What's the main music in "Christmas Canon" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra?

Search: transsiberian orchestra christmas canon

Why: Have y'all been listening to KOST 103.5 ("love songs on the coast") since the day after Halloween? Because it's been all Christmas music all the time. The little kids choir version of this came on tonight. I know that music, but I feel like I've heard it played in TV weddings. Is it a Christmas song? I don't know.

Amazing Christmas Canon -Trans Siberian Orchestra -

Answer: "Canon in D major" by Johann Pachelbel! It's also called "Pachelbel's Canon"! Hope you would enjoy!

Source: YouTube comments. Some are intelligent!

The More You Know: I'll tell you some TV shows and movies that I have heard it in:

• 13 Going on 30
  
• "The Office" (Jim & Pam's wedding, durr)
  
• Ordinary People
• Runaway Bride
• Wedding Crashers

There are tons more, like a "Simpsons," a "House, a "Wonder Years," and a Jennifer Lopez movie.

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What's the song in the commercial for Pleasures Bloom by Estee Lauder?

Search: pleasures bloom estee song

Why: It was just on. How charming!

Answer: "Fidelity" by Regina Spektor! It's from the 2006 album Begin to Hope. Buy it here on Amazon or iTunes!

Source: AnswerBag

The More You Know: The thing in the commercial is kind of mixed together, I think. Real lyrics go like:

I hear in my mind all these words
I hear in my mind all this music
And it breaks my heart

Suppose I kept on singing love songs just to break my own fall
Just to break my fall

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What's the origin of the term "bush league"?

Search: bush league

Why: Some comedian has written "BUSH LEAGUE" on a sheet of notebook paper and taped it to the broken ice maker in the breakroom.

Answer: The early days of baseball! As major league baseball became the "national sport," teams popped up in rural communities. These "minor leagues" were good entertainment for people who lived far away from the big cities that had professional teams. They played on crappy fields that were surrounded by bushes. Get it?

Source: WiseGeek

The More You Know: Since the players in the "bush leagues" were amateurs who usually had day jobs - and therefore were not professionals - the quality of their play was viewed as inferior.

This sense of inferiority came to be closely identified with the concept of being bush league in nature, and to this day is used to refer to something that is not quite professional in quality.

Just like our broken ice maker.

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What's a sinus?

Search: what is a sinus

Why: I am stopped up about the face and head, so much that I was told I snored last night. How mortifying. I am pretty sure I have some sort of infection, possibly in my sinuses, but the truth is that I have no idea what a sinus is or why I have it, because all it ever seems to do is get infected.

Answer: An airpocket in your face bones! WHAT!

First, we have 4 pairs of sinus cavities (well, in the face - there are paranasal sinuses, but there are also sinuses [literally Latin for "pocket"] in other organs, like your brain and butt).

• Ethmoid (between the eyes) sinuses - Located behind the bridge of the nose and at the "root" of the nose between the eyes. We are all born with ethmoid sinuses, and they grow as we grow.
• Frontal (forehead) sinuses - Located above the eyes in the region of the forehead and only develop around 7 years of age.
• Maxillary (cheekbones) sinuses - Found on either side of the nostrils in the cheek bones. They are present at birth and grow as we grow.
• Sphenoid (behind the eyes) sinuses - Deeper in the skull behind the ethmoid sinuses and the eyes. We only develop sphenoid sinus cavities during adolescence.

And they serve a few purposes:

• They remove unwanted air particles from the air you breathe!
• They moisten the air!
• They give resonance to your voice!
• They lighten the weight of the skull!
  

That last one is why your head feels heavy and you feel sleepy during a sinus attack.

Source: SinusWars, eMedicineHealth

The More You Know: When you get a sinus infection, all sorts of gross things happen. Acute sinusitis (the kind that lasts about a week) is caused by a viral respiratory infection. The infection damages the lining of the sinus, causing it to become inflamed. The lining thickens, obstructing the nasal passage that connects to the sinus. The disrupts the process by which bacteria is normally removed from the sinus, and like a jerk, the bacteria just starts to multiply and invade the lining. All sorts of nasty things get trapped in the sinus cavity and you can't breathe and you snore.

