77 Interesting Facts About . . .Weddings

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In the United States, there is no law or religious dictate that says the bride must take the groom’s last name. However, approximately 70% of Americans agree that a bride should change her last name.b The Fijians believe that the god Nangganangga, who watches over married couples, will not let a bachelor enter Fijian paradise and will turn him to ash if he dies before he is married.d The Penan nomads who live on the island Borneo (southwest of the Philippines) maintain that women do not have a soul until their wedding day.d In States where no blood tests or physical exams are required, failing to tell your prospective spouse that you have a venereal disease or a physical impairment (such as impotence or infertility) can void the marriage.k Early Roman brides carried a bunch of herbs, such as garlic and rosemary, under their veils to symbolize fidelity and fertility and to ward off evil. These herbs served as a precursor to the modern bridal bouquet.c The phrase “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a silver sixpence in her shoe” symbolizes continuity, optimism for the future, borrowed happiness, fidelity, and wealth or good luck, respectively.c Because white is the color of mourning in Eastern cultures, white wedding dresses are uncommon.c Las Vegas is the top wedding destination with over 100,000 weddings a year, followed by Hawaii at 25,000 weddings a year.h The tradition of the “ring finger” is based on an erroneous historical belief in a “vein of love” Wedding rings are often placed on the third finger of the left hand because ancient Egyptians believed the vein in that hand (which the Romans called the “vein of love”) ran directly to the heart.c The bride’s veil traditionally symbolized her youth and virginity. Veils also hid the bride from jealous spirits or the Evil Eye. In the past, veils could be red, blue or yellow (the color of Hymen, the Greek god of marriage). The modern white veil became popular during the Victorian era as a symbol of purity and modesty. A white veil also connoted that a bride was wealthy enough to wear white.c In many cultures, the groom historically often kidnapped the bride, and the groom’s friends would help him, leading to the modern-day groomsmen. At the alter, the groom always stood on the bride’s right side so his right hand—or his sword hand—would be free to fight/defend a jealous rival.c Flower girls traditionally threw flower petals in the bride’s path to lead her to a sweet, plentiful future.c Nearly all cultures have showered the wedding couple with symbolic food. For example, the French throw wheat, Sicilians throw wheat bread and salt, and the English throw pieces of cake. Early Romans or Greeks threw nuts, dates, and seed-bearing plants. Bulgarians have thrown figs.f Throwing rice at weddings symbolizes fertility, prosperity, and bounty. In some countries, the bride might even carry or wear sheaves of grain. However, many modern churches and wedding locations discourage rice throwing because rice can be fatal for birds who eat it.c Guests in ancient times would tear off part of the bride’s gown as tokens of good luck, leading to the tradition of the bride throwing both her garter and her bouquet.c A wedding cake is traditionally a symbol of good luck and fertility and has been a part of wedding celebrations since Roman times, when a small bun, symbolizing fertility, was broken above the bride’s head at the close of the ceremony. During the Middle Ages, custom required the bride and groom to kiss over small cakes.c The phrase “tying the knot” initially came from an ancient Babylonian custom in which threads from the clothes of both the bride and bridegroom were tied in a knot to symbolize the couple’s union. Literally tying some type of ceremonial knot at a wedding ceremony can be found across cultures.c In some African ceremonies, it was a sentiment of well wishing to greet the new bride with the words: “May you bear 12 children with him.”c A bride is traditionally carried over the threshold either to symbolize her reluctance to leave her father’s home or because evil spirits hovered over the threshold of a house—so she was lifted over the entrance to protect her from the spirits.c Pope Innocent III’s creation of an “engagement” period led to separate engagement and wedding rings Pope Innocent III (1160/1-1216) declared that a waiting period should be observed between betrothal and marriage, which led to separate engagement and wedding rings. The first recorded account of a diamond engagement ring was in 1477 when King Maximilian I of Germany (1459-1519) proposed to Mary of Burgundy (1457-1482) and offered her a diamond to seal his vow.c During Biblical times, shoes were seen as a badge of authority because they lifted a person off the ground, differentiating them from barefoot slaves and serfs. They were used to seal a bargain and fathers would give his son-in-law a pair on the wedding day as symbol of transferring