Post by KISMET on May 11, 2006 22:45:23 GMT -5
So i think there should be a random facts thread because I love it!!For instance, did you know that
the first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
-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.
-The Hawaiian alphabet has only 12 letters.
-Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better.
-Amount that American Airlines saved in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served First-Class: $40,000.
-City with the most Rolls Royce's per capita: Hong Kong
-Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%
-Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
-If Barbie were life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33, and she wouldðstand seven feet, two inches tall. Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
-Average number of days a West German goes without washing his underwear: 7
-Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
-Only President to win a Pulitzer: John F. Kennedy for "Profiles in Courage"
-Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
-The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
-The youngest pope was 11 years old.
-Iceland consumes more Coca-Cola per capita than any other nation.
-First novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
-A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
--The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable".
-Hang On Snoopy is the official rock song of Ohio. (Note: Real title is "Sloopy")
-Did you know that there are coffee-flavored PEZ?
-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.
-The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (hence the name of the Don McLean song.)
-When possums 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.
-The King of Hearts is the only king without a mustache.
-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.
-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 W.W.II 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."
-Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
-The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an 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.
-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.
-In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.
-The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.
-The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
-The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
-Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
-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.
-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".
-The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."
-How about this.... The nursery rhyme Ring Around the Rosey is a rhyme about the plague. Infected people with the plague would get red circular sores ("Ring around the rosey..."), these sores would smell very badly so common folks would put flowers on their bodies somewhere (inconspicuously), so that it would cover the smell of the sores ("...a pocket full of poseys..."), People who died from the plague would be burned so as to reduce the possible spread of the disease ("...ashes, ashes, we all fall down!")
-Almonds are members of the peach family.
-Ingrown toenails are hereditary.
-The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language.
-Los Angeles' 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."
-Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
-Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery.
-Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.
-The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint - no two lions have the same pattern of whiskers.
-Steely Dan got their name from a sexual device depicted in the book 'The Naked Lunch.'
-The Ramses brand condom is named after the great phaoroh Ramses II who fathered over 160 children (too little too late, huh?).
-There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
-Duelling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
-A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.(wonder how they figured this out?)
-It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
-Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully-ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball.
-To "testify" was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made by swearing on their testicles.
-Emu's and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason.
-The first episode of "Joanie Loves Chachi" was the highest rated American program in the history of Korean television. "Chachi" is Korean for "penis."
-Debra Winger was the voice of E.T.
-Pearls melt in vinegar
-The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: MARLBORO, COCA-COLA, BUDWEISER, in that order.
-Humans are the only primates that don't have pigment in the palms of their hands.
-Thirty-Five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
-111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
-The mask used by Michael Myers in the original "Halloween" movie was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white.
-Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating.
-The fingerprints of Koala Bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene.
-Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."
-James Doohan, who plays Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott (Scotty) on Star Trek, is missing the entire middle finger on his right hand (he lost it on D-Day).
A woodpeckers tongue is long enough to wrap it around his head 2 times (eat your heart out, Gene Simmons!).
-Snakes can't blink.
-A rat can tread water for 3 days.
-A snail takes 33 hours to crawl 1 mile.
-The bigger the navel, the sweeter the orange.
-The dot over the lower case "i" is called a Tittle.
-In an average lifetime the human heart circulates 55 million gallons of blood.
-It is illegal in the state of Kentucky to marry your wife's grandmother.
-If a frog's mouth is held open too long the frog will suffocate.
-Peanuts are used in the manufacture of dynamite.
-In an average lifetime the average American receives 31 prank phone calls (hopefully not per day!).
-Most American car horns honk in the key of F.
-At the first Thanksgiving dinner, Lobster was one of the main entrees.
-A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
-The ashes of an average cremated person weighs 9 lbs.
-Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks.
-Oak trees do not have acorns until they are 50 years or older.
-All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5.00 bill.
-Shirley Temple always had 56 curls in her hair.
-Corduroy comes from the French, meaning "cloth of the king".
-The dial tone of a normal phone is in the key of F.
-Easter Sunday is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 21. (the first day of Spring)
-An office chair with wheels travels 8 miles a year.
-Howdy Doody has exactly 48 freckles on his face.
-33 million Hershey Kisses are made each day.
-Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die. (Guess some of us are in sad shape!)
-An animal epidemic is called a epizootic. (True! This was so silly I went and looked it up!)
