The English-language alphabet originally had only 24 letters. One missing letter was J, which was the last letter to be added to the alphabet. The other latecomer to the alphabet was U.
The first college to use the word "campus" to describe its grounds was Princeton. "Campus" is Latin for "field."
The alteration of the architectural appearance of a city by the construction of skyscrapers and high-rise buildings is known as "Manhattanization". The term refers to the New York borough Manhattan.
The word "alcatraz" is Spanish for "pelican".
Pregnant goldfish are "twits."
In India and Iran, the part of the house reserved for women is called a "zenana."
The word "yo-yo" itself was a registered trademark of Duncan until 1965.
Mothers were originally named mama or mommy (in many languages) because they have mammary glands.
The phrase "guinea pig" originated when a tax was imposed on powder for wigs in England to help pay for the war with Napoleon. The list of those who had paid the guinea (one pound, one shilling) was posted on their parish church door. As they were the wealthy of the day, they became known as the guinea pigs.
The phrase "a red letter day" dates back to 1704, when holy days were marked in red letters in church calendars.
Beets reminded early cooks of a bleeding animal when they cut them open, so they started calling them "beets." This was derived from the French word bête, meaning "beast."
The equivalent of calling someone a jerk in English is calling them a pickle in French.
In ancient Egypt, the apricot was called the "egg of the sun."
The French equivalent of "Pumpkin" (our pet name) is calling them "Chou-Chou" which is little cabbage.
"Quisling" is the only word in the English language to start with "quis."
The word "mullet" describes a hairstyle worn, particularly in the southern USA, which is characterized by short hair on the top and sides, with very long hair in the back.
Las Vegas means "the meadows" in Spanish. Ironically, the city in the desert was once abundant in water and vegetation.
The loop on a belt that holds the loose end is called a "keeper".
The little bits of paper left over when holes are punched in data cards or tape are called Chad.
A "pogonip" is a heavy winter fog containing ice crystals.
The initials for morning and evening are based on latin words—ante meridiem and post meridiem. "Ante," of course means "before" and "post" means "after." "Meridiem" means "noon."
The side of a hammer is a cheek.
The word for "dog" in the Australian aboriginal language Mbabaran happens to be "dog."
The stress in Hungarian words always falls on the first syllable.
The difference between a "millennium" and a "chiliad"? None. Both words mean "a period of one thousand years", the former from Latin, the later from Greek.
The ball on top of a flagpole is called the truck.
Sheriff came from Shire Reeve. During early years of feudal rule in England, each shire had a reeve who was the law for that shire. When the term was brought to the United States it was shortened to Sheriff.
Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic."
"Polish" is the only word in the English language that when capitalized is changed from a noun or a verb to a nationality.
The word for "name" in Japanese is "na-ma-e," in Mongolian "nameg."
Telephone is derived from two Greek words, tele + phone, meaning far off voice or sound.(Tele, far off + phone, voice or sound).
There are six words in the English language with the letter combination "uu." Muumuu, vacuum, continuum, duumvirate, duumvir and residuum.
If you come from Manchester, you are a Mancunian.
"Corduroy" comes from the French, "cord du roi" or "cloth of the king."
The slash character is called a virgule, or solidus. A URL uses slash characters, not back slash characters.
When two words are combined to form a single word (e.g., motor + hotel = motel, breakfast + lunch = brunch) the new word is called a "portmanteau."
"Big cheese" and "big wheel" are Medieval terms of envious respect for those who could afford to buy whole wheels of cheese at a time, an expense few could enjoy. Both these terms are often used sarcastically today.
A bird watching term: peebeegeebee = a pied-billed grebe.
"Hara kiri" is an impolite way of saying the Japanese word "seppuku" which means, literally, "belly splitting."
When a film is in production, the last shot of the day is the "martini shot," the next to last one is the "Abby Singer".
The Sanskrit word for "war" means "desire for more cows."
A coward was originally a boy who took care of cows.
The name Ethiopia mean "land of sunburned faces" in Greek.
Pokemon stands for "pocket monster."
Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."
When Coca-Cola began to be sold in China, they used characters that would sound like "Coca-Cola" when spoken. Unfortunately, what they turned out to mean was "Bite the wax tadpole".
OK is the most successful of all Americanisms. It has invaded hundreds of other languages and been adopted by them as a word. Mencken claims that US troops deployed overseas during WWII found it already in use by Bedouins in the Sahara to the Japanese in the Pacific. It was also the fourth word spoken on the surface of the moon. It stands for oll korrect, a misspelling of all correct.
Montgomery Ward was the first to advertise "Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back" in 1874 — two years after Aaron Montgomery Ward, launched his first mail-order catalog.
Ever wonder where the phrase "two bits" came from? Some coins used in the American colonies before the Revolutionary War were Spanish dollars, which could be cut into pieces, or bits. Since two pieces equaled one-fourth dollar, the expression "two bits" came into being as a name for 25 cents.
Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command "go hang yourself."
The "glair" is the white or clear part of an egg. The word glair comes from the Latin clarus, meaning "clear."
Author Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, who sometimes wrote under the name "The Duchess," observed in her novel "Molly Bawn" that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." The phrase has passed into the English language.
"Evian" spelled backwards is naive.
The custom of saying "Bless you" when someone sneezes was first used by ancients when they believed that breath was the essence of life, and when you sneeze a part of you life is escaping. Evil spirits rush into your body and occupy the empty space. By saying "God bless you" the speaker is protecting the sneezer from that spirits.
Yucatan, as in the peninsula, is from Maya "u" + "u" + "uthaan" meaning "listen how they speak," and is what the Maya said when they first heard the Spaniards.
The ZIP in zip code stands for "Zone Improvement Plan."
EEG stands for Electroencephalogram.
A "necropsy" is an autopsy on animals.
The most common letters in the English language are R S T L N E. Sound familiar? Watch an episode of "Wheel of Fortune"...
A "sysygy" occurs when all the planets of the our Solar System line up.
The terms "prime minister," "premier" and "chancellor" all refer to the leading minister of a government, and any differences from nation to nation stem from different systems of government, not from title definitions.
Clinophobia is the fear of beds.
Taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive.
Papaphobia is the fear of Popes.
Mageiricophobia is the intense fear of having to cook.
Phobophobia is a fear of fearing.
Scopophobia is a fear of being looked at.
Pentheraphobia is a fear of a mother-in-law.
Caligynephobia is a fear of beautiful women.
Androphobia is a fear of men.
Augustus Caesar had achluophobia—the fear of sitting in the dark.
Malcolm Lowry had pnigophobia—the fear of choking on fish bones.
"Jerkwater" is a railroad term. Until about fifty years ago, most trains were pulled by thirsty steam engines that needed to refill their boilers from water towers next to the tracks. But some towns were so small and inconsequential that they lacked a water tower. When trains stopped in those places, the crew had to find a nearby stream or well and, bucket-brigade style, "jerk" the water to the train. Those little dots on the map became known as jerkwater towns.