authority.k In Great Britain, it was considered good luck for the bride to kiss a chimney sweep on her wedding day. He supposedly had special powers, and when he cleans the chimney, he also sweeps away evil spirits.k A morganatic marriage is a union of a person of royal blood with one of inferior rank. Such a marriage is called a “left-hand marriage” because at the wedding ceremony, the husband holds the bride’s hand with his right hand with his left hand. Though these marriages are recognized by the church, the father cannot confer on their children his rank or property.d In Afghanistan, a man who wanted to marry a woman would cut off a lock of her hair or throw a sheet over her and proclaim her his bride.f The Ozark people located in central America believed placing the dried tongue of a turtle dove in a loved one’s house would persuade him or her to marry.f Bedouin girls will often begin to sew their wedding dresses when they turn nine years old and so that they will finish their gown before they marry at the age of fourteen or fifteen.a All over the world, there is a long tradition of mock battles to keep the groom away from the bride on their wedding day. For example, in Thailand, a groom often will find the entrance of the bride’s house roped off until he offers money to get through. In some nomadic tribes in Central Asia, a groom and his party would pursue his bride on horseback—as she was riding away carrying a newly slaughtered lamb.f Puritans banned wedding rings because they thought they were “frivolous” jewelry or relics of Popery.i In many countries, a yellow wedding dress has traditionally been seen as a sign of a wife’s intention to cheat on her husband or of jealousy.i The act of the bride and groom sharing symbolic wedding cake goes back to ancient times Much like the modern tradition of feeding wedding cake to one’s spouse, in ancient Rome, couples pledged their unity by sharing food. Today a Japanese bride and groom drink sake together, Jewish couples drink from the same cup of consecrated wine, and Muslim couples eat from the same piece of candy.f Greek brides believed that tucking a lump of sugar into the wedding gown would bring sweetness throughout married life.i To ensure fertility, the Irish would take a hen that was about to lay an egg and tie it to the wedding bed.f Because ducks mate for life, a Korean groom will ask a happily married friend to make him two small wooden ducks for his new household.f Oriental wedding dresses often display embroidered cranes, which are symbols of life-long fidelity. At Japanese weddings, the presence of 1001 white paper origami cranes is considered good luck.f In Egypt, women will pinch the bride to bring good luck to those who pinched her.f In India, it is considered a form of protection and luck to be symbolically married to a tree.f In present-day Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan, a girl who loses her virginity before marriage may be punished or murdered along with her lover by the males of her own family.f Some tribes in central Asia held that a bride’s hymen should be broken not by her husband, but by her maternal grandfather. If he was not willing or alive, a cousin from her mother’s side was responsible to perform the task.d Eskimos would bring their brides to a priest for divine unflowering.d In Europe during the Middle Ages, the lord of the manor had a legal right to spend the first night with any non-noble bride on his land (“le droit du seigneur” or “right of the lord”).d The average number of wedding guests is 175 An average wedding in the United States has 175 guests.k After a Jewish wedding, the groom stomps on a glass which is wrapped in a cloth while people clap and shout congratulations (“Mazel tov!”). The broken glass symbolizes the frailty of human happiness or perhaps the destruction of the Israelite temple in A.D. 70. Some Jewish husbands argue that it means they will have the authority in the house or that shattered glass symbolizes the easing of sexual penetration on the first night of marriage.d In Jewish weddings, if the bride is the last marriageable daughter in her family, her mother is crowned with a wreath of leaves (a krenzel) and family and friends dance around her.f In Siberia, it is believed that it is a sin to remain single and that the soul of a bachelor becomes a dzheretinnik (heretic) that remains on the earth to scare the living.d In Ethiopia, women from certain tribes place plates in their lower lip in order to entice a rich groom. The larger the protruding lip, the more a groom will pay.f In many societies, families save money to cover wedding expenses the same way Americans save money to cover a child’s college education. Many parents start saving money as soon as a daughter is born.e In many Muslim countries and parts of Greece, the groom is expected to show the virginal blood on the sheets the morning after the wedding. The couple’s family is waiting outside to ensure the bride was a virgin and the husband was virile.a Some scholars claim the word “honeymoon” comes from the Teutonic custom when newlyweds would hide out and drink hydromel (a fermented honey and water mixture) for 30 days until the moon waned. Green is typically not worn at Scottish weddings because it is the color of fairies and an omen of revenge. It is considered unlucky to even eat green vegetables at a wedding.i The busiest wedding days in the United States, in order of popularity, are Saturday afternoon, Saturday morning, Friday evening, and Sunday afternoon. A late afternoon or early evening wedding is generally more expensive than an earlier wedding.h In the U.S., Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company offers wedding insurance, which can cover any retaking of photographs, wedding attire or wedding gift replacements, and public liability.h More than 40% of couples now plan their weddings together, and three out of four grooms help select items for their wedding gift registries.h Seventy-five percent of engaged couples in the United States pay for some or all of their own wedding.h In Mediterranean countries, Jordan almonds are given to guests at a wedding to represent the bitter and the sweet sides of marriage.i The top 10 “First Dance” songs in the U.S. include “The Way You Look Tonight,” “Just the Way You Are,” “Come Away with Me,” Unforgettable,” “Wonderful Tonight,” “From This Moment On,” “This I Promise You,” “Thank You For Loving Me,” “Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” and “All I Ask of You.”h The tradition of arranged marriages led to the belief that a groom should not see the bride before a wedding The superstition that the bridegroom must not see his bride before the wedding stems from the days when marriages were arranged and the groom might never have seen the bride. There was the chance that if he saw her, he might bolt. Other sources say that to see the bride in her dress is peering into the future, which can bring bad luck.f In Tibet, polyandry, or a woman with more than one husband, is not uncommon. For example, a herdsman will share his wife with his brothers and half-brothers.d Queen Victoria’s wedding cake was three yards wide and weighed 300 pounds.k Queen Elizabeth II had 12 wedding cakes. The one she cut at her wedding was nine feet tall and weighed 500 pounds.k In America, T.V. soap opera weddings attract more viewers than a presidential address.h Wedding bells are an important symbol of a wedding. Traditionally, it was believed that demons were scared off by loud sounds, so following a wedding ceremony, anything that could make noise was used to create a diversion.i In several countries, including Germany and Greece, the bride attempts to cover her new husband’s foot while dancing in order to establish dominance.i A double wedding is traditionally considered bad luck because it’s too much happiness for evil demons to overlook.f In Bali, a bride holds a cloth in front of the groom, who strikes it through with a dagger, in a display of obvious symbolism.a A wedding between two American slaves could not include the words “until death do us part” because plantation masters had the power to part husband and wives. Because slaves were not allowed to have a Christian ceremony, they invented their own ceremonies that often included the bride and groom jumping over a broom, the broom being the symbol of home in certain parts of Africa.h During a Javanese wedding celebration, the couple takes three rolled-up betel leaves each and throws them at one another for good luck.f The bachelor or stag party supposedly started in fifth-century Sparta where military compatriots would feast and toast one another on the eve of a wedding, like warriors going to battle.e “Matrimony” is from the Latin matrimonium, from matrem (“mother”) + monium (“action, state, condition”).g Before the 1500s, couples in Europe were free to marry themselves. It wasn’t until 1564 when the Council of Trent declared marriage was a sacrament that weddings became the province of priests and churches.f Over 74% of first-time brides receive a diamond engagement ring, with the diamond (first discovered in India over 2,000 years ago) symbolizing pure and eternal love. The Greeks thought diamonds (adamas) were tears of the gods, and the Romans thought diamas or diamonds were splinters from heavenly stars.h In the United States, nearly $72 billion is spent annually on weddings In the United States, June is the most popular month for weddings, followed by August.h Nearly $72 billion is spent on weddings every year in the United States.h Before the church declared marriage a sacrament, couples often sought sacred places in nature to wed, such as a hilltop or cliff, where the earth supposedly meets heaven.h In England, before literacy rates were high, invitations to weddings were shouted out by “bidders,” who were old men hired to announced the details of the wedding.f “Three times a bridesmaid, never a bride” dates to about the sixteenth century. It was believed that if young maiden who had been a bridesmaid three times was unable to catch the eye of unmarried males, then she never would. But, if she served seven times as a bridesmaid, the spell was broken and the woman was thought to be a sure bet for marriage.f Because eyebrows are considered intensely alluring in the Orient, historically the bride’s eyebrows were shaved entirely, rendering her powerless to attract a man.a The Old English word for the wedding cereomony was bridelope, which literally met “bridal run.” The word “wed” derives from the Proto-IndoEuropean base wadh, meaning to pledge or redeem.j -- Posted December 23, 2009 References a Baldizzone, Tiziana and Gianna Baldizzone. 