Funny Facts

Over 1,000 tidbits of Information

that are
Astonishing. Bewildering. Confounding. Discerning.
And Educative too !

Thanks to :
Dr Shashi Kumar N, Ph D
and Asha Gupta

Presented by :
Indra Mohan
 Funny Facts
Google is actually the common name for a number with a million zeros.
Zero is the only number that cannot be represented by Roman numerals.
It has been proved 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 1962, an outbreak of contagious laughter in Tanganyika lasted for six months
and even caused schools to be closed.
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 !
It takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to circle the whole body.
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-out a human lung and flatten it, it would be the size of a
tennis court.
Everyone's tongue print is different, like fingerprints.
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
Tomato Ketchup was once used as medicine in the United States, and was sold
as ‘Dr.Miles Compound Extract of Tomato’.
When you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red.
Back in the 1600s, thermometers were filled with Brandy instead of mercury.
The quartz crystal in your wristwatch vibrates 32,768 times a second.
An earthquake on 16 December 1811 caused parts of the Mississippi River to
flow backwards.
Shoe sizes were standardised in Britain in 1885.
The average person's eyes will remain closed for 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.
Funny Facts 2
A nautical mile measures 6,080 feet, while a land or statute mile is 5,280 feet.
No one can drown in the Dead Sea. It is 25 percent salt, which makes the water
very heavy.
Plants watered with warm [not hot] water grow larger and faster than plants
watered with cold water.
Our Earth's oceans contain 7½ 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 produce half a kilo of honey, bees have to collect nectar from over 2 million
individual flowers.
Honey is used as a center for golf balls and in antifreeze mixtures.
‘Heroin’ is the brand name under which 'Bayer' once marketed morphine.
‘Nokia’, the communications giant, was founded in 1865 as a wood-pulp mill by
Fredrik Idestam.
Tourists visiting Iceland should know that tipping at a restaurant is considered
an insult !
People in nudist colonies play volleyball more than any other sport.
Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952, but he declined.
Einstein couldn't speak fluently when he was nine. His parents thought he might
be retarded.
Astronauts cannot 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 !
Due to the speed at which Earth revolves around the Sun, it is impossible for a
solar eclipse to last for 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 can see her future husband in dreams.
There are over 25 million bubbles waiting to burst out of a bottle of Champagne,
the moment it is opened.
It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out
and can be recycled an infinite amount of times !
The ‘hot’ness of peppers is rated on the Scoville scale.
Gold is the only metal that does not rust, even if it is buried in the ground for
thousands of years.
There is about 200 times more gold in the world’s oceans, than has been mined
in our entire history.
Funny Facts 3
The tongue is the only muscle in the human body that is attached at only one
end.
If you stop feeling thirsty, you must drink more water - for when a human body
gets dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.
Each year 2,000,000 smokers either quit smoking, or die of tobacco-related
diseases.
When first marketed in 1886, Coca Cola was billed as an ‘Esteemed Brain Tonic’
and ‘Intellectual Beverage’.
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 acids 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 London that sold
seashells.
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 naturally. It can be propagated only by the
hand of man.
Airports at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density.
Selling ‘Fish and Chips’ officially remained an offensive trade until 1940, due to
the smell it produces.
The University of Alaska spans four time zones.
The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal itself.
In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was the traditional way of proposing
marriage. Catching it meant she accepted.
The names of the ‘three wise monkeys’ are Mizaru (See no evil), Mikazaru (Hear
no evil), and Mazaru (Speak no evil).
Warner Communications paid US $28 million for the copyright of 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 released 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 armour 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.
Funny Facts 4
‘Trivia’ is the Roman goddess of sorcery, hounds and 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.
The thefts, involving vending machines, committed each year cost the soft drink
industry US $100 millions.
The moon is moving about two inches away from the Earth each year.
The Earth is getting 100 tons heavier every day, due to falling space dust.
Due to our 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 their buttons
on the left.
Mickey Mouse is known as ‘Topolino’ in Italy.
Soldiers do not march in step when going across bridges because this could
cause 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 in 1992, was hanging upside down when it was judged.
Everything weighs one percent less at the Earth's 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 elements.
