A list of curious facts
One: The Netherlands’ national museum in Hague has put a curious object on display: A 200-year old condom—decorated with erotic art:
The condom, possibly a souvenir from a brothel, is decorated with an erotic image of a nun and three clergymen. The phrase “This is my choice” is written along the sheath in French. According to the museum, this is a reference to the Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting “The Judgment of Paris,” which depicts the Trojan prince Paris judging a beauty contest between three goddesses.
It is made of sheep skin—and dates back to the 1830s. The most entertaining fact: In those days, luxury shops offered “bespoke tailoring for condoms.” Happily, this one isn’t used :) You can check out the nun and her suitors in the lead image above. (The Guardian)
Two: Did you know the roots of the word ‘pariah’ lie in the name of a Dalit caste called ‘Paraiyar’—whose members are found across Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Sri Lanka. The word itself is linked to ‘parai’—the Tamil word for drum. Drum-making and playing was reserved for the ‘untouchable’ Paraiyars—though some academics dispute that theory:
[Sociologist Karithikeyan Damodaran] says.. the Paraiyars were involved in varied occupations, from being agricultural labourers to weavers. Even the etymology of the name, he says, is contested since some scholars trace the roots of Paraiyar to the Malayalam word ‘paraiy’, which means ‘to speak’.
Whatever their occupation, these communities were outcastes—hence the meaning of the English word:
According to the French scholar Eleni Varikas, the Portuguese military navigator Duarte Barbosa, who was based in India from 1500 to 1517, recorded the word for the first time in his travel writing. “There is another inferior group of pagans called Pareas,” he wrote. “They do not come in contact with anyone, are considered worse than the devil and shunned by all; just looking at them is enough to be contaminated and excommunicated.” About a century later, around 1613, “pariah” entered the English lexicon, and that of other European languages.
Caravan and Indian Express have lots more on the word’s history—but both are paywalled.
Three: The world’s lowest car is known as ‘the Banana Peel’. It is an impressively eccentric adaptation of a 1990s-era Honda Civic K6 by a Taiwanese team of auto engineers—Stance Garage Taiwan under the leadership of car designer Lan Dong. As you can see below, you can actually drive this thing—though the car has no seats: “In fact, the driver has to lie down inside the vehicle and navigate using a system of cameras instead of a windshield.” (MSN)
Bonus fact: Sticking with concept cars, have you seen AVTR—the coolest Mercedes ride on the planet! Released in 2024—just in time for the ‘Avatar’ sequel—this beauty can crab walk and be driven from both the left and right seats—primarily because there is no steering wheel, just a control console. The Mercedes website has loads more details—or you can watch this demo clip. We just love the way it looks:)
