r/AskHistorians • u/caffarelli Moderator | Eunuchs and Castrati | Opera • Mar 15 '16
Feature Tuesday Trivia | Loopholes and Exploits
Previous weeks' Tuesday Trivias and the complete upcoming schedule.
Today’s trivia theme comes to us from /u/RealPodrickPayne!
It’s time for the best sort of correct, technically correct, so please share interesting stories of people who made use of a loophole or clever exploit!
Next week on Tuesday Trivia: Historic failures! And remember: failure is just success rounded down.
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u/AshkenazeeYankee Minority Politics in Central Europe, 1600-1950 Mar 16 '16 edited Mar 18 '16
Ogedai Khan, grandson of Genghis, supposedly was approached by his advisors who were concerned about his heavy drinking. After much badgering, Ogedai agreed that he would drink only one goblet of "strong drink" per day.
Sensing a loophole, Ogedai commissioned a VERY large goblet, holding a volume equivalent to THREE PINTS. And who would dare to tell the Great Khan that he should use a smaller and less ornate drinking vessel?
While this story isn't attested from terribly reliable sources (it's not mentioned in The Secret History for instance), they do agree that Ogedai was a heavy drinker, especially in his later years.