Useless Facts

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Dr. Seuss invented the word "nerd."​

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Dr. Seuss is responsible for coming up with some wild and wacky words. But we can also thank the children's book author for a very common term: nerd. American Heritage Dictionary explains that "nerd" first appeared in Seuss' 1950 book If I Ran the Zoo. The passage reads, "And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo and bring back an It-Kutch, a Preep, and a Proo. A Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker, too!"


According to Merriam-Webster, a year later, Newsweek included the word "nerd" in an article about the latest slang, writing, "In Detroit, someone who once would be called a drip or a square is now, regrettably, a nerd, or in less severe cases, a scurve." Unfortunately, "scurve" didn't catch on in the same way.

 

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"Spoonfeed" is the longest English word with its letters in reverse alphabetical order.​

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The nine-letter word "spoonfeed" is the longest word that's spelled with letters that are arranged completely in reverse alphabetical order. "Trollied" comes in second place with eight letters.

 

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There's a city called "Rome" on every continent except Antarctica​

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If you're trying to locate Rome on a map, you'd probably head right to the boot-shaped country of Italy. But Europe isn't the only continent that decided to use that particular name, or rather, the Italian version, "Roma." In fact, there's a Rome on every continent except Antarctica, according to National Geographic.

 

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Octopuses and squid have three hearts.​

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You surely know what it feels like when your heart starts pumping wildly, so imagine what it must be like for an octopus or squid, which each have three hearts. The cephalopods both have one systemic heart that circulates blood around the body and two branchial hearts that pump blood through the gills.

 

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The first email was sent by Ray Tomlinson to himself in 1971.​

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Ray Tomlinson is often credited with inventing email (although that claim has been disputed). He sent the first email message to himself while trying out the revolutionary form of online communication in 1971. "The test messages were entirely forgettable and I have, therefore, forgotten them," he wrote on his website. "Most likely the first message was QWERTYUIOP or something similar. When I was satisfied that the program seemed to work, I sent a message to the rest of my group explaining how to send messages over the network. The first use of network email announced its own existence."

 

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The lint in the bottom of your pocket has a name.​

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At some point in time, for whatever reason, someone decided to give a name to the lint that collects in the bottom of your pockets. And that name is hilariously "gnurr."

 

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Massachusetts is home to Busta Rhymes Island.​

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In Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, there's a small 1,600-square-foot piece of land that sticks out into a pond. This little area may not have an official name, but some know it as Busta Rhymes Island—yes, as in Busta Rhymes the rapper. Shrewsbury resident Kevin O'Brien has been diligently geo-tagging the spot on Google Maps in hopes that it will eventually come to be known by the moniker.


However, a celebrity has to have been dead for at least five years before a place can officially be named after them—and so it will probably (hopefully) be a while until every Massachusetts map lists Busta Rhymes Island.

 

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Ketchup was used medicinally in the early 1800s.​

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It's hard to imagine ketchup without the sweet tomatoey taste, but when the condiment was originally invented, it was actually a fish- or mushroom-based mixture. Ohio physician John Cook Bennet was one of the first people to add tomatoes to ketchup in 1834, Fast Company reports. And because it was rich in vitamins and antioxidants, the doctor claimed that the product, which he sold in pill form, could help cure diarrhea and indigestion.

 

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Cap'n Crunch's full name is Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch.​

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Even casual cereal eaters probably know that the Rice Krispie mascots are called Snap, Crackle, and Pop. But only cereal connoisseurs will be able to tell you that Cap'n Crunch is just a nickname. The next time you're enjoying a bowl for breakfast, you can tell everyone around you that his full name happens to be much more formal: Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch (yes, Magellan, like the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan).

 

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Movie trailers got their name because they were originally shown after the movie.​

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If you've ever wondered why movie previews are called "trailers" even though they're shown before a film, then you'll be interested to discover that their name was once more accurate. When trailers were first introduced in the early 1910s—the first one being for a Charlie Chaplin movie—they were shown after the movie, i.e. "trailing" it. But when advertisers realized that audiences were leaving immediately after the feature film ended, the "trailers" were moved to the preview position, where they remain today along with their ironic name.

 

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People used to answer the phone by saying "ahoy" instead of "hello."​

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When the public started using the phone back in the 1800s, inventor Alexander Graham Bell thought they should answer a call with "ahoy." (That's likely why Mr. Burns on The Simpsons says "ahoy-hoy" when he picks up the phone.) However, Bell's rival, Thomas Edison, wanted users to answer the phone with "hello." And, according to The New York Times, by 1880, "hello" had won out.

