Too too too too tooooooooo long, but very very informative one…
Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.
--- Publilius Syrus ~100 BC
Fromgmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 4:35 PM
To: c.gandhi@mudra.com
Here are some interesting, but true facts that you may or may not have known
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The Statue of Liberty's index finger is eight feet long
Rain has never been recorded in some parts of the Atacama Desert in
A 75 year old person will have slept about 23 years
A Boeing 747's wing span is longer than the Wright brother's first flight (The Wright brother's invented the airplane)
There are as many chickens on earth as there are humans
One type of hummingbird weighs less than a penny
The word "set" has the most number of definitions in the English language; 192
Slugs have four noses
Sharks can live up to 100 years
Mosquitoes are more attracted to the color blue than any other color
Kangaroos can't walk backwards
About 75 acres of pizza are eaten in the
The largest recorded snowflake was 15in wide and 8in thick. It fell in
The tip of a bullwhip moves so fast that the sound it makes is actually a tiny sonic boom
Former president Bill Clinton only sent 2 emails in his entire 8 year presidency
Koalas and humans are the only animals that have finger prints
There are 200,000,000 insects for every one human
It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery had in it to begin with
The world's largest Montessori school is in
Octopus has three hearts
If you ate too many carrots, you'd turn orange
The average person spends two weeks waiting for a traffic light to change
1 in 2,000,000,000 people will live to be 116 or old
The body has 2-3 million sweat glands
Sperm whales have the biggest brains; 20 lbs
Tiger shark embryos fight each other in their mother's womb. The survivor is born
Most cats are left pawed
250 people have fallen off the Leaning Tower of Pisa
A Blue whale's tongue weighs more than an elephant
You use 14 muscles to smile and 43 to frown Keep Smiling!
Bamboo can grow up to 3 ft in 24 hours
An eyeball weighs about 1 ounce
Bone is five times stronger than steel
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Fun facts:
# It takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to circle the whole body.
# It's been proven that people can lessen reactions to allergies by laughing.
# Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system.
# Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day.Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.
# In the middle ages, people would pin the name of their sweetheart to their sleeve on Valentine's Day and keep it there for a week, hence 'wearing their heart on their sleeve'.
# It was during the Victorian era that the formerly nude Cupid was redesigned as wearing a skirt.
# The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet!!
# February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
# Tomato Ketchup was once used as medicine in the
# When you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red
# Dating back to the 1600's, thermometers were filled with Brandy instead of mercury
# The quartz crystal in your wristwatch vibrates 32,768 times a second
# An earthquake on Dec. 16, 1811 caused parts of the
# Shoe sizes were standardized in
# The average person's eyes will be closed about 30 minutes a day due to blinking.
# Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
# Every day 200 million couples make love, 400,000 babies are born, and 140,000 people die.
# There are at least 40 known carcinogens in cigarettes.
# The earliest British expeditions tackling Everest wore tweed jackets, woolen underwear, and leather boots.
The amniotic fluid that surrounds a baby in the womb is completely replaced every three hours.
# During World War II, twice as many fighter pilots were killed during training than combat
# In 1962 an outbreak of contagious laughter in
# A nautical mile measures 6,080 feet while a land or statute mile is 5,280 feet
# No one can drown in the
# Plants watered with warm water grow larger and more quickly than plants watered with cold water
# Earth's oceans contain 7 1/2 million tons of gold, dissolved in the water
# Children who are breastfed tend to have an I.Q. seven points higher than children who are not.
# The bird flu virus could evolve into a form that is easily spread between people, resulting in a highly contagious and lethal disease.
# The Chinese, in olden days, used marijuana only as a remedy for dysentery.
# If you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on the right side of your mouth. If you are left handed, you will tend to chew your food on the left side of your mouth.
# To make half a kilo of honey, bees must collect nectar from over 2 million individual flowers
# Heroin is the brand name of morphine once marketed by 'Bayer'.
# Communications giant Nokia was founded in 1865 as a wood-pulp mill by Fredrik Idestam.
# Tourists visiting
# People in nudist colonies play volleyball more than any other sport.
# Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of
# Astronauts can't belch- there is no gravity to separate liquid from gas in their stomachs.
# Ancient Roman, Chinese and German societies often used urine as mouthwash.
# The average person who stops smoking requires one hour less sleep a night.
# The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. In the Renaissance era, it was fashion to shave them off!
# Because of the speed at which Earth moves around the Sun, it is impossible for a solar eclipse to last more than 7 minutes and 58 seconds.
# The night of January 20 is "Saint Agnes's Eve," which is regarded as a time when a young woman dreams of her future husband.
# There are over 25 million bubbles waiting to burst out of each bottle of
# Google is actually the common name for a number with a million zeros
# It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times!
# The "heat" of peppers is rated on the Scoville scale
# Gold is the only metal that doesn't rust, even if it's buried in the ground for thousands of years
# Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end
# If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. For when a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.
