Misc Jokes

Useless (but fun) Facts

1. In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed
frames by
ropes when you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened,
making the bed
firmer to sleep on. that's where the phrase, "goodnight,
sleep tight" came
from.

2. The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy
dog." uses
every letter in the alphabet. (developed by Western Union to
test
telex/twx communications)

3. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without
repeating a
letter is uncopyrightable.

4. When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not
"playing." They
actually pass out from sheer terror.

5. The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch
every
year because when it was built, engineers failed to take
into account the
weight of all the books that would occupy the building.

6. The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II fighter
pilots in
the Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the
.50 caliber
machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before
being loaded into
the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a
target, it got "the
whole 9 yards."

7. The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English
law
which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything
wider than
your thumb.

8. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

9. The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army
for the
"General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.

10. The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six
inches for
each gallon of diesel that it burns.

11. Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected
intravenously.

12. No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed
stadium has
ever won a Super Bowl.

13. The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave
It To
Beaver."

14. Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or
older.

15. In Cleveland, Ohio, it's illegal to catch mice without a
hunting
license.

16. It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough
leather for a
year's supply of footballs.

17. Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads
for dating
are already married.

18. There are an average of 178 sesame seeds on a McDonald's
Big Mac
bun.

19. The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to
1.

20. The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro,
Coca-Cola,
and Budweiser, in that order.

21. When Heinz ketchup leaves the bottle, it travels at a
rate of 25
miles per year.

22. Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes
from the
sale of vodka.

23. On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens
every
year.

24. In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all
the
world's nuclear weapons combined.

25. It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago
that for
a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply
his
son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a
honey beer, and
because their calendar was lunar based, this period was
called the "honey
month" or what we know today as the "honeymoon."

26. In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So
in old
England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell
at them
to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's
where we Get
the phrase "mind your P's and Q's."

27. Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle
baked
into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they
needed a refill,
they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your
whistle," is the
phrase inspired by this practice.