Mental Floss

ALL STORIES

A scrimshaw jagging wheel/pie crimper made from a sperm whale tooth—just one example of an unusual love token from the days of yore.

In past centuries, you might have given your valentine a bent coin, jewelry made out of hair, or a carved whale tooth instead of a bouquet of roses.

Ben Gazur






















Pee-wee Herman, circa 1995

In the summer of 1985, Paul Reubens introduced America’s youth—and millions of young-at-heart adults—to a new kind of comedy.

Jennifer M Wood