What's in a Name, Tank

WWI (1914 - 1918) military war machines were called tanks, because they were originally disguised to resemble water tanks. Tanks with cannons were called male tanks and tanks with machine guns were called female tanks.

'Little Willie' was developed in 1915 by British scientists and inventors, and it was the first World War 1 tank. The British produced over 2,600 tanks during the war, but by the end of the war British Tank Corps had only 8 tanks left.

Chinese Currency

With the recent devaluation of China's currency, many articles have been written about the Renimbi and the Yuan. Renminbi is the official name for the currency, and Yuan is the main unit of currency. This is akin to the British currency being pound sterling and the units are pounds.

Bangers and Mash

The British meal of sausage and mashed potatoes goes back a long way. Sausages can be traced back to ancient times. Victorians were skeptical of what was in a sausage, suspected horse meat, and nicknamed them ‘Little Bags of Mystery’. After the outbreak of the World War, food shortages led to a dramatic reduction of meat in sausages, so producers packed them out with scraps, cereal, and water, which caused them to pop when cooked over hot fires. That is how the name bangers came to be. The mash comes from the way potatoes are cooked - mashed.