2001. Wedding Ceremonies: Ethnic Symbols, Costume, and Rituals. France: Flammarion. b Bermann, Jillian. “70% Say Brides Should Take Husband’s Name.” USATODAY.com. August 11, 2009. Accessed: November 29, 2009. c Bride’s Book of Etiquette. 2002. New York, NY: Perigee Books. d de Lys, Claudia. 1929. How the World Weds. New York, NY: The Martin Press. e Geller, Jaclyn. 2001. Here Comes the Bride: Women, Weddings, and the Marriage Mystique. New York, NY: Four Walls Eight Windows. f Lee, Vera. 1994. Something Old, Something New: What You Didn’t Know about Wedding Ceremonies, Celebrations, and Customs. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, Inc. g “Matrimony.” Online Etymological Dictionary. Accessed: November 30, 2009. h Post, Peggy. 2006. Emily Post’s Wedding Etiquette. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers Inc. i Stewart, Arlene Hamilton. 1995. A Bride’s Book of Wedding Traditions. New York, NY: William Morrow and Co. j “Wed.” Online Etymological Dictionary. Accessed: December 23, 2009. k Weiss, Mindy and Lisbeth Levine. 2008.The Wedding Book: The Big Book for Your Big Day. New York, NY: Workman Publishing.

  The Magic of Making Up --- Ex Back System --- Relationships --- Dating

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36 Random Facts About . . .Women

The Magic of Making Up --- Ex Back System --- Relationships --- Dating

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Source http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/04/30_women.html kindly permits to republish their original and copyrighted article in this site.

The word “woman” is believed to have derived from the Middle English term wyfman, broken down simply as the wife (wyf) of man. In Old English, women were described simply as wyf, while the term man was used to describe a human person, regardless of gender.c The English word “girl” was initially used to describe a young person of either sex. It was not until the beginning of the sixteenth century that the term was used specifically to describe a female child.c The biological sign for the female sex, a circle placed on top of a small cross, is also the symbol for the planet Venus. The symbol is believed to be a stylized representation of the Roman goddess Venus’ hand mirror.d While many stars and moons are christened with female names, Venus is the only planet in our solar system given the name of a female goddess.d Human women have proportionately larger breasts than any other female mammal The breasts of human women are much larger in proportion than those of other female mammals. The prominent size, while not necessary for milk production, is most likely a result of sexual selection.a The English language originally delineated between women in different stages of life with the terms “maiden,” “mother,” and “crone.” A maiden referred to a young girl who was unmarried, a mother referred to a woman in her child-bearing years, and a crone described a post-menopausal woman.c The average height of a woman in the U.S. is approximately 5 feet 4 inches, and the average weight is about 163 pounds. These figures vary greatly throughout the world, due to differences in nutrition and prenatal care.a In almost every country worldwide, the life expectancy for women is higher than for men.g While the population of males is slightly greater than females worldwide (98.6 women for every 100 men), there are roughly four million more women than men in the U.S. In the age 85-and-older category, there are more than twice as many women as men currently living in the U.S.h The most common cause of death for American women is heart disease, which causes just over 27% of all mortalities in females. Cancer ranks just below, causing 22% of female deaths.a Worldwide, women are nearly twice as likely to be blind or visually impaired as men. Experts attribute this difference to the greater longevity of women (leading to more age-related visual impairment) and specific eye diseases that are intrinsically more common in women such as dry eye syndrome and Fuch’s Dystrophy.a Depression is the most common cause of disability in women, and approximately 25% of all women will experience severe depression at some point in their lives.a Over 90% of all cases of eating disorders occur in women, and nearly seven million women in the U.S. currently suffer from anorexia nervosa or bulimia.a Approximately one in five women worldwide reports