# Lie To Me (fake fun facts) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 1, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011 "2006-06-01T14:12:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![volvelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e0b2c6/32.png) [@volvelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/volvelle)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/1 "2006-06-01T14:12:02Z")
Inspired by David Letterman’s completely made up “fun facts”. Think of this like chindogu, those working, but useless inventions. Let’s hear your (semi)plausible but irrelevant (fake) factoids. I’ll start. Marcel Duchamp coined the phrase “to coin a phrase”. The least successful musical of all time was Susan Sontag’s “Squeaky Fromme, You Is My Woman Now”. The third most common verb in the English language is “discharge”. On average, ugly people have two less bones than attractive people. Cats and octopodes are mortal enemies, but rarely come into contact. The ocean is no more than twenty-four and a half feet deep, but due to fluid refraction, appears much deeper. Both gorillas and dolphins have been taught to talk, but dolphins are more likely to lie to you. Steven Morrissey’s real name is Stephen Morrissey. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/2 "2006-06-01T14:23:19Z")
The Bilderbergers, subject of innumerable political conspiracy theories, are actually a chess club. World leaders inform their parliaments and spouses that they are going there, but duck out at the last minute and end up drunk and disheveled in Thailand. The Moon is a fake. Pepsi and Coke are ultimately owned, through multiple shell companies and holding companies, by the investment arm of the Chinese Ministry of the Interior. Hence, their largest shareholder is the People’s Liberation Army. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/3 "2006-06-01T14:32:05Z")
Yarn isn’t a manufactured product, but comes from the yarn plant. This plant only grows in Tanzania on small plantations and is currently at risk for extinction due to excessive over harvest. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/4 "2006-06-01T15:06:30Z")
Penguins can eat Fire Ants without harm. Leonardo da Vinci was the first to come up with the idea of saving a Ball of String If a person fraudulently practicing medicine yells “Duck!”, it will not echo. Tyrannosaurus Rex liked to be scratched under the chin, and to have its belly rubbed. Were they alive today, they would be easy to litterbox-train. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/5 "2006-06-01T15:12:39Z")
The human body is capable of remaining well-fed and healthy on a daily diet of two pounds of cheese. A gasoline engine capable of 150bhp and over 100mpg has been patented, but ruthlessly suppressed by the oil industry. In Wales, it is illegal to sell shoes that are differently shaped for the left and right feet. The so-called “bones” of the middle ear are actually composed of pure iron. This is why telephone receivers, which produce a barely-audible sound, can be clearly heard when held to the ear - the magnets in the earpiece act on the ear. High-voltage power lines are not only a distribution system, but collect lightning and conduct it to the power station, where it is stored. Otherwise electricity could not be transmitted economically. The symbols photographically printed onto microchips are not functional circuitry. They are much too small for that. Instead they are potent mystic symbols in praise of Thoth, the Egyptian god of knowledge. Computers actually work by divine intervention. ---
**Author:** ![HeadNinja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b4bc9f/32.png) [@HeadNinja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadNinja)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/6 "2006-06-01T15:20:14Z")
The Hoover Dam was constructed by highly trained beavers. In Western Texas they have a model of Rhode Island at 1:1.00001 scale. Why? Because everything is bigger in Texas. Mr. Hooper was a Soviet Spy. Happy as a Clam is not strictly accurate. About 20% of the clam population suffers from profound depression. Ameobas are both asexual and multiorgasmic. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/7 "2006-06-01T16:26:23Z")
Asians a shorter by average because their main staple is rice. Rice is a natrual absorbant which is why this happens. (My Dad told me this when I was a kid. I believed him untill he told me he was BS’ing me) ---
**Author:** ![volvelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e0b2c6/32.png) [@volvelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/volvelle)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/8 "2006-06-01T16:29:51Z")
FDR did not suffer from polio. He rode in the wheelchair out of sheer laziness. Lou Reed wrote and recorded the original dial tone you hear upon picking up a phone. President Grover Cleveland had an unusually high and pure singing voice. He closed every session of Congress with a lulling rendition of the then popular music hall tune “Let’s Put the Stoat to Sleep, My Darling Cissy”. Members of Congress had to mime falling asleep with their heads on their desks while making “Zzzzzzz” noises before he would leave. Orson Welles snuck the word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniosis into three different background conversations that take place during \Citizen Kane\. ---
