Submitted by secondbestman11 t3_z2htzj in Jokes
Temponautics t1_ixiowws wrote
No joke: When ancient Olympians entered the competition (of the Olympic games in, yes, Olympia, Greece) they had to swear they would not cheat, and to prove they mean it tradition had they would step onto a stone plate and crush with their feet the cut-off testicles of a bull while saying "May Zeus do this to me if I cheat." And -- no joke -- that is where the word test comes from. Testicles. True story.
7ate9 t1_ixmqjjq wrote
This would be hilarious if it were true. Sadly, it's not. Test came into English from Latin, not Greek. The Greek for testicle is a whole other root parastatai.
Actually, it's still funny, but the setup insisting on this being the real history if the word is unnecessary and may mislead someone who repeats it as fact and embarrasses themselves, so just set it up as "it would be funny if" or something.
Citing some sources:
amen-shiba t1_ixomaje wrote
No testicles are small quizzes in university
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