http://www.mentalfloss.com/cheatsheets Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:58:36 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Name-dropping: King Arthur (pronunciation: you know) (fifth or sixth century, assuming he was real). A guy who may have lived during the sixth century in what is now Britain, or possibly never lived anywhere at any time. Regardless, his is the name that spawned a thousand fantasy novels. When to ... http://www.mentalfloss.com/cheatsheets/king-arthur/ Name-dropping: Virginia Woolf (pronunciation: like the state, like the animal) (1882–1941). One of Britain’s most important novelists, critics, and major modernist authors. She was also played in the film The Hours by Nicole Kidman, who won an Oscar primarily for wearing a fake nose. Where’s Groucho Marx’s Oscar?! But we ... http://www.mentalfloss.com/cheatsheets/virginia-woolf/ Name-dropping: Voltaire (pronunciation: vol-TARE) (1694–1778). Writer, philosopher, and stalwart representative of the Enlightenment in Europe. When to Drop Your Knowledge: Voltaire lends himself to a number of conversational topics: reason, promiscuity, Deism, the surprising attractiveness of female mathematicians, and the rights of those accused of crimes. This is the great ... http://www.mentalfloss.com/cheatsheets/voltaire/ Name-dropping: Odysseus (pronunciation: oh-DISS- ee-uss). Figure in Greek mythology most famously immortalized by the blind (and possibly nonexistent) Greek poet Homer. Builder of horses, husband of hotties, and extraordinary traveler, Odysseus is the epic hero par excellence. Ulysses: Odysseus’s name in Latin. When to Drop Your Knowledge: The Ulyssesian hero ... http://www.mentalfloss.com/cheatsheets/ulysses-the-guy/ Name-dropping: James (pronunciation: like LeBron) Joyce (pronunciation: like Brothers) (1882–1941). Irish writer, widely considered the best novelist of the 20th century, whose magnum opus Ulysses brought modernism in literature to the forefront and became an instant literary classic, even though it’s well known that about 11 people in all of ... http://www.mentalfloss.com/cheatsheets/ulysses-the-book/ Name-dropping: Samuel Clemens (pronunciation: like it’s spelled) (1835–1910). Businessman, speculator, orator, publisher, and author whose work revolutionized American literature and whose jokes are as funny today as they were 150 years ago. When to Drop Your Knowledge: Quoting Twain will make you seem funny and smart. Below, we’ll give you ... http://www.mentalfloss.com/cheatsheets/mark-twain/ Name-dropping: Nikola Tesla (pronunciation: NEE- cola TESS-lah) (1856–1943). What do you get when you put a great, egotistical, celibate Serbian-American mind in a room for too long with a bunch of pigeons? Only one of the greatest inventors ever. When to Drop Your Knowledge: Stories of Tesla’s loneliness and underappreciated ... http://www.mentalfloss.com/cheatsheets/nikola-tesla/ Name-dropping: Tao-te Ching (pronunciation: dao de-ZHING). The holy scripture of Taoism (pronuncia- tion: DAO-ism) compiled sometime before the third century BCE. Lao-tzu (pronunciation: LAO-tsuh): Literally, “Old Man,” “Lao-tzu” is both the same book as the Tao-te Ching and the name of the person who purportedly wrote it. If this strikes you ... http://www.mentalfloss.com/cheatsheets/tao-te-ching-2/ Name-dropping: Tanakh (pronunciation: tah-NOCK). Also known as the Hebrew Bible and often identified as the Old Testament, the Tanakh comprises the 24 books in the Hebrew canon read as scripture in Judaism. When to Drop Your Knowledge: Whenever anyone calls the Hebrew Bible the Old Testament, for starters. But your ... http://www.mentalfloss.com/cheatsheets/tanakh/ Name-dropping: Ephesus (pronunciation: EH-fuh-suss). Greek city no longer in existence. Halicarnassus (pronunciation: Hal-ee-car-NASS-uss). Asia Minor city no longer in existence. Babylon (pronunciation: like Babylon 5 sans the 5). Ancient ... http://www.mentalfloss.com/cheatsheets/seven-wonders-of-the-ancient-world/