 

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Pound cake originally included a pound of all of its ingredients.​

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Desserts don't have to be super complicated to be delicious. Take pound cake, for example. Not only is it made from some pretty common ingredients—butter, eggs, sugar, and flour—but its name comes from the fact that the original recipe called for a pound of each item, according to What's Cooking America. While that may seem like a lot, the simple recipe (which dates back to Britain in the 1700s) was easy to remember during a time when not everyone could read.

 

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You would likely "mutate" in space without a spacesuit.​

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We've all seen movies where people are sucked into space before meeting their doom in various ghastly ways. However, the truth is probably much more intense. According to IFL Science, if you found yourself in outer space without a spacesuit, "you'd swell up, burn, mutate, pass out, and your lungs might explode." Wondering about that mutation element? Well, IFL Science explains that the UV and other high energy photons (X-rays and gamma radiation) would "damage your DNA, leading to mutations that would likely cause cancer (if you survived)."

 

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Rainbows were called "bows of promise" in Victorian English.​

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The word "rainbow" is already one of the most beautiful words in the English language. And it turns out that those who spoke Victorian English had a similarly beautiful term for the stunning arches of multi-colored light, according to The Washington Post: "bows of promise."

 

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An earthquake might have shrunk Mount Everest.​

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The mighty Mount Everest was first measured in 1856 by the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India and was deemed to be 29,002 feet tall, according to Smithsonian magazine. However, in recent years, surveyors have come up with different numbers for the height of the peak (although its official height is 29,029 feet, thanks to a survey from the 1950s). And while it might just be human error that resulted in these contradicting measurements, another reason for the discrepancies could be that Everest has changed heights in the past few years.


In April 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the Himalayas and reshaped parts of the mountain range, Science Alert reported. Satellite data showed that some areas around Kathmandu lifted and the Langtang region dropped as much as five feet while Everest sank around an inch.

 

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The tool used to measure your feet at the shoe store is called a "Brannock Device."​

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Whenever you got a new pair of shoes as a kid, your parents likely had you sit down in the store while the shoe salesperson measured your foot with a weird-looking metal tool. You probably never gave that handy-dandy foot-measuring contraption a second thought. But if you were curious, it happens to be called a Brannock Device, and it was invented by Charles Brannock and patented in 1926. His Brannock Device Company has been making them ever since.

 

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Space travel makes mice run in loops.​

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Scientists are aware of the fact that space travel takes a toll on the human body. But it turns out that it also does something strange to mice. When 20 rodents were sent up to the International Space Station, they started to suddenly run in loops around their cage after just a week, according to a 2019 study published in Scientific Reports. Once one mouse started to run, the others quickly joined in. While researchers don't know exactly why the mice were acting like race cars circling a track at top speed, they think the little critters might simply have been enjoying the "rewarding effects of physical exercise."

 

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Queen Elizabeth II is a trained mechanic.​

Ministry of Information
During World War II, then 18-year-old Princess Elizabeth was a member of the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, making her the only woman in the British royal family to have served in the armed forces and the only living head of state to serve in the Second World War.

Second Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor, as she was called during her service, trained as a mechanic and military truck driver, according to Time. Interestingly, Her Majesty is also the only person in Britain who doesn't need a driver's license to get behind the wheel!

 

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The average American produces 4.5 pounds of trash per day.​

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According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, in 2017, Americans produced an average of 4.51 pounds of trash per person per day. Paper and cardboard products were the biggest culprits, with yard trimmings, plastic products, and consumer electronics also making up a bulk of the trash. And while that may seem like a lot of trash, it was actually one of the lowest estimates since 1990. So we're certainly improving when it comes to taking care of the Earth!

 

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One man set a world record by putting on 260 T-shirts at once.​

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When Ted Hastings' son asked him whether he could set an official Guinness World Record, he decided to give it a try. And on Feb. 17, 2019, he reached his goal by wearing 260 T-shirts at one time. Hastings was able to get 20 shirts on by himself, but after that, he required assistance from a team to help him into sizes ranging from medium to 20X. Around the 150-shirt mark, there were concerns about Hastings' ability to breathe due to the weight of the fabric, but he was determined to keep going and beat the previous record of 257 shirts.