Snake venom is ninety percent protein.
Mercury is the only metal that is a liquid at room temperature.
‘Pizza Hut’ is the world's largest pizza restaurant, with its branches serving close
to 1.7 million pizzas a day.
Beer foam will subside, if you lick your finger and then stick it in the beer.
Those stars and colours that you see when you rub your eyes are called
‘phosphenes’.
A full-moon is nine times brighter than a half-moon.
Two-thirds of the people in the world have never made a phone call.
Contrary to popular belief, a swallowed chewing gum doesn't stay in the gut. It
will simply pass through the digestive system and be excreted.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube, which
caused a chocolate bar in his pocket to melt.
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.
In English folklore, the names of Santa's Reindeers are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer,
Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen !
In 1875, the director of the US patent office resigned. He said that there was
nothing left to invent !
Funny Facts 5
The Channel between England and France grows by about 300 millimeters each
year.
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, an adult human being 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.
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 epidemics 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 an average, men are 40% muscle and 15% fat. Women are 23% muscle and
25% fat.
There are no public toilets in Peru.
Urine and tears have the same basic ingredients.
The reason why honey is so easy to digest is that it has already been digested by
a bee.
Every time you sneeze, some of your brain cells die.
Historically, a blue ribbon is awarded to denote the 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 had cost only 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 colour blue has a calming effect, as it causes the brain to release calming
hormones.
There are more Rolls Royce cars in Hong Kong than anywhere else in the world.
X-ray technology has shown that 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.
Funny Facts 6
Hydroponics is the technique by which plants are grown in water without soil.
In 1982, Time magazine named the personal computer (PC) its ‘Man of the Year’.
Chewing on gum while cutting onions can help a person avoid shedding tears !
The human left lung is smaller in size than the right lung - to provide space for
the 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 CE, there were no separately designed shoes for right and left feet.
The glossy finish in lipsticks comes from fish scales, which are iridescent.
To find out if a watermelon is ripe, knock it. If it sounds hollow, then it is ripe.
The original English 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 its Happy Meals.
Without any greenhouse effect, our Earth would be cold and lifeless with an
average temp of 0.4ºF.
The primary purpose of growing a crop of rice in flooded nurseries is to drown
the weeds that will surround the young seedlings. Rice can even be grown in
drained areas.
No new livestock animal has been domesticated during the last 4,000 years.
Bone China is called so, because powdered animal bone is mixed with the clay to
give it translucency and whiteness.
The original purpose for tablecloths was as a towel to wipe one's fingers and
hands while eating.
Mount Everest moves approximately 2.4 inches (10 cm) in a Northeasterly
direction every year.
Mickey Mouse has only 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 a human brain exceeds four Terrabytes (1 TB =
1,099,511,627,776 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 was launched in 1931, spinach consumption went
up by 33 percent in the US.
A rainbow can only occur when the sun is 40°, 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 which is all carbon.
Raw 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 civilised world.
Funny Facts 7
February 1865 and February 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.
The sound you hear when you crack your knuckles is actually the sound of
nitrogen gas bubbles bursting.
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 Las Vegas.
Brain damage occurs at an internal temperature of 105° Fahrenheit.
If you gave each human on Earth an equal portion of dry land (including the
uninhabitable areas), everyone would get roughly 100 sq. ft.
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.
Human hair and finger nails continue to grow even after death.
Windmills, except for those in Ireland, are always designed to revolve counter-
clockwise.
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 largest selling fruit in the world. And India is the world’s biggest
producer of mangoes.
The only part of the human body that receives 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 on counting
for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, it would take a little over 4 weeks to count to
one million, and over 80 years to reach counting a billion !
An average person perspires a gut-wrenching 278 gallons of sweat each year.
Because metal was scarce during World War II, the Oscars given out in the war
years were made out of wood.
A banana is about 75% water. They grow on a herb (rhizome), not a tree. You
are more likely to be targetted by mosquitoes if you regularly eat bananas.
Iceland is the world's oldest functioning democracy.
Mongolia is the world's largest landlocked country.
Funny Facts 8
Because heat expands the metal, the Eiffel Tower always leans away from the
Sun.
