# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/61 "2002-03-22T01:59:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Legomancer \* > \*\* > I’m not sure I understand what you mean by this. Can you elaborate? > \*\* Theresa=7 letters Seven=5 letters Five=4 letters Legomancer=10 Ten=3 Three=5 Five=4 Be=2 Two=3 Three=5 Five=4 A= 1 One=3 Three=5 Five=4 ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/62 "2002-03-22T02:17:40Z")
Antisesquipedalial - Opposed to the use of large words. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/63 "2002-03-22T02:24:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sassy \* > \*\* > > worchestershire sauce? \*\* DINGDINGDING! We have a winner! God, I miss the Games Magazine scavenger hunts. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/64 "2002-03-22T02:48:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by G. Odoreida \* > \*\* > There is an ancient burial mound or something in Dorset that was known as “The Death of Thomas Hardy.” Hardy went to see the excavation when he was in his 80s and died of pneumonia 3 months later. \*\* And earlier in his career he was also an architect. He helped design a church near me when I lived in Oxford, ---
**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:** [March 22, 2002, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/65 "2002-03-22T03:20:04Z")
The Ossuary in Sedlec, Czechoslovakia is decorated with the bones of approximately 40,000 plague victims. The artist responsible for the macabre décor was Frantisek Rindt. One of the most striking pieces, a [chandelier](http://www.ludd.luth.se/users/silver_p/Sedlec/New/04.jpg), contains every bone in the human body (with multiple copies thereof, of course). ---
**Author:** ![Palve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a698b9/32.png) [@Palve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palve)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/66 "2002-03-22T03:55:06Z")
In [Lojban](http://www.lojban.org), I know how to create type-4 fu’ivla. Umm…I also know that in space, fire is spherical. The English and French plural ending “-s” is the same only by coincidence. The Latin word “habere”, meaning “to have” is unrelated to English “have” or German “haben”; also a coincidence. Object-Subject-Verb word order is very rare in natural human languages, but has been found among some peoples of the Amazon river basin. The Khoisan languages of southwest Africa have a very bizarre phonology. They have clicks not found in any other region of Earth so far. The Basque language spoken in northern Spain and southwestern France is a language isolate; it has not been shown to be related to any other language. Another such isolate is Ainu, spoken in northern Japan. Oh, and I am familiar with about 95% of the IPA symbols. I can name the capital of any country. The Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal is actually further west than the Pacific entrance. The Libyan flag used to be completely white, but it resembled the surrender flag so it is now completely green. I can also tell you the only Australian territory that has no capital. Try to guess which one…🙂 ---
**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:** [March 22, 2002, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/67 "2002-03-22T03:58:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tigergirl \* > **It is impossible to lick your elbow** [Not so fast, there](http://www.artbell.com/funfotos4.html)! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/68 "2002-03-22T04:14:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by G. Odoreida \* > \*\*Aberdeen scored a last minute equaliser against Dunfermline in a match in February 1965. If that hadn’t gone in, and all other scores had remained the same, Dunfermline would have won their only ever championship. \*\* I know it’s a bit late, but on behalf of all Dons fans, I sincerely apologise for that one, **G.** ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@The\_Man\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_Who)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/69 "2002-03-22T04:21:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scarlett67 \* > \*\* > > DINGDINGDING! We have a winner! > > God, I miss the Games Magazine scavenger hunts. \*\* The December 1983 issue of Games featured a bunch of letters asking what the product in question was, including one that was originally sent to Gourmet magazine. The results to this contest were printed in the April 1984 issue. One of the grand prizes was a complete set of Games Magazine. Other items in that contest’s “to be found” list included a sugar packet with a picture of a woodpecker on it, a subscription stamp for Games Magazine from the Publisher’s Clearinghouse (or similar) sweepstakes, a picture of Gene Shalit, a phonebook listing from a person who shared his name with the name of the street he lives on, a postage stamp with a picture of a stamp on it, a jigsaw puzzle piece with a copyright symbol on it, a cartoon featuring a picture of a scientist, and a TV listing indicating that two TV shows running against each other on different networks featured the same star. I’m still looking for one of those. Myron From memory. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/70 "2002-03-22T04:41:57Z")
The definition of Abecedarian ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/71 "2002-03-22T04:43:23Z")
