# Got any weird but true trivia? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 30, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158 "2003-03-30T04:10:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/21 "2003-03-30T21:53:54Z")
> [@](#): > > I once read that to aid repairmen in finding leaks in natural gas pipes in desert areas, a certain scent is added to the gas that vultures find “sexually appealing.” The repairmen then just look for the large congregation of vultures to pinpoint the leak. Heck! We’ve been doing that at the SDMB for years. The vultures always show up in certain threads, here. I wonder if anyone could explain what the added ingredient is? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/22 "2003-03-30T23:25:26Z")
Elvis Presley never performed an encore, and never performed outside the United States of America. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/23 "2003-03-30T23:45:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > \*\*No it is not, O **Revtim**. The “Holy Roman Empire” referred to the successor kingdoms of Charlemagne’s realm in Germany. From about the 10th century down to the 19th. Voltaire said it was “neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.” \*\* I see, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/24 "2003-03-30T23:46:40Z")
The tradition of serving fish with lemon juice comes from an old mistaken belief that lemon juice would melt the small bones people often choked upon. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/25 "2003-03-30T23:50:36Z")
Vultures have the largest ratio of sinus cavity to head size of any creature. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/26 "2003-03-31T01:20:25Z")
You drown in a hole/reversal because there is too much air mixing with the water. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/27 "2003-03-31T01:47:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astorian \* > \*\*Elvis Presley never performed an encore, and never performed outside the United States of America. \*\* He did perform in Cana da once. Lemme go an’ dig up a cite. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/28 "2003-03-31T01:50:26Z")
[Elvis performed in Canada in 1957](http://www.elvis.com.au/articles/spotlight/spotlightontheking26.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/29 "2003-03-31T02:52:14Z")
That assumes that Canada is not part of the United States. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/30 "2003-03-31T04:31:39Z")
The first President of the United States was John Hanson, under the Articles of Confederation. 6 other Presidents were elected before George Washington took office. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/31 "2003-03-31T04:36:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bob55 \* > \*\*The first President of the United States was John Hanson, under the Articles of Confederation. 6 other Presidents were elected before George Washington took office. \*\* [Sorry, but no](http://www.snopes.com/history/american/hanson.htm). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/32 "2003-03-31T04:54:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > \*\* > > **King Friday**? Sorry, but that etymology is false. [_Sincere_](http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE223.html) comes from the root \*_sem_- meaning ‘one’ as in _same, simple, simultaneous_, and _single_; plus the root \*_ker-_ ‘to grow’. So the original idea is ‘of one growth’; i.e. natural, not fake. \*\* Actually, I think you may both be correct. While the original etymology of the word sincere is indeed “one growth” in Latin, we get “sincere” from the French term used to mean pure and clean, or unadulterated. (cite: Mirriam-Webster.) I have no cite for _this_, but I do recall reading that the French term came into play because there was something that WAS adulterated with wax… describing that item (whatever it was) as “sincere” came to mean “pure” as we use it. ---
**Author:** ![TigoleBitties](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cab0a1/32.png) [@TigoleBitties](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TigoleBitties)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/33 "2003-03-31T06:03:40Z")
-The “L.L.” in L.L. Bean stands for Leon Leonwood. -In 1994 Los Angeles police arrested a man for dressing as the Grim Reaper - complete with scythe - and standing outside the windows of old people’s homes, staring in. -The saying “it’s so cold out there it could freeze the balls off a brass monkey” came from when they had old cannons like ones used in the Civil War. The cannonballs were stacked in a pyramid formation, called a brass monkey. When it got extremely cold outside they would crack and break off… Thus the saying -Physicist Murray Gell-Mann named the sub-atomic particles known as quarks for a random line in James Joyce, “Three quarks for Muster Mark!” -The Sanskrit word for “war” means “desire for more cows.” ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/34 "2003-03-31T06:06:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TigoleBitties \* > \*\* > -The saying “it’s so cold out there it could freeze the balls off a brass monkey” came from when they had old cannons like ones used in the Civil War. The cannonballs were stacked in a pyramid formation, called a brass monkey. When it got extremely cold outside they would crack and break off… Thus the saying > \*\* [Wrongo.](http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/35 "2003-03-31T06:14:37Z")
In the movie _To Have and Have Not_, a teenage Lauren Bacall sings while standing next to a piano played by Hoagy Carmichael. Her voice was dubbed by another teenager – Andy Williams. ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/36 "2003-03-31T06:15:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Leaper \* > \*\*[Sorry, but no](http://www.snopes.com/history/american/hanson.htm). 🙂 \*\* Snope’s interpretation is subjective…but according to them we could say John Hanson was the first President of “thirteen independent and sovereign states that a decade later became the United States”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/37 "2003-03-31T06:29:14Z")
> [@](#): > > The first President of the United States was John Hanson, under the Articles of Confederation. 6 other Presidents were elected before George Washington took office. > > Sorry, but no. I have to disagree with Snopes on this one. Granted the job was vastly different than it would be, but the title “President of the United States” did exist prior to the Constitution being enacted. There are contemporary references (including at least one by George Washington) addressing John Hanson as the President of the United States. And now for some other other political trivia: James Wilson was the longest serving cabinet member in American history, serving as Secretary of Agriculture from 1897 to 1913. Abraham Lincoln was the first president born outside of the thirteen original states. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/38 "2003-03-31T07:11:07Z")
The metallic element cobalt gets it name from the German word _kobal_, which refers to mythical little gnomes (_der kobals_) that were thought to run around in the mines. During W.W.II Swedish scientists announced their discovery of element number 102, naming it Nobelium, after Alfred Nobel. American scientists were unable to duplicate the experiment and doubtfully referred to it as “Nobelieveium” until postwar domestic work confirmed its existence. The dense metallic element tungsten receives its name from the Swedish words _tung sten_ or “heavy stone.” Miners pushing ore carts that contained high concentrations of tungsten observed that they weighed noticeably more. Our word “dollar” derives from the old Austrian numismatic term, _Thaler_, which referred to a widely used dollar-sized silver coin. ---
**Author:** ![King\_Friday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@King\_Friday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Friday)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/39 "2003-03-31T08:24:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > \*\* > **King Friday**? Sorry, but that etymology is false. [_Sincere_](http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE223.html) comes from the root \*_sem_- meaning ‘one’ as in _same, simple, simultaneous_, and _single_; plus the root \*_ker-_ ‘to grow’. So the original idea is ‘of one growth’; i.e. natural, not fake. \*\* Sorry, **Jomo Mojo** , I found [this](http://www.languagestoday.com/words-sincere.htm) and [this](http://www.bikwil.zip.com.au/Vintage14/Sincere.html) . ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/40 "2003-03-31T08:31:40Z")
Earth is the only one of the nine planets which is not more massive than all the smaller ones combined. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158.md?page=3)