There are 1,792 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
In Calama, a town in the Atacama Desert of Chile, it has never rained !
The only man-made structure visible from space is the Great Wall of China.
Birth-control campaigns in Egypt in the late 1970s failed because village women
ended up wearing the pills in lockets, as talismans.
Niagara Falls has moved about ten miles upstream in the last 10,000 years. The
falls are eroding at the rate of 5 feet per year.
The Sahara desert is expanding half a mile south every year.
The Hudson River along the island of Manhattan flows in either direction
depending on the tide.
There is now an ATM at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, which has a winter
population of 200 people.
The Australian term for extras in cricket are 'sundries'.
In ancient Rome, March 1 was New Year's Day. Later, the Romans made January
1 the beginning of the year.
Ancient Persians gave New Year's gifts of eggs, symbolising productivity.
Due to precipitation, Mount K2 (part of the Karakoram Range, known as the
Savage Mountain, located on the border between the Taxkorgan Tajik County of
Xinjiang, China, and Gilgit, in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan) is taller than Mount
Everest, for a few weeks in each year.
Vietnamese currency (‘Dong’ : US $ 1 = 19,470.00 VND) now consists only of
paper money, and no coins.
Canada has cancelled all national beauty contests, as of 1992, claiming they are
degrading to women.
There are more Rolls Royce cars in Hong Kong than anywhere else in the world.
Until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world.
It snowed in the Sahara Desert, in February 1979.
Australia's national anthem is called Advance Australia Fair.
The only nation whose name begins with an A, but doesn't end in an A is
Afghanistan !
The Atlantic Ocean gets wider by a little more than one inch every year.
The world's only city whose name consists solely of vowels is Aiea, in Hawaii,
USA.
Los Angeles' full name is ‘El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de
Porciuncula’. In English this means 'The City of Angels'.
The Netherlands has built 800 miles of massive dikes and sea walls to hold back
the sea. If it wasn't for these walls, 40% of the country would be flooded.
Soldiers in the Netherlands are not required to salute officers.
Big Ben is actually the name of the largest bell inside the London clock tower,
not of the clock itself.
In 1867, the United States paid Russia only $7.2 million (2 cents an acre) for
Alaska !
Every year there is a ‘Thieves Fair’ in France, where people are encouraged to
try to steal things from the stalls !
Funny Facts 9
The world's longest street is Yonge Street in Toronto, Canada - which is 1,190
miles long !

In the kingdom of Bhutan, all citizens officially become a year older on New
Year's Day.
Santa Claus, or St. Nicholas, was born in the ancient southeastern Turkish town
of Lycia, early in the fourth century CE.
Belgium is the only country that has never imposed censorship for adult films.
The Nullarbor Plain of Australia covers 100,000 square miles without even a
single tree.
Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country.
Australia is the only continent on earth without an active volcano.
During the 16th and 17th centuries CE, anyone caught drinking coffee in Turkey,
was put to death.
There are twice as many kangaroos in Australia as there are people.
There are no public toilets in Peru.
The oldest national flag, still in existence, is that of Denmark, which dates back
to the 13th century CE.
Nepal is the only country that does not have a rectangular or square flag.
In 1949, the temperature in parts of Portugal suddenly soared to 158°F for a
couple of minutes. Till date, no one can explain why.
Nauru is the only country in the world with no official capital.
It was once against the law to slam your car door in a city in Switzerland.
In 1980, Bhutan was the only country in the world with no telephones.
There is a hotel in Sweden built entirely out of ice, which is rebuilt every year.
In the great fire of London in 1666, half of London was burnt down but only 6
people were injured.
The longest fence in the world is in Australia, and it runs for over 3,436 miles
(5,530 km).
In Switzerland, it is illegal to flush the toilet after 10 pm, if you live in an apartment.
Holland is the lowest lying country in the world. It is estimated that 40 percent
of the land is below sea level.
Tokyo has had 24 recorded instances of people either killed or receiving serious
skull fractures while bowing to each other in the traditional Japanese greeting.
Netherlands is the most densely populated country in the world, followed by
Belgium, then Japan.
Perth, Australia, is the most isolated city on earth. It lies 200 miles across
impenetrable desert from the nearest city or town, of any size.