"The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful plough man strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
The name "fez" is Turkish for "Hat".
The word "snorkel" comes from the German word "schnoerkel", which was a tube used by German submarine crews in WW2. The subs used an electric battery when traveling underwater, which had to be recharged using diesel engines, which needed air to run. To avoid the hazard of surfacing to run the engines, the Germans used the schnoerkel to feed air from the surface into the engines.
The proper name of our sole natural satellite is "the Moon" and therefore...it should be capitalized. The 60-odd natural satellites of other planets, however are called "moons" (in lower case) because each has been given a proper name, such as Deimos, Amalthea, Hyperion, Miranda, Larissa, or Charon.
"Fan" is an abbreviation for the word "fanatic." Toward the turn of the 19th century, various media referred to football enthusiasts first as "football fanatics," and later as a "football fan."
The English-language alphabet originally had only 24 letters. One missing letter was J, which was the last letter to be added to the alphabet. The other latecomer to the alphabet was U.
The 1997 Jack Nicholson film - "As Good As It Gets", is known in China as "Mr. Cat Poop".
The characters in "The Addams Family" did not have names in the "New Yorker" cartoons; Charles Addams created their names when the television series in the 1960s was developed.
According to the folks at Disney - there are 6,469,952 spots painted on dogs in the original 101 Dalmatians.
The movie Cleopatra cost $28 million to make in 1963.
MASH stood for "Mobile Army Surgical Hospital."
The first James Bond movie was "Dr. No."
Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed character on film, having been played by 72 actors in 204 films. The historical character most represented in films is Napoleon Bonaparte, with 194 film portrayals. Abraham Lincoln is the U.S. President to be portrayed most on film, with 136 films featuring actors playing the role.
Screenwriter Joe Ezterhas was paid $3 million for his script, Basic Instinct, the highest amount ever paid to a screenwriter.
Mr. Spock was second in command of the Starship Enterprise.
Bill Cosby created Fat Albert and Weird Harold.
Batman and Robin live in Gotham City.
The most common telephone exchange number on television is 555.
The identification number of the Starship Enterprise is NCC-1701.
The largest indoor film set ever built was the landing site for the UFO in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Constructed inside a 10 million cubic foot hangar in Mobile, Alabama. it was 450 feet long by 250 feet wide and was 90 feet tall.
The largest outdoor film set ever built was the Roman Forum used in The Fall of The Roman Empire (1964). It was 1,312 feet long by 754 feet wide, took 1,100 workers seven months to construct, and rose some 260 feet in the air.
Skull island is the jungle home of King Kong.
When Walt Disney Productions released Return to Oz in (1985), it represented the longest time span that had ever occurred between the original and the remake of a film.
If you pause Saturday Night Fever at the "How Deep Is Your Love" rehearsal scene, you will see the camera crew reflected in the dance hall mirror.
The Peanuts were first animated in 1957 for a Ford Fairlane automobile commercial.
Casey Kasem is the voice of Shaggy on Scooby-Doo.
Before Mickey Mouse, Felix the Cat was the most popular cartoon character.
Breath, by Samuel Beckett, was first performed in April, 1970. The play lasts thirty seconds, has no actors, and no dialogue.
Jean-Claude Van Damme was the alien in the original PREDATOR in almost all the jumping and climbing scenes.
Bambi was originally published in 1929 in German.
The concept of a countdown before a rocket launch originated as a tension-building device in the 1929 movie "The Woman on the Moon".
"Cats" closed at the Winter Garden Theatre on 25 June, 2000.
On Thursday, June 19, 1997, "Cats" became the longest running show in the history of Broadway. With the 6138th performance "Cats" passed "A Chorus Line" which staged the last production in April 1990.
The original production of "Cats" opened at the New London Theatre, in the West End on May 11, 1981. Eight years later it celebrated both its birthday and another important milestone: it had become, after 3358 performances, the longest running musical in the history of the British theatre.
Kathleen Turner was the voice of Jessica Rabbit, and Amy Irving was her singing voice.
The 1987 film "Hot Rod Harlots" was promoted with this tag line: "Unwed! Untamed! Unleaded! Backseat Bimbos meet their Roadside Romeos."
The last female to occupy the Number 1 spot on the Top Ten Box Office list was Julie Andrews in 1967; the top position has been filled by a female film performer only 12 times (by six actresses) since 1932, when the list was established. The other five females to hold the Number 1 box office position are Shirley Temple (four times), Doris Day (twice), Marie Dressler (twice), Betty Grable (once), and Elizabeth Taylor (once). Andrews was ranked Number 1 twice.
In 1952, CBS made computer history by being the first to use a computer, the UNIVAC I, to forecast the U.S. presidential election.
The TV signals seen by New Jersey residents come almost exclusively from New York and Philadelphia, cities oriented to other states. New Jersey has less in the way of state media than any other state of its population.
The Pentagon was allowed to choose some of the clothes that John Travolta wore in the movie "Broken Arrow" so that the military would be portrayed positively.
For the movie "Mission To Mars", director Brian DePalma and crew needed to re-create the surface of the planet Mars. They chose the more than two million square feet of a 45-acre sand dune in Vancouver, Canada. To give the sand dune the color of the planet Mars, they covered it with over 15,000 gallons of red paint.
The first black and white motion picture to be digitally converted to color was "Yankee Doodle Dandy", the 1942 biography of George M. Cohen.
The first female monster to appear on the big screen was Bride of Frankenstein.
The first far eastern country to permit kissing in films was China. The first oriental screen kiss was bestowed on Miss Mamie Lee in the movie "Two Women in the House" (China, 1926).
The movie "Clue" has three different endings. Each ending was randomly chosen for different theaters. All three endings are present in the home video.
In the Return of the Jedi special edition during the new Coruscant footage at the end of the film a stormtrooper can be seen being carried over the crowds.
Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World WarII were made of wood.
From Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me — In the U.S., "shag" is far less offensive than in other English-speaking countries. Singapore briefly forced a title change to "The Spy Who Shioked Me." ("Shioked" means "treated nicely.")
In every show that Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt (The Fantasticks) wrote, there is at least one song about rain.
The studios wanted Matthew McConaughey, the newest heartthrob in the industry, cast as hero Jack Dawson in the 1997 box office hit Titanic, but director James Cameron insisted on Leonardo DiCaprio.
The most popular sport as a topic for a film is boxing.
In "Cliff Hanger" when the girl is dangling off Stallone’s arm, the camera flashes to the chopper and the old man in the picture is laughing.
David Niven and George Lazenby were the only two actors who played James Bond only once.
In the original "Star Wars: A New Hope", Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, called out the name of actress Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia, instead of actually calling out "Leia" in the scene near the end where he gets out of his X-wing after destroying the Death Star. The error was never caught.
In the movie Ghost (Patrick and Demi) when Demi is making something on the pottery wheel her hands are covered in clay. But when her husband comes up behind her to give her a kiss she turns around and they are completely clean.
