# Snapple "Real facts" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280 "2005-08-30T17:03:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/41 "2005-08-30T22:24:39Z")
> [@](#): > > #25 The only food that does not spoil is honey This statement is far too strong to be true, given the wide possible interpretations of the word “food”. > [@](#): > > #39 An ant’s smell is stronger then a dog’s They must mean SENSE of smell. > [@](#): > > #44 The bullfrog is the only animal that never sleeps Out of all of the fantastic diversity of species in the animal kingdom, there is one and only one that doesn’t sleep? I call hooey. > [@](#): > > #46 Elephants are the only mammal that cannot jump Out of all the fantastic diversity of species of mammals, there is one and only one that can’t jump? I call hooey. I also point out that one rareley sees a blue whale jumping. > [@](#): > > #68 The longest one syllable word is “screeched” Actually, I believe is is the somewhat obsolete “broughammed”, pronounced “broomed”. > [@](#): > > #70 A “jiffy” is actually 1/100 of a second [Among other things](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiffy) > [@](#): > > #118 Honeybees are the only insects that create a form of food for humans Nonsense. Many people eat insects. Thus, those insects parents created a form of food for humans > [@](#): > > #131 Koala and humans are the only animals with unique fingerprints I’m skeptical of this one. What to chimpanzees have on their fingers? > [@](#): > > #136 Strawberries are the only fruits whose seeds grow on the outside Like all claims involving the word “only”, I’m skeptical > [@](#): > > #144 Texas is the only state that permits residents to cast absentee ballots from space Which is meaningless unless there are any states that do NOT permit it. > [@](#): > > #145 Lake Superior is the world’s largest lake Freshwater lake. The world’s largest lake is the Caspian Sea. > [@](#): > > #146 The smallest county in America is New York County, better known as Manhattan Manhattan is both a burough of New York City, AND a county? Really? > [@](#): > > #167 You have to play ping-pong for 12 hours to lose one pound Anyone who’s ever watched real table tennis played knows how ridiculous this is. > [@](#): > > #175 In 1634, tulip bulbs were a form of currency in Holland They were incredibly valuable and sought after and were probably traded like money. But does that makes them “currency”? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/42 "2005-08-30T23:19:07Z")
#145 Lake Superior is the world’s largest lake In area? Water Volume? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/43 "2005-08-30T23:38:49Z")
For numbers 185 and 186 I’d have said the more commonly used terms were buck and doe. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/44 "2005-08-30T23:55:59Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > This statement is far too strong to be true, given the wide possible interpretations of the word “food”. And the word “spoil”. Butter doesn’t usually host bacteria, therefore will not “spoil”. It will turn rancid, which can be construed as “spoiling”. But then, honey will crystallize, which, to some people, will mean it has “spoiled”. I also call bullshit on #41. Maybe _some_ species of shrimp can only swim backwards, but my [red cherries](http://www.azgardens.com/shrimpfactory.php) zip around their tank head first. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/45 "2005-08-31T01:26:12Z")
[quote] > [@Baldwin](#): > > Some, like > Quote: > #77 No piece of paper can be folded more then 7 times > [\quote]are just patently stupid. > > Already addressed earlier but this is a sloppy one. Should be folded in half. Try to fold a piece of paper in half, then again with the new fold perpendicular to the previous, over and over again. I know what it means; it’s still patently stupid (not to mention misspelled). The statement “it’s extremely difficult to fold a standard 8 1/2” x 11" sheet of typing paper in half more than seven times" makes more sense. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/46 "2005-08-31T01:49:17Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Manhattan is both a burough of New York City, AND a county? Really? Yep, really. Each borough of New York City is its own county. Manhattan is New York County. I take issue with many of your other quibbles as well. IIRC, Texas passed a specific law for voting from space, making it unique. Eating insects as food is not the same thing as insects creating food that people can eat. So what is a jiffy means other things as long as it means a unit of time? “Real table tennis” has nothing to do with ordinary “ping-pong.” ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/47 "2005-08-31T02:19:32Z")