India has never invaded any country, in her last 10,000 years of history.
In Thailand, it is illegal to leave your house if you are not wearing underwear.
In Israel, picking your nose is illegal.
While prostitution is legal in Sweden, it is illegal for anyone to use the services of
a prostitute.
In every continent of the world, there is a city named Rome.
Funny Facts 10
Vatican City is the smallest country in the world with a population of 1,000 and
a size of 108.7 acres.
China has only about 200 family names.
India has the largest number of Post offices (over 152,792), compared to just
over 38,000 in the United States.
Colombia, South America, produces the maximum emeralds in the world.
The world's largest gold mine is in Juneau, Alaska.
Namibia, in southern Africa, supplies the most valuable diamonds in the world.
Switzerland attracts the most ‘suicide tourists’ !
India has no rabbits in the wild - only hares.
In Tokyo, a bicycle proves faster than a car in most urban trips of less than 50
minutes !
It is illegal to drink beer out of a bucket while you're sitting on a curb in St. Louis,
Missouri !
It is against the law to pawn your dentures in Las Vegas !
It is against the law to burp, or sneeze in churches in Omaha, Nebraska !
The state of Florida is bigger than England !
In Natoma, Kansas, it's illegal to throw knives at men wearing striped suits.
It was once against the law to have a pet dog in a city in Iceland !
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 Bangladesh, kids as young as 15 can be jailed for cheating in their final
examinations !
A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat, so you can finish a meal
by eating your plate !
‘Q’ is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any
state in the United States !
In Tokyo, they sell toupees for dogs !
In 1935, Jesse Owens broke 4 world records in 45 minutes.
Mother Teresa's original name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu.
George Washington died in 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 Assisi introduced Christmas Carols to formal church services.
The quickest ascent of Mount 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 (‘Barbie Doll’) 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.
Funny Facts 11
The longest movie ever made lasts 85 hours, and is fittingly titled ‘The Cure for
Insomnia’ (inability to sleep) !
The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail (HP), India, 2444 mts above sea
level.
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 (Pope Benedict IX, 1012 – 1056) was 11 years old.
The first-ever 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-ever novel, titled ‘The Tale of Genji’, was written in 1007 CE, 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 Babylon about 4,000 years ago.
The 26th of December, or ‘Boxing Day’, was traditionally known as St. Stephen's
Day, after the first Christian martyr.
The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in Germany in 1531.
Great Britain was the first country to issue postage stamps, and they're the only
nation today that doesn't use a national name on their stamps.
The Chinese first introduced the system of maintaining zoos, calling them Parks
of Intelligence.
The first striptease dance was performed in Paris, France on March 13, 1894.
The color khaki was used for the first time in military uniforms 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 America's first newspaper cartoonist.
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 (Russia) was a female dog named ‘Laika’.
The first hard drive for the Apple II had a capacity of only 5 Megabytes.
China was the first country to introduce paper money (in 812).
The first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903, and used a tomato can
for a carburetor.
The first US Academy Awards (or ‘Oscar's) were presented on 16 May 1929.
Australia's first police force was a band of 12 of the most well behaved Convicts.
In 1937, the first postage stamp to commemorate Christmas was issued in Austria.
Funny Facts 12
The first recorded reference to cricket dates back to 1272.
The first web domain name ever registered was symbolics.com in Mar 1985.
The first music video, ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ by The Bugles, was telecast
on 01 August 1981, on MTV.
The first police force was established in Paris 1667.
The first product to have a UPC bar code on its packaging was Wrigley's gum.
France became the first reigning World Cup champions who fail to win a match.
Pamela Lee-Anderson is Canada's Centennial Baby, being the first baby born on
the centennial anniversiary of Canada's independence.
The first metropolitan city in modern history, to reach a population of 1 million
people, was London in 1811.
Toronto was the first city in the world with a computerised traffic signal system.
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 the Indian mathematecian Budhayana,
and he proved the concept of what is known today, as the Pythagorean Theorem.
He discovered this in the 6th century CE, long before his European counterparts.
The World's first-ever university was established in Takshashila (‘Taxila’), India,
in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than
60 subjects.