In Hitchcock’s movie, "Rear Window", Jimmy Stewart plays a character wearing a leg cast from the waist down. In one scene, the cast switches legs, and in another, the signature on the cast is missing.
The TV sitcom Seinfeld was originally named "The Seinfeld Chronicles". The pilot which was broadcast in 1989 also featured a kooky neighbor named Kessler. This character later became known as Kramer.
Dooley Wilson appeared as Sam in the movie Casablanca. Dooley was a drummer - not a pianist in real life. The man who really played the piano in Casablanca was a Warner Brothers staff musician who was at a piano off camera during the filming.
"60 Minutes" is the only show on CBS that doesn’t have a theme song.
For many years, the globe on the NBC Nightly News spun in the wrong direction. On January 2, 1984, NBC finally set the world spinning back in the proper direction.
A two hour motion picture uses 10,800 feet of film. Not including the previews and commercials.
The original title of the musical "Hello Dolly!" was "Dolly: A Damned Exasperating Woman." Why did they change it? The original had such music, poetry, and pizzazz.
Bruce was the nickname of the mechanical shark used in the "Jaws" movies.
A theater manager in Seoul, Korea felt that The Sound of Music was too long, so he shortened it by cutting out all the songs.
The writers of The Simpsons have never revealed what state Springfield is in.
Of the six men who made up the Three Stooges, three of them were real brothers (Moe, Curly and Shemp.)
The 1997 Jack Nicholson film - "As Good As It Gets", is known in China as "Mr. Cat Poop".
The person who performs the Muppets - Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Animal, and Grover is Frank Oz. Oz is also the voice of Star Wars Yoda. By the way, his real name is Frank Oznowicz.
Beaver Cleaver graduated in 1953.
The first ever televised murder case appeared on TV in 1955, Dec. 5-9. The accused was Harry Washburn.
- Number of tarantulas: 50
- Number of boas, cobras and pythons used in the film: 7,500
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), the first film featuring the character Indiana Jones, was crawling with four-, eight-, and no-legged creatures:
Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, was home to Rocky and Bullwinkle.
The average raindrop reaches a top speed of 22 miles per hour.
Seven billion gallons of water are flushed down toilets in the U.S. every day.
The only country to register zero births in 1983 was the Vatican City.
The one extra room new-home shoppers want the most is the laundry room, at 95 percent. Only 66 percent of new-home buyers request an extra room to use as an office.
53% of high school grads and 27% of college grads "get most of their information from TV."
Smoking accounts for at least 7% of all health care costs in the US.
The 3 largest newspaper circulations are Russian.
Sweden has the least number of murders annually.
People in Iceland read more books per capita than any other people in the world.
Coffee is the second largest item on international commerce in the world.
Seven people have been struck by meteorite fragments.
There was a ratio of 35 women to one man in England mental asylums in 1971. However in England prisons, this ratio was the opposite.
About 43% of convicted criminals in the U.S. are rearrested within a year of being released from prison.
Automobiles take up about 24 percent of the total area of Los Angeles.
Statistically the safest age of life is 10 years old.
You are more likely to win the state lottery than to be attacked by a shark.
57% of British school kids think Germany is the most boring country in Europe.
67.5% of men wear briefs instead of boxers.
Women shoplift more often than men; the statistics are 4 to 1.
About 1 out of every 70 people who pick their nose actually eat their boogers.
In 1916, 55% of the cars in the world were Model T Fords.
69% of men say that they would rather break up with a girl in private rather than in public.
The tail section of an airplane gives the bumpiest ride.
Retirement planning time: Adults spend an average of 16 times as many hours selecting clothes (145.6 hours a year) as they do on planning their retirement.
Textbook shortages are so severe in some U.S. public schools that 71 percent of teachers say they have purchased reading materials with their own money.
Ten percent of men are left-handed while only 8 percent of women are left-handed.
Ten percent of frequent fliers say they never check their luggage when flying.
According to Scientfic American magazine: if you live in the northern hemisphere, odds are that every time you fill your lungs with air at least one molecule of that air once passed thru Socrates lungs.
According to a poll, only 29 percent of married couples agree on most political issues.
According to a 1995 poll, 1 out of 10 people admitted that they will buy an outfit intending to wear it once and return it.
About 60 percent of all American babies are named after close relatives.
About 25 percent of all male Americans between the ages of ten and fifteen were "gainfully employed" at the turn of the century. By 1970, so few in that age bracket were employed that the U.S. Census Bureau did not bother to make inquiries about them.
About 24 percent of alcoholics die in accidents, falls, fires, and suicides.
Nearly half of all psychiatrists have been attacked by one of their patients.
The Japanese cremate 93 percent of their dead, as compared to Great Britain at 67 percent and the United States at just over 12 percent.
Two out of three adults in the United States have hemorrhoids.
Hawaii has the highest percentage of cremations of all other U.S. states, with a 60.6 percent preference over burial.
An eyebrow typically contains 550 hairs.
The most common Spanish surname is Garcia.
The typical person goes to the bathroom 6 times a day.
The voltage of most car batteries is 12 volts.
France has the highest per capita consumption of cheese.
The most common surname in Sweden is Johansson.
The typical person swallows 295 during dinner.
Americans use over 16,000 tons of aspirin a year.
Li is the family name for over 87 million People in China.
The number of births in India each year is greater than the entire population of Australia.
The chance of contracting an infection during a hospital stay in the USA is 1 in 15.
Lost time in traffic could cost American businesses up to 100 billion dollars per year.
Ten percent of frequent fliers say they never check their luggage when flying.
The photo most often requested from the U.S. National Archives is that of the meeting between Elvis Presley and President Nixon in 1970. Presley had requested that Nixon make him an honorary drug enforcement agent and Nixon accommodated him.
In 1977, according to the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, there were 14.5 telephone calls made for every 100 people in the entire world
- Per capita, Canada has more doughnut shops than any other country.
People are marrying younger today than they did before the turn of the century. In the United States, in 1890, the average age of men at their first marriage was twenty-six years, compared with twenty-three today. For women, the corresponding figures are twenty-two then and just under twenty-one now.
Half a billion people - about one of every eight - are suffering chronic malnutrition today.
In 1993 there were an estimated 64 million cats in the United States.
On a bingo card of ninety numbers there are approximately 44 million ways to make B-I-N-G-O.
There are more television sets in the United States than there are people in Japan.
Every year, over 8800 people injure themselves with a toothpick.
In the United States, five million teeth are knocked out annually.
No one knows how many people live in the country of Bhutan. As of 1975, no census had ever been taken.
New York City has the largest black population of any city in the United States. It is followed by Chicago and Philadelphia.
More than 63 million Star Trek books, in more than 15 languages, are in print; 13 were sold every minute in the U.S. in 1995.
Burns are second only to traffic accidents as the cause of accidental loss of life in the U.S.: about 6,000 fatal burns a year.
