facts? maybe...

Well then, cow god, let's rip them up, shall we?

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

Infringe rhymes with orange. Cover rhymes with silver. Cripple rhymes with purple. Don't know about 'month' though...

"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

"Go" is the shortest sentence, as in a command (You) Go.

Elephants can't jump. Every other mammal can.

I remember a question answered by the Teeming Millions about jumping elephants. It had something to do with elephant jumping contests in Africa. Does anyone remember this as well?

Five Jell-O flavors that flopped: celery, coffee, cola, apple, and chocolate.

I think apple still exists.

Celery jello? :P

"How many weeks in a month?
Four, as the swift moon runn'th."
-- Christina Rossetti

I think Cecil has already debunked the rule-of-thumb myth and the equestrian statue code. References, anyone?

God, if I hear one more question or answer about "the whole 9 yards" I'm gonna SCREAM!!!!!!

These all sound like they came from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.

I can't believe that the name Wendy was made up for Peter Pan. It sounds like and obvious derivitive of Gwendolyn.

I don't think Mel Blanc was allergic to carrots, he just didn't like them. They tried using celery for the sound effects, but it didn't sound right, so Mel would chew up a carrot and then spit it out. I would think if he was allergic he wouldn't be able to even put them in his mouth.

Someone has a death wish, someone has a death wish . . .

The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses every letter in the alphabet. (Developed by Western Union to Test telex/twx communications)

Duh. Can you, like, count?

I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

No.

In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.

I beleive this has been handled elsewhere, but the answer is, "Almost."

A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.

Why does this keep coming up? Who would be dumb enough to believe this? Anyway: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/980522.html

The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.)

No, no, no, no, no.

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

What, not only do kids not do multiplication or division, they can't use calculators?

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."

No. I'm pretty sure that's a 20th century colloquialism.

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law that stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

No, no, goddammit, no! God, I hate this one. http://www.urbanlegends.com/language..._of_thumb.html

The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver".

No!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/toilet.htm

Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.

True.

The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.

"Hi, my name is Billy, and I can't read a relief map." Pa. high point: Mount Davis, 3,213 ft. Co. low point: Holly, Co., 3,350 ft.

Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

No clue, but I'm sure that's true of a great many things.

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."

Anyone who has been reading Cecil or this MB for more than 5 seconds should be shot in the face for even typing this.

Harvey, bad news, dude--the "Wendy" thing is true. While he may have derived it from Gwendolyn, Barrie did indeed make it up.

"The quick brown fox..." was an old penmanship exercise.

Another short sentence: "Be."

Sorry, Louie, but those words don't really rhyme.

There are a whole lot of things that are safe to eat but dangerous to inject. I'll take the 5th on how many I've experimented with personally.

And yes, Reno is west of L.A.

C'mon, not even infringe and orange?

My sister gave me this in an email, but I belive some of these are wrong... but she wants me to prove it... help me rip these so called 'facts' apart.

-----
Little Known Facts

The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses every
letter in the alphabet. (Developed by Western Union to Test telex/twx
communications)

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

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

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

"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English
language.

In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.

Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.

A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.

The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore
when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the
ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.

The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the name
of the Don McLean song.)

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from
history. Spades - King David; Clubs - Alexander the Great; Hearts -
Charlemagne; and Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people
without killing them used to burn their houses down - hence the=20
expression "to get fired."

Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John
Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest
signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years
later.

Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them
looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law
that stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than
your thumb.

An ostrich's eye is bigger that it's brain.

The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.

The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five
must be straight.
These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war
or other emergencies.

The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the
"General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.

The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is
necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still
had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and
whites.

The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver".

Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.

The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in
Colorado.

Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have=20
$1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being
able to make change for a dollar.

No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium hasever won a
Superbowl.

The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports
games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after the
Major League All-Star Game.

Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.

In Cleveland, Ohio, it's illegal to catch mice without a hunting
license.

It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a
year's supply of footballs.

The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and
Budweiser, in that order.

It's possible to lead a cow upstairs...but not downstairs.

Pound for pound, hamburgers (the ones that went upstairs) cost more than
new cars.

Humans are the only primates that don't have pigment in the palms of
their hands.

Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the sale of
vodka.

On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every
year.

In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the
world's nuclear weapons combined.

Reno, Nevada is west of Los Angeles, California.

Average age of top GM executives in 1994: 49.8 years. Average age
of the Rolling Stones: 50.6.

Elephants can't jump. Every other mammal can.

The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

Five Jell-O flavors that flopped: celery, coffee, cola, apple,
and chocolate.

There are coffee flavored PEZ.

Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building it
has about thirty percent less chance of surviving than a cat that falls
off the twentieth floor. It supposedly takes about
eight floors for the cat to realize what is occurring, relax and correct
itself. (How did they study this? Ummmm?)

101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan (Wendy) are the only two Disney
cartoon features with both parents that are present and don't die
throughout the movie.

The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front
legs in the air, the person died in battle; If the horse has one front
leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in
battle; If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of
natural causes.

The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

The word "samba" means "to rub navels together."

Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the
Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber
machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded
into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it
got "the whole 9 yards."

The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II
killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air
crashes.

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

The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
(yuck!)


------------------
"I'm not dumb. I just have a command of thoroughly useless information."
-- Calvin and Hobbes

Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.

