Curiosities

(or 50 Completely Useless Facts!)  ||
 * 50 THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW 


 * ||  || ||   ||  ||


 * 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.

Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon.

Of all the words in the English language, the word 'set' has the most definitions!

What is called a "French kiss" in the English speaking world is known as an "English kiss" in France.

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

"Rhythm" is the longest English word without a vowel.

In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child.

A cockroach  can live several weeks with its head cut off.

Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.

You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.

There is a city called Rome on every continent.

It's against the law to have a pet dog in Iceland.

Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day.

Horatio Nelson, one of England's most illustrious admirals was throughout his life, never able to find a cure for his sea-sickness.

The skeleton of Jeremy Bentham is present at all important meetings of the University of London.

Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people

Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, everytime you breathe.

The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump.

One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet.

Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.

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.

Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails.

Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.

The present population of 5 billion plus people of the world is predicted to become 15 billion by 2080.

//Women //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> blink nearly twice as much as men. ||  || ||   || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">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.

Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren’t added to it.

On average a hedgehog's <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">heart beats 300 times a minute.

More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">More people are allergic to cow's milk than any other food.

Camels <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.

The placement of a donkey's <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">eyes in its head enables it to see all four feet at all times!

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The six official languages of the United Nations are: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Earth is the only planet not named after a god.

It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a church in Nebraska, USA.

You're born with 300 bones, but by the time you become an adult, you only have 206.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Some worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food!

Dolphins sleep with one eye open.

It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old.

The longest recorded flight <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 7.5pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">of a chicken is 13 seconds.

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.

Slugs have 4 noses.

Owls are the only birds who can see the colour blue.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years.

A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue.

The average person laughs 10 times a day.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. ||

Interesting facts about English The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."

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

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

The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in English.

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

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

The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

The only other word with the same amount of letters is its plural: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses.

The longest place-name still in use is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwe-nuakit natahu, the Maori name of a hill in New Zealand.

Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, L.A.

The verb "cleave" has definitions which are antonyms of each other: to adhere and to separate.

The verb "sanction" also has definitions which are antonyms: to sponsor and to ban.

There is a seven-letter word in English that contains eleven words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, I, therein, herein.

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

The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways; the following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."

The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable."

"Facetious" and "abstemious" contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic."

The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead."

Only three words have entered English from Czech: polka, pilsner, and robot.