-If you stretch a standard Slinky out flat it measures 87 feet long.
-Camel's milk does not curdle. (Who wants to drink it anyhow?)
-A cat has 4 rows of whiskers.
-In Disney's Fantasia, the Sorcerer name is Yensid which is Disney backwards.
-Maine is the toothpick capital of the world. It is also the only state whose name is one syllable.
-The space between the 2 front teeth is called a Diastima.
-Alexander the Great was an epileptic.
-A group of owls is called a parliament (so what do they call a group of "White Owls"?).
-The geographical center of North America is Rugby, North Dakota.
-Giraffes have no vocal chords.
-The dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
-Mister Rogers was an ordained minister.
-Professional ballerinas use about 12 pair of toe shoes per week.
-"Race car" is a palindrome.
-The two lines that connect your top lip to the bottom of your nose are known as philtrums.
-Ralph Kramden made $62.00 a week.
-Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
-The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life."
-The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
-In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam."
-The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
-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.
-All dogs, no matter what size, scratch at the same speed.
-The term "Checkmate" comes from the Arabic meaning "the king is dead".
-The word TIP is an acronym for "To Insure Promptness".
-There are no turkeys in Turkey.
-There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
-A giraffe's tongue is blue.
-The average person blinks 313 million times in a lifetime.
-Robert E. Lee wore size 4 1/2 shoe.
-If a spider dismantles his web a bad storm is near.
-"Tug of War" was an Olympic event between 1900 and 1920.
-Tony the Tiger will turn 50 in 2005.
-The right lung takes in more air than the left.
-There is no rice in rice paper.
-More than 25% of the worlds forests are in Siberia.
-Nearly all Sumo wrestlers have flat feet and big butts.
-Buzz Aldrin was the first man to pee in his pants on the moon (you would too, if you had to go 106,000 miles before the next rest stop !).
-An eagles nest can weigh as much as two tons.
-Conception occurs more often in December than any other month (Happy Holidays!).
-"60 Minutes," is the only CBS TV show with no theme song.
-Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace.
-The most popular boat name requested is Obsession.
-If you were to spell out numbers, you would have to go to One-thousand until you would find the letter "A".
-Bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers were all all invented by women.
-The only food that doesn't spoil is honey (however, spoiling your honey is perfectly acceptable).
-There are more collect calls on Father's Day than any other day of the year.
-40% of all people at a party snoop in your medicine cabinet.
-In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase "goodnight, sleep tight".
-It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month or what we know today as the honeymoon.
-Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.
-In Scotland, a new game was invented. It was entitled Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden.... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
-Did you know......... It is impossible to lick your elbow?
-Over 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!
-A crocodile can't stick it's tongue out.
-A shrimp's heart is in their head.
-People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.
-Between 1937 and 1945 Heinz produced a version of Alphabet Spaghetti especially for the German market that consisted solely of little pasta swastikas.
-On average, a human being will have sex more than 3,000 times and spend two weeks kissing in their lifetime.
-Rats and horses can't vomit.
-The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
-If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib.
-If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
-Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants.
-Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
-If the U.S. government has no knowledge of aliens, then why does Title 14,Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented on July 16, 1969, make it illegal for U.S. citizens to have any contact with extraterrestrials or their vehicles?
-The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
-Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married (boy, are THEY gluttons for punishment!).
-Most lipstick contains fish scales.
-Cat's urine glows under a black-light (no doubt they figured this one out in the 60's!).
-Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
-The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma.
-No piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times.
-Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.
-You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
-Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are fifty years of age or older.
-The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.
-A Boeing 747s wingspan is longer than the Wright brother's first flight.
-Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
-Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
-The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
-Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
-The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer (poetic justice?).
-Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined (I think it's more like mo' money PER GAME, don't you?).
-Marilyn Monroe had six toes ("This LIttle Piggy" must have been a real hassle!).
-All US Presidents have worn glasses. Some just didn't like being seen wearing them in public.
-Walt Disney was afraid of mice (I heard that Mickey didn't like working for Walt, either).
-Richard Millhouse Nixon was the first US president whose name contains all of the letters from the word "criminal." The second was William Jefferson Clinton.
-Turtles can breathe through their butts (I'm not touching this one!).
-Butterflies taste with their feet (aren't you glad you're not a butterfly?).
-In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all of the world's nuclear weapons combined.
