Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Wise Up! by Bathroom Readers’ Institute Read Free Book Online Page A

of a term found in the ancient texts that make up the Jewish Torah and the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It means “Children of Israel” and refers to an ancient nomadic people who were enslaved by the Egyptians around 1585 BC. Their language, Hebrew, is still in use today and is the world’s oldest. It’s a Semitic language, like Arabic, and comes from a word that means “one who traverses.” Today, Hebrew is one of two official languages of Israel. (Arabic is the other.)
    CANAANITES. When the Israelites arrived in “the promised land” of Canaan (which took up most of modern-day Israel), they discovered a group of people already living there…the Canaanites. The civilization was protected by walled cities and included a thriving merchant class. One of Canaan’s most-traded goods was a purple dye made from the secretions of indigenous snails. In cuneiform, an ancient type of picture writing, the word for “Canaan” looked like the symbol that meant “reddish purple.” So the Israelites’ promised land was known to locals as the “Land of the Purple Dye.”
    PHILISTINES. This seafaring culture invaded and occupied modern-day Israel and Lebanon around 1200 BC. There’s a lot of debate among historians about what region the Philistines called home, but today, many people believe that they originally hailed from Greece.
    BEDOUINS. Desert-dwelling Arabs, the Bedouins have been around for thousands of years and consist of dozens of different communities throughout the Middle East. They typically herd sheep and goats and are known for being polite, hospitable hosts who regularly invite other travelers into their homes. Today, as during biblical times, many Bedouins live in handwoven tentscalled beit al-sha’ar , or “houses of goat hair.” The tents are so durable that they keep out the cold in winter, the heat in summer, and shrink in the rain to become waterproof.
    ZEALOTS. In the Bible, “zealots” were Jewish rebels who plotted to overthrow the Roman government. The word comes from the Greek zelotes , which means “emulator” or “follower.” One zealot, Simon, was a disciple of Jesus.
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    SHAKESPEAREAN INSULTS
    “You should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so.”
    —Macbeth
    “[Thou art] a most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality.”
    —All’s Well That Ends Well
    “Thou stale old mouse-eaten dry cheese!”
    —Troilus and Cressida
    “I scorn you, scurvy companion. What, you poor, base, rascally, cheating, lack-linen mate! Away, you moldy rogue, away!”
    —Henry IV, Part II
    “Go prick thy face and over-red thy fear, thou lily-liver’d boy.”
    —Macbeth
    “Thou art like the toad, ugly and venomous.”
    —As You Like It
    “If thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them.”
    —Hamlet

TV Trivia
    The name originally considered for the TV show Friends was Insomnia Café .
    The Lone Ranger was the first TV show ever to be shown in reruns.
    Eighty percent of Hollywood executives believe there’s a link between TV violence and real violence.
    Families who turn off the TV during meals tend to eat healthier.
    Jerry Seinfeld turned down $5 million per episode to continue Seinfeld past 1998.
    Billy Graham broke his strict rule against watching TV on Sunday for the Beatles’ first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show .
    There are more than 80 different games on The Price is Right .
    Most popular TV show in the world in 2008: CSI .
    The Emmy Award was originally called the Immy. It’s named after TV camera “imaging” tubes.
    Most-watched series finale of a TV drama: Magnum, P.I. (1988).

Place Names
    The town of Notrees, Texas, founded in 1946, was named for its lack of vegetation.
    Three most common U.S. town names: Midway, Fairview, and Oak Grove.
    The state of Georgia was named for England’s King George II.