# Each year 2,000,000 smokers either quit smoking or die of tobacco-related diseases.
# When it originally appeared in 1886 - Coca Cola was billed as an Esteemed Brain Tonic and Intellectual Beverage.
# Zero is the only number that cannot be represented by Roman numerals
# Kites were used in the American Civil War to deliver letters and newspapers.
# The song, "Auld Lang Syne" is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the new year.
# For every real Christmas tree harvested, two to three seedlings are planted in its place.
# Drinking water after eating reduces the acid in your mouth by 61 percent
# Peanut oil is used for cooking in submarines because it doesn't smoke unless it's heated above 450°F
# The Shell Oil Company originally began as a novelty shop in
# The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.
# Nine out of every 10 living things live in the ocean
# The banana cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the hand of man
# Airports at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density
# Fish and Chip selling officially remained an offensive trade until 1940 due to the smell it produces
# The
# The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal itself.
# In ancient
# Do you know the names of the three wise monkeys? They are: Mizaru(See no evil), Mikazaru(Hear no evil), and Mazaru(Speak no evil).
# Warner Comm. paid $28 million for the copyright to the song 'Happy Birthday'
# Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
# A comet's tail always points away from the sun
# The "Swine flu" vaccine in 1976 caused more death and illness than the disease it was intended to prevent
# Caffeine increases the power of aspirin and other painkillers, that is why it is found in some medicines.
# The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armor raised their visors to reveal their identity.
# If you get into the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day.
# When a person dies, hearing is the last sense to go. The first sense lost is sight
# Trivia is the Roman goddess of sorcery, hounds and... the crossroads
# In ancient times strangers shook hands to show that they were unarmed
# Strawberries are the only fruits whose seeds grow on the outside
# Avocados have the highest calories of any fruit at 167 calories per hundred grams
# It cost the soft drink industry $100 million a year for thefts committed involving vending machines
# The moon moves about two inches away from the Earth each year
# The Earth gets 100 tons heavier every day due to falling space dust
# Due to earth's gravity it is impossible for mountains to be higher than 15,000 meters
# Men's shirts have the buttons on the right, but women's shirts have the buttons on the left
# Mickey Mouse is known as "Topolino" in
# Soldiers do not march in step when going across bridges because they could set up a vibration which could be sufficient to knock the bridge down
# The painting that won second place in a competition held by the US National Academy of Design was hanging upside down when it was judged
# Everything weighs one percent less at the equator
# For every extra kilogram carried on a space flight, 530 kg of excess fuel are needed at lift-off
# The letter J does not appear anywhere on the periodic table of the elements
# Snake venom is ninety percent protein
# Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature
# Pizza Hut is the world's largest pizza restaurant serving close to 1.7 million pizzas a day
# Beer foam will go down by licking your finger then sticking it in the beer
# Those stars and colors you see when you rub your eyes are called phosphenes
# A full-moon is nine times brighter than a half-moon
# If all of the blood vessels in your body were placed end to end, they would stretch 12,000 miles
# If you were to roll a lung from a human body and out flat it would be the size of a tennis court
# Everyone's tongue print is different, like fingerprints
# Two-thirds of the people in the world have not made a phone call
# Contrary to popular belief, a swallowed chewing gum doesn't stay in the gut. It will pass through the system and be excreted
# The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket
# The Nobel Peace Prize medal depicts 3 naked men with their hands on each others shoulders
# Earth is traveling through space at 660,000 miles per hour
# In 1643, the British Parliament officially abolished the celebration of Christmas
# Santa's Reindeers are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen
# In 1875 the director of the
# The Channel between
# The average person's field of vision encompasses a 200-degree wide angle
# Offered a new pen to write with, 97% of all people will write their own name
# On average, a person has two million sweat glands
# Grapes explode when you put them in the microwave.
# Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
# Your tongue is germ free only if it is pink. If it is white there is a thin film of bacteria on it.
# The attachment of the human skin to muscles is what causes dimples
# 97% of the earth's water is undrinkable
# The Earth gets heavier each day by tons, as meteoric dust settles on it
# All babies are color blind when they are born
# Babies' eyes do not produce tears until the baby is approximately six to eight weeks old
# 14 million people were killed in World War I, 20 million died in flu epidemic in the years that followed
# There are more than 40,000 characters in the Chinese script
# Vision requires more brain power than the other four senses
# On average, men are 40% muscle and 15% fat; women are 23% muscle and 25% fat
# There are no public toilets in
# Urine and tears have the same basic ingredients
# The reason honey is so easy to digest is that it's already been digested by a bee.
# Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die.
