# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/61 "2003-04-01T03:00:03Z")
Audrey Hepburn worked with the Dutch Resistance during WWII. She hid messages in her ballet slippers. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/62 "2003-04-01T03:18:18Z")
On July 10, 1957, at the Ford Motor plant in Tacoma, GA, Paul Anderson set the world record for greatest weight ever raised by a human being - 6,270 pounds. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/63 "2003-04-01T04:04:40Z")
The RMS _Queen Mary_ was originally supposed to be named _Queen Victoria_. (Cunard ship names ALWAYS ended in _ia_, as opposed to White Star ships ending in _ic_.) When the shipbuilders informed King George V, Victoria’s grandson, that they were going to name their newest liner after “England’s greatest Queen”, His Majesty said, being totally serious, “My wife will be delighted.” So what else could they do? Queen Mary herself would christen the ship, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@The\_Man\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_Who)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/64 "2003-04-01T06:07:12Z")
What’s the over/under on the number of “facts” they’ll print in their column which will later be disproven? And the smart money is on “A duck’s quack doesn’t echo” finishing in the top 3. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by King Friday \* > \*\*Sorry, **Jomo Mojo** , I found [this](http://www.languagestoday.com/words-sincere.htm) and [this](http://www.bikwil.zip.com.au/Vintage14/Sincere.html) . \*\* Sorry, King Friday, but I found this: "**[ad. L. sincr-us clean, pure, sound, etc. Cf. F. sincère (1549), Sp., Pg., and It. sincero. The first syllable may be the same as sim-, in simplex: see SIMPLE a. There is no probability in the old explanation from _sine cera_ ‘without wax’.] "** From the Oxford English Dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Mook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Mr.Mook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Mook)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/65 "2003-04-01T06:32:30Z")
Lemmings do not jump off cliffs to control their population. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/66 "2003-04-01T06:42:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Mook \* > \*\*Lemmings do not jump off cliffs to control their population. \*\* Neither do giraffes. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/67 "2003-04-01T07:16:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by honeydewgrrl \* > \*\*The closest living relative to the elephant is a furry. cat-sized animal called the [Rock Hyrax](http://www.awf.org/wildlives/142). Common characteristics 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. \*\* A rock hyrax named “Pati” was the inseparable companion of Joy Adamson, who wrote “Born Free.” There is **no** Spanish moss in Spain. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2003, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/68 "2003-04-01T07:39:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Man Who \* > \*\*What’s the over/under on the number of “facts” they’ll print in their column which will later be disproven? And the smart money is on “A duck’s quack doesn’t echo” finishing in the top 3. > > Sorry, King Friday, but I found this: > > "**[ad. L. sincr-us clean, pure, sound, etc. Cf. F. sincère (1549), Sp., Pg., and It. sincero. > The first syllable may be the same as sim-, in simplex: see SIMPLE a. There is no probability in the old explanation from _sine cera_ ‘without wax’.] "** > > From the Oxford English Dictionary. \*\* It all boils down to which web site you want to belive. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/69 "2003-04-01T07:56:21Z")
In their first published appearances, the Hulk and Iron Man were grey, and the original Human Torch burned a blue flame. All were changed to their respective green, gold and red by their second appearances. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2003, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/70 "2003-04-01T08:16:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muffin \* > \*\*Huh? Is this something about how “exact” is “exact”? 'Cause tympani are tuned to particular pitches. \*\* I’ll try to find a cite, but, offhand, it has to do with the fact that a timpano (timpanum?) head is round. A round vibrating membrane cannot produce a pure note like, say, a guitar string can. It’s physically impossible. However, it sounds good enough to our ears. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@The\_Man\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_Who)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/71 "2003-04-01T08:31:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by King Friday \* > \*\*It all boils down to which web site you want to believe. \*\* No, it boils down to the Oxford English Dictionary being an authoritative work of scholarship. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/72 "2003-04-01T08:50:24Z")
Beeswax and fish scales are commonly-used lipstick ingredients. F\_X ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/73 "2003-04-01T13:47:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ianzin \* > \*\* > Shakespeare stole much of the plot of ‘Hamlet’ from a Danish legend about a prince called ‘Amleth’. \*\* Actually, it is believed that he stole much of “Hamlet” from a lost play by Thomas Kyd, who probably used Belleforest’s version in “Histories Tragiques”. You’re right, however, in the fact that they all are based on Danish mythology. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/74 "2003-04-01T14:31:17Z")
With very, very, very few exceptions (I think maybe sloths and sirenians), all mammals have only seven neck vertebrae. Not only is Spanish Moss not Spanish–it’s not a moss, but a distant relative of the pineapple.:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/75 "2003-04-01T15:40:29Z")
An English horn is neither English nor a horn. A Congo eel is not an eel and is not even on the same continent as the Congo. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/76 "2003-04-01T17:04:29Z")
The late National Basketball Association star Wilt Chamberlain never fouled out of any of 1,045 games he played in his career. ---
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/77 "2003-04-01T19:32:43Z")
Donald Rumsfeld is both the oldest and youngest man to hold the office of US Defence Secretary. During the war, the SS formed an Indian unit recruited from volunteers captured fighting with the British forces in North Africa, and a Waffen SS unit from Bosnian Muslims, who were allowed to wear a fez as part of their uniform and facilitated with an Iman and mosque. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/78 "2003-04-01T19:47:48Z")
If you mix Roche MagNA Pure Lysis Buffer and diluted bleach, it turns yellow. Surprising but TRUE!!! ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/79 "2003-04-01T19:57:07Z")
NurseCarmen! > [@](#): > > The ironhead beetle of Northern Minnesota will scream when you pick it up. > > It’s a pretty quiet scream. Still, kinda cool. A real life screamapiller!!! Ahem… If you order the red velvet cake recipe online, someone will come to your house and beat you with a stick no thicker than Francis Bacon’s thumb. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158/80 "2003-04-01T20:38:37Z")
In Wayland Smithers’ first appearance on “The Simpsons”, he was black. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-any-weird-but-true-trivia/165158.md?page=5)