Month: September 2016

When the word bae seemingly came out of nowhere in the summer of 2014 to become every millennial’s go-to term of endearment, the internet was quick to seize upon the fact that, coincidentally, bae means “poop” in Danish. 

Bae, it soon turned out, wasn’t so much a term of endearment as an example of what linguists refer to as a “false friend”—a word that looks (but doesn’t necessarily sound) similar in two different languages, but differs entirely in its meaning. Chances are if you’ve ever learned a language you’ll have stumbled across a few false friends yourself, because there are a lot more besides bae to contend with …

1. Tuna is the Spanish name for the prickly pear cactus.

2. Fart means speed or rapid movement in several Scandinavian languages—which makes the Norwegian word for a sea crossing an overfart, and the Swedish word for a speed bump a farthinder.

3. Air is the Malay word for water.

4. Kiss means urine in Swedish …

5. … while the Manx word for urine is moon.

6. Farmer means farmer in Hungarian—but it’s also a Hungarian word for a pair of jeans, which are known in full as farmernadrág, or farmer trousers.

7. Angina is the German name for tonsillitis.

8. Derived from the same root as fatuous, fat means conceited or boastful in French.

9. Bad means bath in Norwegian.

10. Cat is the Malay word for paint.

11. Home means mold or mildew in Finnish.

12. Roof means robbery or banditry in Dutch. A roofdier—literally, an animal robber—is a predatory animal.

13. A bicycle is a rower in Polish.

14. Pop means octopus in Catalan.

15. As a noun, gift means poison in Danish. As an adjective, it means married.

16. Bang means frightened in German, is an Irish word for a single swimming stroke, and is the Javanese word for anything red-colored. Whereas …

17. … red means network in Spanish.

18. Pea is the Estonian word for head—while head means good.

19. Zee means sea in Dutch (which is where the “zea” in New Zealand comes from).

20. Mad means lucky in Welsh.

22. A shopping cart is called a chariot in French.

22. Bum is the Albanian equivalent of boom.

23. The Romanian name for the poplar tree is plop.

24. A mom is a mask in Dutch.

25. Dress is the Norwegian word for a man’s suit or tuxedo.

26. A pig is a bird’s beak or a similar point or spike in Welsh.

27. Butt means blunt in Norwegian.

28. Ass is the Latvian word for an axle.

29. Thumb is the Albanian word for a thorn or prickle, a small nail or tack, the clapper inside a bell, or the point of an arrow.

20. Derived from similar roots to our word brave, BRA means good or well in Swedish and Norwegian.

31. Fast means almost in German.

32. One is the Hawaiian word for sand.

33. Sex is the Icelandic word for six …

34. … and the Hungarian word for six is hat.

35. Once means 11 in Spanish.

36. Cute means skin in Italian—but is also the Romanian word for a whetstone.

37. No means certainly in Czech (and is a shortened form of ano, the Czech word for yes).

38. The Fijian word for no is sega.

Football season’s finally here, and while potato chips and beer are a popular game-night pairing, we know you don’t need an excuse to bring these two great tastes together: it’s really a match for all seasons. Still, this infographic by wine website VinePair helps sports lovers elevate the traditional snack to gourmet levels by matching different chip varieties with complementary brews. Whichever combo you choose, it’ll be a win for your taste buds.

[h/t VinePair]

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Making a lava lamp isn’t quite as trippy as watching one, but it’s still fascinating. The process involves mechanical glass blowers, liquid wax, top secret ingredients (a mixture of chemicals and dye), and 160°F baths. The psychedelic liquid inside the bottle is made of wax and the aforementioned chemical mixture, and expansions and contractions in response to changes in temperature are what make the colorful gloop travel up and down the bottle. Watch how it all gets put together in the video above from Science Channel. 

[h/t LIKECOOL]

All images via YouTube

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This year, skip the Halloween store—and the generic costume. Instead of pulling something pre-made out of a plastic bag, shop around and concoct the perfect outfit. Here are some timely costumes to try this Halloween.