# Historically, a blue ribbon has been awarded for first prize
# The motto of M-G-M movie studios is Art for Art's Sake
# The lion that roars in the MGM logo is named "Volney"
# It cost 7 million dollars to build the Titanic and 200 million to make a film about it
# The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.
# The Mercedes-Benz motto is 'Das Beste oder Nichts' meaning 'the best or nothing'.
# The color blue has a calming effect. It causes the brain to release calming hormones.
# There are more Rolls Royce cars in
# X-ray technology has shown there are 3 different versions of the Mona Lisa under the visible one
# The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing.
# It takes only about 8 minutes for the Space Shuttle to accelerate to a speed of more than 27,359 km/hour
# Hydroponics is the technique by which plants are grown in water without soil
# Time magazine named the computer its "Man of the Year" in 1982
# Chewing on gum while cutting onions can help a person from producing tears
# Your left lung is smaller in size than your right lung, it is like that in order to make room for your heart.
# Until babies are six months old, they can breathe and swallow at the same time
# Male human brains are about 10 percent heavier than female brains
# Before 1800 there were no separately designed shoes for right and left feet
# The glossy look to lipstick comes from fish scales, which are iridescent
# To find out if a watermelon is ripe, knock it, and if it sounds hollow then it is ripe
# Honey is used as a center for golf balls and in antifreeze mixtures
# The original name for the butterfly was 'flutterby'
# Your body weight is lower at 9 A.M. than at any other time of the day
# The average person is about a quarter of an inch taller at night
# 40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals
# Without any greenhouse effect, Earth would be cold and lifeless with an average temp of 0.4ºF
# The primary purpose of growing rice in flooded paddies is to drown the weeds surrounding the young seedlings. Rice can, in fact, be grown in drained areas
# Not a single new livestock animal has been domesticated in the last 4,000 years
# Bone China is so called because powdered animal bone is mixed with the clay to give it translucency and whiteness
# The original reason for tablecloths was as a towel to wipe one's fingers and hands on after eating
#
# Mickey Mouse has four fingers on each hand
# The bark of a redwood tree is fireproof. Fires that occur in a redwood forest take place inside the trees
# The storage capacity of human brain exceeds four Terra bytes
# There are an average of 178 sesame seeds on a McDonald's Big Mac bun
# Because of the rotation of the earth, an object can be thrown farther if it is thrown west
# In 2001, the five most valuable brand names in order were Coca-Cola, Microsoft, IBM, GE, and Nokia
# After the "Popeye" comic strip started in 1931, spinach consumption went up by 33 percent in the
# A rainbow can only occur when the sun is 40 degrees or less above the horizon
# At 40° Centigrade a person loses about 14.4 calories per hour by breathing
# Most gemstones contain several elements. Except the diamond it's all carbon
# Onions help reduce cholesterol if eaten after a fatty meal
# It has been calculated that in the last 3,500 years, there have only been 230 years of peace throughout the civilized world
# Feb 1865 and Feb 1999 are the only months in recorded history not to have a full moon
# The citrus soda 7-UP was created in 1929; "7" was selected because the original containers were 7 ounces. "UP" indicated the direction of the bubbles
# The "crack" from a whip is actually the tip of the whip traveling faster than the speed of sound, emitting a small sonic boom
# If the information contained in the DNA could be written down, it would fill a 1000 volume encyclopedia
# It would take 13 years and eight months to stay one night in every room at the MGM Grand Hotel in
# Brain damage occurs at an internal temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit
# The sound you hear when you crack your knuckles is actually the sound of nitrogen gas bubbles bursting
# If you gave each human on earth an equal portion of dry land, (including the uninhabitable areas) everyone would get roughly 100sqft
# Just twenty seconds worth of fuel remained when Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the moon
# There are more than 1,000 chemicals in a cup of coffee
# Pearls melt in vinegar
# There is about 200 times more gold in the worlds oceans, than has been mined in our entire history
# Human hair and finger nails continue to grow after death
# Windmills always turn counter-clockwise. Except for the windmills in
# Eighteen per cent of all global carbon dioxide emissions are from cars
# Onions get their distinctive smell by soaking up sulfur from the soil
# Mango is the number one selling fruit in the World.
# The only part of the body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air
# No nation has ever won the Miss Universe, Miss World, and Miss International Pageant in the same year?
# About 85% of the plant life on earth is in the oceans
# In most watch advertisements the time displayed on the watch is 10:10 because then the arms frame the brand of the watch and make it look like it's smiling
# If a person counted at the rate of 100 numbers a minute and kept counting for 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week, it would take a little over 4 weeks to count to one million and just over 80 years to reach a billion
# An average person perspires a gut-wrenching 278 gallons of sweat each year
# Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made out of wood
# A banana is about 75% water. They grow on a rhizome, not a tree. You are more likely to be a target for mosquitoes if you consume bananas.