-On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens every year (and medical experts are STILL trying to figure out the source of their diet deficiency!).
-On average, people fear spiders more than death.
-Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived immigrants (Nawww! Really???).
-Elephants are the only animals that can't jump (and THAT is a good thing!).
-No word in the English language rhymes with "MONTH."
-Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. SCARY!!!
-The electric chair was invented by a dentist (no wonder I can't stand sitting in the dentist's chair!).
-All polar bears are left-handed.
-In ancient Egypt, priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.
-TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
-"Go," is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
-Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.
-"Weird" Al Yankovic received a Bachelor's degree in Architecture in 1981. He also served as valedictorian of his high school at age 16.
-The most played song on American radio during the twentieth century was You've Lost That Loving Feeling which was written by Barry Mann, Phil Spector, and Cynthia Weil. Although recorded by different artists, the song is the only one in history to be played over 8 million times on the radio. That amounts to about 45 years if the song was played back to back! Three songs were played 7 million times: "Never My Love", "Yesterday", and "Stand By Me" (in that order).
-The oldest business in the United States of America is the Avedis Zildjian Cymbal Company. which was founded by Avedis Zildjian in Constantinople in 1623.
-There are approximately ten million bricks in the Empire State Building.
-The lightning that we see actually goes from the ground to the sky in what is known as the "return stroke" at 1/3 the speed of light. We can't see the initial "stepped leader" that passes from the sky to the ground.
-From space, the brightest man-made place is Las Vegas, Nevada.
-Janis Joplin's will called for a party for 200 people at her favorite pub in San Alselmo, California at a cost of $2,500.00.
-Contrary to common belief, elephants are not afraid of mice. Go to any zoo and chances are that the mice are living in the same quarters as the elephants. The mice eat the grain and nest in the hay that is so common to elephant habitats.
-The most common invention of the 19th century was the washing machine. Between 1804 and 1873, at least 1676 patents were issued by the United States Patent Office for various forms of this device.
-The five most stolen items in a drugstore are batteries, cosmetics, film, sunglasses, and, get this, Preparation H. Apparently people are just too embarrassed to purchase the last item. And, just in case you are curious, one of Preparation H's main ingredient is Shark Liver Oil. The oil not only helps shrink hemorrhoids, but will shrink any tissue. As a result, many older women in Florida use the stuff to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles! (boy, I could go LOTS of places with THIS one!)
-Why do ostriches bury their heads in the sand? They actually don't. In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of eighty years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand (or attempted to do so).
-Contrary to popular belief, only one alligator has ever been found in the New York City sewer system. The 125 pound alligator was pulled out by four boys way back in 1935.
-A South Korean movie theater owner decided that the movie The Sound of Music was too long. His solution? He shortened the movie by cutting out all of the musical scenes! (obviously, he was NOT the brightest bulb on Broadway!)
-In four separate instances between October 1987 and February 1988, small pink frogs rained down from the sky on to various parts of Great Britain. Scientists are still uncertain as to where these frogs originated, although some have traced them back to the Sahara desert.
-Did you ever wonder what the WD in WD-40 stands for? The name was lifted right out chemist Norm Larsen's laboratory notebook. Way back in 1953, he was trying to concoct an anti-corrosion formula, which worked on the basic principle of displacing water. On his 40th try, Larsen finally got it right. Hence the name WD-40. It literally means Water Displacer, 40th try.
• Meanwhile, back in the OLD days.....
In George Washington's days, back in the mid-1700's, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are "limbs" therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."
Back then, needless to say, personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's face she was told "mind your own bee's wax." Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term "crack a smile." Also, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt, hence the expression "losing face."
Ladies wore corsets which would lace up in the front. A tightly tied lace was worn by a proper and dignified lady, hatching the term "straight laced."
Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but applicable ONLY to the "ace of spades." To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren't "playing with a full deck."
Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what was considered important to the people. Since there were no telephones, TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs and bars who were told to "go sip some ale" and listen to people's conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times .."you go sip here" and "you go sip there." The two words "go sip" were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and thus, we have the term "gossip."
In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's".
Back in the days of pirate ships, women who were in labor would have both wrists tied to the cannons on the port and stern of the ship, respectively. The cannons were fired simultaneously. It was believed that the opposing recoils applied to the woman's body would assist the labor process, hence the term "Son Of A Gun" (personally, I think it would hurt like hell!).
the first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
-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.