1. HARLEY QUINN // SUICIDE SQUAD

Let’s get the most obvious option out of the way. There will probably be a lot of people slinging baseball bats this year—but popularity is also the sign of a good costume, so if you want to go the Quinn route, we’re here to help. We recommend a baseball tee, hot pants, fishnet leggings, a baseball bat, and lots of red and blue hair dye. You can take the look a step further with a Puddin’ necklace and Joker jacket.

2. ERIN GILBERT // GHOSTBUSTERS

Sure, you can pick up a Ghostbusters suit at the store, but we know you’re looking for something a little less obvious. Consider being Erin when she’s off duty. You just need an MIT sweatshirt, jeans, and rain boots.

3. DUSTIN // STRANGER THINGS

If you don’t want to sacrifice style when dressing up this Halloween, you might as well be the beloved toothless jokester from the new hit Netflix show, Stranger Things. All you need is a tri-color hat, green graphic tee, brown corduroy pants, and a denim jacket. The exact plaid-lined jacket Dustin wears might be hard to find, but you can always mix a navy jacket with a red plaid shirt.

4. ELEVEN // STRANGER THINGS

For another take on Stranger Things, dial it up to Eleven by buying a long sleeved pink dress, navy jacket, athletic socks, and a blonde wig (optional). Telekinetic powers sold separately.

5. THE DOG FILTER // SNAPCHAT

Social media mavens can cover a lot of bases with this costume, which can be either the dog emoji or the dog filter in Snapchat—and it’s relatively easy to pull off. Just grab some face paint and some brown or piebald ears.

6. LT. JUDY HOPPS // ZOOTOPIA

Getting the perfect Judy look will be a total snap. Basically all you need to do is combine two costumes—a police officer and a bunny. Instead of hopping over to the nearest costume store, look online for these things: a light blue turtleneck, a navy vest, blue leggings, a police badge, bunny feet, and ears.

7. PABLO ESCOBAR // NARCOS

We don’t blame you for envying Pablo Escobar’s impressive sweater game in the second season of Netflix’s show Narcos. Thankfully, it won’t be hard to steal this drug lord’s look for Halloween, especially if you have a mustache. All you need is a white button down, khakis, and of course, Pablo’s amazing handcuff knot sweater.

8. PRINCESS CAROLYN // BOJACK HORSEMAN

Princess Carolyn has had a tough year this season, but that doesn’t mean she won’t land on her feet (she is, after all, a cat). Celebrate the former agent’s new job as a manager by dressing up as Amy Sedaris’s character this Halloween. Pick up a yellow cardigan, teal dress, triangle necklace, red pumps, pink wig, and cat ears.

9. EZEKIEL FIGUERO // THE GET DOWN

Netflix’s The Get Down has great characters, catchy music, and stylish outfits. Get the main character’s retro look with a navy polo shirt, a navy cable sweater vest and brown bell-bottom pants.

10. INMATE // ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

You can be pretty much any character from Netflix’s show, Orange is the New Black, with the help of a pair of tan scrubs. Couple that with a pair of black boots and it’s simply a matter of styling your hair. Some inmates also like to wear a shirt underneath their scrubs, so pick your character and look into that before you buy.

11. POKEMON GO // SMARTPHONE APP

Obsessed with Pokemon Go? Prepare to rock the easiest couple costume of all time. You can pick up a Pikachu or Charmander onesie and immediately transform into a Pokemon. Then, just have a similarly Pokemon Go-obsessed friend or significant other follow you around with their phone out.

12. ILANA // BROAD CITY

Ilana has so many insanely fun outfits that it seems criminal to just choose one. In one episode, Abbi dresses up like Ilana in an elaborate co-op con job. Since this costume can also be Abbi as Ilana, it seems like the most fun costume choice. To perfect this look, you need a leather fanny pack, tie-dye leggings, mesh crop top, and Ilana’s signature bralette. Bonus points if you also get her hot dog phone case.

