this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2024
364 points (98.7% liked)

Today I Learned

18061 readers
1033 users here now

What did you learn today? Share it with us!

We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with TIL. Linking to a source of info is optional, but highly recommended as it helps to spark discussion.

** Posts must be about an actual fact that you have learned, but it doesn't matter if you learned it today. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.**



Rule 2- Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-TIL posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-TIL posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I never knew and got curious and looked it up. I guess it makes more sense than slamming your testicals against the wall.

(page 2) 31 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 16 points 1 day ago (9 children)

I've never understood "Peddle to the meddle." What am I peddling and who's meddling in my peddling? ^/s^

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'm offended by them calling testicles "vulgar"

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Little Known Fact: In Texas they don't have testicles, they have texicles.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] stoly@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Vulgar in linguistics refers to street usage instead of formal. See also Classic Latin vs Vulgar Latin.

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 5 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I'm pretty sure it was from trains first

[–] Davel23@fedia.io 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You may be thinking of "balls out" which refers to centrifugal regulators that are usually used on steam engines.

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I just assumed it was an exaggeration. Putting the balls to the wall meant having them wide open

[–] Crashumbc@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Trains used levers for the throttle.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My mom worked for the railroad - she was the first trains woman to become a superconductor.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Wow I never knew this either. This is a good one

[–] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

I guess it makes more sense than slamming your testicals against the wall.

In a way relating to human anatomy that has caused me to remove this phrase from my usage in recent years (because I worried how others would take it) the balls=testicles actually always made sense to me, but I'm not going to explain it.

However, now that I know what the most literal interpretation of the phrase actually is, I can feel safe using it again!

[–] sir_pronoun@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Thank you, thank you, sir or madam

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›