Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for February 17, 2015
February 16, 2015
February 18, 2015
Transcript:
Take that... And that... The stingless Trigona bee of South America will bite predators that attack its colony, and will keep doing so until death! The teabag was invented accidentally in the 1900s when New York merchant Thomas Sullivan sent out tea samples in silk bags, and his customers wrongly put them into teapots. It was illegal to buy a round of beer in England during World War I, to prevent the public from treating soldiers and getting them drunk!
More From Ripley's Believe It or Not
Templo S.U.D. over 9 years ago
I would hate to be killed by a that bee.
Chris Overman over 9 years ago
Actually buying beers for someone else was more to do with stopping 5th columist (spys) getting factory workers drunk and learing secrets – all part of the Defense of the Realm act (DORA).
Brown Leghorn over 9 years ago
I have been there and the Brits never obeyed that rule!
Stephen Gilberg over 9 years ago
I always assumed the tea bag was much older than that.
Loijen over 9 years ago
Thank you Mr. Sullivan, Tea bags are much easier than strainers.
benbrilling over 9 years ago
That sentence is a little ambiguous. Does it mean the bee’s death or the bitten creature’s death?
english.ann over 9 years ago
I believe the teaspoon got its name from the proper amount of loose tea to put into a tea ball strainer for steeping in a cup of hot water. I fully expect that Thomas Sullivan put a teaspoon of loose tea into each of those silk bags, or else he would have heard back from his customers (“Hey, this tea is rather weak,” or “This tea is rather strong; how much more water should I have put into the teapot, or how fewer teabags should I have put into the water?”