General Knowledge Enhancers
GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: DID YOU KNOW …
General knowledge enhancers: Entertainment:
- The first couple ever to be shown in bed together on
prime-time television were Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Barbie’s measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33 (she would topple over)
- Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn’t wear pants.
- In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital suspended workers for betting on when patients would die.
- Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades – King David
Clubs – Alexander the Great
Hearts – Charlemagne
Diamonds – Julius Caesar
General knowledge enhancers: Food & drink:
Coca-Cola was originally green.
- Every time you lick a stamp, you’re consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
- Nearly all lipstick contains fish scales. Yeech…
- A Saudi Arabian woman can get a divorce if her husband doesn’t give her coffee.
- Bubble gum contains rubber.
- Most cows give more milk when they listen to music.
- Research indicates that mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas.
General knowledge enhancers: Numbers:
- Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury.
- 111,111,111 x 111,111,111
= 12,345,678,987,654,321 - A ‘jiffy’ is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
- All the numbers on a roulette table add up to 666.
General knowledge enhancers: Language:
- The Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters.
Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better.
- First novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
- “I am.” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
- 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. (Read about the origins of more English phrases here).
General knowledge enhancers: People:
- Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
- The world’s youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
- The youngest pope was 11 years old.
- The most popular first name in the world is Muhammad.
General knowledge enhancers: Famous people:
- Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark.
- Einstein couldn’t speak fluently when he was nine. His parents thought he might be retarded.
- Every time Beethoven sat down to write music, he poured iced water over his head. And he was rather deaf.
- Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns.
General knowledge enhancers: History:
- If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
- Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn’t added until 5 years later.
General knowledge enhancers: Vehicles:
The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the “General Purpose” vehicle, G.P.
The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
City with the most Rolls Royce’s per capita: Hong Kong.
In Tokyo, a bicycle is faster than a car for most trips of less than 50 minutes.
Now you know everything :-)
- Want to learn more? Check out my Quite Interesting page. It’s 100% free!
Thanks Keith. Tis interesting stuff tisn’t it? I’m hoping it’s not one of those urban myths but I did hear about it on a reputable quiz show, so heres to hoping…
Keep reading and learning, and remember, “knowing is half the battle.” :-)
I had no idea about the one regarding the statues – thats incredible! Fascinating.
Knowledge is key! That Donald Duck one reminded me of the age old question about why Donald never wore pants, but used to wrap a towel around himself after a shower. Unusual!
I always knew there was something dodgy about Donald! That’s why we are above ducks in the food-chain.