I don't think Mel Blanc was allergic to carrots, he just didn't like them. They tried using celery for the sound effects, but it didn't sound right, so Mel would chew up a carrot and then spit it out. I would think if he was allergic he wouldn't be able to even put them in his mouth.

Well, you're half right. He did use celery to make that crunching noice, and, yes, he was allergic to carrots.

I remembered a Warner Bros. special on Mel Blanc that talked about this.

Elephants can't jump. Every other mammal can.

Proof that they can jump can be found right here.

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/melepha2.html

And another thing. A bat is a mammel, but doesn't jump. Neither can a platypus.

The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.

"Jeep" was the name of a character in the cartoon strip Popeye prior to WWII. When the G.P. vehicle became common, the word was applied to it.

Pound for pound, hamburgers (the ones that went upstairs) cost more than new cars.

Let's compare. I drive a 98 Camry but I'll use current figures. A 1999 Toyota Camry Solara SE 2-Door Coupe 2.2 has a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $18,698 and a curb weight of 3,120 lbs. This comes out to $5.99 a pound. I bought a family pack of ground beef earlier this evening at my local Tops supermarket for a cookout tomorrow and its unit price was $1.79 a pound.

101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan (Wendy) are the only two Disney cartoon features with both parents that are present and don't die throughout the movie.

What about Mulan?

I can sorta handle a few of these . . .

Sentence with letters of alphabet - actually, the sentence I was taught many, MANY years ago in typing class was "The quick red fox jumps over the lazy brown dog's back". Has a little better rhythm to it.

Kings in card deck representing people:
Nope. See http://www.snopes.com/errata/cardking.htm

Glowing cat urine:

Apparently dog urine too. New England Serum Company catalog, page 100, along with the wee-wee pads, litter box for puppies, etc. is Nature's Miracle Urine Odor Source Locator Light "Can't find the location of urine smells? Simply shine hand-held Blacklite on the carpet and the location is revealed." $22.44

Upstairs/Downstairs Cow:
True.
I don't have a reference handy, but I dare any of you to try it. Bet you end up underneath a cow.

Cat falling from high place:
I think this is a little off. I believe they asked veterinarians, particularly emergency vets in big cities, to keep track of this and report their results. From what I remember the results were that a cat is more likely to be SEVERELY injured when falling from the 3rd story or lower than from higher up, because the shorter fall doesn't give them time to get their feet underneath themselves and prepare for the impact. They are more likely to land awkwardly and thus have worse injuries. Don't remember it going as high as the 20th floor, though. And I don't know why I answered this one because I don't really feel like digging thru 5 years of Cat Fancy and Cats magazines to find the article.



------------------
sosumi

Cat falling from high place:
I think this is a little off. I believe they asked veterinarians, particularly emergency
vets in big cities, to keep track of this and report their results. From what I remember
the results were that a cat is more likely to be SEVERELY injured when falling from the
3rd story or lower than from higher up, because the shorter fall doesn't give them
time to get their feet underneath themselves and prepare for the impact. They are
more likely to land awkwardly and thus have worse injuries. Don't remember it going
as high as the 20th floor, though. And I don't know why I answered this one because
I don't really feel like digging thru 5 years of Cat Fancy and Cats magazines to find
the article.

Still looking for the link that debunks this one, but essentially the Urban Legends folks decided that any such study was inherently flawed. It relies on veterinary reports of how fall the cat fell and how injured it was. Problem is, the other group is cats that fell and died instantly, and probably weren't reported to vets. Without knowing how big thatgroup is, there is no way of determining the accuracy of this one.

Cecil's done the cats:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/960719.html

Not to defend this abhorrently innacurate list of "facts" but are "No." and "Be." really complete sentences? Where's the subject? Yes, I know the "you" is implied in "Be.", but I don't think it's considered complete. And if we're going to include interjections we might as well say "O!"

When would someone actually say "Be." anyway?

Genesis 1:3 And God said, "Be.": and there was light.


Alphagene

Man, I'm bored...

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321


<font face="Courier New">
111111111
X 111111111
111111111
111111111x
111111111xx
111111111xxx
111111111xxxx
111111111xxxxx
111111111xxxxxx
111111111xxxxxxx
111111111xxxxxxxx
12345678987654321</font>

Dang it.

Work this time...

<p align="RIGHT">
<font face="Courier New">
| 111111111
|X 111111111
| 111111111
| 111111111x
| 111111111xx
| 111111111xxx
| 111111111xxxx
| 111111111xxxxx
| 111111111xxxxxx
| 111111111xxxxxxx
|111111111xxxxxxxx
|12345678987654321</font></p>

Surely a Zen Master would tell a disciple "Be." And yes, sentences with understood subjects are indeed complete. "Be quiet!" is obviously a complete sentence. Not so sure about interjections standing alone...but I like the IDEA of "O!" being a sentence.

OK, fringe is close. Might depend on your dialect. Flange and phalange are close, too.
The problem seems to be that the stress is on the "o" in orange. Hard to duplicate that
sound.

Sorry, I meant "infringe"...but it still doesn't work very well, does it?
While I'm back: I'm intrigued with the ostrich eye/brain ratio. Looks true. I've also heard that the largest living one-celled organism is an ostrich egg. Does an egg really count as a one-celled organism?

[MadHatter]

How is this possible?

[UncleBeer]

'Cuz "views" weren't logged prior to the software changeover. I'm sure you can find many more threads like this if you go back far enough. Please don't drag them up unless you have something on-topic to add, though. And I'm closing this one.