In the famous Parker Brothers game "Monopoly," the space on which a player has the greatest statistical chance of landing is Illinois Avenue. This is followed by the B&O Railroad, Free Parking, Tennessee Avenue, New York Avenue and the Reading Railroad.
In the United States, deaf people have safer driving records than hearing people nationally.
Every minute 47 Bibles are sold or distributed throughout the world.
4 out of 5 sing in the car.
44% of men tailgate to speed up the person in front of them.
12% of men never use their car blinkers.
The average IQ is 100, while 140 is the beginning of genius IQ.
There are over 15,000 miles of lighted neon tubing in the many signs on the Strip and downtown Las Vegas.
The average life span of London residents in the middle of the 19th century was 27 years. For members of the working class, that number dropped to 22 years.
It takes an average person fifteen to twenty minutes to walk once around the Pentagon.
81.3% would tell an acquaintance to zip his pants.
54.2% of us always wash our hands after using the toilet.
30% of us refuse to sit on a public toilet seat.
Significantly more black women die from heart disease than any other group.
78% would rather die quickly than live in a retirement home.
15% regularly go to a shrink.
14% have attended a self-help meeting.
Only 30% of us know our cholesterol level.
44% have broken a bone.
4 out of 5 of us have suffered from hemorrhoids.
49% believe in ESP.
57% have had deja vu.
10% of us claim to have seen a ghost.
33% of women lie about their weight.
62% of us pop our zits.
58% of women paint their nails regularly.
53% of women will not leave the house without makeup on.
9% of women and 8% of men have had cosmetic surgery.
Nearly 1/3 of US women color their hair.
The typical shower is 101 degrees F.
22% leave the glob of toothpaste in the sink.
2/3 of us speed up at a yellow light.
45% of us consistently follow the speed limit.
71% can drive a stick-shift car.
6% propose over the phone.
1 in 5 men proposed on his knees.
The biggest cause of matrimonial fighting is money.
2 out of 5 have married their first love.
20% of women consider their parents to be their best friends.
On average, we send 38 Christmas cards every year.
51% of adults dress up for a Halloween festivity.
28% of us have skinny-dipped. 14% with the opposite sex.
53% of us would take advice from Ann Landers.
90% of us depend on alarm clocks to wake us.
16% of us have forgotten our own wedding anniversary (mostly men).
53% read their horoscopes regularly.
66% of women and 59% of men have used a mix to cook and taken credit for doing it from scratch.
57% save pretty gift paper to reuse.
44% reuse tinfoil.
40% of us have had music lessons.
20% of us have played in a band at one time in our life.
56% of women do the bills in a marriage.
53% prefer ATM machines over tellers.
37% claim to know how to use all the features on their VCR.
Less than 10% are trilingual.
71.6% of us eavesdrop.
29% of us ignore RSVP.
45% use mouthwash every day.
Only 13% brush our teeth from side to side.
14% of us eat the watermelon seeds.
22% of all restaurant meals include French fries.
66% of us eat cereal regularly.
9% of us skip breakfast daily.
22% of us skip lunch daily.
Snickers is the most popular candy.
70% of us drink orange juice daily.
85% of us will eat Spam this year.
When nobody else is around, 47% drink straight from the carton.
69% eat the cake before the frosting.
35% give to charity at least once a month.
On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.
Over 50% believe in spanking - but only a child over 2 years old.
29% of us are virgins when we marry.
13% (mostly men) have spent a night in jail.
45% believe in ghosts.
82% believe in an afterlife.
10% believe in the 10 Commandments.(Only 10%?!)
90% believe in divine retribution.
50% admit they regularly sneak food into movie theaters to avoid the high prices of snack foods.
3 out of 4 of us store our dollar bills in rigid order with singles leading up to higher denominations.
85% of women wear the wrong bra size.
67.5% of men wear briefs.
40% of women have hurled footwear at a man.
Men do 29% of laundry each week. Only 7% of women trust their husbands to do it correctly.
Only 30% of us can flare our nostrils.
Pennies, plural, have value to most Americans. A penny, singular, does not. Almost half of Americans say they would not bother to bend over to pick up a penny on the street, but more than half of us report having stashes of pennies laying around the house.
During the heating months of winter, the relative humidity of the average American home is 13% nearly twice as dry as the Sahara Desert.
Nine out of 10 Americans tell pollsters they have NEVER had a professional massage.
The standard escalator moves 120 feet per minute.
Most deaths in a hospital are between the times of 4pm and 6pm, the time when the human body is at its weakest.
The chance of contracting an infection during a hospital stay in the USA is 1 in 15.
By 1995 8 million U.S. households had computers with CD-ROM drives, a 1600% increase over 1990.
68% of Americans who view computer commercials on TV that advertise a processor, such as the Pentium III, believe it speeds up your Internet connections. However, a modem does that.
A United Parcel Service delivery person typically makes up to 300 pickups or deliveries a day. That compares to someone doing 600 sets of step aerobics a day.
The Earth experiences 50,000 earthquakes a year.
Last year Americans ate more than 8.5 million pounds of tortilla chips on Super Bowl Sunday.
Dominos Pizza sales typically double on Super Bowl Sunday.
Super Bowl Monday sales of antacids increase by more than 20% over other Mondays.
In the USA - more toilets flush at the half time of the Super Bowl than at any other time of the year.
During the Christmas buying season, Visa cards alone are used an average of 5,340 times every minute in the U.S.
It rains more often in London, England, on a Thursday than any other day of the week.
You have to break a lot of eggs to serve breakfast in Las Vegas. At Caesar’s Palace alone, an average of 7,700 are prepared each day. With 2.8 million eggs delivered each year to that one resort. Caesars serves over 427 pounds of coffee each day and pours more than 3,000 ounces of orange juice every 24 hours.
There are over 15,000 miles of lighted neon tubing in the many signs on the Strip and downtown Las Vegas.
The number one reason people choose to buy a wireless phone is for safety (nearly 50% of those who own wireless phones purchased it for safety).
In the U.S., 54% of wireless phone users are men and 46% are women.
They call it puppy love: An American Animal Hospital Association poll showed that 33% of dog owners admit that they talk to their dogs on the phone or leave messages on an answering machine while away.
The most popular name given to boat-owners’ boats is "Obsession".
Conception occurs in December more than any other month.
Over 2500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people.
As of 1983, an average of Three billion Christmas cards were sent annually in the United States.
In 1790, the U.S. government conducted its first head count. The total population was just under four million (3,929,625).
In 1984, 13,126 people were arrested in Federal drug cases.
There are more Barbie dolls in Italy than there are Canadians in Canada.
Portion of land in the US owned by the government: 1/3
Chances that a burglary in the US will be solved: 1 in 7.
Portion of Harvard students who graduate with honors: 4/5
The average American pays more in taxes than for food, clothing and shelter put together.
The average US worker toils for two hours and 47 minutes of each working day just to pay income tax.
55,700 people in the US are injured by jewelry each year.
56% of the video game market is adults.
The average American looks at eight houses before buying one.
75% of people wash from top to bottom in the shower.
