Mental Floss

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On the set of ‘Jaws’ (1975).

On June 20, 1975, Steven Spielberg’s 'Jaws'—the original summer blockbuster—arrived in theaters and scared moviegoers out of the water.

Sean Hutchinson
















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


The Dakotas didn't get along.

If the colony of Carolina and the Dakota Territory hadn’t decided to split themselves up, we’d have only 48 states right now. But why did these particular places become geographic variants of each other?

Leah Beckmann