Okay, I admit, as weird as they are, encyclopedias are probably not at the top of your list.

But here are some interesting, and yes, weird, trivia that might amuse anyone who’s had to try researching an article using one of these things.

Thank god for the internet.

Look up “Encyclopedia” in the Dictionary

You’ve heard the word your whole life. You know what it means today. And you probably think it means “book of knowledge” or something like that.

Well, no.

When faced with what to call the first collection of facts, the writers naturally looked to ancient Greek and chose “enkyklos paideias”, which translates to “children’s things in a circle.”

I’m just as confused as you on that.

If you think Britannica is great …

The largest encyclopedia in history has to go to the one in charge in 1408 during the Ming dynasty in China. It was 11,000 volumes (yes, THOUSAND!) And had 370 million characters.

All written by hand.

Try carrying that home in a backpack.

The strangest encyclopedia Britannica

The most serious encyclopedia, the EB, was not always as straightforward as it is today.

In fact, the first edition was started in 1768 by 3 Scots. One was a drunk who liked to throw pints with Robert Burns. Another was a 4-foot-6-inch jester who liked to wear a huge papier-mâché nose (as a joke, you see) who made a fortune making dog collars for the rich. And the third was the unfortunate printer who had no idea what he was getting into.

The first EB itself is just as eclectic. There are 7 lines on theater, 500 words on poetry, but 39 pages on horse diseases. I guess we know what was important to these men.

Speaking of which: Women – “The female of the man.” If that is all. 4 words.

They also “calculated” the number of species in Noah’s ark. 177 if interested.

One last gem: for excess gas: “blow tobacco smoke through your anus.” Good luck with that!