# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![Ice\_Lord\_Ssarl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a88e57/32.png) [@Ice\_Lord\_Ssarl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Lord_Ssarl)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/161 "2002-03-29T03:11:49Z")
I know that Doctor Who began televising on the 23rd of November, 1963 in the UK at 5:16:20 _yes, I know the SECONDS!_ and transmitted for 26 years and 13 days with no break longer than 18 months. It ended on 6th December 1989. Can ANYONE get sadder than that? Oh, and as for the grunts in a song thing: I could do that with Hanson. _I win!_ ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/162 "2002-03-29T13:11:30Z")
For some reason, I know that Mark Ritts (the guy who played _Lester the Rat_ on _Beakman’s World_) is married to Terese Parente (the woman who played reporter _Miranda VeraCruz de la Jolla Cardenal_ on _Married with Children_). ---
**Author:** ![annieclaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@annieclaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annieclaus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/163 "2002-03-29T15:12:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by David Simmons \* > \*\* > > Not quite. They have to be evenly divisible by 400. For example, 2200 is divisible by 4 (550) but not by 400 (5.5) so it won’t a leap year. \*\* Yes, of course you’re right. I realized my error, but thought I had made such a boob of myself I was too embarrassed to post again. Thank you for doing so. I wouldn’t want anyone to think 2100 WAS a leap year, when, in fact, it isn’t. Phew! ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/164 "2002-03-29T17:49:16Z")
The worlds longest burning lightbulb is at fire station #6 in Livermore CA. It’s been burning for something like 100 years ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/165 "2002-03-29T18:18:30Z")
The proper orientation, as given in the U.S. Navy General Ship Specification Sect. 651b, 1991 ed., of a doughnut fryer. Longitudunally. Don’t ask me what happens if you accidentally mount it athwartships. Your tax money at work. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/166 "2002-03-29T18:51:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tanstaafl \* > \*\*I also know the introduction to _Canterbury Tales_ in Middle English… > \*\* I know it, too. I can also recite the climactic scene from the Miller’s Tale in Middle English… 😃 The first Shakespeare play printed with Shakespeare’s name on it was the 1598 quarto of _Love’s Labour’s Lost._ In 1601, the Earl of Essex requested Shakespeare’s company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, to stage a performance of _Richard II_ on the eve of his rebellion against Queen Elizabeth. The company protested, saying it was an old play that nobody would want to see, but they did it anyway. Elizabeth apparently didn’t harbor any hard feelings against the company, though – they played at court on the eve of Essex’s execution. The _Star Trek_ interracial kiss mentioned by **SHAKES** was apparently filmed in two versions – one where you actually see them kiss, and one where it fades to black before it happens. The reason W.S. Gilbert had Nanki-Poo (in _The Mikado_) pose as a second trombone in his guise as a wandering minstrel was an inside joke: Sullivan wanted one in the orchestra, but there was no room. (He did, however, get his wish in 1888, for _The Yeomen of the Guard._) ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/167 "2002-03-29T19:26:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Katisha \* > \*\*The _Star Trek_ interracial kiss mentioned by **SHAKES** was apparently filmed in two versions – one where you actually see them kiss, and one where it fades to black before it happens. > \*\* Actually, it never happened at all. The camera filmed them such that Shatner was directly in front of Nichols and, while their bodies were in more or less the correct position, their lips never actually touched. There were assorted studio execs standing around the sound stage to make sure there was NO ACTUAL KISS. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/168 "2002-03-29T19:40:52Z")
The two carriers of leprosy are humans and armadillos. ---
**Author:** ![annieclaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@annieclaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annieclaus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/169 "2002-03-29T20:26:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GargoyleWB \* > \*\*The two carriers of leprosy are humans and armadillos. \*\* Now THAT’S obscure!!! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Frink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Mr.Frink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Frink)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/170 "2002-03-30T10:57:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bad News Baboon \* > \*\*McDonalds French Fries can not truly be considered vegetarian. \*\* **Actually** , I don’t believe this is currently true. My Turn: John F. Kennedy was the first President born in the twentieth century. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2002, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/171 "2002-03-30T11:07:51Z")
I know lots of obscure stuff (thanks mainly to my Bathroom Readers and a book I got called “The A to Z of Everything”), but I am certainly not going to list them all. it weould take too long. Here, then, are some highlights: Blood in firelight is black, not red. The word “mattress” originally meant “place to throw things.” Lyle Lovett’s uncle is named Calvin Klein. (just read this one in the paper yesterday, actually) Tomatoes were once considered an aphrodisiac. When a kangaroo is nervous, it licks its forearms. A pig has 44 teeth. ---
