Ask Rachel

Interesting fact: Elephants aren’t naturally afraid of mice. But circus elephants learned to fear them, because rodents often chewed on their feet and tails

Interesting fact: I actually use vinegar to get rid of ants. It may not work, but the smell sure keeps me far away from the problem, which means it doesn’t exist.

Interesting fact: Bluegrass music as we know it started around 1940 with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Ten minutes later, the first people got tired of listening to bluegrass and walked out.

Interesting fact: Pork shoulder is a self-explanatory slice of meat. Pork butt, however, is actually just pork shoulder. #mindblown

Interesting fact: I wasn’t really sure you could buy mountain lion pee. You can. It comes in squeeze bottles. And now, my Amazon search history is forever really, really boned.

Interesting fact: CDs and vinyl records outsold digital downloads in 2017. But it’s streaming services that keep the industry afloat now. MP3s are dead. Long live MP3s.

Interesting fact: Urine is, in fact, not sterile. So don’t use it to clean your wounds. And definitely don’t sit on it.

Interesting fact: The vomit in “The Sandlot” was made from split pea soup, baked beans, oatmeal, water, and movie gel. And the chewing tobacco was made from beef jerky and licorice. Yum.

Interesting fact: There’s loads of stories for the ori- gins of “on the wagon,” but it appears one with the most veracity is that it was short for “on the water-wagon,” which were horse-drawn carts that dampened dusty dirt roads. No word on how fast the horses travel from Col- lege to 32nd.

Interesting fact: The upright bass got a boost in the 17th century when wound gut strings appeared for the first time. Hey, they had to do something with all those animals they ran over on the river trail.

Interesting fact: “Off the cuff” originated in 1938 and refers to actors and speakers who would read lines written on their shirt sleeves, rather than preparing and memorizing them. If you choose to draw a connection between this off-the-cuff fact and my work on this page, that’s on you.

Interesting fact: Actually, time runs faster at higher elevation than at lower. So I got it wrong. The important thing is that I tried. It’s all relative anyway.

Interesting fact: All-season tires are like the tennis shoes of the car world. And once you start paying atten- tion, you’ll be surprised how many tennies people wear in slushy weather.

Interesting fact: Peanut allergies cause more deadly anaphylaxis than any other food allergy. In other words, it can kill you in a Jif.

Interesting fact: It takes about two weeks after getting a flu shot for your antibodies to develop. That means, for two weeks, you still get to be a hypochondriac.

Interesting fact: I did not get Follies tickets this year, because I believe firmly that my Saturday mornings are for sleeping.

Interesting fact: The Cranberries were originally named The Cranberry Saw Us, which incidentally is also the title of my upcoming independent horror film.

Interesting fact: There’s, honest to Marx, a type of cheek kiss called the socialist fraternal kiss. It’s a special greeting between statesmen of Communist countries. Though it sadly has given way to the socialist fraternal embrace.