40 Weird, Maybe Useless, But Definitely Fun Facts To Know, As Shared In This Online Thread
You can’t really say a fact is useless trivia if creative individuals decide to capitalize on it by creating entire trivia leagues based on fun competition. And all you need to know are facts that you wouldn’t otherwise know. Nor would it bear any significance on your chances of survival on this planet either way. But life is for living, so let’s live it in fun ways.
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With that said, folks have recently been sharing favorite useless trivia facts in a fresh AskReddit thread. Here’s your chance of gathering up some trivia for your next night of Trivial Pursuit.
Fun Facts : 1.
Dalmatians are firehouse mascots because back when fire engines were just a horse drawn wagon, they were the sirens. They’d run in front of the wagon barking and nipping to spook other horses/wagons and pedestrians out of the way
It’s also the reason the Coachmen RV logo is a Dalmatian, rich people would have packs of them run alongside their coaches while traveling because thieves would often hide in wooded areas to ambush wealthy travelers. They’d alert to anyone hiding nearby and help defend the coach if it got attacked
Fun Facts : 2.
We don’t know who invented or held the patent for the fire hydrant as those papers were lost when the US Patent Office…. burned down.
Fun Facts : 3.
The word nun is really just an “n” doing a somersault.
If you’re here, no doubt you’ve heard about what trivia is a medium of knowledge. Originally, the word is derived from the Latin triviae, which denotes a place where a road splits into two, thus creating a three-way intersection.
Much, much, later, roughly in the 1960s, some students introduced the idea of trivia as a game by informally trading questions and answers about pop culture.
Fun Facts : 4.
The first Oscar’s acceptance speech in sign language wasn’t by Marlee Matlin for “Children of a Lesser God” in 1986 but by Louise Fletcher for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1975. She was born to deaf parents and wanted them to hear her speech at home.
Fun Facts : 5.
If you break the word “helicopter” into prefix and suffix, it’s not “heli” and “copter” it’s “helico” and “pter”.
Helico for spiral, and pter for wing. See also: **Pter**odactyl
Fun Facts : 6.
Alaska’s Aleutian Islands extend far enough west they’re in the Eastern hemisphere, making Alaska the northernmost, westernmost, *and* easternmost U.S. State
It was only in 1965 that trivia became official. A Columbia Daily Spectator column kicked it off with Author Ed Goodgold later joining forces with Dan Carlinsky to organize trivia contests and even writing a book in 1966 of the same name.
The concept took the world by storm and it spawned a huge following of people getting together and competing against each other through trivial knowledge.
Fun Facts : 7.
The bishop of the diocese of Orlando is also the bishop of the moon. Canon law states that the bishop of a port that launches a voyage of discovery is the de facto bishop of newly discovered territories until those lands receive their own bishop. So the religious leader of Disney World is also responsible for the moon.
Fun Facts : 8.
Nissan cars for ads/ racing normally use the number 23 because in Japanese, a 2 is pronounced ‘ni’ and a 3 is pronounced ‘san’.
Fun Facts : 9.
Joe Biden was born closer to Abraham Lincoln’s presidency than his own.
Biden was born in 1942 and Lincoln’s presidency ended in 1865, a gap of 77 years. Meanwhile Biden was 78 when his own presidency began.
There are quite a number of reasons why people like trivia games—an idea in and of itself being a testament how approachable it is.
One major reason ties in with the idea of personal knowledge. Trivia games mean that you have to know your stuff, but you have to know very particular stuff. Thus, it encourages you to sharpen your mind all the while making use of what you already know and learning new things along the way.
Fun Facts : 10.
People use the word “peruse” wrong. We often use it for when we are just looking over, browsing and not paying super close attention. When in fact peruse means “to examine carefully at length” always found this fact interesting.
Fun Facts : 11.
The elevator shaft was invented before the elevator. Somebody essentially predicted that the elevator would soon be invented and left a space for it while constructing a building.
12.
The Caribbean island nation of Jamaica and the New York City neighborhood of Jamaica, Queens, are not named after the same thing, nor each other.
The country got its name from “Xaymaca,” which is Arawak for “Land of wood and water.”
The neighborhood got its name from “Yamecah,” which is Lenape for “Beaver.”
But there is a huge social aspect to the game as well. While trivia games can be played individually, they are more often a team sport, one that connects people in healthy competition.
The best part is that the idea of intellectual competition makes it accessible to many age groups and, honestly, you don’t have to be all that smart to enjoy the vibe.
Fun Facts : 13.
The word “factoid” means “a piece of incorrect information that is asserted as a fact.”
But now that it has colloquially come to mean “a small bit of trivia,” the definition of a factoid is itself, in fact, a factoid.
Fun Facts : 14.
People who use sign language, even in the same country, can have ‘accents’ that can denote which region they’re from.
People who use sign language can stutter as they sign.
People who use sign language can ‘talk’ in their sleep with signs.