being sexually abused before the age of 15.a About 14 million adolescent girls become pregnant each year, with over 90% of those girls living in developing countries.a About 1,600 women die each day as result of pregnancy or childbirth complications Each day 1,600 women die as result of pregnancy or childbirth complications. Nearly 99% of these deaths occur in developing nations.a Approximately 95% of all women in the U.S. have been married at least once by the age of 55.h Of the 154.7 million women currently living in the U.S., nearly 83 million are mothers.h The probability of a woman giving birth to a baby girl instead of a baby boy increases significantly the nearer the mother lives to the equator. While the cause of this gender selection is unknown, scientists believe the constant sunlight hours and abundant food supply in tropical regions may favor female births.e Approximately 5.6 million women in the U.S. reported themselves as stay-at-home moms in a 2007 census report.h The first Mother’s Day was held on May 10, 1908, and was organized by Anna Jarvis in West Virginia and Philadelphia. As the event gained popularity throughout the country, Congress designated the second Sunday in May as a national day of recognition for mothers in 1914.b International Women’s Day is held each year on March 8. The annual event was first observed worldwide in 1909.h In the U.S., Congress established a national week of recognition for women’s history in 1981. This recognition, held during the second week of March, was later expanded into a full month by a congressional resolution in 1987. The month of March is now designated as National Women’s History Month.h The first country to grant women the right to vote in the modern era was New Zealand in 1893 According to a 2007 Census Bureau report, one-third of American women aged 25 to 29 have earned a bachelor’s or advanced college degree.h More American women work in the education, health services, and social assistance industries than in any other industry. These three industries employ nearly one-third of all female workers.h Women in the U.S. labor force currently earn just over 77 cents for every one dollar men earn.h Approximately 14% of active members in the U.S. armed forces today are women. In 1950, women comprised less than 2% of the U.S. military.h The first woman to run for U.S. president was Victoria Woodhull, who campaigned for the office in 1872 under the National Woman’s Suffrage Association. While women would not be granted the right to vote by a constitutional amendment for nearly 50 years, there were no laws prohibiting a woman from running for the chief executive position.b The first female governor of a U.S. state was Wyoming governor Nellie Tayloe Ross, elected in 1924. Wyoming was also the first state to give women the right to vote, enacting women’s suffrage in 1869.b The first country to grant women the right to vote in the modern era was New Zealand in 1893.f The first woman to rule a country as an elected leader in the modern era was Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, who was elected as prime minister of the island nation in 1960 and later re-elected in 1970.f Women currently hold 17% of Congressional and Senate seats and 18% of gubernatorial positions in the U.S.h According to an ancient Sumerian legend, the universe was created by a female, the goddess Tiamat. This role of a female creator is not unique, as the Australian Aboriginal creation myth also credits the creation of life to a woman.d The earliest recorded female physician was Merit Ptah, a doctor in ancient Egypt who lived around 2700 B.C. Many historians believe she is the first woman recorded by name in the history of all of the sciences.d A person’s gender is biologically determined by the sex chromosomes, one set of a human’s 23 pairs of chromosomes. Women have two X chromosomes, while men have one X and one Y chromosome.a The world’s first novel, The Tale of Genji, was published in Japan around A.D. 1000 by female author Murasaki Shikibu.d -- Posted April 30, 2009 References a Carlson, Karen J., Terra Ziporyn, and Stephanie Eisenstat. 2004. The New Harvard Guide to Women’s Health. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. b DuBois, Ellen Carol and Lynn Dumenil. 2005. Through Women’s Eyes: An American History with Documents. Cranbury, NJ: Bedford/St. Martins. c Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 20 vols. 1989. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. d Pomeroy, Sarah B. 1991. Women’s History and Ancient History. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. e Reilly, Michael. April 1, 2009. “More Girls Born in the Tropics.” Accessed April 13, 2009. f Seager, Joni. 2003. The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World: Revised and Updated. New York, NY: Penguin Books. g United Nations Statistics Division. 2006. “Statistics and Indicators on Women and Men.” Accessed April 14, 2009. h U.S. Census Bureau. 2009. “Women’s History Month: March 2009.” Accessed April 11, 2009.

