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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
This list was sent to me by a workmate: (Parenthetical comments are mine)
1. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
> > 2. Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
> > 3. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
> > 4. The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
> > 5. A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
> > 6. There are more chickens than people in the world.
> > 7. Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey. (Toxic eggplant?)
> > 8. The longest one-syllable word in the English language is
>"screeched."
> > 9. On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament
> > building is an American flag.
> > 10. All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
> > 11. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver,
> > or purple.(Unless you're Ogden Nash)
> > 12. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt."
> > 13. All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial, on
> > the back of the $5 bill.
> > 14. Almonds are a member of the peach family. (No wonder my Georgia relatives are so nutty!)
> > 15. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
> > 16. Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.(So why ain't it a redneck state?)
> > 17. There are only four words in the English language which end in
> > "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous. (Dous y'all know any that begin with it?)
> > 18. Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo DE Nuestra Senora la Reina de
> > Los Angeles de Porciuncula"
> > 19. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
> > 20. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.(Ladies, don't go tellin' us what part of a man's anatomy is bigger than his brain!)
> > 21. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
> > 22. In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.
> > 23. Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
> > 24. The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street, were named after
> > Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's a
> > Wonderful Life"
> > 25. A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
> > 26. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.(And you thought it was just teenagers!)
> > 27. A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
> > 28. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.(This one's false! I can do it, after many years of practice. Of course, I now have eyes like the late Marty Feldman's)
> > 29. The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
> > 30. In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
> > 31. The microwave was invented, after a researcher walked by a radar
> > tube, and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
> > 32. Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.
> > 33. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
> > 34. There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
> > 35. "Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the left
>hand
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
We saw some of these in the factoids thread a few weeks back, but I've had it from an ostrich expert that the oistrich brain is slightly larger than its eyeballs. A Dr. Duke, I believe...
Also, I pointed out on the factoids list, which listed stewardess as the longest word one could type with the left hand, that stewardesses should be it. It was gratifying to see on your own list that the plural was listed.
Now about the others....you'll just have to see whether anyone responds to these factoids.
Best regards,
WW
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
the ones that you can usually assume are wrong are the ones regarding the spelling of words -- I mean, which dictionary did they use? for instance, there's an old word meaning crooked that ends in -mt (crommt); and then for words ending in -dous, see the link (there are 175 -dous entries in OED2). http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=miscellany&Number=14877p.s. - (Dous y'all know any that begin with it?) <scratching head> boy, that's a tough one... I'll have to think on that one... douse the lights on your way out, will ya?
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
1. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
Well, lessee. You'll always know where they are, so you won't lose them. As long as you leave them in the refrigerator, they won't break or anything. So, yeah. Leave them in the refrigerator, don't use them for anything; they'll last forever.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
> > 22. In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.
Definitely untrue: In most advertisements, there is no watch whatsoever.
But apart from such quibbling: Don't know what the practice is nowadays, but it used to be 8:20 instead. The (untrue) urban legend was that this time was selected in honor of President Lincoln, being (supposedly) the time at which he was shot.
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
tsuwm ripostes to Dous y'all know any that begin with it?Nay nay, tsuwm, a correct answer would be "italic". Another correct answer, made famous by dr. bill, would be "ithyphallic" 
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
itinerant, itsy (bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini...), and Ithaca, where my ittle one ittends college...but that's a proper It.
With wwh's ithyphallic post here in recent history, tonight revived by Keiva's ripping of tsuwm's riposte, I think it would behoove us (or me, at least) to create a vocabulary list of all the rare, but edifying, words discussed (or ignored) in the history of this board.
Cleave and cleave, for instance.
Adieu,
WW
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
A vocabulary list???!!!no-no, dub-dub, please don't steal our feelthy thread again!
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
7. Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey. (Toxic eggplant?)False!GET OFF THE TURNPIKE!!! 
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