8% of Americans twiddle their thumbs.
5,840 people with pillow related injuries checked into U.S. emergency rooms in 1992.
"Evaluation and Parameterization of Stability and Safety Performance Characteristics of Two and Three Wheeled Vehicular Toys for Riding." Title of a $230,000 research project proposed by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, to study the various ways children fall off bicycles.
According to the US Government people have tried nearly 28,000 different ways to lose weight.
40,000 Americans are injured by toilets every year.
The average person over fifty will have spent 5 years waiting in lines.
Statistically speaking, the most dangerous job in the United States is that of Sanitation Worker. Firemen and Policeman are a close second and third, followed by Leather Tanners in fourth.
Since the Lego Group began manufacturing blocks in 1949, more than 189 billion pieces in 2000 different shapes have been produced. This is enough for about 30 Lego pieces for every living person on Earth.
Since 1978, at least 37 people have died as a result of shaking vending machines, in an attempt to get free merchandise. More than 100 have been injured.
Seventy-three percent of Americans are willing to wear clothes until the clothes wear out. The poll conducted by Louis Harris and Associates also revealed: 92 percent are willing to eliminate annual model changes in automobiles; 57 percent are willing to see a national policy that would make it cheaper to live in multiple-unit apartments than in single-family homes; 91 percent are willing to eat more vegetables and less meat for protein.
Seventy percent of house dust is made up of dead skin flakes.
Half of all people who have ever smoked have now quit.
Adults spend an average of 16 times as many hours selecting clothes (145.6 hours a year) as they do on planning their retirement.
Results of a survey show that 76 percent of women make their bed every day, compared to 46 percent of men.
Police estimated that 10,000 abandoned, orphaned and runaway children were roaming the streets of New York City in 1852.
Per capita, it is safer to live in New York City than it is to live in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
In 1996, Americans bought only 12 inches of dental floss per capita.
In 1995, each American used an annual average of 731 pounds of paper, more than double the amount used in the 1980s. Contrary to predictions that computers would displace paper, consumption is growing.
In 1990 the life expectancy of the average American male was 72.7 years and 76.1 years for females. In 1900 the life expectancy was 46.6 for males and 48.7 for females.
In 1977, less than 9 percent of physicians in the U.S. were women.
In 1970 only 5 percent of the American population lived in cities.
In 1915, the average annual family income in the United States was $687 a year.
Per a national survey, 80 percent of U.S. teachers in grades kindergarten through eighth grade have received chocolate as a gift from their students.
Per a "Newsweek" poll, 49 percent of American fathers described themselves as better parents than their dads.
Pediatricians estimate that 58 percent of their young patients go to child care or school even when ill, according to a Gallup survey. This despite the fact that 81 percent of mothers working full-time have stayed home at times to care for a sick child.
In 1990 there were about 15,000 vacuum cleaner related accidents in the U.S.
There have been several documented cases of women giving birth to twins who had different fathers, including cases where the children were of different races. To do so, the mother had to have conceived both children in close proximity. There has also been one recent case where a mother gave birth to unrelated "twins." In that instance, the mother underwent in vitro fertilization and had her own child and the embryo of another couple accidentally implanted in her.
While the average cost of air travel is about $60 per hour, using an air-phone during that plane trip can cost as much as $160 per hour.
Over 15 billion prizes have been given away in Cracker Jacks boxes.
Two out of three adults in the United States have hemorrhoids.
Hawaii is the only state in the United States where male life expectancy exceeds 70 years. Hawaii also leads all states in life expectancy in general, with an average of 73.6 years for both males and females.
Hawaii has the highest percentage of cremations of all other U.S. states, with a 60.6 percent preference over burial.
Only 3 percent of Americans ages 18 to 21 attended college in 1890.
Executives work an average 57 hours a week, but just 22 percent say their hours are a major cause of stress.
Out of the 34,000 gun deaths in the U.S. each year, fewer than 300 are listed as "justifiable homicide," the only category that could include shooting a burglar, mugger, or rapist.
Only about 30 percent of teenage males consistently apply sun protection lotion when going poolside, compared to 46 percent of female teens.
There are more telephones than people in Washington DC.
Occasionally, hot dog sales at baseball stadiums exceed attendance, but typically, hot dog sales at ballparks average 80 percent of the attendance.
Each year approximately 250,000 American husbands are physically attacked and beaten by their wives.
Canada is the largest importer of American cars.
Ninety percent of U.S. households have at lease one remote control for the television; 8 out of 10 report losing it.
More than 50 percent of adults surveyed said that children should not be paid money for getting good grades in school.
Spaghetti is the favorite pasta shape, with 38 percent favoring it over other pasta shapes. The second favorite shape is elbow macaroni, at 16 percent.
The one extra room new-home shoppers want the most is the laundry room, at 95 percent. Only 66 percent of new-home buyers request an extra room to use as an office.
Residential buildings use about 35 percent of all available electricity.
A recent Gallup survey showed that in the United States 8 percent of kissers kept their eyes open, but more than 20 percent confessed to an occasional peek. Forty-one percent said they experienced their first serious smooch when they were age thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen; 36 percent between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one. The most memorable kiss in a motion picture was in "Gone With The Wind" according to 25 percent of those polled.
The population divides approximately in half between AM and PM people. But early-birds have the edge - 56 percent routinely rise early while 44 percent stay up late. Medical studies, by the way, find that people tend to work more productively in the morning.
According to a major hotel chain, approximately the same numbers of men and women are locked out of their rooms. 32 percent are less than fully dressed.
Nearly 87 percent of the 103 people polled in 1977 were unable to identify correctly an unlabeled copy of the Declaration of Independence.
By the end of the U.S. Civil War, 33 percent of all U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit. This was a devastating situation for a nation struggling to recover economically from such a destructive war. On July 5, 1865, the Secret Service was created as a part of the Department of the Treasury to help suppress counterfeit currency.
Before the Chinese take-over of Tibet in 1952, 25 percent of the males in the country were Buddhist monks.
One in five American households move in a given year. The average American moves 11 times. But most of us - 61 percent - still live in the state we were born in. And big corporations report increasing resistance to transfers to new cities...with many people turning down promotions in order to stay put.
Focus group information compiled by CalComp revealed that 50 percent of computer users do not like using a mouse.
According to one U.S. study, about 25 percent of all adolescent and adult males never use deodorant.
Half of all men start to lose their hair by the time they turn 30. Everybody loses dozens of hairs a day - the key thing is whether or not they grow back. More than 40 percent of men wind up with significant hair loss.
About 10 percent of the workforce in Egypt is under 12 years of age. Although laws protecting children are on the books, they are not well enforced, partly because many poverty-stricken parents feel forced to send their children out to help support the family.
About 60 percent of all American babies are named after close relatives.
About 25 percent of all male Americans between the ages of ten and fifteen were "gainfully employed" at the turn of the century. By 1970, so few in that age bracket were employed that the U.S. Census Bureau did not bother to make inquiries about them.