Here is a list of symptoms of different kinds of sinusitis. I think I'm getting the acute maxillary, Pop.

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What is Smokey Bear up to?

Search: smokey the bear

Why: Caroline is talking about D.A.R.E., which had posters like this:

That mascot looks grrrreat!

Answer: Still preventing wildfires! They're wildfires now, by the way, not just forest fires. They changed the terminology to encompass a more comprehensive threat in 2001.

1944, 48, and 49:

1970, 1985, 2001:

Source: SmokeyBear.com

The More You Know: Smokey came as part of a campaign to prevent forest fires during World War II.

Since most able-bodied men were already serving in the armed forces, none could be spared to fight forest fires on the West Coast. The hope was that local communities, educated about the danger of forest fires, could prevent them from starting in the first place. The Japanese, on the other hand, saw wildfires as a possible weapon.

Before Smokey, the posters were pretty grim:

The real Smokey Bear was a darling little black bear cub who was caught in 1950 in a wildfire that burned 17,000 acres of New Mexico. Over the 26 years that he lived in the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., he got so much mail that the USPS gave him his own zip code.

Fun fact: Bears can not read.

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Are there really inbred blue people in Kentucky?

Search: blue people kentucky

Why: Last night, while watching Avatar:

RICHARD - James Cameron said he had to go to Kentucky and find a lizard that could fly just to film this scene.
DAN - Ha, ha.
ME - What?
RICHARD - You know, those blue people in Kentucky.
DAN - What?
ME - This is a real thing?
RICHARD - Yeah, they inbred so much they turned blue.
DAN - Oh, I thought you were making a joke.
ME - Yeah, a weird one.

Answer: Yes! But they weren't really blue because of inbreeding. Not really.

The Fugate family settled on the banks of Troublesome Creek after 1800. Mary, the wife of the patriarch Martin, was a carrier for a rare disease called hereditary methemoglobinemia.

Due to an enzyme deficiency, the blood of met-H victims has reduced oxygen-carrying capacity. Instead of being the usual bright red, arterial blood is chocolate brown and gives the skin of Caucasians a bluish cast.

Some of the Fugates intermarried with the nearby Smiths clan, one of whom also carried met-H. The first "blue Fugate" was born in 1832, and a bunch of cousins popped up thereafter. There were about 6 in the 1890s, and one was reported as recently as 1975.

Here is a nice story about one who was born in 1950s and the hematologist who came to save them all. Other people have had it, too.

Source: Pravda.ru, The Straight Dope

The More You Know: Did you know that Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 are planned for 2014 and 2015? It's true! I hope Jake and Neytiri have kittens.

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What song is on the "Skins" commercial?

Search: skins sleigh bells

Why: I have been watching a "16 & Pregnant" marathon and keep seeing this "reverse party" ad. "Skins" will premiere on MTV Jan. 17th. I know that song.

Skins - MTV Shows

Answer: "Kids" by Sleigh Bells!

I don't know the lyrics.

Source: Amazon

The More You Know: MTV "Skins" is an adaptation of the popular British teen drama. Let's get serious: I will probably watch it.

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Who first said "We are the music makers..."?

Search: "we are the music makers"

Why: I was just watching "250 Introductions of 185 People, Groups, & Things." Near the end, Willy Wonka says it, but I think I have also heard it sampled in some song.

Answer: Arthur William Edward O'Shaughnessy! It's the opening of "Ode" from his 1874 book Music and Moonlight:

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

Source: PoemHunter

The More You Know: I found it. I first heard it in this song by Aphex Twin, but it's in a lot of other things, too:

(I have never seen Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I hate Gene Wilder.)

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Who sings the song on the LG Optimus T commercial?

Search: "we sailed on a winter's day"

Why: It sounds like a little kid at first, but I don't think it is.

