Well, Whadya Know

Why might we say that someone who acts crazy has gone 'berserk?'

In Old Norse, "berserk" meant "bear shirt" - a shirt made from bear skin, not a shirt typically worn by bears. It's what Norse warriors wore when they went into battle, earning them the name, "berserkers." These guys really went nuts when they took up the sword -- hence our modern meaning of berserk -- in no small measure because they first got stoned out of their minds by munching on hallucinogenic mushrooms.

[source: Who Put The Butter In Butterfly? By David Feldman]

During the McCarthy period in the US in the 1950s, anti- communist feeling was so strong that it even reached into the world of sports. The Cincinnati Reds baseball team, in order to prevent any misunderstandings, temporarily changed its name to the Cincinnati Redlegs. After the hysteria died down they reverted to their original name.

[source: Just Curious Jeeves]

Why does the president of the United States work in an oval office?

When the White House was built, in the late 1790s, it contained several oval rooms, one of which, on the second floor, was used by early presidents as an office. But before there could be a TV program called "The West Wing," the executive mansion had to have same. Teddy Roosevelt added it in 1902, and the proponent of the "Square Deal' went to work in a similarly shaped office in the new wing. It was the next president, William Howard Taft, who turned it into an oval when he renovated, because people had come to associate oval rooms with the White House.

[source: Why Things Are & Why They Aren't by Joel Achenbach]