now you know

What Was the First Sound Ever Recorded by a Machine?

By Merrill Fabry

Why Is Tennis Scored So Weirdly?

By Merrill Fabry

Where Does the 'Thumbs-Up' Gesture Really Come From?

By Merrill Fabry

Here’s How the First Fact-Checkers Were Able to Do Their Jobs Before the Internet

By Merrill Fabry
More in now you know

Now You Know: Why Are There Special Gifts for Each Anniversary Year?

Many people give paper for a first anniversary, silver for a 25th and so on—but why? Here's what to know about the tradition's origins.

By Merrill Fabry July 6, 2017

Now You Know: Why Are Taxi Cabs Yellow?

In New York City the color is mandated by law

By Merrill Fabry May 2, 2017

Now You Know: Why Is 'Teatime' in the Afternoon?

It started in the 1840s, some 200 years after tea was first introduced to England

By Merrill Fabry March 2, 2017

Now You Know: Why Did Americans Start Naming Their Babies After the President?

"Yes we named it after you," one father of a boy named John wrote to then-Senator Kennedy in 1960

By Merrill Fabry January 4, 2017

Now You Know: Why Do People Always Look So Serious in Old Photos?

It's not just a matter of bad teeth or long exposure times

By Merrill Fabry November 28, 2016

Now You Know: What Was the First Credit Card?

Credit cards became big business in the 1950s

By Merrill Fabry October 19, 2016

Now You Know: Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?

The famous question has thousands of years of history behind it

By Merrill Fabry September 21, 2016

Now You Know: When Did People Start Saying That the Year Was 'A.D.'?

The terms weren't introduced at the same time—A.D. came before B.C.—and each took hundreds of years to catch on

By Merrill Fabry August 31, 2016

Now You Know: Why Do We Have Middle Names?

Romans may have used three names, but that's not why Americans have middle names today

By Merrill Fabry August 16, 2016

Now You Know: Where was the First Public Telephone Booth?

The first was in Connecticut—but which town gets the prize depends on what you mean by "telephone booth"

By Merrill Fabry August 3, 2016
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