Duck quacks don't echo? and other "facts"

[Scylla]

I got this stupid glurge type email with a bunch of little known “facts.”

One of them was:

“A duck’s quack doesn’t echo anywhere, and nobody knows why?”

Now, normally I wouldn’t give this much credence but I happen to know that some of the other facts are actually correct.

If anybody’s interested, hewre’s the full list:

A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

A snail can sleep for three years.

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

Butterflies taste with their feet.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.

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

If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would
never end because of the rate of reproduction.

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

Leonardo DiVinci invented the scissors.

No word in the English language rhymes with month.

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

Shakespeare invented the word ‘assassination’ and ‘bump’.

“Stewardesses” is the longest word typed with only the left hand, “lollipop”
with your right.

The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that
it burns.

The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start
with.

The words ‘racecar’ and ‘kayak’ are the same whether they are read left to
right or right to left.

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

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an
average of 6 months waiting at a red light.

In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed on a watch
face is 10:10.

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

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise
it will digest itself.

There’s no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables.

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

There is a word in the English language with only one vowel, which occurs
five times: “indivisibility.”

The Bible does not say there were three wise men; it only says there were
three gifts.

Did you know that crocodiles never outgrow the pool in which they live? That
means that if you put a baby croc in an aquarium, it would be little for the
rest of its life.

A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle; a group of geese in the air is a
skein.

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

Pinocchio is Italian for “pine eye”.

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

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

Barbie’s full name is Barbara Milicent Roberts.

It’s impossible to lick your elbow.

On average, a human being will have sex more than 3,000 times and spend two
weeks kissing in their lifetime.

More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a
telephone call.

Rats and horses can’t vomit.

The “sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” is said to be the toughest
tongue twister in the English language…try it!

Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear
by 700 times.

In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.

The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are
already married.

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

23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them
and photocopying their buttocks.

In the course of an average lifetime you will, while sleeping, eat 70
assorted insects and 10 spiders.

Most lipstick contains fish scales.

Cat’s urine glows under a black light.

Like fingerprints, everyone’s tongue print is different.

So, if you want to debunk any of the others, go ahead.

I just want to know if the duck thing is true or not.

[Dignan]

Snopes knows that it’s false.

[MEBuckner]

So does Cecil

[Dignan]

Oh and that one about spiders isn’t true either: link.

Snopes probably has answers to all of the ones on your list, but I’m not going to look for the rest.

Snopes.com

[Scylla]

I love you guys.

[ZipperJJ]

Shakespeare invented the word ‘assassination’ and ‘bump’.

From the AHD:

At first glance, one would be hard-pressed to find a link between pleasure and the acts of assassins. Such was not the case, however, with those who gave us the word assassin. They were members of a secret Islamic order originating in the 11th century who believed it was a religious duty to harass and murder their enemies. The most important members of the order were those who actually did the killing. Having been promised paradise in return for dying in action, the killers, it is said, were made to yearn for paradise by being given a life of pleasure that included the use of hashish. From this came the name for the secret order as a whole, an, “hashish users.” After passing through French or Italian, the word came into English and is recorded in 1603 with reference to the Muslim Assassins.

and Bump:

ETYMOLOGY: Imitative.

The words ‘racecar’ and ‘kayak’ are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left.

well, duh.

In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_330.html

Most lipstick contains fish scales.

Does lipstick contain fish scales?

The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.

North America? South America? If you say they’re one continent named “America” then we’ve got a lot of paperwork to correct…

And, as for the duck…
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_071.html

[SPOOFE]

No word in the English language rhymes with month…
(snip)
…Shakespeare invented the word ‘assassination’ and ‘bump’.

If Shakespeare can invent words, then I can invent words. I hereby invent the word “Ponth”. A ponth is “Any word that rhymes with the word ‘month.’”

Take THAT, list of useless facts!

[interface2x]

Useless Fact for the day: Shakespeare coined the word “bedroom”, but when he made it up, it referred to the actual space within a bed, not a room in which a bed is placed.

I’d give you a cite, but I learned it when I wrote a paper for my Shakespeare class in Spring 1999.

Colin

[Reeder]

Don’t know about rats, but horses can’t vomit. Neither can rabbits.

[DMC]

As long as the Chinese were quick about it, you would eventually reach the end of the line. As long as there was a less than 1.5 (approximately) delay between each person passing you, you’d eventually hit the end of the line. While that’s faster than a typical bride walking down the aisle, it’s not exactly jogging.

[Darwin_s_Finch]

*Leonardo DiVinci [sic] invented the scissors. *

Nope. At least, not according to this site:

Scissors were invented thousands of years ago (roughly 1500 B.C.) in ancient Egypt. Early scissors have been found in ancient Egyptian ruins. These early scissors were made from one piece of metal (unlike modern scissors, which are made from two cross-blades which pivot around a fulcrum). Modern cross-bladed scissors were invented in ancient Rome (roughly 100 A.D.). Early scissors were used by clothes makers and barbers. Scissors were not in common use until much later, in the 1500’s (in Europe).

[dtilque]

“Stewardesses” is the longest word typed with only the left hand, “lollipop” with your right.

From A Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia

*AFTERCATARACTS (plural for a condition that sometimes follows cataract surgery), TESSERADECADES and TETRASTEARATES are the longest words which can be typed using only the fingers of the left hand.