**Author:** ![100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/a698b9/32.png) [@100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/100)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/172 "2002-03-30T12:53:40Z")
Why does Bret The Hitman Hart sign his autograph with four dots (’ ’ ’ ') next to “Hitman”? To signify his 4 children. The alphabet song and Twinkle Twinkle little star have the same tune. Heaps of wrestling stuff that makes ppl go “WOAH, you knew that right off the top of your head! I think ur making it up” then we check it out on the net and i am RIGHT GOD DAMMIT! ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/173 "2002-03-30T13:04:02Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by GargoyleWB_ > **The two carriers of leprosy are humans and armadillos.** > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by annieclaus \*\*\* > > Now THAT’S obscure!!!_\* While this is generally true, Cecil also noted that “A few cases have been found in chimps and mangabey monkeys in Africa” in his [Is it true that armadillos carry leprosy?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990219.html) column. ---
**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 30, 2002, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/174 "2002-03-30T14:56:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Flamsterette\_X \* > **The word “mattress” originally meant "place to throw things."** From the Arabic _maTraH_, from the verb _TaraHa_ ‘to throw’ (also source of the word _tare_ used in weights and measures, the tare is what you throw out; and of _tarot_ from Italian _tarocchio_ from Arabic, in a card game you throw down your cards when you play). It starts with the prefix _ma-_ used in Arabic to make the “noun of place.” > [@](#): > > **Tomatoes were once considered an aphrodisiac.** As a result of mistranslation of the Italian word for tomato (_pomodoro_, literally ‘golden apple’ because the first tomatoes imported into Italy were a yellow variety); the Italian word became in French _pomme d’amour_ ‘apple of love’. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![zber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c5a1d2/32.png) [@zber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zber)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/175 "2002-03-30T19:55:49Z")
Coat blueberries with flour before adding them to muffins to keep them from sinking to the bottom. ---
**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 30, 2002, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/176 "2002-03-30T20:13:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Flamsterette\_X \* > \*\*A pig has 44 teeth. \*\* **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. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/177 "2002-03-31T02:11:07Z")
Armadillos, oppossums, and porcupines are the only mammals currently living in north america to have evolved in south america. There used to be many more, but all of them died out at the end of the last ice age. South America was isolated for millions of years during the age of mammals and animals evolved there in almost complete isolation from the rest of the world. However, many of these unrelated animals resembled those in the rest of the world due to convergent evolution. There used to be marsupial saber-tooths, Toxodons that resembled hippos, Thoatheres that resembled horses, Argyrotheres that resembled rabbits, etc. There were also creatures from way out in left field, such as giant ground sloths the size of elephants, giant armadillos the size of volkswagens, and Macrauchenia a camel like creature with a trunk like a tapir. Many of the mammals that we think of as typically south american, such as the tapir, the llama, and the jaguar came from north america and never entered south america until the panama land bridge formed a million or so years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Yo\_La\_Tengo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/41988e/32.png) [@Yo\_La\_Tengo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yo_La_Tengo)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/178 "2002-03-31T03:01:45Z")
[ul] [li]All (7) of the continents end with the same letter they begin with (not counting the north and south in the two americas).[/li][li]Maine is the only US state that is one syllable long.[/li]Lawrencium’s atomic number is 103.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Semp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Semp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Semp)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/179 "2002-03-31T19:50:44Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Semp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Semp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Semp)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345/180 "2002-03-31T20:08:57Z")
Don’t you hate it when 15 minutes later you remember something else that you wished you had posted? Is there a word for that? There should be. Anyways… The term “paparazzi” comes from the movie **La Dolce Vita** , courtesy of the character Paparazzo, the tabloid photographer friend of Marcello Mastroianni’s journalist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-obscure-thing-you-know/99345.md?page=10)