About 24 percent of alcoholics die in accidents, falls, fires, and suicides.
A recent study conducted by the Shyness Clinic in Menlo Park, California, revealed that almost 90 percent of Americans label themselves as shy.
It is illegal to marry the spouse of a grandparent in Maine, Maryland, South Carolina, and Washington, DC.
Golf was banned in England in 1457 because it was considered a distraction from the serious pursuit of archery.
The murder rate in the Unted States is 200 times greater than in Japan. In Japan no private citizen can buy a handgun legally.
Impotence is grounds for divorce in 24 U.S. states.
The minimum age set in the U.S. Constitution for the President of the United States is 35.
In Milan, Italy, there is a law on the books that requires a smile on the face of all citizens at all times. Exemptions include time spent visiting patients in hospitals or attending funerals. Otherwise, the fine is $100 if they are seen in public without a smile on their face.
Talking on a cellular phone while driving is against the law in Israel.
Because of heavy traffic congestion, Julius Caesar banned all wheeled vehicles from Rome during daylight hours.
In 1968, a convention of beggars in Dacca, India, passed a resolution demanding that the minimum amount of alms be fixed at 15 paisa (three cents).
In the marriage ceremony of the ancient Inca Indians of Peru, the couple was considered officially wed when they took off their sandals and handed them to each other.
During the eighteenth century, books that were considered offensive were sometimes punished by being whipped.
The Spanish Inquisition once condemned the entire Netherlands to death for heresy.
A girl, in the Vacococha tribe of Peru, to prepare her for marriage at the age of 12, is placed in a basket in the hut of her prospective in-laws and must remain suspened over an open fire night and day for 3 months.
In the Middle Ages, the highest court in France ordered the execution of a cow for injuring a human.
Margaret Sanger was jailed for a month, in 1917, in a workhouse for founding a clinic that dispensed contraceptives.
The curtain or veil used by some Hindus and Moslems to seclude or hide their women from strangers is called a "purdah."
It is illegal to marry the spouse of a grandparent in Maine, Maryland, South Carolina, and Washington, DC.
Golf was banned in England in 1457 because it was considered a distraction from the serious pursuit of archery.
The murder rate in the Unted States is 200 times greater than in Japan. In Japan no private citizen can buy a handgun legally.
Impotence is grounds for divorce in 24 U.S. states.
The minimum age set in the U.S. Constitution for the President of the United States is 35.
In Milan, Italy, there is a law on the books that requires a smile on the face of all citizens at all times. Exemptions include time spent visiting patients in hospitals or attending funerals. Otherwise, the fine is $100 if they are seen in public without a smile on their face.
Talking on a cellular phone while driving is against the law in Israel.
Because of heavy traffic congestion, Julius Caesar banned all wheeled vehicles from Rome during daylight hours.
In 1968, a convention of beggars in Dacca, India, passed a resolution demanding that the minimum amount of alms be fixed at 15 paisa (three cents).
In the marriage ceremony of the ancient Inca Indians of Peru, the couple was considered officially wed when they took off their sandals and handed them to each other.
During the eighteenth century, books that were considered offensive were sometimes punished by being whipped.
The Spanish Inquisition once condemned the entire Netherlands to death for heresy.
A girl, in the Vacococha tribe of Peru, to prepare her for marriage at the age of 12, is placed in a basket in the hut of her prospective in-laws and must remain suspened over an open fire night and day for 3 months.
In the Middle Ages, the highest court in France ordered the execution of a cow for injuring a human.
Margaret Sanger was jailed for a month, in 1917, in a workhouse for founding a clinic that dispensed contraceptives.
The curtain or veil used by some Hindus and Moslems to seclude or hide their women from strangers is called a "purdah."
The mummified hand of a notary public, chopped off for falsely certifying a document, has been on display in the city hall of Munster, Germany, as a warning to other notaries for 400 years.
It is legal in North Dakota to shoot an Indian on horseback, provided you are in a covered wagon.
Women in Florida may be fined for falling asleep under a hair dryer, as can the salon owner.
Snoring is prohibited in Massachusetts unless all bedroom windows are closed and securely locked. It is also illegal to go to bed without first having a full bath.
Mailing an entire building has been illegal in the U.S. since 1916 when a man mailed a 40,000-ton brick house across Utah to avoid high freight rates.
In Hartford, Connecticut, you may not, under any circumstances, cross the street walking on your hands.
To pass U.S. Army basic training young female recruits must do 17 pushups in two minutes. Males must do 40 pushups in two minutes.
At the first professional baseball game, the umpire was fined 6 cents for swearing.
During the time of Peter the Great, any Russian man who wore a beard was required to pay a special tax.
During World War II, bakers in the United States were ordered to stop selling sliced bread for the duration of the war on January 18, 1943. Only whole loaves were made available to the public. It was never explained how this action helped the war effort.
During World War I, the punishment for homosexuality in the French army was execution.
Quebec and Newfoundland are the only two provinces which do not allow personalized license plates.
The ship, the Queen Elizabeth 2, should always be written as QE2. QEII is the actual queen.
In Atlanta, Georgia, it is illegal to tie a giraffe to a telephone pole or street lamp.
In 1996, Christmas caroling was banned at two major malls in Pensacola, Florida. Apparently, shoppers and merchants complained the carolers were too loud and took up too much space.
In 1388, English Parliament banned waste disposal in public waterways and ditches.
In most places, when a drawbridge is open, the only land vehicle that can claim priority over boats is a truck hauling the US mail. This option is seldom if ever exercised, of course.
Found on a butane lighter: "Warning: Flame may cause fire."
Found on the handle of a hammer: "Caution: Do not use this hammer to strike any solid object."
Found on Bat Man The Animated Series Armor Set Halloween costume box: "PARENT: Please exercise caution, mask and chest plate are not protective; cape does not enable wearer to fly."
Found on the instruction sheet of a Conair Pro Style 1600 hair dryer: "WARNING: Do not use in shower. Never use while sleeping."
Found a box of Tampax Tampons: "Remove used tampon before inserting a new one."
Found on Axius Sno-Off Automobile Windshield cover: "Caution: Never drive with the cover on your windshield."
A local ordinance in Atwoodville, Connecticut prohibits people from playing Scrabble while waiting for a politician to speak.
In December 1997, the state of Nevada (USA) became the first state to pass legislation categorizing Y2K data disasters as "acts of God"— protecting the state from lawsuits that may potentially be brought against it by residents in the year 2000.
In Hartford Connecticut, it is illegal for a husband to kiss his wife on Sundays.
In Milan, Italy, when an operator dialed a wrong number, the phone company fined the operator.
In Italy, it is illegal to make coffins out of anything except nutshells or wood.
It is illegal to hunt camels in the state of Arizona.
In Turkey, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, anyone caught drinking coffee was put to death.
Christmas was once illegal in England.
In Utah, birds have the right of way on all highways.
