Mental Floss

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Grab your magnifying glass.

We give you an obscure word with four definitions—one correct, three made up. Can you identify the correct one?

Ellen Gutoskey
Just a shot in the dark.

One theory suggests that we call liquor “spirits” because of alcohol’s association with one spirit in particular: the Holy Spirit. But there are other possible origins.

Ellen Gutoskey










See if you can decipher this twisted tune.

We ran the lyrics of a hit song through multiple languages, then translated them back into English. Can you figure out what the song is, or who performed it?

mentalfloss .com














This scene near Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks shows why New York is the top state for fall road trips.

There’s nothing quite like peeping peak foliage, dashing through a corn maze, and spending an afternoon at an apple orchard to celebrate autumn—and in some of these top states for fall road trips, you can do all three.

Nick Keppler