Useless But True Facts

by myob
18 replies
  • OFF TOPIC
  • |
The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament Building is an American flag.
Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.
"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
Almonds are members of the peach family.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
There are only four words in the English language which end in"-dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
The longest place-name still in use is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapiki maungahoronukupokaiw en uakita natahu, a New Zealand hill.
Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, "L.A."
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.
Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "Its A Wonderful Life"
A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
On an American one-dollar bill, there is an owl in the upper left-hand corner of the "1" encased in the "shield" and a spider hidden in the front upper right-hand corner.
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
The male gypsy moth can "smell" the virgin female gypsy moth from 1.8 miles away.
In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
'Stewardesses' is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.
The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet.
Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.
On average people fear spiders more than they do death.
The strongest muscle in the body is the TONGUE.
Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
In ancient Egypt, Priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies including their eyebrows and eyelashes.
A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own weight and always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
Polar bears are left handed.
The flea can jump 350 times its body length, that is like a human jumping the length of a football field.
A cockroach will live nine days without it's head, before it starves to death.
The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the males head off.
Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
Butterflies taste with their feet.
A cat's urine glows under a blacklight.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain.
Starfish do not have any brains. (And some PEOPLE don't either)
  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    Thanks for the list, some I've heard before, others are new.
    Some I don't believe are true for a second.
    Signature

    Read A Post.
    Subscribe to a Newsletter
    KimWinfrey.Com

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[31270].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author myob
      All are verifiable, well, except for maybe a couple of them

      If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
      If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[31279].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author cremaster
        Canada hasn't used a 2 dollar bill in several years. May need to update the list.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[31561].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author John Rowe
          [DELETED]
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[31640].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author John Rowe
            [DELETED]
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[31642].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author bendiggs
              Add to the list of words that don't rhyme with any other English word: engine. Other interesting but useless facts:

              Office desks on average have 400 times more bacteria than a home toilet.
              Speaking of toilets, the average person uses 57 sheets of single ply toilet paper daily.
              Speaking of toilet paper, the average AMerican will use 580 pounds of toilet paper a year.
              When Crayola was introduced to the world, there were only 8 colors, and the box sold for $0.05 USD.
              In French Crayola means "oily chalk"
              In 1989, 23 people were hired to flush toilets in Jacksonville, Florida to prevent the pipes from freezing.
              In Idaho, if you are released from state prison, you are entitled to 1 gold dollar, a saddle, and a six-shooter. This law is still on the books.

              There's so much fun useless trivia, it makes me want to play Trivial Pursuit.
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[31750].message }}
              • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
                Great list, Paul. But just to dispel a couple of myths....

                The Oxford English Dictionary lists the word "Chilver" (Rhymes with Silver). It is a ewe lamb.
                The Speaker does speak. Who else do you think calls out "Order! Order!" during Prime Minister's Questions?

                Frank

                PS Did you realise that the word "Gullible" isn't listed in the latest Webster's Dictionary?
                Signature


                {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[33650].message }}
                • Profile picture of the author myob
                  Originally Posted by Frank Donovan View Post

                  PS Did you realise that the word "Gullible" isn't listed in the latest Webster's Dictionary?
                  I fell for that one - ha ha! Try gul·la·ble.
                  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[33670].message }}
                  • Profile picture of the author Jose Delgado
                    On an American one-dollar bill, there is an owl in the upper left-hand corner of the "1" encased in the "shield" and a spider hidden in the front upper right-hand corner.
                    I stared at a dollar bill for 5 minutes and didn't see anything.

                    A cockroach will live nine days without it's head, before it starves to death.
                    This one made me laugh.
                    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[33735].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Ken Strong
          Originally Posted by cremaster View Post

          Canada hasn't used a 2 dollar bill in several years. May need to update the list.
          I was surprised on a recent visit to find out that they haven't had 1 dollar bills for some time. Shows you how much I know.