Answer: Joanna Newsom! Ew, that's what she sounds like? I guess I never heard her before. The song is called "Bridges and Balloons." Buy it here on iTunes.

Joanna Newsom - Bridges and Balloons
Uploaded by chloegc. -

Lyrics go like:

We sailed away on a winter's day
with fate as malleable as clay;
but ships are fallible, I say,
and the nautical, like all things, fades

And I can recall our caravel:
a little wicker beetle shell
with four fine maste and lateen sails,
its bearings on Cair Paravel

Source: BentClouds

The More You Know: Horf. Remember when Joanna Newsom was in that MGMT video with the kid and those giant zombie bugs?

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I want to see Jamie Oliver's kids

Search: Buddy Bear Maurice Oliver

Why: I am still reading about celebrity baby names. His kids (with Juliette "Jools" are:

• Poppy Honey Oliver (b. 3/18/02)
• Daisy Boo Oliver (4/10/03)
• Petal Blossom Rainbow Oliver (4/3/09)
• Buddy Bear Maurice Oliver (9/15/10)

Answer: Omg aww.

Source: Google Images

The More You Know: He tweet-tweeted about the birth of his first son:

it's a baby boy guys !!! im shock, were all very happy, mum was amazing and both are well and happy x4 kids!! what http://twitpic.com/2oquak
1:27 PM Sep 15th via Twitpic

Mr Buddy Oliver .....full name to come from mum....big love joxx http://twitpic.com/2or4r8
2:07 PM Sep 15th via Twitpic

buddy oliver & co leaving together...... the families really happy to be home, settling in, thanks for all the lo http://twitpic.com/2ozbh2
8:12 AM Sep 16th via Twitpic

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What did Barney Stinson say about my name?

Search: How I Met Your Mother: "Girls with "ly" at the end of their names

Why: Under the Glamour article "What Your Name Has to Say About Your Sex Life," a comment by reberroo says:

Anyway, I'd go with Barney's theory from How I Met Your Mother: "Girls with "ly" at the end of their names are dirty.

Answer: Oh, that's a direct quote:

Ted Mosby: Check it out. I just got that girl's number. See? Holly.
Barney Stinson: Nice! Girls with "ly" at the end of their names are dirty. Holly, Kelly, Carly... Lily.
Marshall Eriksen: Hey!... all right, it's true.
Barney Stinson: Don't even get me started on girls whose name should end in "y," but instead end in "i." Those girls are like roller-coasters. You've got to wait in a long line, but once you get up there, you just hold on for dear life and hope you don't lose your keys.

Well, that's rude.

Here is a very bad clip of it. Also, the quotes page on IMDb is all wrong.

Source: IMDb, YouTube

The More You Know: According to the How Sexy Is Your Name? Calculator on Facebook, Carly is Pretty Sexy - a solid 100.

But that's not the highest you can get...

I won't post the scandalous scores with the last names, but one said "Mindblowingly." No joke, Joel's said "Breathtakingly."

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What were the Marx Brothers' real names?

Search: marx brothers

Why: Well, I am reading about celebrity baby names. Woody Allen and Mia Farrow named some kids Moses Amadeus and Satchel Seamus. Mia Farrow was briefly married to Frank Sinatra (in 1968, when she was 21 and he was 50). Did you know that? I didn't (though I should have, because I blogged about it over a year ago).

After that, Sinatra married Barbara Marx, who had previously been married to Zeppo Marx, the straight one. Zeppo is not a name.

Answer: They were real brothers, in case you were wondering. Their names were:

• Chico (b. 3/22/1887) - Leonard Marx
• Harpo (11/23/1888) - Arthur Adolph Marx
• Groucho (10/2/1890) - Julius Henry Marx
• Gummo (10/23/1893) - Milton Marx
  
• Zeppo (2/25/1901) - Herbert Manfred Marx

Source: Lenin Imports

The More You Know: Speaking of Adolph and Movember, did you ever read this Vanity Fair essay by Rich Cohen, "Becoming Adolf" about the Hitler mustache? I first read it in Best American Essays 2008. It's interesting. Read it! An excerpt:

The Toothbrush mustache is the most powerful configuration of facial hair the world has ever known. It overpowers whoever touches it. By merely doodling a Toothbrush mustache on a poster, you make a political statement. Actually wearing a Hitler mustache, as I planned to do—well, that is like yelling racial epithets in a crowded subway. Wasn't Hitler amazing? Whatever he touched turned to ice. His life ended the long and fabled career of the name Adolf, which had included the stories of Adolph Zukor, Adolphe Menjou, Adolph Ochs, and Adolph Coors. Never again will a pregnant mother innocently consider the name for her son, or imagine shouting it across a teeming playground. As for the Toothbrush mustache, it did not only die with the Führer—it was embalmed with him. It was his essence, and so it has been relegated to the black book of history.

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How long have people been saying "What the deuce?"

Search: "what the deuce" origin

Why: In Nicholas Nickleby (1838-39):

"What the deuce is the matter with him?" exclaimed Crowl, throwing the door open.

When I heard that this morning, I just about fell off my camel. Stewie Griffin says it a lot.

Answer: For-freaking-ever! The phrase has appeared in a lot of old literature, like:

• The Misanthrope (1666) - Molière
  
• The Three Musketeers (1844) - Alexandre Dumas
• Cousin Betty (1846) - Honoré de Balzac
• Jane Eyre (1847) - Charlotte Brontë
  
• The Westminster Review (1886)
  
• A Study in Scarlet (1888) - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  
• Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) - Robert A. Heinlein
  

Etc etc. There are a lot.

So these aren't really all that "old school," is what I'm saying.

Source: Google Books, Oxford University Press, Maven's Word of the Day

The More You Know: The "deuce" is the devil! In 16th Century Germany, you said it like, "Was der Daus!"

The original sense in English was 'bad luck', in sentences such as "a deuce on him!" This apparently developed from the first deuce in the sense 'bad luck at dice', on the grounds that a throw of two on a pair of dice is the worst possible score.

The senses that are more familiar now are usually regarded as euphemisms for devil in mild oaths, such as "what the deuce," "the deuce to pay," "the deuce take it," etc. This usage may be influenced by Low German duus 'the devil', used in similar oaths, but the Low German usage may itself be from French in the 'bad luck at dice' sense.

The derived forms are deuced as an adjective meaning 'confounded; damned', and deuced or deucedly meaning 'damnedly; extremely' ("It's a deuced fine car!"). All forms are more characteristic of British English than American English.

The deuce clearly meaning 'two' dates from the late fifteenth century. The deuce largely meaning 'bad luck' or 'the devil' dates from the mid-seventeenth century.

And PS, "Dickens" (e.g. Charles Dickens) kinda means "devil," too. In The Merry Wives of Windsor (1602), Shakespeare even wrote:

I cannot tell what the dickens his name is

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How did Israel Kamakawiwo'ole die?

Search: israel kama

Why: On Pandora:

I didn't know he was dead. I also have no idea what he looked like.

Answer: Weight-related respiratory illness :(

Throughout the later part of his life, Kamakawiwoʻole was obese and at one point carried 757 pounds on his 6-foot-2-inch frame. He endured several hospitalizations because of problems caused by his weight. At age 38, he died of weight-related respiratory illness at The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu on June 26, 1997.

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: I always pictured him as a little old man, like Mr. Littlejeans or that guy that played the new Oompa Loompa. Boy, was I wrong.

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Don't The Magnetic Fields have a song called "I Don't Wanna Get Over You"?

Search: "i don't wanna get over you"

Why: I am listening to The National album High Velvet, and this song "Sorrow" goes (first at 0:55):

Cover me in rag and bones, sympathy
Cause I don't wanna get over you
I don't wanna get over you

And that guy's voice sounds like Stephen Merritt, which is confusing me.

Answer: Yes. Whew, I thought I was going bananas.

So no, Douche Juice - you're not the only one. You probably never will be.

