# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 25, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785 "2024-07-25T15:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 215
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4281 "2026-03-08T15:05:03Z")
“Typewriter" is the longest English word you can type using only the top row of keys. QWERTY keyboard of course. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4282 "2026-03-08T18:14:33Z")
Longer are the rather rare “proprietory”, “proterotype” and “rupturewort”. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2026, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4283 "2026-03-09T15:06:22Z")
I thought that claim was dangerous territory. j ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2026, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4284 "2026-03-09T16:53:28Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > “rupturewort”. Band name ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4285 "2026-03-10T19:32:23Z")
There is a large clock on the facade of the Corn Exchange building in the city of Bristol (the English one). The clock has an hour hand and _ **two** _ minute hands. The reason? With the introduction of the railways (and timetables) it was necessary to adopt a standardized time (GMT), replacing the then-normal practice of using local time. Adoption didn’t always happen overnight, and so this particular clock was designed to display both local time and GMT, these being different by 10 minutes. [Cite (with pictures)](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/corn-exchange-dualtime-clock) j ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4286 "2026-03-10T19:41:15Z")
Can’t you just add prefixes like pre- and proto-, German-style, pretending English is an **[agglutinative language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agglutinative_language)**? Starting with the proterotype you mention I easily get preprotoproterotype this way. This probably can be continued for a while. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4287 "2026-03-10T19:52:56Z")
Well, you can pretend whatever you want, I guess. But “proterotype” is a real word actually used by people, appearing in dictionaries and having google hits, etc. “preprotoproterotype” does not. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2026, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4288 "2026-03-10T21:53:34Z")
Rare, huh? For “proterotype” I found exactly three references to it in one newspaper archive. None were in context, and all were in articles about long words. Same number as appeared on this messageboard, until this thread bumped it to four. “Rupturewort” fared a little better with 68 references. “Proprietory” blew them all away with 62K (about 1/12 of the more usual “proprietary.” Also, there was once a 12-letter word that once appeared in something called “The Century Dictionary:” “Prettypretty” (with no hyphen). This is a bit like the ‘-gry’ riddle. “Typewriter” is about the most common word that can be typed on the top row, but other words of varying obscurity: Repertoire, Proprietor, Pirouetter, Prerequire, Pretorture, Pewterwort, Pepperwort, Perpetuity, Perruquier, Protopteri, Periptoroi. While going down this rabbit hole, I found the longest words that have neither ascenders nor descenders: “Overnervousness” and “Overnumerousness.” Obviously factitious, so I’ll defer to others to find the most common word. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4289 "2026-03-10T23:13:07Z")
If we’re going to go German style, I propose “typewriterwriter” (one who writes “typewriter”), which of course gives us “typewriterwriterwriter" and “typewriterwriterwriterwriter”… ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4290 "2026-03-10T23:15:53Z")
Excellent! You got the idea and applied it much better than me. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4291 "2026-03-10T23:23:19Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > For “proterotype” I found exactly three references to it in one newspaper archive. You’re saying you see only 3 Google hits for “proterotype”? That’s weird; I see 2,060 hits, including entries in [Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proterotype), [Collins](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/proterotype), [dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/proterotype), [wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/proterotype#English), and hundreds of uses in scientific contexts. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2026, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4292 "2026-03-10T23:38:38Z")
I’ll see your ‘weird’ and raise you one. I don’t see where I said anything about “Google.” ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4293 "2026-03-11T00:00:18Z")
That way lies stack overflow ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4294 "2026-03-11T00:07:38Z")
Yeah, that’s why Germans usually are stacked. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4295 "2026-03-11T00:56:29Z")
I was listening to a 1964 radio broadcast by Jean Shepherd while driving to my doctor’s appointment this afternoon. He was talking about the Amos and Andy radio show. He said that the Amos and Andy radio show was so popular that movie theaters would stop the movie just before it came on and turn on a radio so that their movie patrons could listen to the show and would then resume the movie after the show was over. He also said that during a US Senate session one evening, the Senate halted to listen to Amos and Andy’s show before resuming their late night deliberations. See [1964Pt3 : Jean Shepherd : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/JeanShepherd1964Pt3_0/1964_Amos_and_Andy.mp3) ---
**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:** [March 11, 2026, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4296 "2026-03-11T01:06:46Z")
> [@billy-jack](#): > > I was listening to a 1964 radio broadcast by Jean Shepherd while driving to my doctor’s appointment this afternoon. > > He was talking about the Amos and Andy radio show. > > He said that the Amos and Andy radio show was so popular that movie theaters would stop the movie just before it came on and turn on a radio so that their movie patrons could listen to the show and would then resume the movie after the show was over. > > He also said that during a US Senate session one evening, the Senate halted to listen to Amos and Andy’s show before resuming their late night deliberations. I’ve heard that, in the show’s heyday, you could walk down a street in the summer and listen to the show through the open windows, and, simce every house had it on, you could just walk down the street listening to the show without needing your own radio. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4297 "2026-03-11T01:19:12Z")
Two minor factoids about show business people that I just learned today: Carly Simon’s father was Richard Simon, co-founder of the publishing house Simon & Schuster. The family was wealthy and connected to many high-profile people in the literary and show business world when Carly was a child. Singer/actress Ellen Greene is probably best known for playing Audrey in the Broadway and film versions of the musical _Little Shop of Horrors_. In the musical, Audrey is in an abusive relationship with a sadistic dentist. In real life, Greene’s father was a dentist. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2026, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4298 "2026-03-11T01:42:49Z")
And Carly knew practically nothing about her maternal grandmother, who was very secretive about her past. “Finding Your Roots” did a segment on her and discovered that she was Cuban and racially mixed. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4299 "2026-03-11T04:39:53Z")
Carly Simon and her sister Lucy performed for a while as a duo in the 60s, appropriately named The Simon Sisters. Carly went on to her solo career, and Lucy went on to become a compost, writing, among other things, a couple of Broadway shows, most famously _The Secret Garden._ ---
**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 11, 2026, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4300 "2026-03-11T05:30:05Z")
No wonder. Compost is good for a garden [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=214) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=216)