This is going on the page, but it is going here first.
1. The word "queue" is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed.
Grudgingly true.
2. Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon.
I’m sorry, what? No. Unprovable for obvious reasons, but wrong on all three counts.
3. Of all the words in the English language, the word 'set' has the most definitions!
Grudgingly true at four-hundred odd. Useful for computational linguists, however, who must teach programs to recognise all of these.
4. What is called a "French kiss" in the English speaking world is known as an "English kiss" in France.
Total bull. Wikipedia says that it is embrasser avec la langue (literally to kiss with tongue).
5 ."Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.
Almost true, if you count the technical word Aegilops out, and fail to take note of the other two words of equal length, biopsy and chintz.
6. "Rhythms" is the longest English word without a vowel.
Grudgingly true.
7. In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child
Wrong in the specifics, and failing to address the more interesting fact behind this fact – that animals were considered (ahem) fair game in the medieval court systems. There was, for instance, the sixteenth century trial to try and execute a bunch of mice for ‘feloniously eating up and wantonly destroying’ a crop of barley. This is again from Justin Pollards wonderful Interesting Bits.
Below that, however, Pollart tells of the trial that this fact refers to. In 1494 a pig was executed near Clermont for having ‘strangled and defaced a child in its cradle.’ I’m still claiming this one as a wrong, as the date was off by more than a century.
8. A cockroach can live 9 days with its head cut off!
Wrong: they can last for several weeks. Cockroaches don’t bleed to death, and don’t need much food. They therefore don’t need much to keep going, as long as nothing gets in their way. I’m still calling this one wrong, but only because they underestimated the truth to be more believable.
9. Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
True, depending on your definition of strength. Four times stronger, in fact. Also very useful.
10. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.
Technically, no, but also technically yes. It is possible to purge your body of CO2 (by hyperventilating.) The body doesn’t register Oxygen content, only CO2 content, so you can hyperventilate, sit on the bottom of a pool and quietly slip out of consciousness while holding your breath. Dying, in other words.
Just because I’m mean, though, I’m calling this one false.
11. There is a city called Rome on every continent.
Not true. You would think I’d be picky and say that there’s none in Antarctica, this point fails on a greater magnitude: there’s no Rome in Australia.
12. It's against the law to have a pet dog in Iceland!
Typing this into Google reveals a wall of hate against this point. No, it is not true. It was never true. It is true that in the capital city, you need to register your dog, but then you are free to keep it. This is a big, fat lie.
13. Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day!
True.
14. Horatio Nelson, one of England's most illustrious admirals was throughout his life, never able to find a cure for his sea-sickness.
True.
15. The skeleton of Jeremy Bentham is present at all important meetings of the University of London
Incorrect. Firstly, it is his embalmed body, and secondly, they’ve dragged it out a sum total of twice. Once for the 100th anniversary of the University’s opening, again for the 150th. Unless you’re seriously telling me that those two are ‘all the important meetings,’ then this is totally bogus.
16. Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people
AAARRRGHH. Totally and utterly wrong. It isn’t that right handed people of today live longer, it is that left-handedness was discouraged in the past. Eighty years ago, if you used your left hand, you were beaten. Correspondingly, there are fewer left handed old people. There is absolutely NO correspondence between mortality rates and handedness.
17. Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, everytime you breathe!
True.
18. The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump!
False, I can think of plenty of mammals that can’t jump. Whales for instance. Or Dolphins. Or seals. None of these have legs, therefore, none of them can jump.
Oh! Land mammals. Well, in that case, you’re still wrong. See this for example.
Also rhinos, hippos, sloths, guinea pigs, raccoons, echidnas, bats, koalas etc.
19. One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet!
True.
20. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different!
True enough. There are 6 billion possible combinations of fingerprints, and 6.8 billion people. There have already been mix-ups in which the fingerprint was an exact positive match, but the people were different. But for all intents and purposes, this is true.
21. The first known transfusion of blood was performed as early as 1667, when Jean-Baptiste, transfused two pints of blood from a sheep to a young man
Incorrect! The first transfusion we have record of occurred in 1492, when Pope Innocent VIII was dying in a coma. Three boys were called in to donate blood to the Pope, who died anyway. The transfusion that this record speaks of did happen, but I wouldn’t call it a success because not enough blood was injected into the boy to make any difference. We know that, because he survived. The first successful, life-saving procedure was performed by Dr James Blundell in 1818.
22. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails!
According to a study, the difference is 3.47 mm/month for fingernails vs. 1.62 mm/month for toes. So yeah, nearly four times faster, but in actuality, much closer to two times faster.
23. Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin!
This can be disproved by a simple bit of logic. What gets dustier faster, an empty house or a used one?
(Psst. It’s the empty room.) Dust is just fine dirt. That’s all. Skin does play a part in it, but not nearly ‘most.’ It barely qualifies as ‘some.’
24. The present population of 5 billion plus people of the world is predicted to become 15 billion by 2080.
Wrong on both counts. The present population of 6.8 billion is predicted to level out at ~10 billion by 2050.
25. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Surprisingly, this is total crap. Oh wait, did I say ‘surprisingly?’ I meant ‘inevitably.’
Read, learn.
26. Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, and only one of his testicles worked.