Source: YouTube

The More You Know: This is my favorite song by The Magnetic Fields. It makes me want to go swammin.

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What is the origin of the word "genius"?

Search: genius origin

Why: In Nicholas Nickleby:

The figure looked at the bold Baron of Grogzwig for some time, and then said familiarly,
"There's no coming over you, I see. I'm not a man!"
"What are you then?" asked the baron.
"A genius," replied the figure.
"You don't look much like one," returned the baron scornfully.
"I am the Genius of Despair and Suicide," said the apparition. "Now you know me."

That doesn't really make sense in the context of what I understand a genius to be.

Answer: Get ready to learn:

Latin genius originally meant ‘deity of generation and birth’. It came ultimately from the Indo-European base *gen- ‘produce’ (source of English gene, generate, genitive, etc).

It broadened out considerably in meaning, initially to ‘attendant spirit’, the sense in which English originally acquired it. French took it over as génie - a word which, because of its phonetic and semantic similarity to Arabic jinn, 18th-century translators of the Arabian nights eagerly adopted into English as genie.

Ah, yes. Genie!

The main modern English sense, ‘person of outstanding intellectual ability’, which dates from the 17th century, goes back to a comparatively rare Latin ‘intellectual capacity’.

Genial (16^th c.) comes from Latin geniālis, a derivative of genius, which again originally meant ‘of generation and birth’ (a sense which survived into English: ‘And thou, glad Genius! in whose gentle hand the bridal bower and genial bed remain’, Edmund Spenser, Epithalamion 1595). It later developed in Latin to ‘pleasant, festive’.

Source: Word-Origins

The More You Know: I have no idea what's going on in that book. I feel like a genious playing the Trivial Pursuit Genius Edition.

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What are the lyrics to "It's Christmas Time All Over the World"?

Search: christmas time all over the world lyrics

Why: I was trying to sing it all day in various lines at Disneyland, but I don't know how to say "Merry Christmas" in different languages. Later in the car, I made us listen to Christmas with the Rat Pack, which I really think you should buy.

Answer: Sing along!

It's Christmas time all over the world
It's Christmas here at home
The church bells chime wherever we roam
Så riktig God Jul
Feliz Natal
Shenoraavor Nor Dari
Dari
To you

The snow is thick in most of the world
Childrens' eyes are wide
As old Saint Nick gets ready to ride
So Feliz Navidad
Sretan Božić
And Happy New Year
To you

Though the customs might change
And the language is strange
This appeal we feel is real
In Holland or Hong Kong
It's Christmas time all over the world
In places near and far
And so my friend, wherever you are
Ein fröhliches Weihnachten
Kala Christougenna
Yoi kurisumasu
This means a very merry Christmas
To you

Source: LyricsVIP

The More You Know: But what languages are they??

• Så riktig God Jul - Swedish ("so very merry Christmas")
• Feliz Natal - Portuguese
• Shenoraavor Nor Dari - Armenian
• Feliz Navidad - Spanish
• Sretan Božić - Croatian
• Ein fröhliches Weihnachten - German ("and merry Christmas")
  
• Kala Christougenna - Greek
• Yoi kurisumasu - Japanese ("good Christmas")
  

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I want to see how Brussels sprouts grow

Search: brussels sprouts

Why: A conversation:

CHANDLER: You know what we need to invent?
ME: What?
CHANDLER: Well, you know how Brussels sprouts grow?
ME: No.
CHANDLER: Well, it's kind of like corn. Like a stalk. They grow around. I don't really know how to describe it.

What.

Answer: Ooohhhh:

I guess I always assumed they grew out of the ground like little cabbages.

Source: Google Images

The More You Know: Brussels sprouts happen to be among my favorite vegetables, right up there with spinach and, I dunno, baby carrots.

Forerunners to modern Brussels sprouts were likely cultivated in ancient Rome. Brussels sprouts as we now know them were grown possibly as early as the 13th century in what is now Belgium. The first written reference dates to 1587.

Also, I'm not telling you what we're inventing, but it's a really good idea. Look for it in stores in 2011!

