Thread: More interesting facts

How did the centre of world commerce, Wall Street, get its name?


In September of 1653, the settlers in what is now New York City felt threatened by the local Natives and by the possibility of an invasion by Oliver Cromwell’s army. For protection, they built a large protective wall that stretched a half-mile across Manhattan Island. That wall was situated on the exact spot that we now know as the financial centre of the world: Wall Street.


Have you ever wondered how Cinderella could have walked in a glass slipper?

The story of Cinderella was passed along orally for centuries before it was written down by Charles Perrault in 1697. While doing so he mistook the word vair, meaning ermine, for the word verre, meaning glass. By the time he realized his mistake, the story had become too popular to change, and so instead of an ermine slipper, Cinderella wore glass.


Why are men’s buttons on the right and women’s on the left?

Decorative buttons first appeared around 2000 BC, but they weren’t commonly used as fasteners until the sixteenth century. Because most men are right-handed and generally dressed themselves, they found it easier to fasten their buttons from right to left. However, wealthy women were dressed by servants, who found it easier to fasten their
mistresses’ clothes if the buttons were on her left. It became convention and has never changed.

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Originally Posted by mem286

How did the centre of world commerce, Wall Street, get its name?


In September of 1653, the settlers in what is now New York City felt threatened by the local Natives and by the possibility of an invasion by Oliver Cromwell’s army. For protection, they built a large protective wall that stretched a half-mile across Manhattan Island. That wall was situated on the exact spot that we now know as the financial centre of the world: Wall Street.

Do you mean the Wall street got its name more than three hundred years?

Interesting and funny mem, as usual

However, I heard that the island of Manhattan was originally bought by the Dutch from the native population for 60 guilders. Consequently, the name "Wall Street" would be derived from the Dutch "walstraat", also in referral to the protective wall. These are some other examples of the influence of Dutch in New York and the US:

Harlem (Haarlem, a city in the Netherlands)
Coney Island(Konijneneiland, Rabbits Island)
Yankee (Jan-Kees, Janke, Dutch names)
The myth of Santa CLaus (Sinterklaas, St. Nicholas, the maritime patron saint of the Dutch)

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Hello everybody!

All this facts were taken from:
"Now you know" by Doug Lennox

This book is a collection of scripts originally written for radio and first heard on Sound Source Network’s syndicated radio show, “Now You Know”.
All of us invariably react to the scripted anecdotal information with, “I didn’t know that,” to which the author responds, “Well, now you know.”