# Trivia



## VirginiaHuguenot (Jul 26, 2008)

I have not double-checked the accuracy of this, and am aware some of it may be disputed (like Leonardo Da Vinci inventing scissors, for example), but it's entertaining trivia (source: internet circulation). 

'Stewardesses' is the longest word typed with only the left hand.

And 'lollipop' is the longest word typed with your right hand. 

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple. 

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

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. 

The sentence: 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog' uses every letter of the alphabet. 

The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes). 

There are only four words in the English language which end in 'dous': tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous. 

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: 'abstemious' and 'facetious.' 

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard. 

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear. 

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds. 

A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. 

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes. 

A snail can sleep for three years. 

Almonds are a member of the peach family. 

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. 

Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age. 

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated. 

If the population of China walked past you, 8 abreast, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction. 

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors. 

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite! 

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated. 

The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing. 

The cruise liner, QE 2 moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns. 

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket. 

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid. 

There are more chickens than people in the world. 

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance. 

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.


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## Galatians220 (Jul 26, 2008)

All fascinating. I did look up the Churchill story: snopes.com: Winston Churchill Born in Ladies Room

It seems that as his parents were married in April, 1874 and his birth occurred "prematurely" in November of that year, it was a hushed-up affair that took place in a small room (but not a ladies' room) in Blenheim Palace.

Also: is the Lord having *the last laugh* at us or not in arranging it so that our nose and ears continue to grow? 

*Thanks* for these tidbits, Andrew!

Margaret


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## TimV (Jul 26, 2008)

Interesting! If there are 3000 miles between England and New York, and there are 63,000 inches in a mile, then there are 10,000 times 3000, or 30,000,000 gallons of diesel necessary for just one trans-Atlantic crossing. Even at two bucks per gallon when the QE2 went out of service, one round trip would have cost 120 million dollars just in full, so unless my math's off, I doubt that one figure is correct.

The domesticated animal is a hard one. Were Muscovy ducks domesticated that far back? I know there are figurines of them in South American collections. Silkworms, bees...I can't think of any examples where you can definitely say it's incorrect, which is really fascinating.


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## ChristopherPaul (Jul 26, 2008)

VirginiaHuguenot said:


> A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.



How would anyone know this?


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jul 26, 2008)

ChristopherPaul said:


> VirginiaHuguenot said:
> 
> 
> > A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
> ...



Um, I forget. 

Actually, this may be yet another unsubstantiated myth. 

Schoolboy explodes goldfish memory myth - National - theage.com.au


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jul 26, 2008)

Galatians220 said:


> All fascinating. I did look up the Churchill story: snopes.com: Winston Churchill Born in Ladies Room
> 
> It seems that as his parents were married in April, 1874 and his birth occurred \"prematurely\" in November of that year, it was a hushed-up affair that took place in a small room (but not a ladies' room) in Blenheim Palace.
> 
> ...



I should have snoped some of these before posting them. 

But..._that's entertainment!_ 

[video=youtube;IMDgjdbK6Y0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMDgjdbK6Y0[/video]


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## TimV (Jul 26, 2008)

Hey, I'm a manual laborer, so those types of posts give me a much needed mental workout, as being very interesting. Thanks.


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## caoclan (Jul 26, 2008)

My daughter (1yr 3mo) appears to have kneecaps.


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