Tag Archives: trivia

Trivial Pursuits

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  • Mosquito repellents don’t repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito’s sensors so they don’t know you’re there.
  • Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
  • The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as substitute for blood plasma.
  • Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.
  • 1 in every 4 Americans has appeared on television.
  • 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.
  • The king of hearts is the only king without a mustache.
  • A Boeing 747s wingspan is longer than the Wright brother’s first flight.
  • Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
  • Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
  • The first owner of the Marlboro company died of lung cancer.
  • Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
  • Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
  • Adolf Hitler’s mother seriously considered having an abortion but was talked out of it by her doctor.
  • All US Presidents have worn glasses. Some just didn’t like being seen wearing them in public.
  • Walt Disney was afraid of mice.
  • Richard Milhouse Nixon was the first US president whose name contains all the letters from the word “criminal.” The second? ………………….William Jefferson Clinton

Why Do We Say…

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England is old and so small that they started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and re-use the grave. In reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell. Hence the terms “graveyard shift”, “saved by the bell” and he was a “dead ringer”.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a “wake” and the origin of “making enough noise to wake the dead”.

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and were still smelling pretty good by June, although they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the b.o.

Baths equaled a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually loose someone in it. Hence the saying, “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water”.

Houses had thatched roofs – thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the pets… dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, “it’s raining cats and dogs.”…. With nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed, so they found if they made beds with big posts and hang a sheet over the top, it addressed that problem. Hence those beautiful big 4 poster beds with canopies.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying “dirt poor”. The wealthy had slate floors which in the winter they would get slippery when wet. So they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed at the entry way, hence a “threshold”.

Odd Facts

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  • 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.
  • All of the clocks in Pulp Fiction are stuck on 4:20.
  • 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: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoro
    nukupokaiwenuakit, a natahu, a New Zealand hill… … What a great scrabble score – huh?…

  • 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.
  • An ostrich’s eye is bigger than it’s brain.
  • 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 Ramses brand condom is named after the great pharaoh Ramses II who fathered over 160 children.
  • 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 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 male gypsy moth can “smell” the virgin female gypsy moth from 1.8 miles away.
  • The name for Oz in the “Wizard of Oz” was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence “Oz.”
  • The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
  • Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.
  • John Lennon’s first girlfriend was named Thelma Pickles.
  • The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
  • To “testify” was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made by swearing on their testicles.

I’m Sure You Wanted to Know That…

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  • The “pound” key ( # ) on your keyboard is called an octotroph.
  • The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.
  • The “dot” over the letter “i” is called a tittle.
  • Pepsi originally contained pepsin, thus the name.
  • The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
  • Michael Jordan makes more money from NIKE annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
  • The slogan on New Hampshire license plates is “Live Free or Die.” These license plates are manufactured by prisoners in the state prison in Concord.
  • Each year there is one ton of cement poured for each man, woman, and child in the world.
  • The house fly hums in the middle octave key of F.
  • The only capital letter in the Roman alphabet with exactly one end point is P.
  • The giant red star Betelgeuse has a diameter larger than that of the Earth’s orbit around the sun.
  • Only 1 in 2,000,000,000 will live to be 116 or older.
  • Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
  • Hummingbirds are the only animal that can fly backwards.
  • A cat’s jaw cannot move sideways.

Things to Think About

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  • If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?
  • If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren’t people from Holland called Holes?
  • If you mixed vodka with orange juice and milk of magnesia, would you get a Philip’s screwdriver?
  • If a pig loses it’s voice, is it disgruntled?
  • If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
  • When someone asks you, “A penny for your thoughts” and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?
  • Why is the man who invest all your money called a broker?
  • Why do croutons come in airtight packages? It’s just stale bread to begin with.
  • When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
  • Why is a person who plays the piano call a pianist, but a person who drives a race car not called a racist?
  • Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposite things?
  • If horrific mean to make horrible, doesn’t terrific mean to make terrible?
  • Why isn’t 11 pronounced onety-one?
  • “I am.” is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language.
  • Could it be that “I do.” is the longest sentence?
  • If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen are defrocked, doesn’t it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked and dry cleaners depressed?
  • Do Roman paramedics refer to IV’s as 4’s?
  • Why is it that if someone tells you that there are 1 billion stars in the universe you will believe them, but if they tell you a wall has wet paint, you will have to touch it to be sure?

