MOTnews 21 (03/08/2001)

DID YOU KNOW...? Not too fast! Everyone knows that there are radar controls on our roads. We all know that we are not allowed to exceed the maximum speed limit, but sometimes we think that the 120-km/h speed limit is still too slow. Fortunately, the 20th century is behind us, because in the police regulations of 1907, the maximum speed in the open field was 30km/h, a lot less than the 120km/h we are used to. And in built-up areas, then still called 'the passage through the houses' the maximum speed of cars was still measured at the speed of horses. You were not allowed to drive faster than 10km/h - the speed of a trotting horse.

TRUE or FALSE

In the past children were usually brought up more strictly than they are today, but nevertheless children in the Middle Ages did not have to finish their plate of chicory.

You will find the answer in the next MOT NEWS

ANSWER to TRUE or FALSE in MOT NEWS 20 (16 July 2001)

Perhaps you drink your tea with a lump of sugar or a little milk, but can you also drink it with a lump of butter?

TRUE

In Mongolia tea with a lump of rancid butter is considered a delicious drink.

SAY WHAT? In this MOT-NEWS item we try to explain proverbs and sayings that have their roots in our technical history. Similar proverbs are found in different languages, but each language has it's own typical sayings. Therefore we do not translate this item in English.

KIDS NEWS something to tell your children this evening Is a sandwich served on a sandwich? Our daily sandwiches are served on a plate. A flemish dialect word for plate is "teljoor", it comes from the french "tailloir" which means "a plate to carve meat on". In the Middle Ages meat was carved on a slice of brown bread, that sucked up all the juices coming from the meat. Wooden, tin and porcelain plates only came in to use later in time.

Although in the present the dialect word "teljoor" means plate, in the past it used to be a sandwich.