Note: I am not deaf, nor do I know any hearing impaired people. These items were taught to me by a friend whose mom taught at a school for people who are hearing impaired. If these aren’t accurate please correct me.
Fun Facts : 15.
Orca are considered a natural predator of moose
It goes without saying that, despite it being a very social game, there is much to be had on a personal level. Trivia games are known to improve self-esteem and, just like any game, they often help reduce stress.
And hey, there’s the added bonus of next to no physical exertion and the fun doesn’t really need to stop because the possibilities for questions are limitless.
Fun Facts : 16.
Lego are the largest tyre manufacturer in the world
Fun Facts : 17.
The filming of the original Willy Wonka was actually rather unsafe, with a large amount of the cast suffering something. In the candy forest scene, Veruca can be seen having cut her knee on a rock, and that’s a real injury her actress picked up. She even still has a scar on her knee to this day. In the soap boat scene, all the soap pumped onto the characters caused the actors to have massive reddening and irritation of the skin. Shooting had to be paused for several weeks to allow them to recover.
18.
Ernest Hemingway once survived two plane crashes in the space of 24 hours.
He was thought to have died in the second crash, but was later found alive with a bottle of gin in one hand and a handful of bananas in the other.
Other reasons to play include the classic it just makes you feel good because winning a game releases dopamine. This, by proxy, also explains the addictive nature of trivia games and competition.
And, hey, you can one-up this burst of dopamine with another burst caused by food and drinks—no wonder why many competitions are held in bars.
Fun Facts :19.
The day Michael Jackson got his hair burned in the Pepsi commercial was the exact midpoint of his life.
20.
Jeremiah’s law states “the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it’s to post the wrong answer.”
21.
NASCAR was started because moonshiners need to modify their cars to evade police, when prohibition ended they started racing
If anything, it is a learning and self-development experience that’s tailored to be fun. And fun makes learning easier and more effective. So, yeah, sure, you might not get as much exercise as you had hoped, but you trained your noggin muscle and that’s just as important. In fact, using your brain more than the average person does help with keeping your brain young.
Fun Facts : 22.
John Wilkes booth’s brother saved Abraham Lincoln’ s Son from being killed by a train.
Fun Facts : 23.
In the UK, for every 1 degree Celsius the temperature drops, Heinz soup sales increase 3.4%
Fun Facts : 24.
Did you know honey never spoils? Archaeologists found pots of the stuff in ancient Egyptian tombs that’s still edible. So, in case of a zombie apocalypse, at least we’ve got eternal honey for our waffles, right?
Now, sure, keeping your brain intellectually active is only one piece of the puzzle. But it is an important one.
Mental stimulation means new and more lively nerve cell connections in the brain, making it more resilient against cell loss and keeping it more active as time goes by and the body grows old.
25.
Squirrels can virtually fall from any height and survive, due to their very low terminal velocity (large surface, low weight)
Fun Facts : 26.
The only word in the english language with three sets of consecutive double letters is “bookkeeper.”
The longest single syllable word in English is “strengths.”
And Oppenheimer is now the highest grossing movie of all-time that was never #1 at the box office. Before that it was Sing 2.
Edit: changed “in a row” to “consecutive.”
27.
The most common star sign in mental hospitals are Aquarius (so those born between Jan 20th to Feb 18th)
But if you want the full package, physical exercise, a good diet and just overall care for your body all have a positive impact on the brain. That means improving your blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, avoiding intoxicants like alcohol and tobacco, and, most importantly, keeping up with your own mental health. Yes, being in a good and upbeat mood does wonders, and that requires healthy boundaries and good old sleep.
28.
Twister was the first DVD released in the us
29.
A sloth can hold its breath longer than a dolphin.
30.
The opposite of formaldehyde is casual jekyll.
And if you’ve come this far in the listicle, you’ve likely not yet sated your appetite for brain stimulation via trivial inquiries. So, keep on keeping on with other Bored Panda articles.
But if you want to take a break, be sure to leave a comment with your fun facts in the comment section below before you go!
31.
Sharks predate trees. Boggles my mind.
32.
The word for ‘tea’ in most languages depends whether they first traded for tea with mainland China or coastal China. That is why almost every language the word for tea is similar to “cha” or “te”.
33.
Human skin shedding is a big contributor for dust at home.
34.
Chuck Lorre, who created Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, also wrote the theme song to the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series.
35.
Viking is a verb. Vikings went viking.
36.
The word facetious has all of the vowels and in order.
37.
There was a time your parents put you down and never picked you back up.
38.
The state of Colorado is not a rectangle with four straight sides. Due to poor navigation and the terrain getting in the way during early border markings and expeditions, Colorado Is a shape with 697 sides to it.
39.
Kangaroos can’t jump backwards.
40.
Cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, gai lan (Chinese broccoli), brussels sprouts, collard greens, savoy cabbage and kohlrabi are all different cultivars of the same plant – brassica oleracea.
Note: this post originally had 73 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
