Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to know the useless facts you store in your brain..

334 replies

IseeNarcPeople · 31/07/2023 20:25

The ones that never get an outting, the chance to use them has never arisen.
For instance, from the many useless facts in my brain:
The phrases "Not enough room to swing a cat" and "Don't let the cat out of the bag" are actually about a whip "Cat O' nine tails" which was kept as a warning and punishment on ships.
Oh and snails can sleep for three years.
Please release some of yours.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Thread gallery
7
MyDogHumpsThings · 13/11/2025 14:00

You can get smelly “stones” made of belly-button crud, and they are called omphaloliths.

MrsTerryPratchett · 13/11/2025 13:57

Laiste · 13/11/2025 13:47

How far back are going ? 🤣 I know we've both been here since it was all fields!

DD1, 2 and 3 all roughly matched up to early predictions (early 20s now). DD2 the tallest at 5'8.

DD 4 is headed to hit the predicted 5'8 mark i think. She's still only 11 but comes up to my chin. I'm 5'5 ...

Show quote history

LOL. Nope, 14 and stopped growing at one inch shorter than me.

She's horrified!

Laiste · 13/11/2025 13:47

MrsTerryPratchett · 12/11/2025 20:47

@Laistewe were supposed to meet back about height! DD is stunningly average after the prediction she would be 6 foot plus!

How far back are going ? 🤣 I know we've both been here since it was all fields!

DD1, 2 and 3 all roughly matched up to early predictions (early 20s now). DD2 the tallest at 5'8.

DD 4 is headed to hit the predicted 5'8 mark i think. She's still only 11 but comes up to my chin. I'm 5'5 ...

MrsTerryPratchett · 12/11/2025 20:47

@Laistewe were supposed to meet back about height! DD is stunningly average after the prediction she would be 6 foot plus!

DilemmaDelilah · 12/11/2025 20:08

The word decrepit comes from the Latin word 'crepere', meaning 'to creak'.

I looked it up when I started feeling decrepit.

gingerguineapig · 12/11/2025 19:29

ladyamy · 12/11/2025 18:40

Me too!

Show quote history

And me!

DoesItHaveKosovo · 12/11/2025 19:26

AffIt · 31/07/2023 21:28

I am so sorry, you're right - 20 platforms it is.

I'm not sure why my brain decided that I had once got the London train from platform 21 (some kind of false memory syndrome?).

Show quote history

I’ve come back to weigh in on this - whilst Edinburgh technically has 20 platforms, 3 of them share numbers (1/20, 2/19, 7/11) so it only has 17.

ladyamy · 12/11/2025 18:40

catwithflowers · 31/07/2023 20:38

I was in a school production of Joseph at first school, aged 9, and can still remember the song about the coat and can still remember the order of the 29 colours 😂😂😂

Me too!

sashh · 07/08/2023 07:54

IseeNarcPeople · 06/08/2023 12:59

Your comment blew my tiny mind lol. No wonder we were all confused.

Show quote history

A diamond.

You cannot put your left hand over your head and grab your right ear (or visa versa) until you are at least 3 years old.

In the past in places where birth records are unclear it can be used to test if a child is old enough for school.

In Vietnam everyone celebrates their birthday on the same day with decorated houses and flowers. Some other countries use Jan 1st as everyone's birthday.

Soubriquet · 06/08/2023 18:24

Sharks don’t make any vocal noises!!

Original poster
IseeNarcPeople · 06/08/2023 12:59

JesusdroveaHonda · 06/08/2023 08:38

@IseeNarcPeople It raises a lot of questions about the Pink Panther. What was he?

Your comment blew my tiny mind lol. No wonder we were all confused.

OP posts:
Whatabouteryallaboutery · 06/08/2023 09:10

MalcolmsMiddle · 03/08/2023 18:05

Motorways are numbered after the A road they were built to relieve traffic from - the lowest number motorway that doesn't exist is the M7.

The mileage to a town/city on a motorway sign reflects the distance to the central post office.

(I have nothing to do with motorways, it's just a coincidence I find those two fascinating!)

Can't believe no one has posted the name of the song that kept Vienna by Ultravox off the #1 spot!

Two songs kept Vienna off the UK number one slot. Woman by John Lennon was the first, then Joe Dolce leapfrogged them both to get to number one. There we go. That's my contribution!

JesusdroveaHonda · 06/08/2023 08:38

@IseeNarcPeople It raises a lot of questions about the Pink Panther. What was he?

Original poster
IseeNarcPeople · 05/08/2023 21:28

JesusdroveaHonda · 04/08/2023 20:02

Most people probably already knew this, but there's not one specific type of cat called a panther.

I always thought a panther was one specific type of cat- like lion, tiger, jaguar, panther.