The first ‘country’ 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 Berlin, during World War II, killed
the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
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.
‘Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia’ is the fear of long words.
Lyssophobia is a morbid fear of insanity.
Hypnophobia is a morbid fear of sleep and falling asleep.
Elizabeth I of England suffered from anthophobia, a fear of roses.
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.
Acrophobia is the fear of heights.
Claustrophobia is the fear of being closed in.
Funny Facts 13
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.
and
Phobatrivaphobia is a fear of trivia about phobias !
There are no words in English, 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’. Incidentally, ‘E’ is the most frequently occuring English vowel !
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.
Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is a Korean word meaning ‘capital’.
The word ‘tattoo’ comes from the Tahitian word ‘tattau’, which means ‘to mark’.
The two vertical lines that connect our upper lip to the bottom of our nose are
known as the ‘philtrum’.
The word ‘set’ has more meanings 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 ‘bare 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, as salt was used as
the 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.
Funny Facts 14
‘Poliosis’ is the graying of the hair, which comes from ‘polios’, the Greek word for
‘gray’.
The word 'denim' comes from 'de Nimes', Nimes being the town.
The first newspaper crossword puzzle was published in a Sunday supplement to
the New York World in 1913.
The largest crossword puzzle ever published had 2631 clues across and 2922
clues down, and 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 ‘mead’, 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 English word
meaning ‘holy’, while ‘e'en’ is Scottish for ‘evening’.
The word ‘alphabet’ is coined from the first 2 letters of the Greek alphabet, Alpha
and Beta.
Canada is an American-Indian word meaning 'Big Village'.
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 John F Kennedy was the fastest random speaker in the world, with a
score of over 350 words per minute.
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 its letters in an
alphabetical order.
The word ‘samba’ means ‘to rub navels together’ !
The words 'lakh' (100,000) and 'crore' (10,000,000) do not exist in the English
language. The two words are only used in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and
are derivatives of the Hindi words ‘laakh’ and ‘karod’.
The scientific term for nose-picking is ‘rhinotillexonamia’.
In England, in the 1880's, ‘Pants’ was considered a dirty word !
Skepticisms is the longest word that alternates hands when typing !
Know what ‘Mafia’ means ? "Morte Alla Francia Italia Anela !" - ‘Death to the
French is Italy's cry !"
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 becomes numb, or ‘falls asleep’.
Funny Facts 15
Women who wink at men are known as ‘nictitating’ women.
The letters ‘KGB’ (acronym of Russia’s Secret Service) stand for Komitet
Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti.
The permanent teeth that replace a child’s milk teeth, after they fall off, are
named 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 lines of clouds that form 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 infinity sign is called a ‘lemniscate’.
Priests in Australia advise you to say Happy Christmas, not Merry Christmas,
because Merry has connotations of getting drunk.
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 the term for any pseudonym that filmmakers use when they do not
want their real 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 ('mom' in Arabic) which is smeared
onto the bandages for waterproofing.
The ‘O’, used as a prefix in Irish surnames, means ‘descendant of’.
The ‘Mc’, used as a prefix in Scottish surnames, also means ‘descendant of’.
The dot over the letters 'i' and ‘j’, 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’.
‘Piano’ is an abbreviation of inventor 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 between a godparent and the biological parent of a child is
called 'compaternity'.
Funny Facts 16
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 Japan’ !
A chef's tall white 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’, an acronym of the name
and location of the car’s 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 a family is called the distaff side and 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 will 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, a term used in England.
Colgate faced a major obstacle, while marketing its 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.
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.
Funny Facts 17
In tennis, zero points is referred to as ‘love’, which is possibly derived from
“l'oeuf”, the French word for egg, referring to the physical appearance of the
number zero.
The ‘Olympic’ was the sister ship of the ill-fated Titanic, and she provided twenty-
five years of unblemished 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 numbers on a roulette wheel, that is 1 through 36, you get
'666', the Biblical number of the ‘fallen angel’.
Since the beginning of the modern Olympics in 1896, only Greece and Australia
have participated in every one of the Games.
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.
Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
Sharks have no air bladders, so they must swim constantly or they will sink.