**Author:** ![HeadNinja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b4bc9f/32.png) [@HeadNinja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadNinja)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/9 "2006-06-01T16:48:49Z")
The Hoover Dam was constructed by highly trained beavers. In Western Texas they have a model of Rhode Island at 1:1.00001 scale. Why? Because everything is bigger in Texas. Mr. Hooper was a Soviet Spy. Happy as a Clam is not strictly accurate. About 20% of the clam population suffers from profound depression. Ameobas are both asexual and multiorgasmic. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/10 "2006-06-01T16:59:05Z")
Tony Orlando was born in Houston, Texas, and Angelica Huston was born in Orlando, Florida. It is impossible to sneeze with your hands behind your back. Rock musician Kurt Cobain got his show business start in television. He was “Mikey” in the Life Cereal commercials. In 1992, scientists discovered the 103rd element on the periodic table, but have kept the news classified for security reasons. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/11 "2006-06-01T17:04:54Z")
9 out of 10 gums prefer dentists. On May 17th, at 2:30 in the morning, Capitol Hill does a full rotation, a tradition kept alive since 1952. 46% of all movies that claim to be based on true stories aren’t, but 22% of all movies that do not make such claims are. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/12 "2006-06-01T17:22:02Z")
The [Echo communications satellite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_satellite) could transmit any broadcast message around the earth’s curvature _except_ a duck’s quack. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/13 "2006-06-01T18:04:29Z")
Fish have country-western tunes running through their heads. [/david letterman] ---
**Author:** ![volvelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e0b2c6/32.png) [@volvelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/volvelle)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/14 "2006-06-01T18:16:25Z")
Using only a hammer and data gathered from the 1750 census, Jean-Jacques Rousseau invented the metric system. The furthest distance ever jumped by a Pope from a standing position is five feet eight and three quarter inches. A bear is four parts cow, one part rat. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/15 "2006-06-01T18:20:46Z")
There are less words in the Italian language than any other modern language. This is why Italians gesticulate so much when talking. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/16 "2006-06-01T19:40:59Z")
Whales speak French at the bottom of the sea. The horses of Arabia have silver wings. Pygmies mate with elephants in darkest Africa. ---
**Author:** ![HeadNinja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b4bc9f/32.png) [@HeadNinja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadNinja)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/17 "2006-06-01T19:44:26Z")
Every member of Canada’s Parliment is a former professional hockey player. There used to be an I in team. It was lost when the word transitioned from middle English to modern. Everyone in the world is psychic except for you. And we all know how you are going to react when you read this. Crybaby. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/18 "2006-06-01T19:51:21Z")
In the 1970’s scientists discovered a still surviving species of pleiosaur living in the trench zone. However, the species head bears an uncanny resemblance to Scooby Doo. Teams of researchers have been investigating these creatures for years, terrified that it will turn out to be a hoax planned by other scientists. The President Of The United States, in order to ensure his safety, can attack and kill his secret service bodyguards with legal immunity. The CIA has been adulterating illegal drugs with Truthamin, a chemical that causes unreasoning faith in anything the government says. HMOs are part of a huge sociological study to see just how bad things can get, and how people react. At the time of his death, Tucker was close to perfecting a car that ran on atmospheric pollution- actually cleaning the air as it ran. JFK’s lunar ambitions were actually due to a trusted soothsayer telling him that he could not die so long as he wore a ring containing a stone from the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/19 "2006-06-01T20:58:18Z")
90% of the population of China is Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![HeadNinja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b4bc9f/32.png) [@HeadNinja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadNinja)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011/20 "2006-06-01T21:05:42Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > 90% of the population of China is Jewish. That’s funny, they didn’t look Jewish. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lie-to-me-fake-fun-facts/359011.md?page=2)