#68 The longest one syllable word is “screeched” “Straights” is another one-syllable word of the same length. #72 The average person uses 150 gallons of water per day for personal use [This site](http://www.lenntech.com/water-usage-FAQ.htm) says it’s 168 _liters_ per day in the US. To reach 150gals/day you have to throw in some non-personal uses (industrial, agricultural, etc.) #89 The average American walks 18,000 steps a day At a modest 2’/step, that’s 6.8 miles/day, which would require something like 2 hours - rather high for an average. #145 Lake Superior is the world’s largest lake It’s the freshwater lake with the largest surface area. In terms of volume, Lake Baikal completely croaks it (contains 20% of the world’s fresh water). #182 A rainbow can only be seen in the morning or late afternoon Well, you need to be looking at water droplets with the sun behind you. A waterfall at noon will often serve (not to mention high latitudes). ---
**Author:** ![Toaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@Toaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toaster)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/48 "2005-08-31T11:38:19Z")
> [@](#): > > #118 Honeybees are the only insects that create a form of food for humans Um…manna? That’s not by honeybees… Most of the animal ones seem either quite wrong, or quite “duh, plenty of animals do that” or they generify the animal into a ‘kind’ like ‘frogs’ to the point where it’s no longer interesting. As another poster said, yes, it does sound like a bunch of facts culled from a couple-decade-old factbook. ---
**Author:** ![seaworthy82](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@seaworthy82](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seaworthy82)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/49 "2005-08-31T13:04:11Z")
> [@Toaster](#): > > As another poster said, yes, it does sound like a bunch of facts culled from a couple-decade-old factbook. Particularly #89- The average American walks 18,000 steps a day. As someone who wears a pedometer daily, I can tell you that 18,000 steps would require conscious effort. Articles on weight loss suggest aiming for 10,000 steps daily, which is roughly equivalent to a 30 minute walk. I’ve gotten to 12,000 before, on days when I was constantly running back and forth at work. That said, on weekend days it’s not unusual for me to only walk 2,000 steps a day if all I’m doing is watching movies and napping on the couch. Considering the average American drives or rides everywhere, doesn’t excercise, and watches hours of TV a day, I’m betting the current average is probably 5,000 steps a day. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/50 "2005-08-31T14:03:28Z")
> [@seaworthy82](#): > > Particularly #89- The average American walks 18,000 steps a day. I would think that the “average” would also be dropped down if you include _every_ American. Those pre-bipedal one year olds would lower the number, right? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/51 "2005-08-31T14:08:59Z")
> [@seaworthy82](#): > > Particularly #89- The average American walks 18,000 steps a day. As someone who wears a pedometer daily, I can tell you that 18,000 steps would require conscious effort. Articles on weight loss suggest aiming for 10,000 steps daily, which is roughly equivalent to a 30 minute walk. I’ve gotten to 12,000 before, on days when I was constantly running back and forth at work. That said, on weekend days it’s not unusual for me to only walk 2,000 steps a day if all I’m doing is watching movies and napping on the couch. Considering the average American drives or rides everywhere, doesn’t excercise, and watches hours of TV a day, I’m betting the current average is probably 5,000 steps a day. Doesn’t Morgan Spurlock claim in _Supersize Me_ that the average American only walks about half a mile a day? I can’t recall the exact figure he gives, though, nor do I know what his source is. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/52 "2005-08-31T17:33:41Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Yep, really. Each borough of New York City is its own county. Manhattan is New York County. Well, slap me silly and call me Susan. Although for that one, I was just asking for confirmation, not claiming I knew it was untrue. (Although I’m not sure if that came across in my tone). > [@](#): > > I take issue with many of your other quibbles as well. IIRC, Texas passed a specific law for voting from space, making it unique. Fine. Then the fun fact should have been phrased “Texas is the only state which SPECIFICALLY allows…” or something like that. If California passes a law saying it is legal for pregnant women to vote, that doesn’t mean that California is the only state that allows pregnant women to vote. > [@](#): > > Eating insects as food is not the same thing as insects creating food that people can eat. What about insect eggs? > [@](#): > > So what is a jiffy means other things as long as it means a unit of time? Because the way they phrased their “fun fact” was deceptive and misleading. > [@](#): > > “Real table tennis” has nothing to do with ordinary “ping-pong.” It does if they’re going to perpetuate misinformation and inaccurate stereotypes. Granted, we’re judging them here by the standards of the SDMB, but, hey, if they’re going to take it upon themselves to spread “fun facts”, someone ought to care whether they are actually facts. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/53 "2005-08-31T17:39:51Z")