Wrong and wrong. Adolf Hitler wanted to be a vegetarian, and often put out propaganda saying that he was – but only to broadcast the image of an austere and disciplined ruler. As this article points out, he is well documented as enjoying meat.
And as for his balls, it is plain and simple propaganda. The Allied propaganda in WWII put out all sorts of crap about Hitler, and we actually started believing some of it. There is only slight, very biased evidence for Hitler being testicularily disadvantaged, coming from the Soviet autopsy of his body. Seeing as his body was burned straight after his death, this is infeasible. Although the statement above dances around whether he had a testicle and suggests that it wasn’t working. How do they know this? They don't. Wrong.
27. Honey is the only food that does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by archaeologists and found edible.
Honey definitely does spoil. Mould can grow on it, and it can crystalise. For these reasons, it is usually stated to have a shelf-life of only two years – not three thousand. In my research, I’ve found lots of unqualified statements about pharaohs, but nothing with details, for or against. I’m going to call this one uncertain.
28. Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."
True
29. Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren’t added to it.
This myth comes in two forms: that Coke was originally green, or it would be green sans colouring. They both amount to the same thing however – total crap.
30 .On average a hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute.
On average, a hedgehog’s heart beats 190 times a minute, as proven by these two sites.
31. More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes.
This is not only true, it’s obvious. Bees are practically everywhere, and a lot of people are allergic to them. Snakes are rarely found in cities, and despite their ferocious reputation, they only strike when cornered. Oh, and there’s a quick, easy and foolproof cure to snakebites held in storage at any mentionable hospital. Unlike anaphylaxis.
32. The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.
True.
33. More people are allergic to cow's milk than any other food.
According to Wikipedia, the most common food allergies in adults are shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and eggs, and the most common food allergies in children are milk, eggs, peanuts, and tree nuts. Since eggs and peanuts cover both adults and children, I’d say that they were more common. In fact, milk allergies are the most common among infants, but 85-90% of them out grow it.
You get it. Wrong.
34. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
True.
This is a Paramo donkey, taken from the Wikipedia page. It clearly cannot see its feet. Case closed.
36. The six official languages of the United Nations are: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
This is a fact, but it isn’t amazing.
37. Earth is the only planet not named after a god.
HD 17156 b orbits the yellow subgiant star HD 17156 in the Cassiopeia constellation 255 light years away. It is one of 425 planets that don’t orbit the sun. Barely any of these planets are named after gods. QED.
38. It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a church in Nebraska, USA.
Incompletely correct. It is a regional law in Omaha, one of the cities. I’ll put this down as incorrect.
39. You're born with 300 bones, but by the time you become an adult, you only have 206.
Wrong.
40. Some worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food!
The first two pages of Google when typing this in all have names like looneyfacts.org. I am not trusting this. Wrong.
41. Dolphins sleep with one eye open!
Gripping their pillows tight, no doubt. No, this is true, more or less. They have developed uni-hemispheric sleep because they must be conscious to breath.
42. It is possible to sneeze with your eyes open!
Yes it is. Some people are born without eyelids. They do not have any great troubles sneezing. That is because the eye socket is made of bone and reinforced by muscle. Plus they did it on Mythbusters.
43. The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old!
No, chewing gum is not OVER 9000!!! It is 5000. Wrong.
44. The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds
Sure, why not.
45. Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon of cleanliness. She declared that she bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not
It was once A month, not three months. Wrong.
46. Slugs have 4 noses.
Uh…
Firstly, slugs don’t have noses. Their nose equivalent is the pneumostome, which they have one of. Incorrect.
47. Owls are the only birds who can see the colour blue.
Peahens are attracted to the bright blue spots of the Peacock. This would imply that they can see blue. The same can be said for any number of tropical birds. This site goes as far as to doubt whether or not owls can see colour at all, let alone a high frequency colour like blue.
48. A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years!
It was 68 years. False.
49. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!
True.
50. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain
True.
Of the 50 facts, 18 were correct. That’s less than half. This list is crap.
3 comments:
This reminds me of something Tim might have done... I enjoyed it a lot! Keep it up, B! xx
Thanks, Jadey!
Hmm, since you are being so mean to the poor fact list, I'll write a few things about your list.
#8 well, its still technically right.
#10 - What you described is not killing yourself by holding your breath, its killing yourself by drowning. Similiar to diving down and not stopping until you die, it's in no way dying by holding your breath.
#11, Australia isn't the only country in this continent, the fact is still wrong though.
#17 im surprised you didn't label this one false. Breathing seems to be more than 5 million times per year, and wouldn't your ribs move more often than that anyway?
18# most sea creatures can jump actually. Have you seen all those whales videos with whales jumping out of the water?
#23 empty houses get dustier quicker? by what logic? You're right about the not most of dust being human though.
#24 its kind of an unfounded random estimate that is impossible to predit.
#48 - lol your source says 69 at least 4 times. I'm confused how that is wrong?
Well, that brings it up to 40% true. Still pretty terrible. Interesting list anyway, I learnt a few things. I'm happy to learn I won't live 9 years less than right-handers. I kinda assumed it was backed up % of death's, rather than % of population. Scientists can be dumb sometimes.
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