Screw classiness. America still loves tinsel (mainly because it's cheap). The Wall Street Journal conducts a hard-hitting investigation into its history. Here are some things you didn't know about tinsel, that the WSJ thinks you should.

  • Tinsel dates from either the 16th or 19th centuries and was originally made of silver, then lead.
  • Cats like tinsel. And then they eat it and sometimes die.
  • The word tinsel comes from the French 'estincele' which means sparkle

Not included in the Journal's roundup — it's really slow for news around the holidays.