STRANGE FACTS - 3
The name for the land of Oz in the "Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence "Oz."
Elvis had a twin brother named Jesse Garon, who died at birth, which is why Elvis' middle name was spelled Aron; in honor of his brother.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
S.O.S. doesn't stand for "Save Our Ship" or "Save Our Souls" -- It was chosen by an 1908 international conference on Morse Code because the letters S and O were easy to remember and just about anyone could key it and read it, S = dot dot dot, O = dash dash dash.
Crickets hear through their knees.
Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.
A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
Heroin is the brand name of morphine once marketed by Bayer.
U.S. Interstates which go north-south are numbered sequentially starting from the west with odd numbers, and Interstates which go east-west are numbered sequentially starting from the south with even numbers.
A walla-walla scene is one where extras pretend to be talking in the background -- when they say "walla-walla" it looks like they are actually talking.
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.
The phrase ' The 3 R's ' ( standing for 'reading, writing and arithmetic' ) was created by Sir William Curtis, who was illiterate.
The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (marijuana) paper.
101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan are the only two Disney cartoon features with both parents that are present and don't die throughout the movie.
"Video Killed the Radio Star" was the very first video ever played on MTV.
During World War II, W.C. Fields kept US $50,000 in Germany 'in case the little bastard wins'.
According to Genesis 1:20-22 the chicken came before the egg.
To "testify" was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made by swearing on their testicles. If they were found to be lying they were demasculated.
Both Hitler and Napoleon were missing one testicle.
A whale's penis is called a dork.
A barnacle has the largest penis of any other animal in the world in relation to its size.
Iguanas, koalas and Komodo dragons all have two penises.
"Jet lag" was once called "boat lag", back before jets existed.
There are more beetles than any other kind of creature in the world.
Tomb robbers believed that knocking Egyptian sarcophagi's noses off would forstall curses.
Mozart was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave.
Polar bear fur is not white, it's clear.
Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.
If you feed a seagull Alka-Seltzer, its stomach will explode.
Boris Karloff is the narrator of the seasonal television special "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." |
