• There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious” and "facetious.”

• If you try to suppress a sneeze; you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.

• It was acceptable in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride’s father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month or what we know today as the honeymoon.

• In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It’s where we get the phrase "mind your P’s and Q’s”.

• The phrase "rule of thumb” is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn’t beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

• The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male’s head off.

• Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.

• Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 4-5 meters away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.

• Every person has a unique tongue print and finger print.

• Of all the words in the English language, the word "set” has the most definitions.

• The ancient Romans built such an excellent system of roads that the saying arose, "All roads lead to Rome.” No matter which road one starts a journey they will finally reach Rome if they kept traveling on. The popular saying came to mean that all ways or methods of doing something end in the same result, no method being better than another.

• It was the favorite fruit of founder Steve Jobs. He was three months late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn’t suggest a better name by 5 O’clock. That’s how apple computers derived their name.

• When race horses die, most of their body parts are discarded. Only their head, heart, and feet are buried. This was to symbolize intelligence, courage and strength. A horse can sleep standing up.  A Horse has 18 more bones than a human.

The author is a S.6 student at Lycee de Kigali Secondary School.

Ends