Fast facts
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Monday, November 22, 2004
Things you always never wanted to know
Poodles are native to Germany, not France, and got their start in the swamps as water dogs trained to retrieve fallen birds for hunters. "Poodle" is a corruption of the German pudeln, which means "to splash in water."
The poodle is the national dog of France.
The French military branches consist of an army (which includes marines, Foreign Legion and Army Light Aviation), a navy (including naval air), air force (including air defense) and the National Gendarmerie.
The French general whose name came to mean a strict military disciplinarian - martinet - was killed by gunfire from his own men as he led a charge. General Jean Martinet beat soldiers of Louis XIV into shape by relentless drill and naturally became a hated man.
Without much knowledge of the deeper aspects of the struggle, 30,000 soldiers from Hesse, Germany, engaged by George III - the Hessians - fought against the Americans in the Revolutionary War. The colonists did not so much dislike the Hessians, recognizing them to be helpless pawns, as they disliked the English king for hiring foreigners to shoot men he considered his subjects.
John Hancock signed his name in extra-large letters on the Declaration of Independence not out of self-esteem but so that King George III, notoriously poor-sighted, could read it without the aid of spectacles.
Berengaria, Queen of England and wife of Richard the Lionhearted, never set foot in England. She lived in Italy most of her life while her husband was off on adventures and crusades.
Though the Italian Renaissance flourished in Rome, not a single Renaissance artist, sculptor or musician of any stature was born in that city. During the 15th and 16th centuries, practically all architects, painters, sculptors and musicians were imported to Rome. When they had completed their projects, they almost always departed.