Interesting Facts

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  • Nearly a third of all bottled drinking water purchased in the US is contaminated with bacteria.
  • You are more likely to be struck by lightning that to be eaten by a shark. You are more likely to be infected by flesh-eating bacteria than you are to be struck by lightning.
  • If you urinate when swimming in a South American river, you may encounter the candiru. Drawn to warmth, this tiny fish is known to follow a stream of urine to its source, swim inside the body, and flare its barbed fins. It will remain firmly embedded in the flesh until surgically removed.
  • When a pilot light in a gas barbecue fails to ignite the gas jets properly, it is easy for you to inhale gas accidentally while trying to light it by hand. If this has happened, when the match does light, sometimes a trail of flame will blaze from the jet onto your mouth, filling your lungs with fire. Oddly enough, you would suffocate before burning to death as the flame would consume the oxygen in every breath you would take.
  • The soft plastic headphones used on airplanes create a warm, moist environment in the ear canal that is ideal for breeding bacteria. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
  • On a plane, if the passenger in your seat on the incoming flight had serious gas, then you are sitting on a cushion full of disease-causing microbes.
  • Homely criminals get 50% longer jail sentences, on average, than good-looking criminals.
  • Four sunken nuclear submarines sit at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. One, a Russian sub resting in deep water off of Bermuda, holds 16 live nuclear warheads. Scientists and oceanographers are unsure what the impact of the escaping plutonium will have, but warn that corrosion could create the proper chemical environment for a massive nuclear chain reaction.
  • In 1994, electromagnetic interference (EMI) from a nearby cellular telephone captivated a power wheelchair at a scenic vista in Colorado, sending the passenger over a cliff.
  • More people working in advertising died on the job in 1996 than died while working in petroleum refining.
  • It is impossible to lick your elbow.
  • 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.
  • 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. if you keep your eyes open by force, they can pop out.
  • In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of 80 years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand.
  • It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
  • A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
  • Between 1937 and 1945 Heinz produced a version of Alphabetic Spaghetti especially for the German market that consisted solely of little pasta swastikas.
  • More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.
  • Rats and horses can’t vomit.
  • Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.
  • The “sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
  • If the 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?
  • In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.
  • The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
  • Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
  • A duck’s quack doesn’t echo, and no one knows why.
  • 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their buttocks.
  • In the course of an average lifetime you will, while sleeping, eat 70 assorted insects and 10 spiders.
  • Most lipstick contains fish scales.
  • Like fingerprints, everyone’s tongue print is different.
  • Over 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow.

Interesting Factoids

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  • The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
  • Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters.
  • Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better.
  • City with the most Rolls Royce’s per capita: Hong Kong
  • State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska
  • Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%
  • Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
  • 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.
  • The world’s youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China 1910.
  • The youngest pope was 11 years old.
  • 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-Stars Game.
  • A crocodile can’t stick it’s tongue out.
  • The oldest known goldfish lived to 41 years of age. Its name was Fred.
  • In 1987, a 1,400-year-old lump of still-edible cheese was unearthed in Ireland.
  • If an orangutan belches at you, watch out. He’s warning you to stay out of his territory.
  • 1,200 college students streaked at the same time in Boulder, CO in 1974.
  • Penguins can jump as high as 6 feet in the air.
  • The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million.
  • There is a town in Newfoundland, Canada called Dildo.
  • On average, a human being will have sex more than 3,000 times and spend two weeks kissing in their lifetime.
  • The average human has seven sex fantasies in a day.