> [@Toaster](#): > > Um…manna? That’s not by honeybees… There is a “manna” produced by insects, but it’s not the type of manna that humans eat, which is a plant product. Even saying that humans “eat” this manna is a stretch. > **[Definition of manna | Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/manna)** > > Definition of manna from Dictionary.com, the world’s leading online source for English definitions, pronunciations, word origins, idioms, Word of the Day, and more. ---
**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:** [August 31, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/54 "2005-08-31T17:53:37Z")
> [@Toaster](#): > > Um…manna? That’s not by honeybees… Plus, here’s a Cecil column that mentions confectioners’ glaze, which is refined from the secretion of the lac insect. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_118.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_118.html) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/55 "2005-08-31T18:09:21Z")
> [@](#): > > #147 Panama is the only place in the world where you can see the sun rise on the Pacific and set on the Atlantic > [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#): > > I’d guess that it’s the only place where you can see the sun rise over the _Pacific_ and set over the _Atlantic_. If you count the bay that the Panama canal connects to at the northern end as the Atlantic, then there is an east-west span of maybe 40 km. On a hill in the middle on a clear day, you probably could see that. The [Wikipedia map](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/Panamamap.png) I was using for this. While this is sort of true in principle, in my personal experience it is not true in actual fact for any single locality in Panama. Where I am (Panama City), the Pacific is to my east and the Atlantic to the west. I can see the sun rise out of the Pacific, and I have been places where the sun sets over the Atlantic. However, I while there are places on the cordillera where you can see both the Pacific and Atlantic at the same time, in these places either the part of the Pacific that the sun rises in, or the part of the Atlantic that the sun sets in, would be beyond the horizon. You would see the sun rise or set over land in one direction or the other, not over the ocean. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/56 "2005-08-31T19:04:21Z")
> [@](#): > > #161 The first TV network kids show in the U.S. was “Captain Kangaroo” Wha? Unless I’m missing something here, Keeshan as Kangaroo was predated by Keeshan as Clarabell on “Howdy Doody” by seven or eight years. ---
**Author:** ![Toaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@Toaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toaster)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/57 "2005-09-02T14:38:53Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > There is a “manna” produced by insects, but it’s not the type of manna that humans eat, which is a plant product. Even saying that humans “eat” this manna is a stretch. > > [Manna Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=manna) I double-checked, and got this: [http://www.insects.org/ced1/aust\_abor.html](http://www.insects.org/ced1/aust_abor.html) [bottom purple box] It specifically lists Lerp insects as making “manna-like substance”, which the Australian aborigines use directly as a sugary food, and put into drinks as well. So er…I was close and forgot the “-like”? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/58 "2005-09-02T16:34:13Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > There’s all kinds of typos. My only comment: > > I don’t wear lipstick, so some poor dame out there has had to consume 12 lbs. worth. [Oh yeah. There she is!](http://imagehost.skins.be/pics/Courtney_Love_01-1024.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Reyemile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@Reyemile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reyemile)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280/59 "2005-09-02T18:29:58Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Actually, I believe is is the somewhat obsolete “broughammed”, pronounced “broomed”. Everyone I know pronounces “Squirrelled,” (as in “Squirrelled away”) as one syllable that rhymes with “World.” I’ve had people from other parts of the US insist that they use two syllables when they say it, though, so I’m not sure it counts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapple-real-facts/319280.md?page=2)