Strange but true
1. The colour orange was called "red-yellow" until the English-speaking world was introduced to the fruit that was named "orange".
2. Blind auditions for symphony orchestras (the candidates play behind a screen) resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of women being hired.
3. On average, a child asks 288 questions every day. (It's school holidays I can confirm).
Lost in the groove
"I had saved up my pocket money and purchased the latest hit, Hogsnort Rupert's 45-inch single, Pretty Girl," writes Mandy Brown. "I was so excited as it was the first ever record I'd purchased and for weeks I played it over and over again and sang away to it until I knew all the words ... Then many years later, I was with friends and we were talking about old songs and New Zealand artists. They were having trouble remembering the name of the band who sang a top hit ... I proudly gave them the answer, and started to sing it. Some of my friends joined in to parts, especially the chorus. But there are some lyrics where it says 'Come on my lover give us a kiss', so I'm singing away and get to this part, but I say 'Come on my lover give us a kiss, give us a kiss, give us a kiss', and then carry on singing. Everyone fell about laughing at me and tried to tell me it is only sung once ... the 45 I had purchased had a jagged scratch on it, which made the needle repeat the two words then move on as if nothing had happened and the family thought it was so cute so they just didn't say anything to me."