Still More Did You Know..

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  • Men can read smaller print than women, women can hear better than men. Women can also smell better than men.
  • Cost of raising a medium sized dog to the age of 11: $6,400.
  • Average number of people airborne over the U.S. during any given hour: 61,000.
  • The world’s youngest parents were 8 & 9 and lived in China in 1910.
  • The youngest Pope was 11 years old.
  • First novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer
  • The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile national monuments.
  • Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
    • Spades – King David
    • Clubs – Alexander the Great
    • Hearts – Charlemagne
    • Diamonds – Julius Caesar
  • Over 2,500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people.
  • The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
  • Astronauts cannot cry. In space, there is no gravity, so the tears can’t flow.
  • A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat, so you can eat your plate.
  • Percentage of Americans that want to change their bodies in some way: 75%.
  • Percentage of Americans that would want to change their intelligence: 13%.
  • A person who is lost and starving can obtain nourishment by chewing on his shoes, provided they are made of leather.
  • An igloo will stand up to modern artillery better than a concrete barricade. Additionally, they are almost invisible from the air and can’t be spotted by infrared sensors.

More Did You Know…

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  • If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. Dunno about you but it hardly seems worth it!
  • If you fart consistently for 6 years and 8 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb. Now that’s more like it!
  • A pig’s orgasm lasts for 30 minutes. In my next life I want to be a pig! But how’d they figure this out, and why?
  • Banging your head against a wall burns 150 calories an hour. Don’t try this at home. But maybe at work..
  • Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure. Is that why Flipper was always smiling? And pigs get 30-minute orgasms? Doesn’t seem fair!
  • The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. Hmmmmmmmmm…
  • Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do. If you’re ambidextrous do you split the difference?

  • 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.
    From drinking little bottles of…? Did taxpayers pay for this research??

  • Polar bears are left handed. Who knew….? Who cares? How’d they find out, ask them?
  • The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds. What can be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?
  • The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It’s like a human jumping the length of a football field. 30 minutes…can you imagine?? And why pigs?
  • A cockroach will live nine days without its head, before it starves to death. Creepy.
  • The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male’s head off. “Honey, I’m home. What the….” *Think of all the problems it would solve, girls: No post-coital snoring, wondering if he’s going to stay for breakfast, waiting for him to sneak out… and ya KNOW he hasn’t been with anyone else 🙂
  • Some lions mate over 50 times a day. In my next life I still want to be a pig… quality over quantity.
  • Butterflies taste with their feet. Geez, that’s almost as bad as catfish. Good thing they don’t have sex for pleasure!
  • An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain. I know some people like that.
  • Starfish don’t have brains. I know some people like that too.

So what has this page taught us? Well, nothing very important. But after reading all these, all I can say is………… Lucky Pigs!

Did You Know?

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  • that in the early days of sailing, a ship would never set sail on a Friday, it was believed to be bad luck???
  • that in Ventura County, California, cats and dogs are not allowed to have sex without a permit?
  • that a law in Oblong, Illinois makes it a crime to make love while fishing or hunting on your wedding day?
  • that a law in Alexandria, Minnesota makes it illegal for a husband to make love to his wife if his breath smells like garlic, onions, or sardines?
  • that a Helena, Montana law states that a woman cannot dance on a saloon table unless her clothing weighs more than three pounds, two ounces?
  • that Hotel owners in Hastings, Nebraska are required by law to provide a clean, white cotton nightshirt to each guest. According to the law, no couple may have sex unless they are wearing the nightshirts?
  • that the only animal besides human that can get sunburned is the pig?
  • that ostriches stick their heads in the sand to look for water?
  • that an eagle can kill a young deer and fly away with it?
  • that in the Caribbean there are oysters that can climb trees?
  • that Mark Twain didn’t graduate from elementary school?
  • that proportional to their weight, men are stronger than horses?
  • that Formosan termites can eat though metal?