# What's the most obscure thing you know? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 21, 2002, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345 "2002-03-21T14:41:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![annieclaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@annieclaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annieclaus)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/181 "2002-04-01T19:41:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Semp \* > \*\*Grover Cleveland, in adition to being the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms, developed a non-malignant cancerous tumor in the soft tissue of his pallette during his second (I think) term. He had the tumor removed during a secret surgical procedure on a yacht in New York harbor, and had the hole filled with a rubber prosthesis with no ill effects. \*\* Grover Cleveland was an artist, too? Seriously, thought, I think that tumor was on his palate, not the thing you smear the paints on. ---
**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, 2002, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/182 "2002-04-01T20:16:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Darwin’s Finch \* > \*\* > > **Correction** : an _adult_ pig has 44 teeth (6 incisors, 2 canines, and 14 molars, on each of the upper and lower jaws). > > A _juvenile_ pig, however, only has 6 molars on each of its jaws, for a total of only 28 teeth. \*\* I stand corrected, then! 🙂 The little things on the bottom of the pages in the Bathroom Readers don’t tell you TOO much! (reminds me of the time I was telling my brother that the bumblebee was the most dangerous animal in Ireland; he wanted to know why, and when I told him that the book didn’t say why, he said that they should tell you why… indeed) Here’s some more obscure stuff: 30 million years ago, there were palm trees in Alaska. Mosquitoes are attracted to the color blue. Each mile of a four-lane freeway takes up more than 17 acres of land. Pigeons have three sets of eyelids. Buzz Aldrin’s mother’s middle name was Moon. Doctors in the 1700s prescribed ladybugs, taken internally, to cure measles. Dustin Hoffman used to type entries for the yellow pages. Henry Kissinger’s sreal name is Heinz Kissinge. Lewis Carroll wrote _Alce’s Adventures in Wonderland_ standing up. Turtles and honeybees are both deaf. ---
**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, 2002, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/183 "2002-04-01T20:23:30Z")
Let me correct my typos in the previous post: 😃 Henry Kissinger’s sreal name is Heinz **Kissinger**. Lewis Carroll wrote _ **Alice’s** Adventures in Wonderland_ standing up. [sub]Yes, I have this thing for correcting some typos… that’s just me! :)[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/184 "2002-04-01T21:01:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Flamsterette\_X \* > **Pigeons have three sets of eyelids.** As do most birds, actually. That’s one of the problems with these sorts of trivia bits: they are usually specific examples of a general trend, thereby rendering them non-trivial. Aside from the standard issue upper and lower eyelids, many birds (and other animals besides) have an inner “nictating membrane” which sweeps from side to side instead of up and down. Birds in general (there may or may not be specific exemptions) also blink “up” with their lower eyelid, rather than “down” with the upper, as mammals do. \*\* > [@](#): > > Turtles and honeybees are both deaf. \*\* [Not so for turtles](http://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/ocean/life/turtle4.htm). In general, they tend to have _poor_ hearing, but that does equate to being deaf. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/185 "2002-04-01T21:06:01Z")
**Fact** : Finches have poor proofreading skills. Even after they preview. Throw a “not” up there between **does** and **equate**. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/186 "2002-04-02T00:34:44Z")
There used to be such a thing as celery flavored JELL-O. We had a box when I was a young’n. Raccoons purr. ---
**Author:** ![Pixiegrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Pixiegrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiegrrl)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/187 "2002-04-02T04:50:34Z")
I know the sound a beaver makes and can imitate it. ---
**Author:** ![galt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/188 "2002-04-07T08:22:23Z")
The memory address to jump to on a Macintosh SE in order to see a slideshow of pictures of the development team is 41d89a. The serial number of the Redline 500a bmx bike which I saved my allowance for in 7th grade is G0584 4639191. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2002, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/189 "2002-04-08T22:32:17Z")
When Peter Cooper founded his Cooper Institute in New York City, he made the architects leave a shaft for elevators, even though they didn’t exist yet. He foresaw that they would be essential for taller buildings and would soon be in production. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/190 "2002-04-09T00:47:14Z")
I know that the second longest punt in NFL history–93 yards–was kicked by Randall Cunningham. Sometime in the 1990 season, when their punter was injured. I know that Jim Bunning pitched a perfect game on June 21, 1964. That was supposed to be my wedding date, but we jumped the gun and got married in March (not for the reason you think, but the opposite) and decided to go to Shea on that original date. And then I know more obscure mathematical facts that most of you ever dreamed possible. But they would mean nothing to you. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/191 "2002-04-09T03:49:49Z")
Some fellow recently sued McDonald’s for a beef-derived flavoring in their fries; currently it’s true that the fries are not vegetarian, unless they’ve changed the recipe in the last few months. The most potent psilocybin mushroom, submitted for classification in the mid-nineties, is the psilocybe azurescens, named for the discoverer’s son Azure. Azure, of course, was in turn named after the remarkable bluing property of most psilocybin mushrooms. P. azurescens is typically found in blackberry patches in the Pacific Northwest. When I was a teenager, as a trick to annoy Jesus Crispies, I memorized the Lord’s Prayer backwards. It’s remarkably scary-sounding, and still hangs out in a dusty back corner of my mind. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Krispy\_Original](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ec9cab/32.png) [@Krispy\_Original](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krispy_Original)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/192 "2002-04-09T18:31:46Z")