At some Canadian schools, paper bag lunches are on the way out. As part of the Ontario EcoSchools initiative, schools are asking parents to cut down on the trash associated with kids’ packed lunches, Co.Exist reports.

Litterless lunch programs are a part of school district policies all across Canada, like in the Calgary school system. The programs ask parents to send their kids to school with lunch boxes, a thermos or reusable water bottle, sandwiches wrapped in cloth, and metal utensils. Ideally, kids shouldn’t be tossing anything in the trash at the end of lunch.

According to the Recycling Council of Ontario’s Waste-Free Lunch Challenge, the average student throws away 66 pounds of trash every school year (not counting food waste), adding up to 18,700 pounds a year for the average elementary school. And while it does cost money to buy reusable containers, by using bulk foods and leftovers to pack kids’ lunches instead of throwing in pre-packaged snacks, you actually end up saving money. Not to mention what you’ll probably save on buying plastic baggies. ECOlunchbox, a company that sells reusable containers, estimates that a family with two kids spends about $450 a year on disposable bags, utensils, and other lunch items that just end up in the trash.

[h/t Co.Exist]

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The millennia-old quest for fuzz-free skin has been surprisingly, well, hairy. In ancient Egypt, for example, people relied on tools like seashell tweezers and pumice stones to keep their skin smooth, while cat poop was the depilatory of choice for the British in the 17th century. We’ve rounded up 11 more facts about the history of hair removal, which just might make you feel better the next time you decide to grin and bare it.

1. BEING HIRSUTE IN ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME WAS CONSIDERED GAUCHE.

At the time, if you had little hair it also probably meant that you had heaps of cash. Wealthy women used tweezers, stones, and early razors to remove all body hair, including pubic hair, which was considered unsightly. That’s why many Greek statues depicting the “ideal” female figure are devoid of any fuzz. (It’s not believed to be related to paint flaking off the marble, as statues of males feature pubic hair that has been carved in.)

2. GOING BARE SOMETIMES INVOLVED ARSENIC.

One Renaissance-era DIY depilatory, according to a recipe from 1532, involved mixing one pint of arsenic and an eighth of a pint of quicklime, then smearing all over. “When the skin feels hot,” the text read, “wash quickly with hot water so the flesh doesn’t come off.”

3. QUEEN ELIZABETH I WAS ALL ABOUT THAT FACE.

Queen Elizabeth I removed most of the hair from her face—including eyebrows—but kept her body hair untouched. She was also in the habit of plucking the hairline around her forehead in order to make her face appear elongated. Naturally, her female subjects followed suit. Their depilatory products of choice: walnut oil, which was better than what women (and men) would soon be using. In the mid-17th century, Peter Levens gave a recipe titled “For to take away hair” that suggested the following: “[Get] hard cat’s dung, dry it, and beat it to powder, and temper it with strong vinegar; then wash the place with the same where you would have no hair to grow.”

4. THE PROCESS BECAME (A LITTLE) EASIER IN THE 1800s.

One of the first mass-produced depilatory creams, called Poudre Subtile, was created in the 1840s by the (fictitious) “Dr. T. Felix Gouraud.” Not surprisingly, it could cause skin damage if applied incorrectly or left on for too long. In 1901, King Camp Gillette patented his first disposable razor for men. Fourteen years later, he crafted a razor specifically for women, delicately titled the “Milady Decolette.”

5. BUT THE EARLY 1900s WERE THE PITS.

Around 1915, sleeveless dresses became fashionable. But with exposed armpits came societal pressure to remove decidedly unstylish underarm hair. That May, Harper’s Bazaar featured an ad of a young woman showing off her fuzz-free pits. The text read, “Summer Dress and Modern Dancing combine to make necessary the removal of objectionable hair.”