TOP Geography:
#
#
# Because heat expands the metal, the
# There are 1,792 steps to the top of the
# In Calama, a town in the Atacama Desert of Chile, it has never rained
# The only man-made structure visible from space is the
# Birth-control campaigns in
#
# The
# The Channel between
# The Hudson River along the
# There is now an ATM at McMurdo Station in
# The Australian term for extras in cricket are 'sundries'
# In early
# Ancient Persians gave New Year's gifts of eggs, symbolizing productivity
# Due to precipitation, for a few weeks
# Vietnamese currency consists only of paper money; no coins
#
# There are more Rolls Royce cars in
# Until 1896,
# It snowed in the
#
# The only nation whose name begins with an A, but doesn't end in an A is
# The
# The world's only city whose name consists solely of vowels is
# Soldiers in the
#
# The
# Big Ben is actually the name of the largest bell inside the
# In 1867 the
# Every year in
# The world's longest street is in
# In the
# Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, was born in the ancient southeastern Turkish town of
#
# The Nullarbor Plain of Australia covers 100,000 square miles without a tree.
#
#
# In
# There are twice as many kangaroos in
# There are no public toilets in
# Mickey Mouse is known as "Topolino" in
# The oldest national flag still in existence, that of
#
# In 1949, the temperature in part of
#
# Windmills always turn counter-clockwise. Except for the windmills in
# It was once against the law to slam your car door in a city in
# In 1980,
# There is a hotel in
# In the great fire of
# The longest fence in the world is in
# In
#
#
#
#
#
#
# In
# In
# In
# On every continent there is a city called
#
#
# The country with the most Post offices is
#
# The world's largest gold mine is in
#
#
#
# In
# It's illegal to drink beer out of a bucket while you're sitting on a curb in
# It's against the law to pawn your dentures in
# It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a certain churches in
# The state of
# In
# It was once against the law to have a pet dog in a city in
# There are more plastic flamingos in the U.S, than real ones!
# About 3000 years ago, most Egyptians died by the time they were 30!
# In
# A company in
# Q is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the
# In
TOP People:
# Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of
# Einstein couldn't speak fluently when he was nine. His parents thought he might be retarded
# In 1935, Jesse Owens broke 4 world records in 45 minutes
# Mother Teresa's real name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu
# George Washington died the last hour of the last day of the last week of the last month of the last year of the 18th century
# St Francis of
# The quickest ascent of Everest, in 10 hours, 56 minutes, was achieved by Sherpa Lhakpa Gelu
# Abraham Lincoln held a liquor license and operated several taverns
# Walt Disney was once fired by a newspaper editor for lack of imagination
# Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts
# Alexander the Great was an epileptic
# Mozart wrote the music for the song Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star when he was just five years old.
# Thomas Edison's total school education consisted of three months
# Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, was born in the ancient southeastern Turkish town of
TOP The Most/ Longest/ Shortest/ Tallest/ Smallest/ Biggest/ Fastest:
# The oldest national flag still in existence, that of
# The longest movie made lasts 85 hours and is fittingly titled "The Cure for Insomnia.
# The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail (HP),
# The most common disease in the world is tooth decay
# Ninety percent of all species that have become extinct have been birds
# The youngest Pope was 11 years old.
# The quickest ascent of Everest, in 10 hours, 56 minutes, was achieved by Sherpa Lhakpa Gelu
# The longest fence in the world is in
# The country with the most Post offices is
TOP The First/The Last:
# The first Valentine's Day card was sent by the imprisoned Duke of Orlean to his wife in 1415.
# Richard Cadbury invented the first Valentine's Day candy box in the late 1800s.
# The first novel, called The story of Genji, was written in 1007 by Japanese noble woman, Murasaki Shikibu.
# The first company that Bill Gates ever ran created machines that would record the number of cars passing a given point on a street.
# The first personal computer was called the Altair and was made by a company called MITS in 1974. It came in a kit and had to be assembled by the user.
# The Hollywood sign was first erected in 1923. Conceived as a real estate ad, it originally read Hollywoodland.
# The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient
# 26 December, Boxing day, was traditionally known as St. Stephen's Day, after the first Christian martyr.
# The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in
#
# The Chinese first invented the system of zoos, and called them Parks of Intelligence.
# The first striptease dance was performed in
# The first time the color khaki was used for uniforms in a war was in 1880, during the Afghan War.
# Butter was the first food product allowed by law to have artificial coloring.
# The term skyscraper was first used in 1888, to describe 11-story building.
# Benjamin Franklin was
# When tennis was first invented in 1874, it was called sphairistike.
# When volleyball was first invented in 1895, it was called mintonette.
# The first animal in space was a female dog named "Laika".
# The first hard drive available for the Apple II had a capacity of 5 Megabytes.
#
# The first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903, and used a tomato can for a carburetor.
# The first Academy Awards (or Oscar's) were presented on 16 May 1929.
#
# In 1937, the first postage stamp to commemorate Christmas was issued in
# The first recorded reference to cricket dates back to 1272.
# The first domain name ever registered was Symbolics.com in Mar 85.
# The first music video was aired on August 1, 1981 "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Bugles on MTV.
# The first police force was established in
# The first product to have a UPC bar code on its packaging was Wrigley's gum.
#
# Pamela Lee-Anderson is
# The first city in modern history to reach 1 million people was
#
# King Charles VII, assassinated in 1167, was the first Swedish king with the name of Charles. Charles I, II, III, IV, V, never existed.