Federal guidelines for a maximum acceptable level of radon gas is 2.4 ppl (picocuries per liter). Anything over 2.4 ppl is considered to be potentially harmful. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/193 "2002-04-09T19:24:25Z")
The United States not only has a King, it has two of them. They are the elected leaders of the Thlopthlocco and Kialegee Tribal Towns in Oklahoma. As far as I know, these are the only instances of monarchial titles in federal, state, local, or tribal government. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/194 "2002-04-09T20:10:53Z")
…With the possible exception of “Drug Tsar.” ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/195 "2002-04-09T21:31:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by booklover \* > \*\*The word “avocado” is derived from a South American native word for “testicle”. > > \*\* And the word “orchid” is derived from the Greek word for testicles. So you know that Easter bouquet you gave you’re mother…? And since I’m thinking about the classical world and genitals: Ancient Romans would commonly put a staute of Prapis, a fertility god noted for his giant hard-on, in their gardens to to protect them. An entire genre (ok, sub-genre) of Latin poetry evolved out the the humorous verses efixed to the stautes, most of which concerned threatening the would-be vegetable thief with anal rape. I don’t know if that’s the most obscure thing I know but it’s entertaining. Oh, and I know Joey Ramone didn’t have an answering machine. Although knowing his home phone number doesn’t do me any good any more. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/196 "2002-04-09T22:40:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zber \* > \*\*Coat blueberries with flour before adding them to muffins to keep them from sinking to the bottom. \*\* Doesn’t sound appetizing, but try it. For toll house cookie recipes, use butter flavored Crisco in lieu of butter/oleo ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/197 "2002-04-10T09:58:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Flamsterette\_X \* > The word “mattress” originally meant “place to throw things.” Ha! That’s what mine is now! The most uninteresting, useless piece of information I possess: The last name of Larry on Three’s Company is Dallas. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/198 "2002-04-10T11:11:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sofa King \* > \*\*The United States not only has a King, it has two of them. They are the elected leaders of the Thlopthlocco and Kialegee Tribal Towns in Oklahoma. As far as I know, these are the only instances of monarchial titles in federal, state, local, or tribal government. \*\* What about Emperor Norton I? 😉 I can’t believe I didn’t mention this earlier, as I tend to bore my friends with this one. In medieval times (before reliable local maps), parish boundaries were often maintained by a process known as “beating the bounds”, in which the men and boys of the parish would walk around the boundaries of the parish several times a year to restablish them. To ensure that the important markers along the way were remembered, the young boys were beaten (yes, beaten) at them each time. Cruel, but it made sure that when they got older they remembered every bit of the way. These groups would often meet up with the group from the adjoining parish and they would walk along together to keep an eye on one another. Often, fights broke out. On one occasion in 1560, the Rev. Richard Finch and his group from Norwood were “persuaded” by the group from Penge to take a slight detour down Gravelly Hill to the next stile – a route which they were then forced to take the next time, and the next. Eventually the dispute escalated into a court action between the Queen (Elizabeth I), who owned the Penge side of the border (part of the Diocese of Battersea) and the Archbishop of Croydon who owned the Norwood side. The court decided that the route most recently walked was the legal boundary, and the strange detour stuck. If this seems a tad obscure, it’s worth noting that the boundary still exists, now marking the line between the London Boroughs of Bromley and Croydon, with the odd effect that the line which otherwise follows main roads jogs off down a side street for a bit, and on one street the boundary runs down one side of the street, to the effect that the houses on that side are in one borough but the sidewalk in front of the houses is in the other. Bored yet? ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2002, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/199 "2002-04-10T23:18:29Z")
Kenny G’s last name is Gorelick Peg Bundy on Married With Children was once a backup singer for Bette Midler Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung is the German word for speed limit. (True, this is not an obscure fact for Germans…) Jack Lemmon was paid $25,000 per week to film Some Like It Hot (a 5 week shoot). If you pick a gerbil up by its tail, its eyes will fall out of their sockets. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/200 "2002-04-11T02:52:51Z")
In Ojibway, “I have a bad cat” is “Neen ayau matchi gauzhug”. “Neen ayau matchi gauzhug. Waeweeb, naudin n’waugukudum!” means “I have a bad cat. Hurry, fetch my axe!” > [@](#): > > Flanders and Swann songs ! Whenever anyone says “That’s irrelevant.” in our hearing, my SO and I traditionally finish it, “It’s not irrelevant… it’s a hippopotamus!” I know. It’s really annoying. Polyphonic music was nearly banned at the Council of Trent. _Belladonna_ got its name because it was used as a beauty aid in Italy during the Renaissance- belladonna droplets cause the pupils to enlarge. Tycho Brahe had a metal prothestic nose. In the 1902 edition of the Sears catalogue, there’s an ad for “pure spirits of turpentine- for Internal or External use!” and also for Arsenic Wafers, “to render the complexion pale and clear.” I’m sure they would. Also dead. I know the first page and a half of “The Song of Hiawatha” by heart. Also, the poem has nothing to do with Hiawatha. It’s actually about the Anishnaubae hero Nanabozho. The Scots didn’t wear kilts during the period of William Wallace’s revolt. The most common type of beadwork for covering large areas of cloth with beads is tambouring, also called Luneville technique. It’s done with a tiny crochet hook. It was invented in the 20’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345.md?page=11)