Strange Facts

Provided by Pam DiMeglio, courtesy of her sister.

 

The white part of your fingernail is called the lunula.

Pinnochio is Italian for "pine head."

The geographical center of North America is near Rugby, North Dakota.

The infinity sign is called a lemniscate.

Hacky-sack was invented in Turkey.

If you stretch a standard Slinky out flat it measures 87 feet long.

There are only three words in the English language with the letter combination "uu." Muumuu, vacuum and continuum.

The "Calabash" pipe, most often associated with Sherlock Holmes, was not used by him until William Gillette (an American) portrayed Holmes onstage. Gillette needed a pipe he could keep in his mouth while he spoke his lines.

The only word in the English language with all five vowels in reverse order is "subcontinental."

Most Americans' car horns beep in the key of F.

Dirty Harry's badge number is 2211.

The pupil of an octupus' eye is rectangular.

The shortest French word with all five vowels is "oiseau" meaning bird.

Camel's milk does not curdle.

"Mr. Mojo Risin" is an anagram for Jim Morrison.

The ball on top of a flagpole is called the truck.

A person from the country of Nauru is called a Nauruan; this is the only palindromic nationality.

The word "modem" is a contraction of the words "modulate, demodulate." (MOdulateDEModulate)

Oliver Cromwell was hanged and decapitated two years after he had died.

The longest word in the Oxford English Dictionary is "floccinaucinihilipilification," which means "the act of estimating as worthless."

In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

The parking meter was invented in North Dakota.

Des Moines has the highest per capita Jello consumption in the U.S

The Western-most point in the contiguous United States is Cape Alava, Washington.

There are only three animals with blue tongues, the Black Bear, the Chow Chow dog and the blue-tongued lizard.

The first fossilized specimen of Austalopithecus afarenisis was named Lucy after the palentologists' favorite song, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, by the Beatles.

The first prime number after 1,000,000 is 1,000,003.

Hamster Useless Facts: Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time.

The only "real" food that U.S. Astronauts are allowed to take into space is pecan nuts.

The word "queueing" is the only English word with five consecutive vowels.

The first Eagle Scout west of the Mississippi is buried in San Marcos, Texas.

In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.

Roberta Flack wrote "Killing Me Softly" about singer Don McLean.

The Greek version of the Old Testament is called the Septuagint.

Spencer Eldon was the name of the naked baby on the cover of Nirvana's album Nevermind.

All three major 1996 Presidential candidates, Clinton, Dole and Perot, are left-handed.

The Madagascan Hissing Cockroach is one of the few insects who give birth to live young, rather than laying eggs.

The book of Esther in the Bible is the only book which does not mention the name of God.

Sheriff came from Shire Reeve. During early years of monarchial rule in England, each shire had a reeve who was the law for that shire. When the term was brought to the United States it was shortned to Sheriff.

An animal epidemic is called an epizootic.

Dracula is the most filmed story of all time, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is second and Oliver Twist is third.

The silhouette on the NBA logo is Jerry West.

The silhouette on the Major League Baseball logo is Harmon Killebrew.

The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.

Lucifer is latin for "Light Bringer". It is a translation of the Hebrew name for Satan, Halael. Satan means "adversary", devil means "liar".

A cat's jaws cannot move sideways.

Geller and Huchra have made three-dimensional maps of the distrubution of galaxies. In each layer of the map some galaxies are grouped together in such a way that they resemble a human being.

Avocado is derived from the Spanish word 'aguacate' which is derived from 'ahuacatl' meaning testicle.

The company providing the liability insurance for the Republican National Convention in San Diego is the same firm that insured the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic.

Telly Savalas and Louis Armstrong died on their birthdays.

Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.

Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

Deborah Winger did the voice of E.T.

Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt were all cousins through one connection or another. (FDR and Eleanor were about five times removed.)

The Earth-Moon size ratio is the largest in the our solar system, excepting Pluto- Charon.

Each unit on the Richter Scale is equivalent to a power factor of about 32. So a 6 is 32 times more powerful than a 5! Though it goes to 10, 9 is estimated to be the point of total tetonic destruction (2 is the smallest that can be felt unaided.)

Most snakes have either only one lung, or in some cases, two, with one much reduced in size. This apparently serves to make room for other organs in the highly-elongated bodies of snakes. A twelve-foot anaconda can catch, kill, and eat a six-foot caiman, a close relative of crocodles and alligators. While these snakes are not usually considered to be the *longest* snake in the world, they are the heaviest, exceeding the reticulated python in girth.

Cinderella's slippers were originally made out of fur. The story was changed in the 1600s by a translator. The story was probably not changed deliberately by the 17th century translator. The glass slipper is more likely to have arisen from a confusion between the French, "une pantoufle en vair" (a fur slipper) and, "une pantoufle en verre" (a glass slipper.) It was the left shoe that Aschenputtel (Cinderella) lost at the stairway, when the prince tried to follow her. Cinderella is known as Tuhkimo in Finland.

If you come from Birmingham, you are a Brummie.

The names of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with, e.g. Asia, Europe.

There is a word in the English language with only one vowel, which occurs six times: Indivisibility.

The smallest port in Canada is Port Williams, Nova Scotia.

The Canadian province of Newfoundland has its own time zone, which is half an hour behind Atlantic standard time.

Cats in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have a very high probability of having six toes.

The second longest word in the English language is "antidisestablishmenterianism".

Rats like boiled sweets better than they like cheese.

Big Ben was slowed five minutes one day when a passing group of starlings decided to take a rest on the minute hand of the clock.

The little lump of flesh just forward of your ear canal, right next to your temple, is called a tragus.

Soweto in South Africa ws derived from SOuth WEst TOwnship.

Murphy's Oil Soap is the chemical most commonly used to clean elephants. (This is the most important info so it was saved for last) in case you have a pet elephant that needs cleaning.