Wacky and Useless Facts
Coca-cola was originally green.
Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury
It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.
Smartest dogs: 1) Scottish border collie;
2) Poodle; 3) Golden retriever. Dumbest: Afghan hound.
Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters.
Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better.
Chances that an American lives within 50 miles of where he or she
grew up: 1 in 2
Amount American Airlines saved in 1987 by eliminating one olive
from each salad served first class: $40,000
City with the most Rolls Royces per capita: Hong Kong
State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work:
Alaska
Chances of a white Christmas in New York: 1 in 4
Portion of US annual rainfall that falls in April: 1/12
Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%
Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
Estimated percentage of American adults who go on a diet each
year: 44%
Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33
Average number of days a West German goes without washing his
underwear: 7
Percentage of Americans who say that God has spoken to them: 36%
Percentage of Americans who regularly attend religious services:
43%
City with the highest per capita viewership of television
evangelists: Washington DC
Percentage of American men who say they would marry the same woman
if they had it to do all over again: 80%
Percentage of American women who say they'd marry the same man:
50%
Percentage of American men who say they're happier after their
divorce or separation: 58%
Percentage of American women who say they are happier: 85%
Cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400
Average number of people airborne over the US any given hour:
61,000.
Percentage of Americans who have visited Disneyland/Disney World:
70%
Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
Portion of ice cream sold that is vanilla: 1/3
Portion of potatoes sold that are French fried: 1/3
Percentage of Americans that eat at McDonalds each day: 7%
Number of US states that claim test scores in their elementary
schools are above national average: 50%
Portion of Harvard students who graduate with honors: 4/5
Chances that a burglary in the US will be solved: 1 in 7.
Portion of land in the US owned by the government: 1/3
Only President to remain a bachelor: James Buchanan
Only first lady to carry a loaded revolver: Eleanor Roosevelt
Only President to win a Pulitzer: John F. Kennedy for Profiles in
Courage
Only food that does not spoil: honey (Ed. note -- also only food
that does not need to be digested; it's already been digested in the
body of the bee)
Only person to win $64,000 Challenge and $64,000 Question: Dr.
Joyce Brothers (subject is boxing)
Only bird that can fly backwards: Hummingbird
Only continent without reptiles or snakes: Antarctica
Only animal besides human that can get sunburn: pig
Ostriches stick their heads in the sand to look for water.
An eagle can kill a young deer and fly away with it.
In the Caribbean there are oysters that can climb trees.
Polar bears are left-handed.
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
Eskimos never gamble.
The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in
1910.
The youngest pope was 11 years old.
Mark Twain didn't graduate from elementary school.
Proportional to their weight, men are stronger than horses.
Pilgrims ate popcorn at the first Thanksgiving dinner.
Your nose and ears never stop growing.
Jupiter is bigger than all the other planets combined.
Hot water is heavier than cold.
The parachute was invented by Leonardo da Vinci in 1515.
They have square watermelons in Japan...they stack better.
Cream does not weigh as much as milk.
Starfish have eight eyes--one at the end of each leg.
Iceland consumes more Coca-cola per capita than any other nation.
First novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
There are more collect calls on Father's Day than any other day of
the year.
Heinz Ketchup leaving the bottle travels at 25 miles per year.
Men get hiccups more often than woman.
Armadillos can be housebroken.
Stewardesses and reverberated are the two longest words (12
letters each) that can be typed using only the left hand. The longest
word that can be typed using only the right hand is lollipop.
Skepticisms is the longest word that alternates hands.
A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
In the 1940s, the FCC assigned television's Channel 1 to mobile
services (two-way radios in taxicabs, for instance) but did not
re-number the other channel assignments. That is why your TV set has
channels 2 and up, but no channel 1.
A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle, a group of geese in
the air is a skein.
The underside of a horse's hoof is called a frog. The frog peels
off several times a year with new growth.
The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National
Monuments
The "save" icon on Microsoft Word shows a floppy disk, with the
shutter on backwards.
The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways.
The following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated,
dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of
Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which
are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a
letter is uncopyrightable.
Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct
order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic."
The shape of plant collenchyma cells and the shape of the bubbles
in beer foam are the same - they are orthotetrachidecahedrons.
The word 'pound' is abbreviated 'lb.' after the constellation
'libra' because it means 'pound' in Latin, and also 'scales'. The
abbreviation for the British Pound Sterling comes from the same
source: it is an 'L' for Libra/Lb.
with a stroke through it to indicate abbreviation. Sames goes for
the Italian lira which uses the same abbreviation ('lira' coming from
'libra'). So British currency (before it went metric) was always
quoted as "pounds/shillings/pence", abbreviated "L/s/d"
(libra/solidus/denarius).
Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the
Australian coat of arms for that reason.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have
about ten.
The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah
Mat," which means "the king is dead". Pinocchio is Italian for "pine
head."
Camel's milk does not curdle.
In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.
An animal epidemic is called an epizootic.
Murphy's Oil Soap is the chemical most commonly used to clean
elephants.
The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used.
Blueberry Jelly Bellies were created especially for Ronald Reagan.
All porcupines float in water.
