Uncommon Knowledge

Weddings are spirited occasions. Love. Happiness. Cake. Champagne. The Electric Slide. There was a time, though, when couples would want their big day to be anything but, taking many measures to ensure that an RSVP was not extended to evil-intentioned souls from the underworld.

Contrary to popular belief, matching bridesmaids dresses was a tradition started not by brides with a twisted sense of humor, but rather Romans who believed having certain female guests wear dresses that matched the bride’s would confuse supernatural party crashers seeking to do harm to the newlyweds. If they didn’t fall for that, then surely wearing a veil—another spirit-deterring measure—would do the trick. Finally, a lift over the threshold was thought to prevent underworld beings from turning a love nest into a haunted house. Boogie-woogies, after all, should always remain at the reception.

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Long before selfies, the silhouette was a popular, cheap alternative to formal portraiture like oil paintings or marble busts. From the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, they were a common way to quickly capture a likeness, preserved today only as souvenirs from spots like Colonial Williamsburg. But did you ever wonder why they’re called silhouettes instead of “quaint black paper cut-outs often seen over Grandma’s mantle?” Other than that being a mouthful, silhouettes are named for Étienne de Silhouette, a mid-eighteenth century French economist. If this doesn’t make perfect sense, let me profile it for you. A sharp critic of the French aristocracy’s spendthrift ways, Silhouette’s conservative economic approach became synonymous with “cheap” in his day, making silhouette shorthand for chintzy things, including cut paper portraits. While this is the most plausible theory of the association, it might also be based on the brevity of Silhouette’s tenure (less than a year), reflecting the short sitting required for a silhouette. It’s also suspected that Silhouette himself was a weekend silhouette maker, so his hobby was named for him. In any case, that’s the outline of this quirky history.

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Publishers in search of the next bestselling parenting book might think about looking outside the human species. Studies of female wolves have shown that the steely-eyed predator makes an excellent mother, relying heavily on her instincts.

As if to recognize that once the pups arrive she will be a bit preoccupied, a female wolf spends an extra amount of time cuddling, playing, and hunting with her mate in the months leading up to the birth. She will also nest, creating a suitable den in which to give birth and bond with her pups in the following weeks. Though this space is declared a no-mate zone, she will oftentimes invite a female “midwife” in for support.

Scientists have not yet taken a stance on the highly debated question, “How early is too early for an iPad?” but we have a feeling the deer community would agree that when it comes to wolf pup distraction, there’s no such thing as too young.

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