It is nice to excel at something… 🙂 a) If we assume the day to start at 6 AM (or what we call 6 AM in our current system of hours/minutes/seconds), the next 10-milliday period begins at 6:14:24; you hit 50 millidays at 7:12. b) If your pre-PowerPC Macintosh freezes because of misbehavior of the frontmost application, and you have unsaved work in another program that you desperately need to save, you can often do so by pressing the programmer’s key (or Command-Powerkey on newer 68K Macs) and typing: SMFA700A9F4 \ PCFA700 \ G \ c) The order of the satellites of Jupiter known by us in the middle 1970s, from innermost to outermost, was Amalthea, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Jupiter VI, VII, X, XII, XI, VIII, and IX; for Saturn, for which 10 were known, the order was Janus, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Phoebe. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/72 "2002-03-22T04:47:56Z")
Alice Kramden’s _(The Honeymooners)_ maiden name was Alice Gibson. I once could recite _The Cremation of Sam McGee, The Iceworm Cocktail, and The Shooting of Dan McGrew_ from memory. And I can still come pretty close. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/73 "2002-03-22T04:49:27Z")
Ahh one more! Radioactivity - is the spontaneous uncontrollable disintegration of the nucleus of an atom, with the emission of particles and rays. The only question I missed on a really difficult physics final about 25 years ago! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/74 "2002-03-22T04:57:01Z")
> [@](#): > > _dragonblink_ > Oh, and Hamlet wasn’t talking about suicide. o…k… what was he talking about then? _To be or not to be; that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep - No more, and by a sleep to say we end The heartache…_ unless you understand him to mean that he ends the ‘sea of troubles’ by doing something about them. (and by opposing…) which actually makes sense within the context of the play. i’m still not convinced it **can’t** be suicide, though. > [@](#): > > _duke_ > How many runs did Don Bradman need in his last innings to finish with a Test career average of 100? and how many runs did he get? 4 and what average did he finish with? 99.96 i’m cheating. almost every australian knows these facts. > [@](#): > > _palve_ > I can also tell you the only Australian territory that has no capital. Try to guess which one… the ACT (australian capital territory)? i can’t see why it would need one. it’s just a place for keeping politicians. Also, Abecedarian means ‘one learning the rudiments elements of something’ (no, i didn’t look that up) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/75 "2002-03-22T05:00:53Z")
On the original 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide, page 95 contains a sample dungeon. This is the same dungeon used in the 3rd Edition dungeon masters sample dungeon. I have memorized the American Girls in chronological order. ---
**Author:** ![TN\_hippie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TN\_hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TN_hippie)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/76 "2002-03-22T05:04:55Z")
I know Arlo Guthrie’s phone number. * * * youcangetanythingyouwant, TN\*hippie ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/77 "2002-03-22T05:18:11Z")
Every Christmas, I’m convinced I’m the only person that seems to know… It’s four _colley_ birds, not _calling_ birds. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2002, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/78 "2002-03-22T06:48:54Z")
Any real, non-negative number, raised to the fourth power, has 0,1,5, or 6 as the last digit. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2002, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/79 "2002-03-22T06:53:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lorinada \* > \*\*Every Christmas, I’m convinced I’m the only person that seems to know… > > It’s four _colley_ birds, not _calling_ birds. \*\* And they are symbolic of the four apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (the numbers for all of the other days are symbolic of various Catholic beliefs as well; indeed, the whole song is thought by some to be something of a 17th-century Catholic mnemonic device). ---
**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:** [March 22, 2002, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/80 "2002-03-22T07:06:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lorinada \* > \*\*It’s four _colley_ birds, not _calling_ birds. \*\* Oh…and it’s actually “colly” birds - no “e”. A “colly bird” is a blackbird. “Colley” is just a variant spelling of “collie”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345.md?page=5)