          The bummer is that U.S. banks won't deal at all with Canadian coins -- the smallest amount they'll take is the $5 bill. So I'm stuck with $10 worth of Canadian coins until my next visit.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[31650].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author Chris Lockwood
            Originally Posted by KenStrong View Post

            The bummer is that U.S. banks won't deal at all with Canadian coins -- the smallest amount they'll take is the $5 bill. So I'm stuck with $10 worth of Canadian coins until my next visit.
            Lots of people in the US just pass off the Canadian coins as legal tender, easy to do since they are the same size and color. Some US vending machines still accept them.

            Interesting question: why did Canada copy the US currency system like that, yet put the British monarch on the money?
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[93696].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Thomas
    Originally Posted by myob View Post

    No word in the English language rhymes with month
    I can think of a word that rhymes with month.

    It starts with a "c" and has 4 letters.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[33829].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author espacecadet
      Banned
      [DELETED]
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[34091].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Jason Mathews
        How do we know they are true?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[34095].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Michael Ellis
          Beer actually makes you smarter - it made Bud wiser.

          Sorry
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[34149].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author HeySal
            Yeah, but Bud was never a lagger to start with.
            Signature

            Sal
            When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
            Beyond the Path

            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[34629].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author GeorgettaSterling
              Ummm - be careful with the word "true."

              That Canadian $2 bill thing was a very dodgy "truth" when I saw it, so I dug out the $2 bills I still have (collected) - and none of the $2 bills I have are flying anything other than Canadian flags on the Parliament building (unless the US has decided to adopt the Maple Leaf as IT's symbol - LOL!).

              They haven't made $2 bills here for at least a decade now...and the last ones (I think) are the colorful ones with the two robins on the back. Canadian flag on Parliament in that one too...

              One of the older (1987) $5 bills I have has the Red Ensign flying over it, rather than the Maple Leaf. That isn't the official flag of Canada, but it was the flag that was USED as the Canadian flag until the Maple Leaf was officially adopted. Some older folks around here (I live in the sticks) will fly the Red Ensign on Canada Day, rather than the Maple Leaf - - mainly to annoy the local Italian community. The Red Ensign has a Union Jack on it, which of course evokes Britain, which of course makes Italian soccer fans angry.

              Now, as far as the implication that Canada is America's abused lapdog, then yes, symbolically there is a US flag over Parliament. Darn imperialist Americans...

              Best Regards, Georgetta
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[37811].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author Barry Walls
              "The 10 past 10 time displayed on a watch is a masonic symboll used by wealthy merchant class Jewelers...its the square on the square and compass. Hiram Abiff, the widows son and builder of King Solomans temple in masonic mythology was Jewish. Jewelry was originally condisered, or coined as, a Jewish ornament."

              I have absolutely no proof of any of this...but I have thought this for quite a while.

              Any old shite will do...this is OT.
              Signature

              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[37817].message }}
              • Profile picture of the author HeySal
                Originally Posted by bigjock View Post

                "The 10 past 10 time displayed on a watch is a masonic symboll used by wealthy merchant class Jewelers...its the square on the square and compass. Hiram Abiff, the widows son and builder of King Solomans temple in masonic mythology was Jewish. Jewelry was originally condisered, or coined as, a Jewish ornament."

                I have absolutely no proof of any of this...but I have thought this for quite a while.

                Any old shite will do...this is OT.
                Jewelry has been around for some time before Jews. The first beads known are around 135,000 years old and were discovered in a cave in S. Africa - they are the first known "bling". Other forms of more advanced jewelry, using gold and copper date back 10,000 years. Gold was being mined in 6,000 BC - 8,000 years ago and more recently mines that predated Sumerian culture have been found in the mountains there (can't remember the name of the range right now, but Near Syria and Sumatra. Trade is figured to have existed at that time - and jewelry was part of the trade. I have yet to hear of anyone Jewish living in those eras.
                Signature

                Sal
                When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
                Beyond the Path

                {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[93976].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author HeySal
      Originally Posted by Thomas View Post

      I can think of a word that rhymes with month.

      It starts with a "c" and has 4 letters.

      You must talk even stranger than I had imagined.
      Signature

      Sal
      When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
      Beyond the Path

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[34620].message }}

Trending Topics