# The value of "pi" was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians.
# The World's first university was established in
# The first place in the western world to give women the right to vote was an island known as "Man".
# The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on
TOP The Phobias:
# If you are afraid you might die laughing, you are suffering from cherophobia
# Someone with an irrational fear of meat is called a carnophobic.
# Unatractiphobia is the fear of ugliness or ugly people.
# If you are a 'scoptophobic' , you have an intense fear of being seen.
# 'Mageiricophobia' is the intense fear of having to cook.
# Syngenesophobia is the fear of relatives
# Automatonophobia is a fear of ventriloquist' s dummies, animatronic creatures, wax statues or anything that falsly represents a sentient being
# Paedophobia is a fear of children
# Clinophobia is the fear of beds
# "Hippopotomonstroses quippedaliophobi a" is the fear of long words
# Phobatrivaphobia is a fear of trivia about phobias
# Lyssophobia is a morbid fear of insanity
# Hypnophobia is a morbid fear of sleep and falling asleep
# Elizabeth I of
# Arachibutyrophobia is a fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth
# The fear of vegetables is called Lachanophobia! ..
# Taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive!
# Clinophobia is the fear of beds!
# Acrophobia is the fear of heights
# Claustrophobia is the fear of being closed in.
# Arachnophobia is the Fear Of Spiders
# Hemophobia is the fear of blood.
# Hydrophobia/ Aquaphobia is the fear of water.
# Fear of Beautiful women is Caligynephobia.
# Fear of Men is Androphobia.
# Fear of Kissing is Philemaphobia or Philematophobia
# Fear of Love, sexual love is Erotophobia.
# Fear of falling in Love, or being in Love is Philophobia
# Fear of Love play is Malaxophobia or Sarmassophobia.
Words:
# There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange, purple,and month
# The real name of Jesus was Yeshua. Jesus is the Greek version of the name.
# A "funambulist" is a tight-rope walker.
# Ernest Vincent Wright's novel Gadsby has 50,110 words, none of which contains the letter "E".
# The word encyclopaedia comes from two Greek words meaning "a circle of learning."
# Carol comes from the Greek word Choraulein which referred to a dance accompanied by a flute.
# The word Christmas comes from the English phrase, Christes Masse, literally Christ's mass.
# The word 'puppy' comes from the French poupee', meaning doll.
# When two words are combined to form a single word (motor + hotel = motel, breakfast + lunch = brunch) the new word is called a "portmanteau".
# The term "hooch" for liquor comes from the Hoochinoo Indians, known for their ability to make liquor so strong it could knock someone out.
#
# The word "tattoo" comes from the Tahitian word "tattau," which means "to mark".
# The two lines that connect your top lip to the bottom of your nose are known as the philtrum
# The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language.
# The word "novel" originally derived from the Latin novus, meaning "new".
# The word "gymnasium" comes from the Greek word gymnazein which means "to exercise naked".
# The word Karate means, empty hand.
# The word "lethologica" describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.
# The word salary came from the word salt in Roman times. Salt was used as a trading medium - money.
# The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
# Someone who is "pauciloquent" uses as few words as possible when speaking.
# Poliosis is the graying of the hair. It comes from polios, the Greek word for "gray".
# The word 'denim' comes from 'de Nimes',
# The largest crossword puzzle ever published had 2631 clues across and 2922 clues down. It took up 16 sq. feet of space.
# The phrase "honeymoon" came from the Greeks. It was customary for the bride's family to supply the groom with a month (or full moon cycle) of the wedding wine, which tasted like honey.
# The word "Oral-B" is a combination of oral hygiene and the letter B, which stands for the word better.
# Graffito is the little-used singular of the much used plural word graffiti.
# Orange and black became Halloween colors because orange is associated with harvests and black is associated with death "Hallow" is an old word meaning holy, while "e'en" is Scottish for evening.
