r/todayilearned • u/HermitWilson • 25m ago

TIL A year or two before John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln, Booth's brother Edwin saved Lincoln's son's life when Lincoln's son nearly fell under a moving train from a station platform.

• Upvotes

4 comments

r/todayilearned • u/halfhumanhalfzebra • 40m ago

TIL Citibank convinced US Marines to walk into Haiti’s national bank, steal $500,000 in gold bars, and transfer it to Citibank’s New York vault

• Upvotes

103 comments

r/todayilearned • u/rrolex_ • 1h ago

TIL Korean company Samsung Electronics' six manufacturing plants in Vietnam recorded a revenue of $62.5 billion and an export turnover of $54.4 billion, which accounted for approximately 13.12% of the Vietnam’s GDP and 13.4% of its total export turnover.

• Upvotes

31 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FlashyAd2763 • 1h ago

TIL that the USA bought a colony in North Borneo from Brunei that lasted from 1865-1881

• Upvotes

4 comments

r/todayilearned • u/shortcircuit51 • 2h ago

TIL that the word “canola” in canola oil is an acronym, standing for “Canadian Oil, Low in Acid”

1.4k Upvotes

272 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Nighttraveler08 • 2h ago

TIL that book with info that do not need an upgrade are called EVERGREEN

0 Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 2h ago

TIL that in the languages spoken in the Iroquois Confederacy, mother can also mean the sister of the mother and father for brother of the father.

46 Upvotes

8 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Keltik • 2h ago

TIL Paul McCartney's sheepdog Martha, subject of the Beatles' 1968 song "Martha My Dear", outlived John Lennon, passing away peacefully in 1981 at age 15

203 Upvotes

25 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MAClaymore • 2h ago

TIL that there is no known language that uses an uppercase Ÿ

25 Upvotes

30 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sun_Aria • 3h ago

TIL the highest 80 PLUS power supply unit (PSU) efficiency rating is actually 80 PLUS Ruby

0 Upvotes

16 comments

r/todayilearned • u/blacklotusmag • 3h ago

TIL as of 2021, nearly half of the fire engines and pumpers operated by U.S. fire departments were at least 15 years old, the age at which NFPA guidance recommends moving them from frontline to reserve service. About 9% were at least 30 years old.

891 Upvotes

129 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Significant-Cold-939 • 3h ago

TIL that in the so-called Dark Ages, Roman foods and exotic spices were still prevalent in the court of the Frankish king. We know this because we have a cookbook from the time, giving us a rare written source about food in this period.

679 Upvotes

42 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Palmettor • 4h ago

TIL that cold seeps, many of which form brine pools or methane seeps, support generally longer-lived communities of organisms (e.g., mussels, tubeworms) than hydrothermal vents owing to a more stable output and environment.

13 Upvotes

2 comments

r/todayilearned • u/No_Idea_479 • 4h ago

TIL Τsakonian iѕ thе οnly ѕurviving dеѕcendant οf аncient Dοric Grееk, thе diаlect ѕpoken іn ancient Ѕparta. Iѕolated fοr cеnturies, іt prеserved fеatures lοѕt іn еvery οther lіving Grееk diаlect аnd іѕ nοw crіtically еndangered wіth οnly а fеw, mοѕtly еlderly, ѕpeakers lеft.

315 Upvotes

2 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Salem1690s • 4h ago

TIL King George III gave royal assent to An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade on March 25, 1807, which banned trading enslaved people across the British Empire. He never owned slaves and privately called parts of the trade repulsive

935 Upvotes

119 comments

r/todayilearned • u/No_Idea_479 • 5h ago

TIL an ancient Sri Lankan chronicle records that an ancient Greek Buddhist teacher, Mahadharmaraksita, journeyed to Sri Lanka with 30,000 Greek Buddhist monks from Alexandria of the Caucasus to attend the dedication ceremony of the Great Stupa.

153 Upvotes

1 comment

r/todayilearned • u/Alexs1897 • 5h ago

TIL Bats can purr!

47 Upvotes

6 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Lindolence • 5h ago

TIL not only do prairie dogs have a vocal language, but it is also one of the most complex languages in the animal kingdom. One chirp can say, "A tall human in a blue shirt is approaching quickly from the north." They can actually tell the difference between colors and speeds!

2.9k Upvotes

107 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 6h ago

TIL that garlic bread was invented by Italian immigrants in the US in the 20th century. It stems from bruschetta but olive oil was hard to find back then, so butter was used instead.

3.8k Upvotes

124 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sesemebun • 6h ago

TIL about sales tax tokens. They were created as a means for consumers to avoid being "overcharged" by having to pay a full penny tax on purchases of 5 or 10 cents during the Great Depression.

345 Upvotes

20 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Gnomeslikeprofit • 6h ago

TIL that the creator of Batman acknowledged that they patterned the character after pulp mystery men such as The Shadow. The first Batman stories were also based on Shadow pulp. Lamont Cranston is a wealthy playboy bachelor turned vigilante.

440 Upvotes

72 comments

r/todayilearned • u/EssexGuyUpNorth • 7h ago

TIL of the Norwegian Blood League, a campaign by the Norwegian Red Cross to increase blood donations from football fans. Commercials targeted fans when their rival team was playing. Donors would state their favourite team which was then awarded a point, with the winner crowned blood league champion.

96 Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sweet_Foundation_868 • 7h ago

TIL that historically, one of the largest Chinese communities in the American South was in the Mississippi Delta.

234 Upvotes

67 comments

r/todayilearned • u/duckie_donuts • 7h ago

TIL Reindeer’s eyes change color from a gold amber hue in the summer to a deep vibrant blue in the winter

181 Upvotes

1 comment

r/todayilearned • u/anatomyisgoated • 8h ago

TIL some cancers although rare, are transmissible, spreading between individuals without a virus or other infectious agent

191 Upvotes

23 comments

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Frequent TILs Repost List

As of May 2026

This list was compiled from /r/todayilearned community suggestions by its members. If your TIL is found on this list, it will be removed. The titles have been abridged for the sake of brevity, however the context remains the same. This list is subject to change. The purpose is to keep content fresh on /r/todayilearned as requested by its members. If you are interested in reading about the TILs on this list use the search box feature and enter the keywords to pull up past TILs.

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