JOHNNY-JUMP-UP (a fast-growing flower or a brand name for a type of toy) is the longest word found in abridged dictionaries that can be typed using only the fingers of the right hand.*

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

Discussed this before

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

dermatoglyphics is another

There is a word in the English language with only one vowel, which occurs five times: “indivisibility.”

In my book, the Y is also a vowel, making this statement false.

[Darwin_s_Finch]

The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

False. From The QE2 Homepage:

What is the fuel consumption?
At the service speed of 28.5 knots, consumption is 380 tons per day: this equates to 50 ft/gall.

[Darwin_s_Finch]

Did you know that crocodiles never outgrow the pool in which they live? That means that if you put a baby croc in an aquarium, it would be little for the rest of its life.

False. From the Crocodilian Captive Care FAQ:

5.1.6 Do caimans only grow to the size of their enclosures?
No, this is a myth. Perhaps it originated through unscrupulous dealers looking for ways to convince potential owners to part with their cash, but regardless of its origin it is not true. All crocodilians grow to be very large animals compared to many other reptile species. Even dwarf caimans, at 4 feet long, are a fair sized animal to try and house properly. The idea that a caiman can be kept small if the cage is also kept small is a seriously flawed idea. Even in a small cage, a caiman will continue to grow until its movement is eventually hindered. Continued growth will result in deformed limbs, snout and tail as the body tries to increase in size naturally. This is extremely cruel and results in a stunted and unhealthy caiman with a seriously compromised lifespan. The caiman must be provided with enough space for comfortable movement on both land and in water, or you should perhaps consider a stuffed crocodile toy instead.

[Darwin_s_Finch]

*Originally posted by Reeder *
**Don’t know about rats, but horses can’t vomit. Neither can rabbits. **

From the Rat & Mouse Gazette Q&A:

Q. NON-VOMITING RATS
I’ve seen in many places that rats can’t vomit. Someone on the ratslist said it was because they don’t have the appropriate control center in the brain for that reflex. Is that true?

A. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of information available regarding this subject, but I will quote the paragraph that addresses the reason why rats do not have the ability to vomit from Laboratory Animal Medicine, Editors James G. Fox, Bennett J. Cohen, and Franklin M. Loew. It is as follows.

“The stomach of the rat is divided into two parts; the forestomach (nonglandular) and the corpus (glandular). The two portions are separated by a limiting ridge. The esophagus enters at the lesser curvatrue of the stomach through a fold of the limiting ridge. This fold is responsible for the inability of the rat to vomit.”

[RM_Mentock]

*Originally posted by dtilque *
**In my book, the Y is also a vowel, making this statement false. **

Y is a vowel there, but it’s not always a vowel. I don’t think it is a vowel in yo’ mama.

[MEBuckner]

Originally posted by Darwin’s Finch

The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

False. From The QE2 Homepage:

What is the fuel consumption?
At the service speed of 28.5 knots, consumption is 380 tons per day: this equates to 50 ft/gall.

The stupid thing about that one is that the actual fact is pretty amazing. “The cruise liner QE2 moves only 50 ft. for each gallon of diesel that it burns.” That’s pretty astonishing. Even the worst fuel-hog on the road looks good compared to that. (Of course, even a big-ass SUV doesn’t seat 2,915 people.)

[Dijon_Warlock]

Elbow lickers (below the double fish).

[Nishroch_Order]

Cat’s urine glows under a black light.

black light? Might as well say it glows when placed under a light saber

[Badtz_Maru]

A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

I don’t KNOW on this one, but I bet it’s true.

**A snail can sleep for three years. **

If they mean ‘hibernate’ it’s true.

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

A lot of our cartilage does turn to bone during childhood, but I’m pretty sure that we have kneecaps as infants, just not as big.

**Butterflies taste with their feet. **

Never heard this about butterflies but I know houseflies ‘taste’ with their feet.

**If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction. **

They would have to walk very slow or be spaced out. A person walks about 6 feet per second. About one person is born every second in the whole world, and China only accounts for less than 1/4 of the world’s population.

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

Not true. The ancient Romans domesticated the rabbit around 2000 years ago, and the Russians created a domesticated fox this century.
**Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. **

Whoever said this never looked at a babies eyes.

**The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start
with. **

What about North America or South America?

**If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an
average of 6 months waiting at a red light. **

Calling bullshit on this one. This would mean the average American spent app. 1/150th of their time stopped at stoplights. That’s about 10 minutes a day. I probably drive more than average and live in a metropolitan area, but I seriously doubt I spend that much time at stoplights - they just feel like they take that long.
**It’s impossible to lick your elbow. **

Not impossible for everyone. If you are flexible enough or have a long enough tongue it’s possible.

**On average, a human being will have sex more than 3,000 times and spend two
weeks kissing in their lifetime. **

I doubt this one. For a person who is sexually active for 60 years (I’m being quite generous here) they would have to have sex about once a week for the whole time. I don’t buy it. As for the kissing, with a 75 year lifespan that would require an average of 45 seconds kissing every day. Decide for yourself…

**23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them
and photocopying their buttocks. **

I seriously doubt this one. Our photocopiers at work are in a location where nobody could sit on it without being seen by about a hundred people, and they break down all the time.

**In the course of an average lifetime you will, while sleeping, eat 70
assorted insects and 10 spiders. **

No way…for one thing, how exactly would they determine this? They would have to closely observe a person sleeping for years to get these statistics.

**Most lipstick contains fish scales. **

I think this one is true.

**Cat’s urine glows under a black light. **

I know MY urine glows under a black light, why not a cats?