# 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:** 221
**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 27, 2026, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4401 "2026-03-27T18:32:00Z")
By “speaking every word backwards” do you mean “pronouncing it as spelled backwards” or reproducing the phonemes backwards? Those would give pretty different results in most cases. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2026, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4402 "2026-03-27T20:33:13Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > “road metal” Isn’t that the genre that “Born to be Wild” started? ---
**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 27, 2026, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4403 "2026-03-27T21:28:30Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > By “speaking every word backwards” do you mean “pronouncing it as spelled backwards” or reproducing the phonemes backwards? Those would give pretty different results in most cases. That’s a very good question I didn’t take into account. The thing is, the woman who can talk backwards I mentioned is German, and does it in German, where this doesn’t make much of a difference, because German mostly is pronounced as written. I don’t know if she speaks English and can also do the backwards talk in that language, I’m gonna ask her next time I see her. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2026, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4404 "2026-03-27T22:07:33Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Are you one of the people who can speak every word and sentence they hear immediately backwards? Words, yes. Sentences? only if short. ---
**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 27, 2026, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4405 "2026-03-27T22:10:39Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Words, yes. Sentences? only if short. Yeah, that’s what I meant, my sister’s friend certainly couldn’t do it with a paragraph long sentence, either. ---
**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 27, 2026, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4406 "2026-03-27T23:24:06Z")
Yes, that’s the trouble with German. \< 🦆 🦆 & exits\> ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4407 "2026-03-28T00:12:59Z")
What about a paragraph-long word? ---
**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 28, 2026, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4408 "2026-03-28T00:13:51Z")
Hah 😄, that reminds me: I read about a (currently deceased?) German author (or philosopher, they are great at it) the other day who was reported to write the most convoluted and longest sentences in the German language (and thus in any language ever). Do you have a clue who that was? (I’m talking about sentences spanning three pages and more…) (that was a response to @Pardel-Lux ) ---
**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 28, 2026, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4409 "2026-03-28T00:15:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What about a paragraph-long word? Only Hemingway could do that, and maybe the paragraph was only “I”. ---
**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 28, 2026, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4410 "2026-03-28T00:34:18Z")
Oh, there are many that satisfy that condition! One that hate is Heidegger, so I won’t link to him, and never to his _Sein und Zeit_, which is awful. Adorno and Freund were equally impenetrable, but nicer persons. But I am gladly linking to Chistian Morgenstern’s _Galgenlieder_’s introduction, it is only two pages long. _**[Versuch einer Einleitung zur dritten beziehungsweise ersten Auflage](https://www.xlibris.de/Autoren/Morgenstern/Originaltexte/Galgenlieder)**_. Perhaps the most convoluted sentences ever written, in paticular the last one. But they make sense and are correct, sort of, I have checked. Enjoy. ---
**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 28, 2026, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4411 "2026-03-28T01:26:55Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > One that hate is Heidegger, so I won’t link to him, and never to his _Sein und Zeit_, which is awful. Adorno and Freund were equally impenetrable, but nicer persons. Oh, I have read some Heidegger (only in quotes, I’m not so masochistic to read one of his whole books), and he’s impenetrable. Didn’t he once propose that all philosophy should be done in German because that’s the only language that covers all nuances? Yeah, sure, Martin, it wasn’t German you wrote, but gibberish. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2026, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4412 "2026-03-28T01:29:54Z")
- **_[Ducks, Newburyport](https://www.google.com/search?q=Ducks%2C+Newburyport&num=10&newwindow=1&client=firefox-b-1-d&hs=tfG&sca_esv=779396568935250a&biw=1352&bih=659&sxsrf=ANbL-n4eEXvFuXReUjAfkCZeDXxy3_CKfQ%3A1774661333542&ei=1S7HacHMIKnLp84P_K6H2Q8&ved=2ahUKEwjUmOPXuMGTAxWS7skDHZuzL4sQgK4QegQIAxAB&uact=5&oq=book+that+is+one+long+paragraph&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiH2Jvb2sgdGhhdCBpcyBvbmUgbG9uZyBwYXJhZ3JhcGgyCBAhGKABGMMESOsHUJoFWJoFcAF4AZABAJgBqQGgAakBqgEDMC4xuAEDyAEA-AEBmAICoAK0AcICChAAGLADGNYEGEeYAwCIBgGQBgiSBwMxLjGgB_oBsgcDMC4xuAeuAcIHBTAuMS4xyAcFgAgA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp&mstk=AUtExfCUII5XohlF_o6Li-dOHYMRTQRUCvKAN7EMA3i50WdT7Xh7mBvhovmMLpdhCcIUWvLJtGGj-IPULJ_87wGEK0MERa3EKPJV67nmDVaHIsI6ZNdB87N2a-d1VkXw5zJrD6j94uwT--6psxRzropBUJG8Rm2MHTPylEakyvDe8N7iHE9wzQ6WjeGwzxaD4v-6sKiA3wy_oOXzkjAAQHclABmDL6_PuQFK48Ghdc76j6YtkMeds5huCh6ULoGKLWmGMfBLbs7q3hnBc-ssSQfcOO6Idc4fPHlynw1LueYiPJgcug&csui=3)_ by Lucy Ellmann (2019):** A 400,000+ word novel focusing on an Ohio mother’s thoughts, largely written in one sentence. - **_[Herscht 07769](https://www.google.com/search?q=Herscht+07769&num=10&newwindow=1&client=firefox-b-1-d&hs=tfG&sca_esv=779396568935250a&biw=1352&bih=659&sxsrf=ANbL-n4eEXvFuXReUjAfkCZeDXxy3_CKfQ%3A1774661333542&ei=1S7HacHMIKnLp84P_K6H2Q8&ved=2ahUKEwjUmOPXuMGTAxWS7skDHZuzL4sQgK4QegQIAxAD&uact=5&oq=book+that+is+one+long+paragraph&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiH2Jvb2sgdGhhdCBpcyBvbmUgbG9uZyBwYXJhZ3JhcGgyCBAhGKABGMMESOsHUJoFWJoFcAF4AZABAJgBqQGgAakBqgEDMC4xuAEDyAEA-AEBmAICoAK0AcICChAAGLADGNYEGEeYAwCIBgGQBgiSBwMxLjGgB_oBsgcDMC4xuAeuAcIHBTAuMS4xyAcFgAgA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp&mstk=AUtExfCUII5XohlF_o6Li-dOHYMRTQRUCvKAN7EMA3i50WdT7Xh7mBvhovmMLpdhCcIUWvLJtGGj-IPULJ_87wGEK0MERa3EKPJV67nmDVaHIsI6ZNdB87N2a-d1VkXw5zJrD6j94uwT--6psxRzropBUJG8Rm2MHTPylEakyvDe8N7iHE9wzQ6WjeGwzxaD4v-6sKiA3wy_oOXzkjAAQHclABmDL6_PuQFK48Ghdc76j6YtkMeds5huCh6ULoGKLWmGMfBLbs7q3hnBc-ssSQfcOO6Idc4fPHlynw1LueYiPJgcug&csui=3)_ by László Krasznahorkai (2020):** A 400+ page narrative consisting of a single sentence. - **_[Leeches](https://www.google.com/search?q=Leeches&num=10&newwindow=1&client=firefox-b-1-d&hs=tfG&sca_esv=779396568935250a&biw=1352&bih=659&sxsrf=ANbL-n4eEXvFuXReUjAfkCZeDXxy3_CKfQ%3A1774661333542&ei=1S7HacHMIKnLp84P_K6H2Q8&ved=2ahUKEwjUmOPXuMGTAxWS7skDHZuzL4sQgK4QegQIAxAF&uact=5&oq=book+that+is+one+long+paragraph&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiH2Jvb2sgdGhhdCBpcyBvbmUgbG9uZyBwYXJhZ3JhcGgyCBAhGKABGMMESOsHUJoFWJoFcAF4AZABAJgBqQGgAakBqgEDMC4xuAEDyAEA-AEBmAICoAK0AcICChAAGLADGNYEGEeYAwCIBgGQBgiSBwMxLjGgB_oBsgcDMC4xuAeuAcIHBTAuMS4xyAcFgAgA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp&mstk=AUtExfCUII5XohlF_o6Li-dOHYMRTQRUCvKAN7EMA3i50WdT7Xh7mBvhovmMLpdhCcIUWvLJtGGj-IPULJ_87wGEK0MERa3EKPJV67nmDVaHIsI6ZNdB87N2a-d1VkXw5zJrD6j94uwT--6psxRzropBUJG8Rm2MHTPylEakyvDe8N7iHE9wzQ6WjeGwzxaD4v-6sKiA3wy_oOXzkjAAQHclABmDL6_PuQFK48Ghdc76j6YtkMeds5huCh6ULoGKLWmGMfBLbs7q3hnBc-ssSQfcOO6Idc4fPHlynw1LueYiPJgcug&csui=3)_ by David Albahari (2011):** A 300-page existential novel written as one continuous paragraph. ---
**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 28, 2026, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4413 "2026-03-28T03:06:29Z")
Doc Smith is credited with creating the “attractor beam” in the 1930s, later shortened to just “tractor beam” or “tractor ray,” but the Buck Rogers comic strip took the term and used it repeatedly into the 1950s. ---
**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 28, 2026, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4414 "2026-03-28T03:14:00Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > > > Are you one of the people who can speak every word and sentence they hear immediately backwards? > > Words, yes. Sentences? only if short. The word “reporter” could be argued to mean the same either way. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4415 "2026-03-28T13:49:25Z")
Retroper? Somebody who edit-wars at TV Tropes? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4416 "2026-03-28T14:46:48Z")
But each E is pronounced differently… ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4417 "2026-03-28T22:41:33Z")
George Perec wrote a 300-page novel (in French) without using the letter “e”. He also wrote long palindromic texts such as this (in French, with a (almost) palindromic URL): [graner.name/nicolas/salocin/eman.renarg/:ptth](https://graner.name/nicolas/salocin/eman.renarg/:ptth) ---
**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 29, 2026, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4418 "2026-03-29T00:52:41Z")
Thirty years before Perec’s novel, Ernest Vincent Wright wrote _Gadsby_, a 50,000 word English novel that does not contain the letter “e” (not to be confused with _The Great Gatsby_). > **[Gadsby (novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsby_(novel))** > > Gadsby is a 1939 novel by Ernest Vincent Wright, written without words that contain the letter E, the most common letter in English. A work that deliberately avoids certain letters is known as a lipogram. The plot revolves around the dying fictional city of Branton Hills, which is revitalized as a result of the efforts of protagonist John Gadsby and a youth organizer. > Though vanity published and little noticed in its time, the book has since become a favorite of fans of constrained writing and... ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2026, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4419 "2026-03-29T01:45:15Z")
After George Harrison died they planted a memorial tree in Griffith Park for him. Many years later the tree died….from a beetle infestation. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2026, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4420 "2026-03-29T14:28:32Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > George Perec wrote a 300-page novel (in French) without using the letter “e”. Perec’s _La Disparition_ has been translated into English four times using the same restriction, as well as into quite a few other languages using comparable restrictions. [A Void - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Void#Translations) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=220) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=222)