# The word "alphabet" Comes from the first 2 letters of the Greek alphabet, Alpha and Beta.
#
# The word 'Checkmate' in chess comes from the Persian phrase 'Shah Mat,' which means 'the king is dead'.
# There are only four words in the English language which end in '-dous': tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
# President Kennedy was the fastest random speaker in the world with upwards of 350 words per minute.
# First newspaper crossword puzzle was published in a Sunday supplement to the New York World in 1913
# The word "listen" contains the same letters as the word "silent".
# The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable".
# "Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.
# The word "samba" means "to rub navels together."
# Did you know that the words 'lakh' and 'crore' do not exist in the English language? The two words are only used in
# The scientific term for nose-picking is "rhinotillexonamia".
# In
# Skepticisms is the longest word that alternates hands when typing!
# Know what Mafia means? "Morte Allafrancia Italia Anela "Death to the French is
# A fireplace is called a mantelpiece because, at one time, people hung their coats over the fireplace to dry them.
# The "left bank" of a river is the left side as you look downstream
# The Rx sign that pharmacists use was originally the astrological sign for Jupiter
# Taresthesia is what you call it when your foot falls asleep
# The original name for the butterfly was 'flutterby'
# Women who wink at men are known as "nictitating" women
# The letters KGB stand for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti
# Hydroponics is the technique by which plants are grown in water without soil
# The permanent teeth that erupt to replace their primary predecessors (baby teeth) are called succedaneous teeth
# The raised reflective dots in the middle of highways are called Botts dots
# Sunbeams that shine down through the clouds are called crespucular rays
# A "pogonip" is a heavy winter fog containing ice crystals
# The thin line of cloud that forms behind an aircraft at high altitudes is called a contrail
# The forward slash character on your keyboard is also known as a slant, virgule or solidus
# In the Chinese written language, the ideograph for "trouble" represents two women under one roof
# A misomaniac is someone who hates everything
# The infinite sign is called a Lemniscate
# Priests in
# The act of yawning and stretching is called "pandiculation."
# A group of crows is called a murder
# A "clue" originally meant a ball of thread. This is why one is said to unravel the clues of a mystery
# In circus parlance, a "Joey" is a clown with at least five years of experience.
# 'Smithee' is a pseudonym that filmmakers use when they don't want their names to appear in the credits.
# A collector who attempts to collect an example of every item in a particular field is called a 'completist' .
# Mummies, are so called because of the wax (or 'mum' ) which is smeared on to the bandages for waterproofing
# The "O" when used as a prefix in Irish surnames means "descendant of"
# The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle
# A 'bibliophile' is one who collects rare books.
# A 'bibliopole' is a seller of rare books.
# A nihilist believes in nothing
# The little bits of paper left over when holes are punched in data cards or tape are called "chad"
# The name "piano" is an abbreviation of Cristofori's original name for the instrument: piano et forte, or soft and loud
# The loop on a belt that holds the loose-end is called a "keeper"
# Blype is the skin that peels off after a bad sunburn
# The relationship of a godparent to the real parent of a child is called 'compaternity'
# A 'nullipara' is a woman who has never given birth to a child.
# "Whirly Girls" is the name of the International Association of Women Helicopter Pilots.
# Obsessive nose picking is referred to as rhinotillexomania
# Switching letters is called spoonerism. For example, saying jag of Flapan, instead of flag of
# The chef's tall hat is called a "toque".
# A building in which silence is enforced, like a library or school room, is referred to as a "silentium"
# Fiat stands for Fabbrica Italiana Automobile Torino, the name of the Italian manufacturer
# "Steatopygia" means an accumulation of fat in the buttocks
# The little bumps on the surface of a table tennis paddle are called pips
# A "quidnunc" is a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip
# The 'v' in the name of a court case does not stand for 'versus', but for 'and' (in civil proceedings) or 'against' (in criminal proceedings)
# The ZIP in Zip-code stands for Zoning Improvement Plan
# In genealogy, the female side of the family is called the distaff side the male side is the spear side.
# If you are taking a class in pistology, you are not studying pistols, but rather, faith.
# The science of determining characteristic traits by examining a person's shoes is scarpology
# The study of stupidity is called 'monology'
# The search for the existence of ghosts is Eidology
# The study of word origins is called etymology
# Synesthesia is a rare condition in which the senses are combined.
# Synesthetes see words, taste colors and shapes and feel flavors.
# Groaking is to watch people eating food hoping they'll offer you some.
# The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P
# The little hole in the sink that lets the water drain out, instead of flowing over the side, is called a "porcelator"
# The 'You are here' arrow on a map is called the IDEO locator.
# The term Cop comes from Constable on Patrol, which is a term used in
# Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command "go hang yourself."
# The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
# A person who collects teddy bears is called an archtophilist.
# The term karaoke means "empty orchestra" in Japanese.
TOP Sports/Games:
# Most soccer players run 7 miles in a game.
# Holes in a golf course must be 4.25 inches in diameter, and at least 4 inches deep.
# In tennis, zero points is referred to as love, which is possibly derived from the French word for egg, l'oeuf, referring to the physical appearance of the number zero.
