Random facts and trivia.

[Bill_the_Pony]

I got this in a blog on myspace and found some of these things interesting, except the daddy long legs things is a wives tale...




1. The nursery rhyme "Ring around the Rosy" is a rhyme about the plague. Infected people with the plague would get red circular sores ("Ring around the rosy..." these, sores would smell very bad, so common folks would put flowers on their bodies somewhere (inconspicuously) so that they would cover the smell of the sores ("...a pocket full of posies..."). 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!").

2. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?. All invented by women.

3. What trivia fact about Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) is the most ironic? He was allergic to carrots.

4. 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".

5. 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.

6. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

7. The average secretary's left hand does 56% of the typing.

8. A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

9. There are more chickens than people in the world.

10. All of the clocks in the movie Pulp Fiction are stuck on 4:20.

11. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.

12. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

13. Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reinade los Angeles de Porciuncula". And can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, "L.A."

14. The Ramses brand condom is named after the great pharaoh Ramses II who fathered over 160 children.

15. In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.

16. The venom in a Daddy Long-Legs spider is more poisonous than a Black Widow's or a Brown Recluse, but they cannot bite humans because their jaws won't open wide enough.

17. If you toss a penny 10000 times, it will not be heads 5000 times, but more like 4950. The heads picture weighs more, so it ends up on the bottom.

18. The pop you get when you crack your knuckles is actually a bubble of gas bursting.

19. 101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan (Wendy ) are the only two Disney cartoon features with both parents that are present and don t die throughout the movie.

20. The U.S. Government spent about $2,000,000.00 on potato research in 2003.

21. There is more lemon juice in Lemon Pledge furniture polish than in Country Time Lemonade!

22. Dueling in Paraguay is legal, as long as both parties are registered blood donors!

23. The can opener was invented 48 years after the can.

24. Cannibalism is NOT illegal in Germany!

25. Nearly 22,000 checks will be deducted from the wrong account over the next hour!

26. When your face blushes, the lining of your stomach turns red, too!

27. WAL-MART generates $3,000,000.00 in revenues every 7 minutes.

28. 35% of the people using personal ads for dating are already married.

29. Drew Carry once worked at a Denny's!

30. In 1659, it was illegal to celebrate Christmas in Massachusetts!

31. If you put a raisin in a fresh glass of champagne, it will rise and fall continuously.

32. It's against the law to pawn your dentures in Las Vegas.

33. It is estimated that at any one time, 0.7% of the world's population are drunk.

34. Vaccines contain formaldehyde, ethylene glycol (antifreeze), phenol (disinfectant / pesticide), and aluminum!

35. The oil used by jewelers to lubricate clocks and watches costs about $3,000 a gallon!

36. Tipping at a restaurant in Iceland is considered an insult!

37. More steel in the United States is used to make bottle caps than to manufacture automobile bodies!

38. 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their butts!

39. California has issued at least 6 drivers licenses to people named Jesus Christ!

40. 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.

41. The last time American Green cards were actually green was 1964!

42. Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.

43. Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button.

44. It is illegal to purchase Jack Daniel's Whiskey in the town in which it is produced!

45. Only seven percent of the population are lefties.

46. The word "fuck" is actually an acronym. It dates back to the Good Old Days, when England was severely underpopulated due to the usual combination of fire/war/plague, and the King issued an official order to… well, fuck, to replenish the population. Hence the phrase "Fornicate Under Command of the King" passed into everyday language.

[Metuzalem]

Call me crazy but isn't the speaker in the House of Commons the one always shouting "ORDER!"? And if Hitchcock didn't have a belly button, how did his umbilical cord attach to his mom's placenta?

I can explain the Daddy Long Legs thing though. It's because people get confused between said insect and the Long-Legged spider which goes by another name too (this escapes me for the moment). Either way, the Daddy Long Legs is not poisonous.

And where the hell is "Dogs can't look up." on this list?

