Has the oldest restaurant in the world really been open for almost 900 years?

There were a lot of things I was toying with for the introduction to this week’s column.

Some of them were serious, most of them were mildly amusing, but considering the very special holiday this Friday, let me just wish all of you a very Merry Christmas—yes, even those who don’t celebrate the holiday—and allow me to restate my desire to see peace on earth, goodwill to all men and women, and an end to all the fractiousness in today’s society.

We need to come together as a people now more than ever.

May the joy of the holiday season be yours!

May the trivia of the day be yours as well. Enjoy!

Did you know…

… pajamas became popular nightwear during World War I? Residents of England developed pajamas (spelled “pyjamas” there) as an alternative to traditional nightgowns. The idea was to be able to quickly get outside during air raids in England in the first World War. (Who wants to run to a bomb shelter in their nightgown?)

… the first marketed breakfast cereal had to be soaked in milk overnight to be made edible? Granula, the first breakfast cereal to be marketed as such, was invented in 1863 by James Caleb Jackson (1811-1895). It was created from heavy bran and graham nuggets that were so tough they had to be tenderized by soaking in milk overnight. The cereal was made by baking the graham flour and bran, crumbling up the brittle cakes, and then baking them again. Needless to say, Granula didn’t catch on very well. (Not until you scooped a lot of sugar on them, anyway.)

… a Chinese poem sounds like you’re repeating the same word? “Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den” is a classical poem, which in Mandarin Chinese, sounds very much like the same word repeated over and over again. The poem was written in 1930 by Chinese linguist Zhao Yuanren (1892-1982) as a demonstration of linguistics. In classical Chinese, the poem is coherent, grammatical, and tells a story, even though to most people, it sounds like the word “shi” repeated 92 times. But in the Mandarin Chinese dialect, there are subtle differences in pronunciation that give each repetition of the sound a different meaning, so that the story is told. Reading the poem in Chinese script shows the differences in the 92 characters used. The story, by the way, is that of a man (named Shi, of course) eating stone lions. (Anything I say here would just be repetitiously redundant, wouldn’t it?)

… a sausage restaurant in Germany has been in business for almost 900 years? In the Bavarian city of Regensburg, you will find the Historische Wurstküche zu Regensburg, or Historic Sausage Kitchen of Regensburg. It is listed as one of the oldest—if not the oldest—continuously open public restaurant in the world. The Kitchen opened in 1146 in a building that had been the construction office for the Regensburg Stone Bridge. Its original name was Garfküche auf dem Kranchen, or Cookhouse Near the Crane. The main dish of the restaurant was boiled meat until 1806, when charcoal-grilled sausages were added to the menu. Now in its 874th year of continuous operation—yes, it was open during both World Wars—the Kitchen serves up about 6,000 sausages a day, along with other popular Bavarian dishes. The same family that bought the restaurant in 1800 still owns it today. (And the service is great, as you might expect—after all, 900 years of tips!)

… in 1971, the national debt was $75 million? By 2010, the debt rate rose that much in just an hour. (Ah, the good old days.)

… Valentine’s Day is not the biggest holiday in terms of greeting card sales? It’s second. Christmas is at the top of the list. Third is Mother’s Day, followed by Father’s Day. (I wish I had the greeting card concession.)

… a recent study showed a “shocking” result? In the study, 67% of men and 25% of women said they would rather give themselves an electric shock than to be alone with their own thoughts. (I suppose it depends on what those thoughts are, you know.)

… NASA was once sued for trespassing on Mars? Three Yemenese men sued the American space agency in 1997, claiming that the planet Mars belongs to them, given them by their ancestors 3,000 years ago. The claim was rejected by the court. (The deed was written in Martian, which the judge couldn’t read.)

… the Statue of Liberty’s mouth is three feet wide? (No comment, no comment at all.)

… there is a counterfeit egg industry in China? Rather than depend on Henrietta the Hen to do her work, the counterfeit egg industry uses resin, starch, pigments and coagulant to create the egg whites, a different mix of resin and pigments for the yolk, and paraffin wax, gypsum powder and calcium carbonate for the shell. The process is so automated that one person can make about 1,500 per day. And yes, you can tell the difference. (Especially when a rubber chicken hatches out of it.)

… the famous “three wise monkeys” have names? We know them primarily as “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” but their real names are Mizaru (See), Mikazaru (Hear), and Mazaru (Speak). (You could always call them Moe, Larry and Curly, too.)

… a group of deer is known as a herd? (Herd of deer? Of course I’ve heard of deer! Yes, I put this item in just so I could do that pun. Sue me.)

… there are 12 flowers included in the design imprinted on all Oreo cookies? (With me, Oreos don’t last long enough to count the flowers.)

Now … you know!

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