During the time that the atomic bomb was being hatched by the United States at Alamogordo, New Mexico, applicants for routine jobs like janitors, were disqualified if they could read. Illiteracy was a job requirement. The reason: the authorities did not want their trash or other papers read.
In Kentucky, it is illegal to carry ice cream in your back pocket.
No building in DC may be taller than 13 floors. This is so that no matter where in the city you are, you can see the monument to our first president, Washington.
Texas is the only state that permits residents to cast absentee ballots from space. The first to exercise this right to vote while in orbit was astronaut David Wolf, who cast his vote for Houston mayor via e-mail from the Russian space station Mir in November 1997.
Hypnotism is banned by public schools in San Diego.
It was once against the law to slam your car door in a city in Switzerland.
In Pakistan, it is rude to show the soles of your feet or point a foot when you are sitting on the floor.
In Thailand, the left hand is considered unclean, so you should not eat with it. Also, pointing with one finger is considered rude and is only done when pointing to objects or animals, never humans.
Being rude to a telephone operator in Prussia was once a crime. In 1908, a respected citizen was reprimanded by the government after becoming exasperated with an operator and saying "My dear girl!"
In South America, it would be rude not to ask a man about his wife and children. In most Arab countries, it would be rude to do so.
In some smaller towns in the state of Arizona, it is illegal to wear suspenders.
In seventeenth-century Japan, no citizen was allowed to leave the country on penalty of death. Anyone caught coming or going without permission was executed on the spot.
In Pennsylvania, Ministers are forbidden from performing marriages when either the bride or groom is drunk.
In San Salvador, drunk drivers can be punished by death before a firing squad.
In Saudi Arabia, a woman reportedly may divorce her husband if he does not keep her supplied with coffee.
Women were banned by royal decree from using hotel swimming pools in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, in 1979.
Vermont, Alaska, Hawaii, and Maine are the four states in the U.S. that do not allow billboards.
In New York State, it is still illegal to shoot a rabbit from a moving trolley car.
In most American states, a wedding ring is exempt by law from inclusion among the assets in a bankruptcy estate. This means that a wedding ring cannot be seized by creditors, no matter how much the bankrupt person owes.
A few years back, a Chinese soap hit it big with consumers in Asia. It was claimed in ads that users would lose weight with Seaweed Defat Scented Soap simply by washing with it. The soap was sold in violation to the Japanese Pharmaceutical Affairs Law and was banned. Reportedly, the craze for the soap was so great that Japanese tourists from China and Hong Kong brought back large quantities. The product was also in violation of customs regulations. In June and July 1999 alone, over 10,000 bars were seized.
Connecticut and Rhode Island never ratified the 18th Amendment: Prohibition.
Candy made from pieces of barrel cactus was outlawed in the U.S. in 1952 to protect the species.
By law, information collected in a U.S. census must remain confidential for 72 years.
An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman to take more than 3 steps backwards while dancing.
For hundreds of years, the Chinese zealously guarded the secret of sericulture; imperial law decreed death by torture to those who disclosed how to make silk.
The handkerchief had been used by the Romans, who ordinarily wore two handkerchiefs: one on the left wrist and one tucked in at the waist or around the neck. In the fifteenth century, the handkerchief was for a time allowed only to the nobility; special laws were made to enforce this. The classical heritage was rediscovered during the Renaissance.
Chewing gum is outlawed in Singapore because it is a means of "tainting an environment free of dirt."
Before the enactment of the 1978 law that made it mandatory for dog owners in New York City to clean up after their pets, approximately 40 million pounds of dog excrement were deposited on the streets every year.
According to law, no store is allowed to sell a toothbrush on the Sabbath in Providence, Rhode Island. Yet these same stores are allowed to sell toothpaste and mouthwash on Sundays.
In the state of Queensland, Australia, it is still constitutional law that all pubs (hotel/bar) must have a railing outside for patrons to tie up their horse.
A Venetian law decrees that all gondolas must be painted black. The only exceptions are gondolas belonging to high public officials.
It is against the law to whale hunt in Oklahoma. (Think about it...)
Every citizen of Kentucky is required by law to take a bath at least once a year.
In Idaho a citizen is forbidden by law to give another citizen a box of candy that weighs more than 50 pounds.
Lawn darts are illegal in Canada.
Anti-modem laws restrict Internet access in the country of Burma. Illegal possession of a modem can lead to a prison term.
Under the law of Mississippi, there’s no such thing as a female Peeping Tom.
Theaters in Glendale, California can show horror films only on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.
Scientists have estimated a fly ball will travel about seven feet further for every 1,000 feet of altitude. With an approximate elevation of 1,100 feet, Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona is the second highest facility in the major baseball leagues; only Coors Field in Denver, Colorado is higher.
In the U.S., there are more then 10,000 golf courses.
Boxing champion Gene Tunney taught Shakespeare at Yale University.
The city of Denver was chosen to host and then refused the 1976 Winter Olympics.
The Miami Dolphins were the last NFL team to go through a season unbeaten.
The 1900 Olympics were held in Paris, France.
The average rikishi tips the scales at about 280 pounds, but in 1988 the heaviest sumo westler ever recorded weighed in at a thundering 560 pounds.
To bulk up, rikishi eat huge portions of protein-rich stews called chankonabe, packed with fish or meat and vegetables, plus vast quantities of less healthful foods, including fast food. They often force themselves to eat when they are full, and they have a nap after lunch, thus acquiring flab on top of their strong muscles, which helps to keep their center of gravity low.
Professional sumo wrestlers, called rikishi, must be quick on their feet and supple, but weight is vital to success as they hurl themselves at their opponents, aiming to floor them or push them outside the 15-foot fighting circle.
In 1870, British boxing champ Jim Mace and American boxer Joe Coburn fought for three hours and 48 minutes without landing one punch.
Boxing is considered the easiest sport for gamblers to fix.
Six bulls are killed in a formal bullfight.
Canada beat Denmark 47-0 at the 1949 world hockey championships.
The theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters is "Sweet Georgia Brown."
Three consective strikes in bowling is called a turkey.
Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics.
O.J. Simpson rushed for 2,003 yards in 1973.
The Indianapolis 500 is run on Memorial Day.
The five Olympic rings represent the continents.
Ten events make up the decathlon.
A regulation soccer games is 90 minutes.
In 1910, A baseball with a cork center was used in a World Series game for the first time. The Philadelphia Athletics (managed by Connie Mack) and the Chicago Cubs (managed by P.K. Wrigley) played for the championship.
Before 1859, baseball umpires were seated in padded chairs behind home plate.
Golf-great Billy Casper turned golf pro during the Korean War while serving in the Navy. Casper was assigned to operate and build golf driving ranges for the Navy in the San Diego area.
The United States Golf Association (USGA) was founded in 1894 as the governing body of golf in the United States.
The youngest golfer recorded to have shot a hole-in-one is Coby Orr (5 years) of Littleton, CO on the 103 yd fifth at the Riverside Golf Course, San Antonio, TX in 1975.
