Trivia Tuesday

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The word “mistletoe” comes from the German Mist, meaning dung, and Tan, meaning branch. This is because mistletoe was believed to originate from bird droppings, the observers not equating the growth of the plant from the seeds in the bird droppings from the berries eaten by the words. Bear that in mind at Christmas when you can ask girls for a kiss under the dung on a stick.

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According to an article in the Huffington Post in November 2012, Britain has invaded nearly 90% of the world's countries during its history, with only 22 out of 193 not on the receiving end of a bit of Great British aggression, according to new research. The findings are detailed in a book, "All the Countries We've Ever Invaded: And the Few We Never Got Round To", by history author, Stuart Laycock. He examined each country in turn looking for evidence that Britain had ever established a military presence either through regular armed forces or pirates, privateers or armed explorers operating with government approval.

The countries not invaded:

Andorra

Belarus

Bolivia

Burundi

Central African Republic

Chad

Congo, Republic of

Guatemala

Ivory Coast

Kyrgyzstan

Liechtenstein

Luxembourg

Mali

Marshall Islands

Monaco

Mongolia

Paraguay

Sao Tome and Principe

Sweden

Tajikistan

Uzbekistan

Vatican City

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/11/04/britain-invaded-countries-france-united-states_n_2072727.html

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Napoleon killed over a thousand people with a cough. In 1799 he was deciding whether to release 1,200 Turkish prisoners of war when he coughed and said, "Ma sacré toux!" (my darned cough) which sounded to officers like "Massacrez tous!" (Kill them all!). So they did.

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