The "Awesome but Useless Facts to Impress and Bemuse Your Friends" Thread

[Sam Bentley]

A spiral staircase is not strictly speaking a spiral but a helix.

A comination lock requires a sequence rather than a combination to open it.

 

[142094]

In North East England, in addition to there being a Washington, there is a also a New York and a Philidelphia

Can add Toronto to that.

Also there is somewhere called No Place as well.

 

[Mojo]

Erm, North and North East Lincolnshire don't have a direct service to London either ....

I believe they are talking about Ceremonial Counties rather than Unitary Authorities.

 

[Railsigns]

Can add Toronto to that.

And Quebec too.

 

[flymo]

Also there is somewhere called No Place as well.

It was once renamed Co-Operative Villas but the locals insisted it retain it's original name. And why not too. Er...well....

The Wife. Where have you been?.
Me. No Place.
The Wife. Don't be funny with me. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?.
Me. Honestly, No Place, it's between Chester -le-Street and Stanley
The Wife. *SMACK*
Me. Ouch!, OK, Co-Operative Villas.
The Wife, That didn't hurt now did it?

 

[Seto Kaiba]

Hi there everyone, my first post

I have some interesting facts for you:

1) Gary Neville and Phil Neville's father is called Neville Neville.
2) The phobia of a palindrome (word spelt the same normally or back-to-front) is aibohphobia.
3) Nintendo started off making playing cards.

 

[Ivo]

Oh, dear God, it's my brother! Aargh! What the bloody hell are you doing here?!

...

Okay, seen as this twerp is a Manchester United fan, a Red Devils fact for you all. Until 1910, United played at Bank Street, Clayton. Faced with bankruptcy, the solution was to move to Old Trafford - and the rest, as they say, is history.

...

Welcome, I guess... Someone else can put it more politely.

 

[mumrar]

Here's a mathematical one again, did you know.......
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
'One Thousand' is the lowest written number to contain 'A' - according to the Americans. Because us English are literate, it's 'One Hundred And One', bloody Yanks eh :P

 

[Ivo]

The Great Fire of London occurred in 1666. Written in Roman Numerals, this is MDCLXVI - the only number to feature all seven numerals exactly once.

 

[Railsigns]

The Great Fire of London occurred in 1666. Written in Roman Numerals, this is MDCLXVI - the only number to feature all seven numerals exactly once.

1664 written in Roman numerals is... ?

1666 is the only number to feature all seven numerals exactly once in descending order.

 

[Ivo]

Oh ya. I wrote that at first, and then forgot 1664 so I changed it. Thank you for the correction.

My mistake

 

[90019]

The shape of a Pringle is a hyperbolic paraboloid.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

In North East England, in addition to there being a Washington, there is a also a New York and a Philidelphia

and Moscow is over the border, to the west, in Ayreshire.
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Honey is the only natural food that is made without destroying any kind of life. It is also the only foodstuff that will never spoil.

Salt?
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. . . that Peace Park, Hiroshima, is home to a derelict building left untouched since the A-Bomb landed?

There's a few UK rail-stations which look like promising contenders for that claim!
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Re: "No Place"

It was once renamed Co-Operative Villas but the locals insisted it retain it's original name. And why not too.

Well of course they should!
But it was called "No Place" as a crude spelling for whatever older name had been used - no one seems to be sure what that had been, perhaps "Nor Place" (North place) or something similar.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Pacman was originally meant to be called Pucman, or something, but the name was changed so people didn't change the first letter.

The Biro pen, Bic, was meant to be called Bich, but was changed so people didn't say it the way it looks

The only bone never broken in a skiing accident is that minute one in the inner-ear.

Cobh in the RoI was called Queenstown, and was the last calling point for the Titanic (under its old name), and Dun Loaghaire was Kingstown. I also think Offaly was Kings County, I'll check, forgot where Queens County was.

Marajuana is only an illegal drug in the USA because in the 1930s, it was about to overtake wood as the main ingridient for paper, so wood producers made allegations that it was seriously harmful to smoke, thus ensuring wood's future. This may be totally made up, I'm not sure. Think its true though.

Donald Duck was once banned in Finland because he didn';t wear pants.

There's a town in Missouri called K**blick.

Uncopyrightable is the longest word in English that doesn't repeat a letter.

I like trivia

 

[EM2]

Pacman was originally meant to be called Pucman, or something, but the name was changed so people didn't change the first letter.

Also on a videogame theme, Donkey Kong was originally called Monkey Kong, but the original Japanese script was mistranslated.

 

[Kernowfem]

Regarding Sheffield Wednesday, they seem to like changing divisions when the year ends with a '0'.

1900 promoted
1920 relegated
1930 promoted
1950 promoted
1970 relegated
1980 promoted
1990 relegated
2000 relegated
2010 relegated

Any bets for 2020?

As an owl season ticket holder (glutten for punishment) this fascinates me. 2020? hmmmmm take the premier league champions title
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Apparently in Nebraska it is forbidden for any man to run around with a shaved chest, it is also illegal for a barber to shave a mans chest, and should a child belch during a church service their parent can be arrested.....

 

[Ivo]

The only bone never broken in a skiing accident is that minute one in the inner-ear. The stirrup? Is that the one?

Uncopyrightable is the longest word in English that doesn't repeat a letter. Another linguistic one then; "almost" is the longest word which is written in alphabetical order.