# The Olympic was the sister ship of the Titanic, and she provided twenty-five years of service.
# The sport with the most number of officials with relation to players is tennis. There are 13 officials for two players.
# The spots on dice are called "pips."
# If you add up all the number on a roulette wheel, that is 1through 36, you get '666', the biblical number of fallen man.
# The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail (HP),
# The Australian term for extras in cricket are 'sundries'
# Since 1896, the beginning of the modern Olympics, only
# In 1935, Jesse Owens broke 4 world records in 45 minutes
# The metal instrument used in shoe stores to measure feet is called the Brannock device
# Sunbeams that shine down through clouds are called crepuscular rays
TOP Animal Kingdom:
# Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
# Sharks have no air bladders, so they must swim constantly or they'll sink.
# Cockroaches can go without eating for three months, as long as they have water.
# Birds are largely unaffected by spicy things, like chillies, as they are not sensitive to capsaicin, the hot stuff in chilies.
# The male penguin incubates the single egg laid by his mate. During the two month period he does not eat, and will lose up to 40% of his body weight.
# "Mako sharks" show cannibalistic tendencies while still in mother's womb; older embryos will eat the younger embryos and eggs.
# Dalmatians are born without spots.
# Birds do not sleep in their nests. They may occasionally nap in them, but they actually sleep in other places.
# The owl is the only bird to drop its upper eyelid to wink. All other birds raise their lower eyelids.
# "Sanguinary ants" raid the nests of other ant tribes, kill the queen, and kidnap many of the workers
# Frogs do not need to drink water as they absorb the water through their skin.
# Humans, Ants and Chimpanzees are the only organisms that wage organized warfare.
# The penguin is the only bird that can swim but can't fly.
# Kiwis are the only birds that hunt by smell.
# Ninety percent of all species that have become extinct have been birds.
# The elephant is the only mammal with four knees.
# Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
# Mosquitoes are attracted to the color blue twice as much as any other color
# There are twice as many kangaroos in
# Centipedes always have an uneven pairs of walking legs.
# Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks.
# Male and female giraffes tend to eat from different parts of a tree to ensure that the sexes do not compete for food.
# The albatross can glide on air currents for several days and can even sleep while in flight.
# A crocodile always grows new teeth to replace the old teeth.
# Bulls are colorblind, it is the motion of the cape which angers them.
# Giraffes rarely sleep more than 20 minutes a day
# Not a single new livestock animal has been domesticated in the last 4,000 years.
# Honeybees navigate using the sun as a compass, even when it is hidden behind clouds
# An ant can survive for up to two weeks underwater.
# Eel-skin wallets have been known to demagnetize credit cards
# In the magic world of seahorses it is the male who gets pregnant and has the babies.
# A blind Chameleon is still able to change colours to match its environment.
# Spiders inject their victims with a chemical that dissolves them. Then the spiders drink their lunch with their mouths which are soda straw-like.
# When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.
# If you cut the head off a cockroach, it will continue to live for up to many more weeks.
# Male mosquitoes are vegetarians. Only female bites.
# A cheetah can accelerate from 0 to 70 km/h in 2 seconds
# Nine out of every 10 living things live in the ocean
# Sharks never get sick, as far as is known, they are immune to every known disease including cancer
# Sharks will eat anything. The only exception, is that they will not eat anything in the vicinity of where they give birth. This is because they are so stupid, this is the only way nature protects them from accidentally eating their own babies
