# 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:** 3
**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, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/41 "2003-03-31T09:14:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Our word “dollar” derives from the old Austrian numismatic term, Thaler, which referred to a widely used dollar-sized silver coin. So, my “fancy-pants” name roughly translates to “O’Gooddollar” in English. That’s strangely appropriate. 😛 Let me try a couple: A tenpin, when tilted ten degrees in either direction, will topple. Timpani, contrary to popular belief, cannot be tuned to an exact pitch. ---
**Author:** ![tool462](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e5b9ba/32.png) [@tool462](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tool462)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/42 "2003-03-31T09:16:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Earl Snake-Hips Tucker \* > \*\*The modern world’s first “Jewish State” was the Jewish Autonomous Republic in the former Soviet Union, established in 1934. > > Oddly, though, Jews (outside the USSR) did not exactly flock to it. \*\* So, what you’re saying is that the USSR made a JAR for the Jews? No wonder it didn’t catch on… And for my contribution (as per my Human Sexual Behavior professor): The only reason beastiality is illegal is because animals cannot give consent. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/43 "2003-03-31T10:39:22Z")
I just got back from a weekend away with my church; as part of the entertainment on Saturday night, I subjected them to my Skepto-Graph test; they were given eight groups of four statements (only one statement in each group of four being true, the other three were urban legends or similar)… my favourite one from the 'true’s was: The Tasmanian Conservation Trust once asked knitters to make woolen sweaters for penguins. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/44 "2003-03-31T13:31:19Z")
The closest living relative to the elephant is a furry. cat-sized animal called the [Rock Hyrax](http://www.awf.org/wildlives/142). Common characteristis include squentially errupting cheek teeth, tusks, and broad fleshy pads on the feet. This is not to say that one animal evolved from the other, or that they are second cousins once removed, but rather that they (and the manatee) share a common ancestor from long ago. ---
**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, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/45 "2003-03-31T16:51:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Earth is the only one of the nine planets which is not more massive than all the smaller ones combined. I’m not sure what you’re saying here. Wouldn’t Mercury, for example, be less massive than the combined masses of Venus, Earth, Mars, and Pluto? ---
**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, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/46 "2003-03-31T16:55:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \* > \*\*I’m not sure what you’re saying here. Wouldn’t Mercury, for example, be less massive than the combined masses of Venus, Earth, Mars, and Pluto? \*\* I think he’s saying that Mercury is more massive than Pluto; Mars is more massive than Mercury and Pluto combined; Venus is more massive than Mercury, Pluto, and Mars combined; etc, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/47 "2003-03-31T18:51:30Z")
Contrary to the name, the Dalmation dog is not believed to have originated in Dalmatia but in India. It is thought that the Roma introduced it into Europe. ---
**Author:** ![bayonet1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bayonet1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bayonet1976)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/48 "2003-03-31T19:26:43Z")
Prior to the arrival of the Spanish the largest mammal in Cuba, and I’m pretty sure all the other islands of the caribbean, was the [jutia](http://www.republicadominicana.inter.net.do/Dominicana/ecologia/fauna/tierra/jutia.htm) a tree dwelling rodent a little larger than a squirrel, but much more rat-looking. And as an aside, mighty good eating. ---
**Author:** ![bayonet1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bayonet1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bayonet1976)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/49 "2003-03-31T19:30:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bayonet1976 \* > \*\*Prior to the arrival of the Spanish the largest mammal in Cuba, and I’m pretty sure all the other islands of the caribbean, was the [jutia](http://www.republicadominicana.inter.net.do/Dominicana/ecologia/fauna/tierra/jutia.htm) a tree dwelling rodent a little larger than a squirrel, but much more rat-looking. And as an aside, mighty good eating. \*\* And naturally that should’ve been “…largest land dwelling mammal…”, manatees are certainly larger then jutias. And as another aside, also mighty good eating. Hey! It’s a communist country, food is scarce and sometimes you just have to eat. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![TeleTronOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4af34b/32.png) [@TeleTronOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeleTronOne)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/50 "2003-03-31T19:36:56Z")
If you removed a man’s intestines and laid them end to end, that man would die. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/51 "2003-03-31T19:39:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoe \* > \*\*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. \*\* Not true. Williams was hired to do the dubbing, but they ultimately went with Bacall’s real voice. The first person to get a pie in the face in a movie was Ben Turpin. It was thrown by Mabel Normand. Also, silent movie pies for throwing were not custard – they were blueberry (it showed up better on camera). There are two Empire State Buildings in New York City. The classical composor Benjamin Britten fell in love with my father. ---
**Author:** ![SlowMindThinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@SlowMindThinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlowMindThinking)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/52 "2003-03-31T19:59:49Z")
Armadillo’s always have quads. ---
**Author:** ![\_etalhea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/779978/32.png) [@\_etalhea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_etalhea)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/53 "2003-03-31T20:19:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zenster \* > \*\*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. > \*\* And Tungsten’s symbol on the periodic table is W, after Wolfrum, it’s latin name. ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/54 "2003-03-31T21:01:31Z")
During the second World War, Germans awarded three Jewish soldiers fighting in Finnish army an Iron Cross. All three refused the award. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/55 "2003-03-31T21:23:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joe K \* > \*\*[Elvis performed in Canada in 1957](http://www.elvis.com.au/articles/spotlight/spotlightontheking26.htm) \*\* Very well, I stand corrected… but interestingly, Canada is one of the few countries to which an American can travel without showing a passport. And therein lies the explanation. Colonel Tom Parker was an illegal alien from the Netherlands, and didn’t dare let Elvis travel to any country where they were liable to ask for documentation, lest the Colonel not be allowed to return to the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/56 "2003-03-31T21:31:36Z")
Marilyn Monroe sometimes used the pseudonym Zelda Zonk. In the entire published work of short story master Damon “Guys & Dolls” Runyon, there is only one single past tense verb, which slipped through by accident. Moog synthesiser - Robert Moog’s name should be pronounced to rhyme with ‘vogue’. Harry Houdini only failed once to escape from a jail cell. It was Preston Jail, Lancashire, England, and he failed because they’d forgotten to lock it. Shakespeare stole much of the plot of ‘Hamlet’ from a Danish legend about a prince called ‘Amleth’. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/57 "2003-03-31T21:38:18Z")
The ironhead beetle of Northern Minnesota will scream when you pick it up. It’s a pretty quiet scream. Still, kinda cool. ---
**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, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/58 "2003-03-31T23:24:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joe K \* > \*\*Timpani, contrary to popular belief, cannot be tuned to an exact pitch. \*\* Huh? Is this something about how “exact” is “exact”? 'Cause tympani are tuned to particular pitches. ---
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/59 "2003-04-01T00:04:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tool462 \* > \*\*So, what you’re saying is that the USSR made a JAR for the Jews? No wonder it didn’t catch on… > \*\* It was located in the former state of Birobidzhan, in extreme eastern Siberia, near Vladivostok. More info here: [http://birobidzhan.swarthmore.edu/](http://birobidzhan.swarthmore.edu/) ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/60 "2003-04-01T01:17:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Smeghead \* > I think he’s saying that Mercury is more massive than Pluto; Mars is more massive than Mercury and Pluto combined; Venus is more massive than Mercury, Pluto, and Mars combined; etc, etc. Yep, that’s what I’m saying. Pluto is, of course, more massive than nothing. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158.md?page=4)