Dance Fever, Speeding Lies & OMG, It’s 1917!

History’s weirdest dance marathon, the sneaky math behind speed limits, and how “OMG” was first used over 100 years ago.

Buckle up for another trip through history’s most bizarre and unexpected moments. Today, we’re uncovering a medieval dance epidemic, why your speedometer is lying to you, and how the British Navy accidentally invented text slang. Let’s dive in!

The Dancing Plague: When People Literally Couldn’t Stop Dancing 🕺💃

• Imagine breaking into a dance and being physically unable to stop. Sounds like a TikTok challenge gone wrong, right? Well, in 1518, that actually happened in Strasbourg, France.

  A woman started dancing in the streets, and within a month, hundreds of people had joined in. Some even danced until they collapsed from exhaustion or worse. The reason? Historians aren’t exactly sure, but theories range from mass hysteria to ergot poisoning (a hallucinogenic mold found on rye).

  Authorities tried to cure the afflicted by encouraging more dancing—hiring musicians and clearing out dance halls. Spoiler alert: that did not work. Eventually, the dancing just… stopped.

  Takeaway: Next time you get dragged onto the dance floor, just be grateful it won’t last for weeks.

Your Speedometer Is Lying to You… On Purpose 🚗💨

• Ever feel like you’re driving slightly faster than your speedometer says? That’s because you probably are. Car manufacturers intentionally make speedometers overestimate speed by up to 10%.

  Why? Mostly legal reasons. Laws in many countries require speedometers to never understate speed, so automakers play it safe by erring on the side of caution. The result? You may think you’re doing 60 mph when you’re really at 55.

  This is also why GPS-based speed readings tend to be more accurate. So if your car ever makes you feel like a rebel for speeding—congratulations, you’ve been bamboozled.

  Takeaway: Turns out, your car is more dramatic than you are.

OMG Was First Used… In 1917? 🤯📜

• Think “OMG” is a modern invention? Think again. The first recorded use of “OMG” was in a 1917 letter from a British naval officer, Admiral John Arbuthnot Fisher, to Winston Churchill.

  In the letter, Fisher was describing military gossip and wrote:

  "I hear that a new order of Knighthood is on the tapis – O.M.G. (Oh! My! God!) – Shower it on the Admiralty!!"

  The abbreviation remained obscure for decades, only exploding into pop culture thanks to the internet. So yes, before teenagers were texting “OMG” to their friends, a distinguished British officer was dropping it in war correspondence.

  Takeaway: If an admiral can say it, so can you.

From medieval raves to sneaky speedometers and a century-old “OMG,” today’s trivia proves one thing—humans have always been weird. Stay curious, question everything, and maybe don’t trust your car’s speedometer too much.

Yours in delightful discovery,

— Max Whitt🎩🚗💃

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