Mental Floss

CHRISTMAS

Where the ‘nog’ came from is a bit of a mystery.

The ‘egg’ part of ‘eggnog’ is obvious. The ‘nog’ is a little more mysterious—possibly involving noggins and/or grog.

Ellen Gutoskey
Charles Dickens.

Dickens’s unprecedented celebrity made him the most popular novelist of his century—but the author of Great Expectations, Bleak House, A Christmas Carol, and dozens of other works was more than just a writer.

Sean Hutchinson




There’s hope for your New Year’s resolution past January.

We celebrate the same holidays every year, but how much do we actually know about these annual traditions? And how much of what we think we know is actually true?

Bethel Afful