camelopards" in European heraldry.
15. The USPS used to burn letters sent to "Santa." Now, nonprofit organizations respond to children's letters on behalf of Santa.
16Stop Sign Color Evolution
Before 1954, stop signs used to be yellow with black lettering because there was no red dye that would not fade over time. However, by 1954, sign makers began using fade-resistant porcelain enamel, and it was declared that stop signs would be red with white lettering.
17. Before the Internet, chess players used to play each other all over the world by taking turns mailing a postcard to each other describing the move they had made.
18. Royal women used to give birth in front of an audience to prove that the child was indeed the fruit of the royal woman's womb.
19. 7-Up used to contain lithium citrate, a known mood stabilizer that is still used today to treat bipolar disorder and mania.
20. Spanish noblewomen used to eat clay pots. The habit caused a paler complexion (due to anemia), which was considered attractive. It also served as a contraceptive since the negative health effects caused a delay in menstrual cycles, leading to death in some cases.
21Dunkin' Donuts' Dunkable Past
Dunkin' Donuts' donuts used to have a handle on them to dunk the donuts.
22. Southern sweet tea was originally used to show wealth, as tea, ice, and sugar were all very expensive at the time.
23. US presidents used to give out special presidential packs of cigarettes to guests boarding Air Force One. They were later changed to packs of presidential M&M's over health concerns.
24. During WWII, the German footwear company Continental used to test their rubber boot soles by using concentration camp prisoners who would march 30-40 km per day. The SS executed those who slowed down or fell.
25. The ancient Romans used to eat hallucinogenic fish at parties to get high.