6. WORLD WAR II GAVE WOMEN THE RIGHT TO BARE LEGS.

A wartime shortage of nylon meant women had to go barelegged more frequently, which led to a slew of new hair-removal products—including the first electric women’s razor in 1940. It also launched a new trend: Women would draw stripes on the backs of their bare legs to give the appearance of stocking seams.

7. THE ADVENT OF THE BIKINI POSED NEW CHALLENGES.

When the two-piece first appeared the United States in 1946, women began to tweeze and shave the hair outside their panty line, too. Writes Sarah Hildebrant in The EmBodyment of American Culture, “As this history illustrated, the more clothes women were ‘allowed’ (or expected) to remove, the more hair they were also expected to remove.”

8. NEW METHODS TOOK ROOT IN THE ’60s.

Although waxing itself is thousands of years old, the method took off again in the 1960s with the introduction of wax strips. Early laser technology was also harnessed in the battle against body hair, but these lasers weren’t yet refined enough to avoid damaging surrounding skin and were quickly abandoned.

9. AND THEN THERE WERE THE BRAZILIANS.

In 1987, seven J-monikered siblings opened the J. Sisters nail salon in New York City. There, in 1994, Jocely, Jonice, Janea, Joyce, Juracy, Jussara and Judeseia introduced the States to South America’s go-bare-or-go-home philosophy. “In Brazil, waxing is part of our culture because bikinis are so small,” Jonice explains on the salon’s website. “We thought it was an important service to add because personal care is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity.” Today, Brazilian bikini waxing is the salon’s most requested service.

10. SOME CREDIT SEX AND THE CITY WITH GENERATING A BRAZILIAN BUZZ.

In a 2000 episode of the HBO hit, Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw feels decidedly bare after getting an accidental Brazilian bikini wax. Ildi Gulas, a wax and laser specialist at New York City’s Spruce & Bond salon, told Refinery29 that scene gave the procedure “a major boom” in clients seeking out the service. But whether you credit the rise of pubic hair grooming to Sex and the City, the J. Sisters’ NYC takeover, or the spread of pornography, the fact is that the majority of American women today either trim, shave, or wax the hair down there. In one survey, published in JAMA Dermatology earlier this year, 84 percent of the 3300 respondents said they’ve always groomed their pubic hair, while 62 percent admitted to getting rid of all of it at least once in their lives. (Back in 1968, 40 percent of women had never touched their pubes, while just 10 percent had ever gotten rid of it all.)

11. EVEN THE GOVERNATOR HAS DARED TO GO HAIRLESS.

While announcing his candidacy for governor of California on The Tonight Show in 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger told Jay Leno, “It’s the most difficult [decision] I’ve made in my entire life, except the one I made in 1978 when I decided to get a bikini wax.” Today, manscaping isn’t limited to bodybuilders like Ahh-nold looking to show off their hard-won physiques. According to Inc., men’s grooming pulls in $4 billion a year in the U.S.—$1 billion of which is from hair removal products. With those kinds of deep (cultural) roots, there’s no way the hair removal industry will be going the way of, say, those errant hairs stippling your upper lip anytime soon.

Harry Potter visited a number of locations during his adventures through the wizarding world, but the journey all started at one special site: 4 Privet Drive. Now, the real-life building that served as Harry’s childhood home in the first film is on the market, CNBC reports.

The house—made famous by its fictional address in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)—is located about 40 miles west of London in Martins Heron, Bracknell. The online listing includes an asking price of £475,000 (or about $620,000), which is comparable to other, less-iconic properties located in the same cul-de-sac.

The three-bedroom home’s description page states it recently underwent a “complete renovation to an extremely high standard.” Notable features include a revamped alarm system, an en-suite bathroom, and a backyard garden with a large patio. (The listing makes no mention of owl-proof doors or a cupboard under the stairs).

The house has been sold a couple times since making its film debut in 2001, first in 2004 and then again in 2010. Harry Potter fans who don’t have $620,000 to put down on the original Dursley home can visit the set used in later films on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour.

[h/t CNBC]

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