Strange But True Facts

More Monopoly money is printed yearly than real money throughout the world.

Penguins are not found in the North Pole

People photocopying their buttocks are the cause of 23% of all photocopier errors worldwide.

A dentist invented the Electric Chair.

Rudolf the Red-nosed reindeer was actually created as a promotional figure for Montgommery Wards department stores.

A cockroach can live nine days without its head before it starves to death.

Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%

A whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound.

About 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens each year.
About a third of all Americans flush the toilet while they're still sitting on it.

Alexander Graham Bell's wife and mother were both deaf .

The "O" when used as a prefix in Irish surnames means "descendant of."

Alfred Hitchcock did not have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery.

Cockroaches break wind every 15 minutes.

Charlie Brown's dad was a barber.

Fish scales are an ingredient in most lipsticks.

The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (a variety of the marijuana plant) paper

On average, every chocolate bar contains at least three insect legs.

Up until the early 20th century, New Jersey and Wisconsin had laws allowing the castration of epileptics

"A motion to table a motion to reconsider a vote to table an appeal of a ruling that a point of order was not in order against a motion to table another point of order against a motion to bring to a vote the motion to call up the resolution that would institute a rules change."

"Adcomsubordcomphibspac" is the longest acronym. It is a Navy term standing for Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command.

"Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar, La Allah Il Allah, La Allah Il Allah U Mohammed Rassul Allah" is heard by more people than any other sound of the human voice. This is the prayer recited by muezzins from each of the four corners of the prayer tower as Moslems all over the world face toward Mecca and kneel at sunset. It means: "God is great. There is no God but God, and Mohammed is the prophet of God."

"Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

"Aromatherapy" is a term coined by French chemist René Maurice Gattefossé in the 1920's to describe the practice of using essential oils taken from plants, flowers, roots, seeds, etc., in healing.

"Asthma" and "isthmi" are the only six-letter words that begin and end with a vowel and have no other vowels between.

"Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson was the first video to air on MTV by a black artist.

"Conservationalists" & "Conversationalists" (18 letters) are the longest non-scientific transposals (word formed from another by changing its letters).

"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

"Duff" is the decaying organic matter found on a forest floor.

"Fickleheaded" and "fiddledeedee" are the longest words consisting only of letters in the first half of the alphabet.

"Flushable" toilets were in use in ancient Rome.

"Fortnight" is a contraction of "fourteen nights." In the US "two weeks" is more commonly used.

"Forty" is the only number which has its letters in alphabetical order. "One" is the only number with its letters in reverse alphabetical order.

"Four" is the only number whose number of letters in the name equals the number.

"Hang on Sloopy" is the official rock song of Ohio.

"Happy Birthday" was the first song to be performed in outer space, sung by the Apollo IX astronauts on March 8, 1969.

""Kemo Sabe, meaning an all knowing one, is actually a mispronunciation by Native American of the Spanish phrase, Quien lo Sabe, meaning one who knows."

The lunula is the half-moon shaped pale area at the bottom of finger nails.

"Ma is as selfless as I am" can be read the same way backwards. If you take away all the spaces you can see that all the letters can be spelled out both ways.

"Mad About You" star Paul Reiser plays the piano on the show's theme song.

"One thousand" contains the letter A, but none of the words from one to nine hundred ninety-nine has an A.

"Ough" can be pronounced in eight different ways. The following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough, coughing and hiccoughing thoughtfully.

"Rhythms" is the longest English word without the normal vowels, a, e, i, o, or u.

"Second string," meaning "replacement or backup," comes from the middle ages. An archer always carried a second string in case the one on his bow broke.

"Speak of the Devil" is short for "Speak of the Devil and he shall come". It was believed that if you spoke about the Devil it would attract his attention. That's why when you're talking about someone and they show up people say "Speak of the Devil."

"Stewardesses" is the longest word that can be typed with only the left hand.

"Tautonyms" are scientific names for which the genus and species are the same.

"Taxi" is spelled exactly the same in English, French, German, Swedish, Portuguese, and Dutch.

"Teh" means "cool" in Thai. (Pronounced "tay").

"The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in English.

"THEREIN" is a seven-letter word that contains thirteen words spelled using consecutive letters: the, he, her, er, here, I, there, ere, rein, re, in, therein, and herein.

"Underground" is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters "und."

$203,000,000 is spent on barbed wire each year in the U.S.

1 and 2 are the only numbers where they are values of the numbers of the factors they have.

1 in 5,000 north Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue.

1 kg (2.2 pounds) of lemons contain more sugar than 1 kg of strawberries.

1,525,000,000 miles of telephone wire are strung across the Unites States.

1.7 litres of saliva is produced each day. In Discovery Channel, its a quart.

10 percent of all human beings ever born are alive at this very moment.

10% of human dry weight comes from bacteria

11% of the world is left-handed.

111, 111, 111 X 111, 111, 111 = 12, 345, 678, 987, 654, 321

1200 equals 1 pound (72 rupees).

123,000,000 cars are being driven on highways in the United States.

166,875,000,000 pieces of mail are delivered each year in the United States.

1959's A Raisin in the Sun was the first play by a black woman to be produced on Broadway.

2 and 5 are the only prime numbers that end in 2 or 5.

203 million dollars is spent on barbed wire each year in the U.S.

22,000 checks will be deducted from the wrong bank accounts in the next hour.

23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their buttocks.

25% of a human's bones are in its feet.

259200 people die every day.

27% of U.S. male college students believe life is "a meaningless existential hell."

3% of all mammals are monogamous

315 entries in Webster's 1996 dictionary were misspelled.

315 words in the 1996 Webster's dictionary were mispelled.

4 tablespoons of ketchup has about the same amount of nutrition as a ripe tomato.

40% of all people who come to a party snoop in your medicine cabinet.

40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

43.7% of all statistics are made up right on the spot

48% of astronauts experience motion sickness.

52% of Americans drink coffee.

55.1% of all US prisoners are in prison for drug offenses.

56,000,000 people go to Major League baseball games each year

67 million pounds of pesticides and about 3 million tons of fertilizer are used annually on lawns in the US.

78 rpm albums, used prior to 1948, were only capable of recording for four minutes. It wasn’t until later that year that Columbia Records introduced 33 rpm albums capable of playing 23 minutes per side.

80% of animals on earth are insects.

80% of arrested criminals are male.

In Disney's Fantasia, the Sorcerer to whom Mickey played an apprentice was named Yensid, which is Disney spelled backward.

By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannot sink into quicksand.

One in ten people live on an island.

84% of a raw apple is water.

It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.

85% of men who die of heartattacks during intercourse, are found to have been cheating on their wives.

85,000,000 tons of paper are used in the United States each year.

28% of Africa is classified as wilderness. In North America, its 38%.

Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.

Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

Sherlock Holmes NEVER said "Elementary, my dear Watson", Humphrey Bogart NEVER said "Play it again, Sam" in Casablanca, and they NEVER said "Beam me up, Scotty" on Star Trek.

90% of bird species are monogamous; only 3% of animals are.

90% of New York City cab drivers are recently arrived immigrants.

98% of all murders and rapes are by a close family member or friend of the victim.

98% of the weight of water is made up from oxygen.

99% of the pumpkins sold in the US end up as jack-o-lanterns.