-The Hawaiian alphabet has only 12 letters.
-Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better.
-Amount that American Airlines saved in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served First-Class: $40,000.
-City with the most Rolls Royce's per capita: Hong Kong
-Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%
-Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
-If Barbie were life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33, and she wouldðstand seven feet, two inches tall. Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
-Average number of days a West German goes without washing his underwear: 7
-Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
-Only President to win a Pulitzer: John F. Kennedy for "Profiles in Courage"
-Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
-The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
-The youngest pope was 11 years old.
-Iceland consumes more Coca-Cola per capita than any other nation.
-First novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
-A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
--The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable".
-Hang On Snoopy is the official rock song of Ohio. (Note: Real title is "Sloopy")
-Did you know that there are coffee-flavored PEZ?
-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.
-The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (hence the name of the Don McLean song.)
-When possums 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.
-The King of Hearts is the only king without a mustache.
-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.
-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 W.W.II 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."
-Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
-The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an 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.
-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.
-In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.
-The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.
-The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
-The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
-Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
-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.
-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".
-The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."
-How about this.... The nursery rhyme Ring Around the Rosey is a rhyme about the plague. Infected people with the plague would get red circular sores ("Ring around the rosey..."), these sores would smell very badly so common folks would put flowers on their bodies somewhere (inconspicuously), so that it would cover the smell of the sores ("...a pocket full of poseys..."), People who died from the plague would be burned so as to reduce the possible spread of the disease ("...ashes, ashes, we all fall down!")
-Almonds are members of the peach family.
-Ingrown toenails are hereditary.
-The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language.
-Los Angeles' 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."
-Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
-Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery.
-Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.
-The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint - no two lions have the same pattern of whiskers.
-Steely Dan got their name from a sexual device depicted in the book 'The Naked Lunch.'
-The Ramses brand condom is named after the great phaoroh Ramses II who fathered over 160 children (too little too late, huh?).
-There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
-Duelling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
-A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.(wonder how they figured this out?)
-It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
-Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully-ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball.
-To "testify" was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made by swearing on their testicles.
-Emu's and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason.
-The first episode of "Joanie Loves Chachi" was the highest rated American program in the history of Korean television. "Chachi" is Korean for "penis."
-Debra Winger was the voice of E.T.
-Pearls melt in vinegar
-The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: MARLBORO, COCA-COLA, BUDWEISER, in that order.
-Humans are the only primates that don't have pigment in the palms of their hands.
-Thirty-Five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
-111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
-The mask used by Michael Myers in the original "Halloween" movie was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white.
-Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating.
-The fingerprints of Koala Bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene.
-Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."
-James Doohan, who plays Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott (Scotty) on Star Trek, is missing the entire middle finger on his right hand (he lost it on D-Day).
A woodpeckers tongue is long enough to wrap it around his head 2 times (eat your heart out, Gene Simmons!).
-Snakes can't blink.
-A rat can tread water for 3 days.
-A snail takes 33 hours to crawl 1 mile.
-The bigger the navel, the sweeter the orange.
-The dot over the lower case "i" is called a Tittle.
-In an average lifetime the human heart circulates 55 million gallons of blood.
-It is illegal in the state of Kentucky to marry your wife's grandmother.
-If a frog's mouth is held open too long the frog will suffocate.
-Peanuts are used in the manufacture of dynamite.
-In an average lifetime the average American receives 31 prank phone calls (hopefully not per day!).
-Most American car horns honk in the key of F.
-At the first Thanksgiving dinner, Lobster was one of the main entrees.
-A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
-The ashes of an average cremated person weighs 9 lbs.
-Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks.
-Oak trees do not have acorns until they are 50 years or older.
-All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5.00 bill.
-Shirley Temple always had 56 curls in her hair.
-Corduroy comes from the French, meaning "cloth of the king".
-The dial tone of a normal phone is in the key of F.
-Easter Sunday is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 21. (the first day of Spring)
-An office chair with wheels travels 8 miles a year.
-Howdy Doody has exactly 48 freckles on his face.
-33 million Hershey Kisses are made each day.
-Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die. (Guess some of us are in sad shape!)
-An animal epidemic is called a epizootic. (True! This was so silly I went and looked it up!)
-If you stretch a standard Slinky out flat it measures 87 feet long.