Cockroaches can go without eating for three months, as long as they have water.
Birds are largely unaffected by spicy foods 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. He does not eat
during the two month period, and loses up to 40% of his body weight.
‘Mako sharks’ show cannibalistic tendencies while still in their mother's womb :
older embryos will feed upon 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 water through their skins.
Humans, ants and chimpanzees are the only organisms that wage organised
warfare.
The penguin is the only bird that can swim but cannot 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 cannot jump.
Mosquitoes are attracted to the color blue twice as much as any other color.
There are twice as many kangaroos in Australia as there are people.
Centipedes always have an uneven pairs of walking legs.
Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks.
Funny Facts 18
Male and female giraffes tend to eat from different parts of a tree, to ensure that
the sexes do not compete for food.
Giraffes rarely sleep more than 20 minutes a day.
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 its old teeth.
Bulls are colorblind, it is the motion of the cape which angers them.
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.
Ants stretch their limbs when they wake up. They also appear to yawn in a very
human manner before taking up the tasks of the day.
The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, and can pull 30 times its own weight.
Eel-skin wallets have been known to demagnetise 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.
Even if you cut-off the head off a cockroach, it will continue to live for up to
many more weeks.
Male mosquitoes are vegetarians. Only the female sucks human blood.
A cheetah can accelerate from 0 to 70 km/h in 2 seconds flat !
Nine out of every 10 living things live in the ocean.
Sharks never fall 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.
Even if a drop of liquor falls on a scorpion’s body, it will immediately commit
suicide by stinging its own self !
Female black widow spiders eat their husbands after mating. That's how they
got that name.
All shrimps are born male, but some slowly grow into females as they mature.
About 70% of all organisms in the world are Bacteria.
Male bats have the highest rate of homosexuality among mammals.
Fish that live more than 800 meters below the ocean surface do not have eyes.
The 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.
Funny Facts 19
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 mammals with hair on the soles of their 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 can move their tails 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 do not breathe automatically. 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 : Their stomachs cannot
handle the raw carbohydrate, which swells in their throats and chokes them.
The two-foot long bird called ‘Kea’, that lives in New Zealand, likes to eat the
strips of rubber lining around car windows !
The 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 grams, and is the
smallest warm-blooded animal.
The color white means 'danger' or 'caution', in the animal kingdom. While on
safari in Africa it is recommended not to wear white because it can scare away
the animals !
A 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 in 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 themselves, without turning their heads
around, are the rabbit and the parrot.
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 !
A major ingredient of several perfumes is a slippery, musky substance called
‘Ambergris’, which is vomited 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 !
Funny Facts 20
It is physically impossible for pigs to look up at the sky.
Elephants have been known to remain standing after they die.
A crocodile cannot move its tongue and cannot chew. Bit, 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. And its tongue 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 to death.
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 do not sleep.
Aphids are born pregnant without the benefit of sex. They can give birth 10 days
after being born themselves.
Camel milk does not curdle.
Each day in the US, animal shelters are forced to destroy 30,000 dogs and cats.
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.
During its entire lifespan, an average worker bee produces only 1/12th teaspoon
of honey.
The penalty for killing a cat, 4,000 years ago in Egypt, was death.
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 a pea to a 150-pound behemoth potentially 30 feet across in only two years,
its entire life-span.
The fastest -moving land snail, the common garden snail, has a speed of 0.0313
mph.
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.
Funny Facts 21
Swans are the only birds with penises.
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
Egypt). The name comes from one of its earliest uses - hunting badgers. In
German, Dachs means ‘badger’, and Hund is ‘hound’.
A zebra is white with black stripes !
The turkey was wrongly named for what was believed to be its country of origin.
A female black widow spider’s venom 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 fertilised 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 the 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 produce every year.
A donkey's eyes are so placed in its head, that it can see all its four feet in the
same glance.
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds !
Cats’ urine glows under a black-light !
The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1 !
Carnivorous animals will never eat the carcass of an animal that has been hit by
a lightning strike.
Over 10,000 birds die each year, from smashing into windows.
The Puffer Fish, which contains a poison that is 500 times deadlier than cyanide,
is considered a delicacy in Japan.