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I want to hear the song "Down by the Water" by The Drums

Search: "down by the water baby"

Why: It was on this week's "Gossip Girl," which I just watched finally. It's pretty good.

Answer: Here it is. Buy it here on iTunes. Listen to more The Drums here.

Source: YouTube

The More You Know: Lyrics go like:

If you fall asleep down by the water
Baby I’ll carry you all the way home
Everybody's gotta love someone
But I just wanna love you, dear
Everybody's gotta feel something
I just wanna feel you, my dear
I know it's hard to be in this position
If they stop loving you, I won't stop loving you
If they stop needing you, I'll still need you, my dear
If you fall asleep down by the water
Baby I’ll carry you all the way home
You gotta believe me when I say the word "forever"
And whatever comes your way, we’ll still me here together
I know it's hard, but I understand you
Just take my hand

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I want to see Aerial Lift Bridge in action

Search: aerial lift bridge youtube

Why: Talking about her hometown Duluth, MN, Rachel said:

tall ships passing under aerial lift bridge into the harbor.

Park Point, also known as Minnesota Point. 7 miles of natural sand beach that separates the harbor from lake superior. My dad grew up in a house on the harbor side. People have to pass over the aerial lift bridge to get from the peninsula to the mainland. Their lives are constantly affected by ships going in and out and raising the bridge.

That bridge looks crazy. Does it go straight up and down or what?

Answer: It totally does!

Source: YouTube

The More You Know: Originally built in 1905, the bridge was upgraded in 1929–30 to the current lifting design and continues to operate today. It has a very nice history, which involves a man, a plan, a canal, an island, a contest, and a dream. And it looks very nice at sunset:

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Where have I heard the song "Falling Slowly" before?

Search: falling slowly

Why: It just came on my Pandora station of Rufus Wainwright + The Morning Benders + The Blow. (I spent all last night putting new things on my iPod, and then I left it sitting on my coffee table :( )

Answer: It was in Once (2007), which I never saw! The song is written and performed by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who are also the stars of the film (which is about street musicians - not whatever I was thinking of). "Falling Slowly" won the Oscar for Best Original Song. Buy it here.

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: That guy sounds like Cat Stevens.

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Who is Harry Knowles?

Search: harry knowles

Why: On the fourfour recap of "America's Next Top Model":

8. And so, in sum, "Oh, here comes a crow."

Just kidding, it's Harry Knowles.

Just kidding, it's Kayla. But she looks like a shrunken, upright Harry Knowles. And I don't like that.

Answer: Oh, it's that guy:

Knowles runs and reviews movie reviews for Ain't It Cool News.

Source:

The More You Know: That site is really ugly.

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What's the song on the Post Secret Soldiers video?

Search: donora every year "ready for a fight" "summer night" "legend we can believe in"

Why: It sounds very nice.

Answer: It's 2 songs! One is "Shh" by Donora! This is the special "Post Secret" version; buy it on iTunes here.

And the other is I don't know what. Let me know if you do.

Source: MySpace, Amazon

The More You Know: What douchebee wrote this?

I am disappointed that you would allow such a biased video to be presented on such an importantly honest website: one of the few in our world these days. (I even arranged a PostSecret Event at my undergrad institution). There is not a single reference to the horrible death and emotional ravages of war and that's just misinformation.

It's the week of Veterans Day, not Horrible Death and Emotional Ravages Day. Shut up.

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What is an anvil?

Search: anvil

Why: Wile E. Coyote always tried to drop one on the Road Runner, which led me to believe it was just a heavy object, like an anchor. Chandler thinks it has something to do with metalworking or hammering or something, but why is it shaped so weirdly?

Answer: It's a tool that blacksmiths use for forging! There are many different kinds, but most are made from steel, and each has many parts. This is a "single horn" style:

• Face - The top of the anvil is tempered to be very hard and should be smooth. The edges are slightly rounded to make sure that they don't gouge or mar the steel. This is where most of the hammering and shaping happens.
• Table, Step, or Pad - A small flat section between the face and the horn, the pad is used for chisel work so that the bladesmith does not scar the face of the anvil.
• Horn - The front end of the anvil that tapers from just below the pad to a rounded tip. Also called the bick, the horn is used for curving and bending the steel, like to make a horseshoe.
  
