Little known facts.
March 22, 2008
- A duck’s quack doesn’t echo, and no one knows why. (urban legend – disproven)
- The “save” icon on Microsoft Word shows a floppy disk, with the shutter on backwards.
- The combination “ough” can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all:
“A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.” - The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
- Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.
- The word “Checkmate” in chess comes from the Persian phrase “Shah Mat,” which means, “the king is dead”.
- Pinocchio is Italian for “pine head.”
- In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.
- The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used.
- All porcupines float in water.
- The airplane Buddy Holly died in was called “American Pie.” (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.)
- The only nation whose name begins with an “A”, but doesn’t end in an “A” is Afghanistan.
- If you toss a penny 10,000 times, it will not be heads 5,000 times, but more like 4,950. The heads picture weighs more, so it ends up on the bottom.
- An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.
- Al Capone’s business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
- Wilma Flintstone’s maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and Betty Rubble’s Maiden name was Betty Jean Mcbricker.
- Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
- The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra’s “Its A Wonderful Life.”
- The phrase “rule of thumb” is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn’t beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
- “Stewardesses” is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
These are some fun “facts.” Glad I stumbled upon them!