A homo erectus species, Peking Man fossils were discovered between 1929 and 1937 in the Lower Cave at the Peking Man site at Zhoukoudian, near Beijing, in China. They included 14 partial craniums, 11 lower jaws, teeth, some skeletal bones and many stone tools. Archaeologists date them between 500,000 and 300,000 years old. A number of fossils of modern humans …

The word cocktail was used in 1806 and is of American origin. Bartenders would drain the dregs of all the barrels and mix them together, serving the resultant muddle at a reduced price. Cock was another name for spigot, and tailings is the last bit of alcohol, so this drink was called cock-tailings, quickly shortened to “cocktail”.

The term horse trading, which came into usage around 1820, owes its origin to the notorious shrewdness of horse traders who bought and sold horses. As per Macmillan English Dictionary, it means difficult and sometimes dishonest discussions between people who are trying to reach an agreement. In political parlance, it implies any long drawnout negotiation characterised by hard bargaining and …

One theory is associated with France being known as the city of love, with the Eiffel Tower and Paris considered the ultimate symbols of romance. Another theory is that French Kiss was a derogatory term used during war: it was said that the French would rather make love with their faces than fight. The term dates back to at least …

The phrase means in a pressure situation, such as war or a terrorist attack, even committed atheists may start thinking about God. This line is used in the 1942 film ‘Wake Island’, a story about the military garrison in Wake Island and the travails in the island during the Japanese attack. The phrase is believed to be of World War …

According to Judaism and the Torah, the ‘ladies first’ rule is a very old tradition. The story goes that when Moses was instructed to inform the people of Israel about the Torah, he was told to “speak to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel.” Since the house of Jacob appears first in the instructions, and it …

The word ‘Belarus’means ‘white Russians’. The Scandinavians who moved in the east were called ‘Rus’ and from them came the word ‘Russia’. During the Mongol era, the Russians were classified into three different groups: Belarussians, little Russians, and great Russians. The name ‘Belarus’ and the country evolved from Belarussians. Belarus was known as Belorussia or Byelorussia in the days of …

I’m OK means I’m fine. But if you say the weather’s OK in a lazy drawl, it could mean ‘so-so’. When you respond with an OK at the end of someone’s explanation, you could be saying, ‘Alright, I get what you’re saying’. And when someone explains that ‘This is the way to do it, OK?’ it means, ‘Have you understood?’ …

Tapori is the unique slang form of Hindi spoken in Mumbai. The word ‘tapori’ in Hindi means rowdy, implying that tapori has its origins in the slang used by the street thugs of Mumbai. Although the slang is used mostly in Mumbai, it is now imitated and used for fun in several parts of India, thanks to several Bollywood movies, …

Ancient Mesopotamian women were possibly the first women to invent and wear lipstick. They crushed semi precious jewels and used them to decorate their lips. Women in the ancient Indus Valley Civilization applied lipstick to their lips for face decoration. Ancient Egyptians extracted purplish-red dye from fucus-algin, 0.01% iodine, and some bromine mannite, which resulted in serious illness. Cleopatra had …