Two golf clubs claim to be the first established in the United States: the Foxberg Golf Club, Clarion County, PA (1887) and St. Andrews Golf Club of Yonkers, NY (1888).
The Tom Thumb golf course was the first miniature golf course in the United States. It was built it 1929 in Chattanooga, Tennessee by John Garnet Carter.
The oldest player to score his age is C. Arthur Thompson (1869-1975) of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, who scored 103 on the Uplands course of 6,215 yd, age 103 in 1973.
The youngest American female to score an ace was Shirley Kunde in August 1943 at age 13.
Americans spend more than $630 million a year on golf balls.
Before 1850, golf balls were made of leather and were stuffed with feathers.
Honey is used as a center for golf balls and in antifreeze mixtures.
In the NHL in the 1960’s, the league decided that home teams would wear white, while visiting teams would wear their dark jerseys. The reasoning behind this was that it would be more difficult to keep white uniforms clean while on the road.
Frank Mahovlich played for 3 different teams during his NHL career: Toronto, Detroit, and Montreal. For all three, he wore the number 27.
Fastest round of golf (18 holes) by a team - 9 minutes and 28 seconds. Set at Tatnuck CC in Worcester in September 9, 1996 at 10:40am.
Pittsburgh is the only city where all major sports teams have the same colors: Black and gold.
Pro golfer Wayne Levi was the first PGA pro to win a tournament using a colored (orange) ball. He did it in the Hawaiian Open in 1982.
In 1986 Danny Heep became the first player in a World Series to be a designated hitter (DH) with the initials "D.H."
Kresimir Cosic is only non-American player in NBA Hall of Fame.
Jackie Robinson was the only person to letter in four sports at UCLA. Of all of them, he supposedly liked baseball the least.
Honey is used as a center for golf balls and in antifreeze mixtures.
Superfly Jimmy Snuka was the first E.C.W. World Champ.
The silhouette on the Major League Baseball logo is Harmon Killebrew.
At 101, Larry Lewis ran the 100 yard dash in 17.8 seconds setting a new world record for runners 100 years old or older.
Rick and Paul Reuschel of the 1975 Chicago Cubs combine to pitch a shutout, the first time brothers do this.
The 1990 New York Yankee pitching staff set an all-time record with the fewest complete games, three.
Will Clark, professional baseball player, is a direct descendant of William Clark of Lewis and Clark.
Olympic Badminton rules say that the birdie has to have exactly fourteen feathers.
The home team must provide the referee with 36 footballs for each National Football League game.
Racehorses have been known to wear out new shoes in one race.
Baseball cards have been around since 1886. Modern cards, with high-resolution color photographs on the front and player statistics on the back, date from 1953. The photos are taken in the spring, with and without team caps, just in case the player is traded to another team.
Australian Rules football was originally designed to give cricketers something to play during the off season.
Since 1896, the beginning of the modern Olympics, only Greece and Australia have participated in every Games.
In 1964 for the 10th time in his major-league baseball career, Mickey Mantle hit home runs from both the left and ride sides of the plate in the same game - setting a new baseball record.
Gene Sarazen, a golfer from several generations ago, set the record for the fastest golf drive: 120 mph.
In July 1934 Babe Ruth paid a fan $20 dollars for the return of the baseball he hit for his 700th career home run.
The Iditarod dog sled race - from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska - commemorates an emergency operation in 1925 to get medical supplies to Nome following a diphtheria epidemic.
Golf was banned in England in 1457 because it was considered a distraction from the serious pursuit of archery.
Not all Golf Balls have 360 dimples. There are some as high as 420. Thereare also all different kinds of dimple patterns.
Prior to 1900, prize fights lasted up to 100 rounds.
Four men in the history of boxing have been knocked out in the first eleven seconds of the first round.
Golf-great Billy Casper turned golf pro during the Korean War while serving in the Navy. Casper was assigned to operate and build golf driving ranges for the Navy in the San Diego area.
Billiards great, Henry Lewis once sank 46 balls in a row.
We are in the middle of an ice age. Ice ages include both cold and warm periods; at the moment we are experiencing a relatively warm span of time known as an "interglacial period." Geologists believe that the warmest part of this period occurred from 1890 through 1945 and that since 1945 things have slowly begun freezing up again.
The first man-made insecticide was DDT.
The earth rotates on its axis more slowly in March than in September.
The Earth gets heavier each day by tons, as meteoric dust settles on it.
The whirling cloud, a flat cloud hovering over the peak of an extinct volcano, Mount Jirinaj in Indonesia, affected by hot air rising from the crater, spins swiftly around and around.
Because of a large orbital eccentricity, Pluto was closer to the sun than Neptune between January 1979 and March 1999.
According to experts, large caves tend to "breathe"; they inhale and exhale great quantities of air when the barometric pressure on the surface changes, and air rushes in or out seeking equilibrium.
About 500 meteorites hit the Earth each year. The largest known meteorite was found at Grootfontein in Namibia, southwest Africa, in 1920. It is 9 feet (2.75m) long and 8 feet (2.43m) wide.
A shrimp has more than a hundred pair of chromosomes in each cell nucleus.
Vineger was the strongest acid known in the ancient times.
The clock at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., will gain or lose only one second in 300 years because it uses cesium atoms.
The densest substance on Earth is the metal "osmium."
German chemist Hennig Brand discovered phosphorus while he was examining urine.
There are five tillion trillion atoms in one pound of iron.
The pressure at the center of the Earth is 27,000 tons per square inch.
Bacteria can reproduce sexually.
A temperature of 70 million degrees Celsius was generated at Princeton University in 1978. This was during a fusionism experiment and is the highest man-made temperature ever.
Every cubic mile of seawater holds over 150 million tons of minerals.
An iceberg contains more heat than a match.
Air is denser in cold weather. A wind of the same speed can exert 25 percent more force during the winter as compared to the summer.
The Sun has a diameter of 864,000 miles.
There are 3 golf balls sitting on the moon.
The color black is produced by the complete absorption of light rays.
Sound at the right vibration can bore holes through a solid object.
Lab tests can detect traces of alcohol in urine six to 12 hours after a person has stopped drinking.
It takes a plastic container 50000 years to start decomposing.
The sun is estimated to be between 20 and 21 cosmic years old.
A car traveling at a constant speed of 60 miles per hour would take over 48 million years to reach the nearest star (other than our sun), Proxima Centauri. This is about 685,000 average human lifetimes.
Traveling at the speed of 186,000 miles per second, light take 6 hours to travel from Pluto to the earth.
To an observer standing on Pluto, the sun would appear no brighter than Venus appears in our evening sky.
Dissolved salt makes up 3.5 percent of the oceans.
Blood is 6 times thicker than water.
Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is predicted to topple over between 2010 and 2020.
The nearest galaxy to our own is Andromeda.
The speed of sound must be exceeded to produce a sonic boom.
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.
There are 7 stars in the Big Dipper.
Out of all the senses, smell is most closely linked to memory.
Three astronauts manned each Apollo flight.