-Camel's milk does not curdle. (Who wants to drink it anyhow?)
-A cat has 4 rows of whiskers.
-In Disney's Fantasia, the Sorcerer name is Yensid which is Disney backwards.
-Maine is the toothpick capital of the world. It is also the only state whose name is one syllable.
-The space between the 2 front teeth is called a Diastima.
-Alexander the Great was an epileptic.
-A group of owls is called a parliament (so what do they call a group of "White Owls"?).
-The geographical center of North America is Rugby, North Dakota.
-Giraffes have no vocal chords.
-The dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
-Mister Rogers was an ordained minister.
-Professional ballerinas use about 12 pair of toe shoes per week.
-"Race car" is a palindrome.
-The two lines that connect your top lip to the bottom of your nose are known as philtrums.
-Ralph Kramden made $62.00 a week.
-Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
-The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life."
-The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
-In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam."
-The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
-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.
-All dogs, no matter what size, scratch at the same speed.
-The term "Checkmate" comes from the Arabic meaning "the king is dead".
-The word TIP is an acronym for "To Insure Promptness".
-There are no turkeys in Turkey.
-There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
-A giraffe's tongue is blue.
-The average person blinks 313 million times in a lifetime.
-Robert E. Lee wore size 4 1/2 shoe.
-If a spider dismantles his web a bad storm is near.
-"Tug of War" was an Olympic event between 1900 and 1920.
-Tony the Tiger will turn 50 in 2005.
-The right lung takes in more air than the left.
-There is no rice in rice paper.
-More than 25% of the worlds forests are in Siberia.
-Nearly all Sumo wrestlers have flat feet and big butts.
-Buzz Aldrin was the first man to pee in his pants on the moon (you would too, if you had to go 106,000 miles before the next rest stop !).
-An eagles nest can weigh as much as two tons.
-Conception occurs more often in December than any other month (Happy Holidays!).
-"60 Minutes," is the only CBS TV show with no theme song.
-Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace.
-The most popular boat name requested is Obsession.
-If you were to spell out numbers, you would have to go to One-thousand until you would find the letter "A".
-Bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers were all all invented by women.
-The only food that doesn't spoil is honey (however, spoiling your honey is perfectly acceptable).
-There are more collect calls on Father's Day than any other day of the year.
-40% of all people at a party snoop in your medicine cabinet.
-In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase "goodnight, sleep tight".
-It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month or what we know today as the honeymoon.
-Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.
-In Scotland, a new game was invented. It was entitled Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden.... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
-Did you know......... It is impossible to lick your elbow?
-Over 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!
-A crocodile can't stick it's tongue out.
-A shrimp's heart is in their head.
-People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.
-Between 1937 and 1945 Heinz produced a version of Alphabet Spaghetti especially for the German market that consisted solely of little pasta swastikas.
-On average, a human being will have sex more than 3,000 times and spend two weeks kissing in their lifetime.
-Rats and horses can't vomit.
-The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
-If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib.
-If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
-Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants.
-Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
-If the U.S. government has no knowledge of aliens, then why does Title 14,Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented on July 16, 1969, make it illegal for U.S. citizens to have any contact with extraterrestrials or their vehicles?
-The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
-Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married (boy, are THEY gluttons for punishment!).
-Most lipstick contains fish scales.
-Cat's urine glows under a black-light (no doubt they figured this one out in the 60's!).
-Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
-The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma.
-No piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times.
-Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.
-You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
-Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are fifty years of age or older.
-The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.
-A Boeing 747s wingspan is longer than the Wright brother's first flight.
-Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
-Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
-The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
-Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
-The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer (poetic justice?).
-Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined (I think it's more like mo' money PER GAME, don't you?).
-Marilyn Monroe had six toes ("This LIttle Piggy" must have been a real hassle!).
-All US Presidents have worn glasses. Some just didn't like being seen wearing them in public.
-Walt Disney was afraid of mice (I heard that Mickey didn't like working for Walt, either).
-Richard Millhouse Nixon was the first US president whose name contains all of the letters from the word "criminal." The second was William Jefferson Clinton.
-Turtles can breathe through their butts (I'm not touching this one!).
-Butterflies taste with their feet (aren't you glad you're not a butterfly?).
-In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all of the world's nuclear weapons combined.