32 Random Facts About . . .Men

The Magic of Making Up --- Ex Back System --- Relationships --- Dating

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Source http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/06/11_men.html kindly permits to republish their original and copyrighted article in this site.

In Old English, human men were referred to as wer, while the term man was used to describe humanity as a whole. During the thirteenth century, man gradually replaced wer as the term for an adult human male while also maintaining its use as an expression for the entire human species.c Worldwide, there are approximately 107 baby boys born for every 100 baby girls. Scientists believe the elevated birth rate in favor of boys may be linked to the higher mortality rates of boys in infancy and childhood.a Globally, boy babies are 25% more likely to die in infancy than girl babies.a Average height today for men in the U.S. is just over 5' 9" (175 cm) and average weight is approximately 190 pounds (86 kg). In 1960, average height for men was about 5' 8" (172 cm) and average weight was just over 166 pounds (75 kg).e Worldwide, men have a life expectancy of 64.52 years, as compared to a life expectancy of 68.76 years for women.e The most common cause of death for men in the U.S. is heart disease (the same as for women), and the average age of a first heart attack for men is just 66 years.e In the U.S., men have higher death rates for all of the 15 leading causes of death (with the exception of Alzheimer’s disease) and die more than five years younger than women.e The brains of adult men are about 10% larger in total size than the brains of women The brains of adult men are about 10% larger in total size than the brains of women. Because men generally have a larger stature and more muscle mass than women, their brains require more neurons to control the body.a Scientists have discovered than men's and women’s brains actually function somewhat differently. When focused on a task, men tend to use only one side of their brain at a time, devoting all of their attention and concentration to the task at hand. Women, on the other hand, tend to use both sides of the brain at the same time, making them more adept at "multi-tasking.”a The word “boy” has been in recorded use since A.D. 1154 as a descriptive term for a male child. The exact etymology of the word is unclear, but it is believed to have descended from the Anglo-Saxon word boia, meaning “servant” or “farm worker.”c Boys typically experience puberty between the ages of 12 and 14, a time in which the voice changes to its lower timbre, growth spurts occur, and the secondary sex characteristics begin to develop. Puberty for boys generally occurs later than in girls of the same age group.e While both boys’ and girls’ voices will change during puberty, the change in a boy’s voice is dramatic, sometimes dropping a whole octave in tone. Males in other species develop a deeper voice to attract females and intimidate other males, and scientists believe the change in the male human voice evolved for the same reasons.a The “Adam’s apple,” or laryngeal prominence in the neck, is a feature primarily unique to adult men and is a result of the growth of the larynx during puberty. The term is derived from the Biblical account of Adam eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.c In most cultures throughout the world, boys historically experienced a rite of passage that marked their transition into the lives of adult men. Examples of traditional rites of passage include the Bar Mitzvah in Judaism, the “vision quest” in many American Indian tribes, and circumcision rites in many African cultures.f Worldwide, approximately one-third of men have been circumcised Approximately 56% of boy babies born in the U.S. are circumcised at birth, representing a decline of 20% since 1950. Worldwide, approximately one-third of men have been circumcised.e In terms of absolute size and in proportion to overall body mass, the human penis is longer and thicker than that of any other primate.e For approximately the first six weeks after conception, all human embryos develop as a default female child, primarily taking genetic information from the mother’s DNA. After the sixth week of development, if the embryo is male, the SRY gene on the Y chromosome will begin to produce