• Hardy and pritchel holes - The hardie or hardy hole is a square socket in the anvil's face that holds some of the shaping tools. The pritchel hole is a round hole in the face that allows a punch, drill, or drift to go down into the anvil. It is used for punching and shaping holes in the steel.
• Base - The bulk of the anvil, the base has mounting holes drilled through the bottom to attach the anvil to a secure mount.

Watch it in action:

Source: The American Blacksmith, HowStuffWorks

The More You Know: ACME was a fictional corporation in the Looney Tunes universe,

but when alphabetized Yellow Pages came out in the 1920s, Acme became a popular name for businesses (like Acme Boots [1929]). Early Sears catalogs had a bunch of products with the Acme trademark, including this anvil:

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What is the origin of the word "gradoo"?

Search: gradoo; gradeau

Why: Chandler is frustrated cleaning the "gradoo" off the lid of the steamer. I have never heard that word. Maybe it's a Texas thing.

Answer: Nobody knows! For starters, it means something like accumulated "crud," "shmutz," or "cruft," which is another word I just learned (and I think sounds pretty nice).

But it might be Cajun French, and you might can spell it like gradoo or gradeau or even gradue.

Source: PATHO-L, SlangSite, Learnglish, Unwords

The More You Know: You can also spell it gunk. Or get a new lid for the steamer.

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What's the origin of the word "moustache"?

Search: moustache etymology

Why: It's Movember. Jason posted these Toms yesterday:

Also, Moses just spelled "mustachioed" like "moustacheuod."

Answer: It has something to do with mouths!

• 1580s, from Fr. moustache, from It. mostaccio
• From Medieval Gk. moustakion, dim. of Doric mystax (gen. mystakos) "upper lip, mustache," related to mastax "jaws, mouth," lit. "that with which one chews"

Like masticate. Durr.

• Borrowed earlier (1550s) as mostacchi, from the It. word or its Sp. derivative mostacho. The plural form of this, mustachios, lingers in English.

Source: EtymOnline

The More You Know: Also,

Dutch slang has a useful noun, de befborstel, to refer to the mustache specifically as a tool for stimulating the clitoris; probably from beffen "to stimulate the clitoris with the tongue."

Horf.

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What's the song on the new Reese's commercial?

Search: (i already know this one)

Why: I just saw it. The cups come together like gears and it says, "How do you know when chocolate and peanut butter are combined perfectly?"

Answer: "Excuses" by The Morning Benders, some of my ATFs!! I saw them live not a month ago, and they were amazin fruit. Buy the awesome album Big Echo right here.

And that just happens to be my favorite song.

Source: my memory bank

The More You Know: Look how cute they are. Who remembers my high school boyfriend Scott? #3 reminds me of him.

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I want to see the T-Mobile commercial with Carly

Search: carly ad t-mobile

Why: I haven't seen it - I moved this past weekend and the cable guy just came this morning - but people have been searching for it and landing on my blog:

So I did a little research, and I found this:

Last night T-Mobile launched the marketing campaign to promote their new 4G network, which features a girl introducing herself as “The new T-Mobile myTouch 4G.” It is clearly a take on the ”I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads that were running last year and just like Apple, T-Mobile will also turn them into a series.

Many of our readers enjoyed the ad and thought it was funny, but a lot of people wanted to know who was the female actress playing the myTouch 4G girl. We asked T-Mobile for some info and they responded, “Her name is Carly and you’ll be seeing more of her in upcoming 4G ads.”

Full disclosure: This really only interests me because my name is also Carly.

Answer: Yawn:

Source: Android and Me

The More You Know: Her full name is Carly Foulkes, and she's been modeling for Ralph Lauren Rugby and Big Pony for a while. Here are some photos:

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