THINGS THAT SURPRISE ME

• Cowards are called "yellow" in English. Why? Because some chickens are yellow? Or Asians (OK, not all Asians are yellow-skinned)?
• Inherently funny words: the English animal names "duck", "frog", and "weasel" make speakers and listeners laugh...
• Some idioms: "brass monkey", "dead as a doornail", "the straw that broke the camel's back".
• Bach: not the flower therapy, but the late cantor of Leipzig. This baroque composer has some extraordinarily dense and evolving cantatas. And I do like such music. Especially when in a good mood.
• Coke: the recipe is secret. So what's in the can? Does Coke dissolve teeth, kill sperm, act as a love potion, or have any other unusual properties?
• Red Bull: the same as for Coke. Besides, at the age of 16, I noticed protrusions on my shoulder blades having drunk this product. Nothing more. But does it qualify as "growing wings"?
• My own state of mind: I am currently researching about the amygdala, the real seat of human emotions (though saying "with all one's amygdala" or "from the bottom of one's amygdala" sounds disastrous). It's an ovoid structure of white matter, the size of an almond or of a quail's egg, located in the human midbrain. And in my case, it doesn't have a secure cortical connection, leading to phobias, philias, manias and other quirks that sometimes prove a thorn in the flesh.
• Sacred texts: why are old-fashioned sacred books displaying male chauvinism, nationalism, and fatalism (the Bible and the Torah, to quote only a few), still so popular nowadays?