[neglet]

Some of those are urban/internet legends. There isn't a definite origin for the phrase
"mind your p's and q's"--it's equally plausible that it originates from the early days of printing, when type was set by hand and it was very easy to mix up the "p" and the "q."

Also, "fuck" is definitely a word, not an acronym, originating from good old Middle English and other Germanic languages. According to Webster's, it's hundreds of years old: fuck (fuk) [Vulgar] Etymology: Early ModE fuck, fuk, < ME *fuken < Gmc: akin to MDu fokken, to strike, copulate, Swed dial. fock, penis.

[Bill_the_Pony]

I never claimed any truth to these. :Smirk:

By the way, did you know that George Washington had three ears?

[Still Crazy]

Three ears. Nope didn't know that.

speaking of dogs, they can't burp either.

[Bill_the_Pony]

Hmm. Interesting.

I swear that I've heard a dog burp before, but whatever.

I had a dog that sneezed on the back of my ex's head from the backseat of the car while my ex was driving once.

It was a good wet sneeze, and I said "GOOD DOG!"

[sickness]

Okay, okay, Tuz. So you were right! Antique guns do work! But dogs CAN look up!

[Bill_the_Pony]

By the way, 3 + 4 is NOT 7, as most people believe. It is actually 42.

Go and tell your children now, and spank them if they argue with you.

[SlamShut]

As negs pointed out, an awful lot of these are untrue. I can personally debunk a few:


2. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?. All invented by women.

Actually, the first bulletproof vest was invented by Casimir Zeglen, a man, at the end of the 19th century. Don't know about the others.

5. 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.

Uh, no. "Wet your whistle" just means to wet your lips. Try whistling with dry lips. Then try with wet lips.

6. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

Refrigerating rubber makes it less elastic, not more. This is the opposite of true.

12. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

Undreamt, redreamt, daydreamt.

16. The venom in a Daddy Long-Legs spider is more poisonous than a Black Widow's or a Brown Recluse, but they cannot bite humans because their jaws won't open wide enough.

The term "Daddy Long-Legs" is commonly used to describe at least three different bugs, only one of which, the Pholcus Phalangioides, has any venom-- and pholcid venom is very weak, harmless to humans.

18. The pop you get when you crack your knuckles is actually a bubble of gas bursting.

No it's not-- it's the cartilage squishing against the bone. Ask your orthopedist.

19. 101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan (Wendy ) are the only two Disney cartoon features with both parents that are present and don t die throughout the movie.

The Incredibles. It's Pixar, but it's a Disney animated feature.

21. There is more lemon juice in Lemon Pledge furniture polish than in Country Time Lemonade!

There's no lemon juice in Lemon Pledge. The ingredients are propane, isobutane, silicon oil, C-79 solvent, and 80% water.

35. The oil used by jewelers to lubricate clocks and watches costs about $3,000 a gallon!

No it doesn't. I used to work at a clock shop, and we ordered the stuff all the time. I'd say it probably ran around $60 a gallon. We always bought small quantities, but it's not expensive stuff.

36. Tipping at a restaurant in Iceland is considered an insult!

No it's not. It's figured into your bill.

40. 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.

Folk etymology. Never been proven. Far more likely that it refers to an older tradition of using body parts as measurement standards.

41. The last time American Green cards were actually green was 1964!

They're still green now. Slightly lighter than the color of money.

42. Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.

Believe me, caffeine is a more powerful stimulant than apple juice, which is primarily a laxative.

43. Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button.

Oh come on now. He was a mammal. Mammals have belly buttons. That's idiotic. The possibility exists that he may have had it removed surgically for some reason, but I can find no reliable record of it.

44. It is illegal to purchase Jack Daniel's Whiskey in the town in which it is produced!

This one's actually true. Lynchburg, TN is a dry county. Nutty, huh?

45. Only seven percent of the population are lefties.

More like 8-15%, according to a 1977 study.

Those are the ones I know off the top of my head or with a quick search.

Anyone else care to swat a few down?

[DaForce]

I'm pretty sure bottle caps are made of aluminum and not steel.