I like trivia I like trivia

As for Sheffield Wednesday? I can see them being promoted from League One in 2020, but they need a right kick up the **** to get them in gear again.

Seen as there has been a computer game theme of late, a few related to gaming:

• In Super Mario Sunshine, Mario is called "Mr. Mario" by Toadsworth. In spite of Mario being his first name, this is technically correct - Mario is also his surname. Further, the name "Mario" is somewhat modern; at first, he went by the name of "Jumpman".
• In Pokémon Red & Blue, when entering battle the first text shown was "--- wants to fight!". However, in the beta version the word "the" preceded Trainer class. This led to the anomaly of named Trainers being shown with a definite article, such as "The Brock" or "The Misty".
• The voice action role of Dr. Robotnik, whose first name is the source of my username on this forum, is said to be a curse within the industry. This is because his voiceover in The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Long John Baldry, and his voiceover in the Sonic Adventure games, Deem Bristow, both died in the mid-2000s from organ failure.
• Super Mario RPG holds the record for waiting time between American and European releases. Released on the SNES in the States in 1996. it didn't see the light of day over here until its Wii Virtual Console release twelve years later.

 

[CarterUSM]

Istanbul is the only city in the world located in TWO continents , and Adolf Hitler only had one ball, the other is apparently in the Albert Hall.

 

[Wyvern]

Istanbul is the only city in the world located in TWO continents

Reminds me of the old riddle "Constantinople is a very long word. Can you spell it?"

Adolf Hitler only had one ball, the other is apparently in the Albert Hall.

The bit about the Albert Hall is from a rude wartime song.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

One other fact about Hitler - he wasn't a vegetarian

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Goldfish do have a memory longer than three seconds.

Sheffield has more trees per person than any other European City.

Laos is a Communist country.

The Union Flag of GB is only called the Union Jack when in use upon a ship.

Rotten wood glows in the dark.

It is the law for all children in Belgium to have harmonica lessons.

In Alabama, it is illegal to wear a fake moustache which may casse laughter in church.

 

[Geezertronic]

John Wayne's real name was Marion Mitchell Morrison

Elle Macpherson's real name is Eleanor Nancy Gow

Queen of Tennis Cliff Richard's real name is Harry Webb

John Cleese's grandfather originally had the surname Cheese before he changed it to Cleese

Whoopi Goldberg's real name is Caryn Elaine Johnson

Marilyn Manson's real name is Brian Warner

Paul McCartney's first name is actually James, Paul is his middle name

 

[CarterUSM]

The bit about the Albert Hall is from a rude wartime song.

Yes I know, but it fair makes me laugh, so does that wartime parody of the Germans doing the lambeth walk, I read somewhere that when goebells seen that, he smashed up a piece of furniture in the room. Ho ho ho,

 

[flymo]

Wales is the only country of the UK not represented on the Union Flag (or Union Jack).

 

[CarterUSM]

Wales is the only country of the UK not represented on the Union Flag (or Union Jack).

Is Wales not technically a principality rather than a country ? No offence intended to our Welsh members of course.

 

[ainsworth74]

Is Wales not technically a principality rather than a country?

According to the ONS it's a country.

 

[me123]

I don't think Wales is a country as such. It definitely doesn't have all the things (eg legislature) that Scotland has to make us a country. Not that I'm anti-Welsh, I'm just going along with the pedantry in this thread

In terms of random trivia:

• Contrary to Michael MacIntyre (and Scots on holiday down South) Scottish money is NOT legal tender. Although it's perfectly legal currency, so there's still no excuse for refusing it
• English notes are not legal tender in Scotland
• I forget the exact wording, but in Texas if two trains stop at a railway junction, both must wait until the other proceeds or something equally silly. Only in America...

I'll post more soon...

 

[ainsworth74]

I don't think Wales is a country as such. It definitely doesn't have all the things (eg legislature) that Scotland has to make us a country.

What about the Welsh Assembly? That's surely a legislative body?

Back on topic

US soldiers in Vietnam burned the explosive C4 as fuel for cooking fires.

 

[Ivo]

Every knock-out phase football match between England and Germany has been drawn after 90 minutes, thus requiring Extra Time.

Oh, hold on a sec; did someone say "4-1"?

Scratch that then

 

[me123]

What about the Welsh Assembly? That's surely a legislative body?

They don't have the full legislative powers that the Scottish Government does in that they can't make laws (because Scots law is separate from English & Welsh Law), although I do think that they should.

Back to more random facts:

• The only bone in the human body that does not articulate with any other bone is the Hyoid bone in the neck.
• Dr Frasier Crane, played by Kelsey Grammer, is the longest running character on American primetime TV at a whopping 20 years (over both Cheers and Frasier).
• However, William Roache (AKA Ken Barlow) beats him, as he's played the role for fifty years and is still going.
• Oral and Maxillofacial surgery is the only speciality where the trainee needs to qualify in both medicine and dentistry.
• It is estimated that over 2% of £1 coins in circulation are forgeries, in comparison to 0.000392% of fake (English) £20 notes. If you're reading this, you've probably already seen and used hundreds of them without noticing.
• Despite the paranoia about £50 notes, forged £20 notes are about 25x as prevalent as fifties.
• Whilst some people will often joke about the ink being wet on banknotes, ink on real banknotes (at least in Scotland and England) never actually dries, and can in fact be rubbed off onto a piece of paper.