The Sunday Twilight 21
WHY IS IT CALLED WHAT IT’S CALLED??
By Saachi Mehra
The Grandfather clock, Victoria Sponge Cake… delightful as they are, one cannot deny they have strange names. Is the cake named Victoria Sponge because it has something to do with Queen Victoria? Is it compulsory for grandfather clocks to be given to your grandpa?
Why is it called what it’s called?
Grandfather clock
Grandfather clocks are clocks. But what’s interesting is that below the clockface is a long pendulum – usually around 3 feet or a meter long. The long pendulum, together with the big clockface, makes the clock nearly 7 feet tall!
However, the reason for its unusual name is that most grandfather clocks are family heirlooms, passed down from generation to generation. So, even if the grandfather clock residing in your living room isn’t a gift from your old grandpop, it will be very old.
One more thing before we move on, there is also such a thing as a grandmother clock! After all, why shouldn’t a grandfather clock have a companion? The difference between the two is that the pendulum of a grandmother clock is an average size, so the clock is usually only about 2 feet tall, but there’s a tall pedestal to hold the clock up – matching it to the height of its hubby!
Chicken 65
Chicken 65 is a famous dish from Andhra Pradesh in South India, packed with spice and usually served as a popular starter.
There have been many rumors about why this famous Andhra dish is called what it’s called… are there 65 ingredients used to make it? The chicken has been chopped into 65 pieces? It was marinated for 65 days? All of these answers are phony baloney.
The reason for this dish’s name is actually very simple. It was invented in 1965. That’s all there is to it, folks!
Money-plant
The saying “money doesn’t grow on trees” is false, right? Why couldn’t the creator of the saying do some more research before making a sweeping statement like that?
Note to the creator: There are such things as money plants, you know.
OK, OK, it is trees not plants, besides the fact that money-plants don’t actually grow money. If they did, my house would be overflowing with cash! But since they don’t grow money, why name money-plants that? A tad misleading, isn’t it?
There are 2 reasons for this name:
With some vivid imagination, those round, flat, plump leaves could look a bit like coins!
There is a belief that if the plant is healthy, the owner will never run short of money.
Ladyfinger
Ladyfinger, or bhindi (in Hindi), are thin, green vegetables that have been named so because, to some eyes, they look a lot like the delicate fingers of a woman.
Gosh, you’ve got to admit that the Vegetable Naming Association (VNA) – OK, maybe I made that up – chose a really random name.
Victoria Sponge Cake
Would you believe it, I was right! The gooey, soft, jam-filled, cream-spread, sugarcoated dessert is actually related to Queen Victoria! It is said that the former queen of the UK enjoyed having the delicious cake with her traditional English afternoon tea. Technically, it should be called ‘The Royal Queen Victoria Cake’ but I expect they named it Victoria Sponge because that was easier.
So, if you like this yummy treat, say thank you to Queen Victoria!
There we have it – a small collection of unusual names for things that have some unusual stories behind them!
OLDEST-KNOWN OCTOPUS DISCOVERED THAT PREDATES EVEN THE DINOSAURS
By Kabir Choudhuri-Khan
In the year 1988, this fossil was found in Montana, but it’s significance was not realised until now. It has been sitting in a drawer at the Royal Ontario Museum of Canada for decades, covered with limestone. Now, palaeontologists have been able to determine that this tiny fossil is that of a 328-million-year old ancestor of the octopus, and the vampire squid, and floated through shallow bays much before the first dinosaur set foot on this world.
Published in the journal Nature Communications, scientists say that this creature was about 4.7 inches long, and, instead of 8, had 10 limbs, and was possibly able to shoot ink.
“It’s very rare to see that kind of detail in a fossil because, of course, this is entirely soft tissue structures,” said Christopher Whalen, who is the lead author of the paper.
It has been classified as a vampyropod, and is apparently the first known vampyropod to have 10 arms, since previously found fossils of this type of creature have possessed only 8 arms.
It has been called Syllipsimopodi bideni, because, says Whalen, the discovery was made around when Biden won the election, and so, because Biden has scientific priorities that they have named it after him. The first word (Syllipsimopodi) comes from the Greek words syllipsimos and podi, which mean, respectively, an appendage which can grasp, and foot.
BRAIN TWISTERS
By Kabir Choudhari-Khan
Last Sunday’s riddles, and their answers:
Easy: What has 6 heads and 21 eyes?
Answer: A die
Medium: What has a ring but no finger?
Answer: A phone
Hard: A man calls his dog from the opposite side of the river. The dog crosses the river without getting wet, and without using a bridge or boat. How?
Answer: The river was frozen.
This week’s riddles:
Easy: What always ends everything?
Medium: Two coins add up to 30 cents. One isn’t a nickel. What are they?
Hard: If you eat me, my sender will eat you. What am
(Give the answers in the comments; the answers will be revealed next Sunday)
Compiled and Edited By Annika Jain