-On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens every year (and medical experts are STILL trying to figure out the source of their diet deficiency!).
-On average, people fear spiders more than death.
-Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived immigrants (Nawww! Really???).
-Elephants are the only animals that can't jump (and THAT is a good thing!).
-No word in the English language rhymes with "MONTH."
-Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. SCARY!!!
-The electric chair was invented by a dentist (no wonder I can't stand sitting in the dentist's chair!).
-All polar bears are left-handed.
-In ancient Egypt, priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.
-TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
-"Go," is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
-Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.
-"Weird" Al Yankovic received a Bachelor's degree in Architecture in 1981. He also served as valedictorian of his high school at age 16.
-The most played song on American radio during the twentieth century was You've Lost That Loving Feeling which was written by Barry Mann, Phil Spector, and Cynthia Weil. Although recorded by different artists, the song is the only one in history to be played over 8 million times on the radio. That amounts to about 45 years if the song was played back to back! Three songs were played 7 million times: "Never My Love", "Yesterday", and "Stand By Me" (in that order).
-The oldest business in the United States of America is the Avedis Zildjian Cymbal Company. which was founded by Avedis Zildjian in Constantinople in 1623.
-There are approximately ten million bricks in the Empire State Building.
-The lightning that we see actually goes from the ground to the sky in what is known as the "return stroke" at 1/3 the speed of light. We can't see the initial "stepped leader" that passes from the sky to the ground.
-From space, the brightest man-made place is Las Vegas, Nevada.
-Janis Joplin's will called for a party for 200 people at her favorite pub in San Alselmo, California at a cost of $2,500.00.
-Contrary to common belief, elephants are not afraid of mice. Go to any zoo and chances are that the mice are living in the same quarters as the elephants. The mice eat the grain and nest in the hay that is so common to elephant habitats.
-The most common invention of the 19th century was the washing machine. Between 1804 and 1873, at least 1676 patents were issued by the United States Patent Office for various forms of this device.
-The five most stolen items in a drugstore are batteries, cosmetics, film, sunglasses, and, get this, Preparation H. Apparently people are just too embarrassed to purchase the last item. And, just in case you are curious, one of Preparation H's main ingredient is Shark Liver Oil. The oil not only helps shrink hemorrhoids, but will shrink any tissue. As a result, many older women in Florida use the stuff to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles! (boy, I could go LOTS of places with THIS one!)
-Why do ostriches bury their heads in the sand? They actually don't. In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of eighty years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand (or attempted to do so).
-Contrary to popular belief, only one alligator has ever been found in the New York City sewer system. The 125 pound alligator was pulled out by four boys way back in 1935.
-A South Korean movie theater owner decided that the movie The Sound of Music was too long. His solution? He shortened the movie by cutting out all of the musical scenes! (obviously, he was NOT the brightest bulb on Broadway!)
-In four separate instances between October 1987 and February 1988, small pink frogs rained down from the sky on to various parts of Great Britain. Scientists are still uncertain as to where these frogs originated, although some have traced them back to the Sahara desert.
-Did you ever wonder what the WD in WD-40 stands for? The name was lifted right out chemist Norm Larsen's laboratory notebook. Way back in 1953, he was trying to concoct an anti-corrosion formula, which worked on the basic principle of displacing water. On his 40th try, Larsen finally got it right. Hence the name WD-40. It literally means Water Displacer, 40th try.
• Meanwhile, back in the OLD days.....
In George Washington's days, back in the mid-1700's, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are "limbs" therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."
Back then, needless to say, personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's face she was told "mind your own bee's wax." Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term "crack a smile." Also, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt, hence the expression "losing face."
Ladies wore corsets which would lace up in the front. A tightly tied lace was worn by a proper and dignified lady, hatching the term "straight laced."
Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but applicable ONLY to the "ace of spades." To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren't "playing with a full deck."
Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what was considered important to the people. Since there were no telephones, TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs and bars who were told to "go sip some ale" and listen to people's conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times .."you go sip here" and "you go sip there." The two words "go sip" were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and thus, we have the term "gossip."
In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's".
Back in the days of pirate ships, women who were in labor would have both wrists tied to the cannons on the port and stern of the ship, respectively. The cannons were fired simultaneously. It was believed that the opposing recoils applied to the woman's body would assist the labor process, hence the term "Son Of A Gun" (personally, I think it would hurt like hell!).