androgens, primarily testosterone, that encourage the development of male characteristics and inhibit the further development of female characteristics.a The biological symbol for the male sex, a circle with a small arrow protruding from it, is also the symbol for the planet Mars. The two components of the symbol are designed to represent the shield and spear of Mars, the Roman god of war.a Boys are three to four times more likely to be diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders than girls. While experts do not yet have a solid answer for the obvious gender discrepancy, some believe that girls with mild autism may be better able to mask their symptoms and thus go undiagnosed.b Teenage boys are four times more likely than girls to drop out of school and represent more than 75% of the children referred to special education in the U.S.b Boys are approximately three times more likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than girls are.b While men currently represent an even 50% of the U.S. workforce, they account for 94% of all on-the-job fatalities.d Prior to the 1900s, male nurses vastly outnumbered female nurses in almost every country Prior to the 1900s, male nurses were far more common than female nurses in nearly every country in the world. In current times, men now make up only 5.4% of registered nurses in the U.S. and only 13% of new nursing students in the now-female-dominated field.d Men are nearly three times more likely than women to abuse alcohol and twice as likely to abuse recreational drugs like marijuana and cocaine.a Higher levels of testosterone in boys and men generally cause greater levels of aggression, competition, self-assertion, and self-reliance than in women. In addition, the amygdala (the part of the brain involved in producing emotion) is typically larger in males, resulting in more aggressive, uncontrollable emotions.a According to the U.S. Department of Justice, men are four times more likely than women to be murdered and 10 times more likely to commit murder. Both female and male offenders are more likely to target male victims.h In nearly every country in the world, men are more than twice as likely to commit suicide than women. In some countries (such as Russia and Brazil), suicide rates among men are up to six times higher than those for women.e The average adult male has about 50% more muscle mass and 50% less body fat than the average adult female.a Of the more than 151 million men currently living in the U.S., approximately 64.3 million are fathers.g The word “dad” entered the English language in the sixteenth century and is believed to have originated from the Welsh word tad, meaning father. The word “father” comes from the Old English term faeder and was first used in the 1500s.c According to a 2008 estimate, there are approximately 140,000 stay-at-home fathers in the U.S. who are the primary caretakers for their children while their wives work outside the home.g The first Father’s Day celebration in the U.S. was held on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Washington, and was conceived of by Sondra Dodd. After listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909, Dodd wished to have a day of recognition for her father as well. Father’s Day became a nationally celebrated holiday in 1972 when the third Sunday in June was designated by public law as a day of recognition for fathers.g -- Posted June 11, 2009 References a Barash, David P. and Judith Eve Lipton. 2001. Gender Gap: The Biology of Male-Female Differences. Transaction Publishers. b Kipnis, Aaron. 1999. Angry Young Men: How Parents, Teachers, and Counselors Can Help Bad Boys Become Good Men. Jossey-Bass. c Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. s.v. “man.” d Reskin, Barbara F. and Irene Padavic. 2002. Women and Men at Work. Sage Publications. e Simon, Harvey B. 2004. The Harvard Medical School Guide to Men's Health: Lessons from the Harvard Men's Health Studies. Free Press. f Stephenson, Bret. 2006. From Boys to Men: Spiritual Rites of Passage in an Indulgent Age. Inner Traditions International, Limited. g U.S. Census Bureau. 2009. “Father’s Day: June 21, 2009.” Accessed: April 13, 2009. h U.S Department of Justice. 2005. “Homicide Trends in the U.S.” Accessed: May 21, 2009.

43 Fun Facts About . . .Kissing

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