Hang On Sloopy is the official rock song of Ohio.
Did you know that there are coffee flavored PEZ?
The world's largest wine cask is in Heidelberg, Germany.
Lorne Greene had one of his nipples bitten off by an alligator
while he was host of "Lorne Greene's Wild Kingdom."
Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.
If you bring a raccoon's head to the Henniker, New Hampshire town
hall, you are entitled to receive $0.10 from the town.
St. Stephen is the patron saint of bricklayers.
The first song played on Armed Forces Radio during operation
Desert Shield was "Rock the Casba" by the Clash.
The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of
yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled
on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight
staircases.
Non-dairy creamer is flammable.
The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the
name of the Don McLean song.)
Texas is also the only state that is allowed to fly its state flag
at the same height as the U.S. flag.
The only nation who's name begins with an "A", but doesn't end in
an "A" is Afghanastan.
The names of the three wise monkeys are: Mizaru: See no evil,
Mikazaru: Hear no evil, and Mazaru: Speak no evil.
When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not "playing." They
actually pass out from sheer terror.
The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every
year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account
the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from
history. Spades - King David, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Hearts -
Charlemagne, and Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs
in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg
in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle;
if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of
natural causes.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver,
and purple.
Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people
without killing them use to burn their houses down - hence the
expression "to get fired."
Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village".
There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July
4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on
August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the
South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50
caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being
loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a
target, it got "the whole 9 yards."
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
The word "samba" means "to rub navels together."
The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.
The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
Until 1965, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in
Sweden. The conversion to right-hand was done on a weekday at 5pm.
All traffic stopped as people switched sides. This time and day were
chosen to prevent accidents where drivers would have gotten up in the
morning and been too sleepy to realize that *this* was the day of the
changeover.
The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World
War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
Dr. Seuss pronounced "Seuss" so that it rhymed with "rejoice."
In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam."
Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson."
More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air
crashes.
The term, "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" is
from Ancient Rome. The only rule during wrestling matches was, "No
eye gouging." Everything else was allowed, but the only way to be
disqualified was to poke someone's eye out.
It actually is all fun and games until someone loses an
eye....than its just fun.
A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes
them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton.
Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from and old English law
which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider
than your thumb.
An ostrich's eye is bigger that it's brain.
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.
Let's face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in
eggplant or ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins were not invented in England or french fries in
France. Sweetmeats are candies, while sweetbreads, which aren't
sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we
find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a
guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that
writers write, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce, and
hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the
plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So, one moose, 2 meese?
One index, two indices? Is cheese the plural of choose?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian
eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
In what language do people recite at a play, and play at a
recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run
and feet that smell? Park on driveways and drive on parkways?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise
man and a wise guy are opposites? How can the weather be hot as h*ll
one day and cold as h*ll another?
When a house burns up, it burns down. You fill in a form by
filling it out and an alarm clock goes off by going on.
When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are
out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start
it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it?
Now I know why I flunked my English. It's not my fault -- the
silly language doesn't quite know whether it's coming or going.
The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every
five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as
airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
The Boston University Bridge (on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston,
Massachusetts) is the only place in the world where a boat can sail
under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane.
The United States government keeps its supply of silver at the
U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY.
There are only thirteen blimps in the world. Nine of the thirteen
blimps are in the United States.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and
ears never stop growing.
David Prowse was the guy in the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars. He
spoke all of Vader's lines, and didn't know that he was going to be
dubbed over by James Earl Jones until he saw the screening of the
movie.
Most Americans' car horns beep in the key of "F."
"Mr. Mojo Risin" is an anagram for Jim Morrison.
The word "modem" is a contraction of the words "modulate,
demodulate." (MOdulateDEModulate)
Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time.
The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the
"General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.
Since 1896, the beginning of the modern Olympics, only Greece and
Australia have participated in every Games.
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a
full moon.
It takes a lobster approximately seven years to grow to be one
pound.
Montpelier, Vermont is the only U.S. state capital without a
McDonalds.
Giraffes have no vocal cords.
The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms
as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of
Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet
facilities for blacks and whites.
The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for
each gallon of diesel that it burns.
Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every
Dewey-decimal category.
Roger Ebert is the only film critic to have ever won the Pulitzer
prize.
Columbia University is the second largest landowner in New York
City, after the Catholic Church.
An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.
Back in the mid to late 80s, an IBM compatible computer wasn't
considered a hundred percent compatible unless it could run
Microsoft's Flight Simulator.
The first Ford cars had Dodge engines.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
It takes about a half a gallon of water to cook macaroni, and
about a gallon to clean the pot.
In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the
child reaches 2-6 years of age.
The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point
in Colorado.
Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intraveinously.
If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have
$1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without
being able to make change for a dollar.
Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the
Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever
won a Superbowl.
The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To
Beaver".
In the great fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down
but only 6 people were injured.
Lincoln Logs were invented by Frank Lloyd Wright's son.
One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton
growers in the 30s lobbied against hemp farmers -- they saw it as
competition.
The only two days of the year in which there are no professional
sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day
after the Major League All-Star Game.
Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."
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