# If a drop of liquor gets on a scorpion, it will immediately commit suicide with its own stinger
# The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own weight
# Female black widow spiders eat their husbands after mating. That's how they got that name
# All shrimp are born male, but slowly grow into females as they mature
# Frogs never drink. They absorb water from their surroundings by osmosis
# About 70% of all organisms in the world are Bacteria
# Male bats have the highest rate of homosexuality of any mammal
# Ants stretch when they wake up. They also appear to yawn in a very human manner before taking up the tasks of the day
# To make half a kilo of honey, bees must collect nectar from over 2 million individual flowers
# Fish that live more than 800 meters below the ocean surface don't have eyes
# Tiger Snake of Australia is the most poisonous snake in the world. 1 mg of its venom is enough to kill a man
# The common silkworm has eleven brains. It only uses five of them.
# A newborn kangaroo is about 1 inch in length.
# Cats, camels and giraffes are the only animals in the world that walk right foot, right foot, left foot, left foot, rather than right foot, left foot
# Polar bears are the only mammal with hair on the soles of its feet
# A monotreme is a mammal that lays eggs but suckles its young on milk once they have hatched
# Flamingos get their pink color from the shrimp they eat. The more shrimp they eat the deeper pink they become
# Water based mammals like dolphins and whales swish their tails up and down. Only fish move them sideways
# A lion's roar can be heard from five miles away
# Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating
# Termites eat wood twice as fast when listening to heavy metal music
# Dolphins don't automatically breath; they have to tell themselves to do it
# Ostriches stick their heads into the sand to find underground drinking water
# Pigeons can be killed by feeding them uncooked rice, either coz their stomach can't handle the carbohydrates or it swells in their throats and chokes them
# The two-foot long bird called a Kea that lives in
# To make just one pound of honey, bees must collect nectar from over two million seperate flowers
# Cuban bee hummingbird is the smallest hummingbird, only 57 mm (2¼ in) long and half of this is tail and bill. It weighs less than 2 g and is the smallest warm-blooded animal
# The color white in the animal kingdom means 'danger' or 'caution'. On safari in
# Cockroach can detect movement as small as 2,000 times the diameter of a hydrogen atom
# The cockroach is the fastest animal on 6 legs, covering a meter a second
# The cockroach has a high resistance to radiation and is the creature most likely to survive a nuclear war
# The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning it's head are the rabbit and the parrot
# Did you know that a giraffe can kill a lion with one kick
# A sea urchin walks on the tips of its teeth
# Humans are the only animals to sleep on their backs
# Perfume is frequently made from - among other things- a slippery, musky substance called Ambergris which is vomited up by certain species of whales from time to time
# The female angler-fish weights up to half a ton. The male, however, is only a few millimeters long, and spends his whole life attached to her nose
# The Panda bear is expected to become extinct by about 2040, barring a drastic change of events
# Hummingbirds are the only animal that can fly backwards
# Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants
# It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky
# Elephants have been known to remain standing after they die
# The embryos of tiger sharks fight each other while in their mother's womb, the survivor being the baby shark that is born
# A crocodile can't move its tongue and cannot chew. Its digestive juices are so strong that it can digest a steel nail.
# The heart of a blue whale is the size of a small car. The tongue of a blue whale is as long as an elephant
# A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes
# Giraffes are unable to cough
# Dolphins swim in circles while they sleep with the eye on the outside of the circle open to keep watch for predators. After a certain amount of time they reverse and swim in the opposite direction with the opposite eye open
# A newborn turkey chick has to be taught to eat, or it will starve
# Owls are the only birds that can see the color blue.
# A hippopotamus can run faster than a man.
# It would take 27,000 spiders, each spinning a single web, to produce a pound of web
# A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body
# A woodpecker can peck twenty times a second
# Ants don't sleep
# Aphids are born pregnant without the benefit of sex. Aphids can give birth 10 days after being born themselves
# Camel milk does not curdle.
# Each day in the
# German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dogs.
# Large kangaroos cover more than 30 feet with each jump
# It takes forty minutes to hard boil an ostrich egg
# It takes a lobster approximately seven years to grow to be one pound
No two spider webs are the same
# It takes 35 to 65 minks to produce the average mink coat. The numbers for other types of fur coats are: beaver - 15; fox - 15 to 25; ermine - 150; chinchilla - 60 to 100
# In its entire lifetime, the average worker bee produces 1/12th teaspoon of honey.
# The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat
# The Pacific Giant Octopus, the largest octopus in the world, grows from the size of pea to a 150 pound behemoth potentially 30 feet across in only two years, its entire life-span.
# The penalty for killing a cat, 4,000 years ago in
# The fastest -moving land snail, the common garden snail, has a speed of 0.0313 mph.
# Swans are the only birds with penises
# Snails produce a colorless, sticky discharge that forms a protective carpet under them as they travel along. The discharge is so effective that they can crawl along the edge of a razor without cutting themselves
# The animal responsible for the most human deaths world-wide is the mosquito.
# The dachshund is one of the oldest dog breeds in history (dating back to ancient
# A zebra is white with black stripes
# The turkey was named for what was wrongly thought to be its country of origin
# The venom of a female black widow spider is more potent than that of a rattlesnake
# The world's largest mammal, the blue whale, weighs 50 tons at birth. Fully grown, it weighs as much as 150 tons
# There are more insects in one square mile of rural land than there are human beings on the entire earth
# When a female horse and male donkey mate, the offspring is called a mule, but when a male horse and female donkey mate, the offspring is called a hinny
# When a queen bee lays the fertilized eggs that will develop into new queens, only one of the newly laid queens actually survives. The first new queen that emerges from her cell destroys all other queens in their cells and, thereafter, reigns alone
# When ants find food, they lay down a chemical trail, called a pheromone, so that other ants can find their way from the nest to the food source
# If an octopus is hungry enough, it will eat its own arms.
# Insects consume 10% of the world's food supply every year
# The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times
# The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds!
# Cat's urine glows under a black-light!
# The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1
# Research indicates that mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas.
# Carnivorous animals will not eat another animal that has been hit by a lightning strike.
# Over 10000 birds a year die from smashing into windows
# The Puffer Fish contains a poison that is 500 times deadlier than cyanide, yet it's a delicacy in
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