It's basically an umbrella term for any big black cat (like a black jaguar or black leopard or sometimes used for mountain lions/pumas/ cougars too in some parts of the world, I think).

Please someone tell me I'm not the only idiot who didn't realise this till adulthood!

I don't think most people do. I can remember a sentence that came out of my mouth about 10 years ago (about a black cat sighting) and I'm in my fifties.
"She wouldn't know a tabby cat from a tortoiseshell how the bloody hell could she know it was a panther" I found out shortly after!

OP posts:
Original poster
IseeNarcPeople · 05/08/2023 21:18

Yesabsolutely · 04/08/2023 23:34

My home telephone number 50 years ago and my best friends number. Have absolutely no idea what our landline number is now 😂

Very similar to me, I completely relate !
The American comedian Kathleen Madigan does a whole thing about If you are arrested at some US jails they take your phone from you and don't give it back when you have your one allowed phone call, so you have only what's in your head.
so she'd be ringing up drunk whoever bought their childhood home decades ago.

OP posts:
Soubriquet · 05/08/2023 09:50

Yup. They can do that too. It sounds like….slurping and grinding

HollyRocks · 05/08/2023 09:44

Soubriquet · 05/08/2023 07:47

Yeah they do. Anyone who has ever owned a male African Pygmy hedgehog will know exactly what a masturbating hog sounds like. They really go for it

Show quote history

I really want to google that sound, but i know i probably shouldn't. I think i read once that they can get so carried away that they injure their penis, or even bite it off??

Soubriquet · 05/08/2023 07:47

HollyRocks · 04/08/2023 22:31

Hedgehogs masterbate (orally)
Gorilla penis is only around 4cm when erect

Yeah they do. Anyone who has ever owned a male African Pygmy hedgehog will know exactly what a masturbating hog sounds like. They really go for it

Catsmere · 05/08/2023 00:15

PurpleGoose · 05/08/2023 00:05

Technically there are no witches in Macbeth as the original character name is The Weird Sisters and they are referred to as such by other characters. Interestingly, the character list doesn't state the number of Weird Sisters (just says The Weird Sisters), but only 3 speak, so most productions only have 3.

Hecate it's also never called a witch either and as the PP says there is much debate about whether that scene was actually in the original or whether it was added later.

Macbeth is also the shortest of Shakespeare's plays (and my favourite - I can quote fairly large chunks of Weird Sister 1's lines and quite a lot of act 1 overall 😊)

Show quote history

Very interesting!

I'm now remembering the historical details that Duncan was not a venerable old king murdered in his bed, but a 39 year old who died in battle (he attacked MacBeth's province), that he and MacBeth had pretty much equal claims to the throne (I think) and that Gruoch, "Lady MacBeth", had a better claim than either. Also that MacBeth reigned seventeen years and was secure enough on the throne to go on pilgrimage to Rome in 1050.

PurpleGoose · 05/08/2023 00:09

Sorry the above message was supposed to be to @MeThinksTime

PurpleGoose · 05/08/2023 00:05

Catsmere · 01/08/2023 12:43

Is this right, though? Hecate is goddess of witchcraft in the play, not merely head witch (and the scene may not have been written by Shakespeare).

Show quote history

Technically there are no witches in Macbeth as the original character name is The Weird Sisters and they are referred to as such by other characters. Interestingly, the character list doesn't state the number of Weird Sisters (just says The Weird Sisters), but only 3 speak, so most productions only have 3.

Hecate it's also never called a witch either and as the PP says there is much debate about whether that scene was actually in the original or whether it was added later.

Macbeth is also the shortest of Shakespeare's plays (and my favourite - I can quote fairly large chunks of Weird Sister 1's lines and quite a lot of act 1 overall 😊)

Catsmere · 05/08/2023 00:05

JesusdroveaHonda · 04/08/2023 20:02

Most people probably already knew this, but there's not one specific type of cat called a panther.

I always thought a panther was one specific type of cat- like lion, tiger, jaguar, panther.

It's basically an umbrella term for any big black cat (like a black jaguar or black leopard or sometimes used for mountain lions/pumas/ cougars too in some parts of the world, I think).

Please someone tell me I'm not the only idiot who didn't realise this till adulthood!

I've known it for a long time, but yes, I was an adult when I learned it.

What I love is that you can see the spots on a black leopard or jaguar when they're in the sun.

Yesabsolutely · 04/08/2023 23:35

MillicentTrilbyHiggins · 04/08/2023 20:24

Ds just told me that when you blush so does your stomach lining!

And human beings are the only mammals that blush…read that today somewhere 😊

Yesabsolutely · 04/08/2023 23:34

My home telephone number 50 years ago and my best friends number. Have absolutely no idea what our landline number is now 😂

Moneynewpence · 04/08/2023 23:30

The Limited Liability Act was passed in 1855.
Basis of Ltd. Companies and modern capitalism ...