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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:
Thread gallery
7
Birdienumnumm · 31/07/2023 21:27

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 😂😂😂

Same - but I can’t remember all the colours. I tend to go “it was red and yellow and pink and green and blah blah blah and orange and purple and BLUE”. Can you tell me all the colours?

Akiddleetivy2woodenchu · 31/07/2023 21:26

Not really a fact, but I learned The Pobble Who Has No Toes to recite at a Brownie concert about 50 years ago and I can still remember all of the words.

Nschotschi · 31/07/2023 21:25

A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus.

Heyhoherewegoagain · 31/07/2023 21:25

IseeNarcPeople · 31/07/2023 21:20

I have met several people in my life who completely believe that dogs cannot reverse/walk backwards and no amount of reason can persuade them otherwise.

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My dog walks backwards out of the bathroom at high speed when he thinks he’s in for a bath 😂

Original poster
IseeNarcPeople · 31/07/2023 21:23

@AffIt
oh I love John Finnemore !
off for a listen.

OP posts:
FrangipaniBlue · 31/07/2023 21:22

@Jewelanemone it is also further west than Liverpool

Original poster
IseeNarcPeople · 31/07/2023 21:20

Laiste · 31/07/2023 21:09

lol, my DH had me going with this one on our first date 😂

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I have met several people in my life who completely believe that dogs cannot reverse/walk backwards and no amount of reason can persuade them otherwise.

OP posts:
AffIt · 31/07/2023 21:19

Ooh, ooh, my other favourite - the woman who invented the little plastic table thing that supports pizza boxes was called Carmela Vitale and the wonderful John Finnemore wrote a song about her.

Carmela Vitale

Listen to Carmela Vitale by otterintheflightdeck #np on #SoundCloud

https://soundcloud.com/otterintheflightdeck/carmela-vitale

wellerhugs5 · 31/07/2023 21:17

C1N1C · 31/07/2023 20:49

If you line up all the planets on the solar system, you could fit them between the Earth and the Moon.

OMG. Mind blown.

SheWhoReportsToHim · 31/07/2023 21:16

Shakespeare actually rhymes really well. Examples where he doesn't seem to (e.g., if this be error and upon me proved / I never writ, nor no man ever loved) are typically due to a shift in pronunciation.

Also, Shakespeare loved a good pun, and half of his have also fallen victim to pronunciation changes.

Usernamenotavailabletryanother · 31/07/2023 21:15

AffIt · 31/07/2023 20:55

At the risk of being 'that arsehole', I'm fairly sure Edinburgh Waverly has 21?

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Dammit @AffIt 😂

Although I can’t find anything saying it has 21?

WhateverMate · 31/07/2023 21:14

All Walkers crisps go out of date on a Saturday.

Jewelanemone · 31/07/2023 21:13

MrsMoastyToasty · 31/07/2023 20:59

Edinburgh is further west than Bristol.

Out of all the facts on this thread, this has astonished me the most!

MrsTerryPratchett · 31/07/2023 21:12

Laiste · 31/07/2023 21:11

@MrsTerryPratchett meet me back here in 15 years and let me know 😃

Will do!!!

Laiste · 31/07/2023 21:11

@MrsTerryPratchett meet me back here in 15 years and let me know 😃

Laiste · 31/07/2023 21:09

DismantledKing · 31/07/2023 21:08

Dogs can’t look up

lol, my DH had me going with this one on our first date 😂

MrsTerryPratchett · 31/07/2023 21:08

Laiste · 31/07/2023 21:06

At 2 and a half years old you are half the height you are going to be as an adult.

Sounds nuts but it's true. I checked with my 4 DCs (3 are in their 20s now) and it's accurate to within an inch or so.

This means DD will be 6 foot and I don't think she will.

Time will tell. But the boys have all shot past her which really pisses her off.

DismantledKing · 31/07/2023 21:08

Dogs can’t look up

ApocalypseNowt · 31/07/2023 21:07

The word 'cabal' is an acronym.

Allmyghosts · 31/07/2023 21:07

Oh you mean 7x8. Sorry I get it (idiot)

Laiste · 31/07/2023 21:06

At 2 and a half years old you are half the height you are going to be as an adult.

Sounds nuts but it's true. I checked with my 4 DCs (3 are in their 20s now) and it's accurate to within an inch or so.

Allmyghosts · 31/07/2023 21:06

Over50usernamesNow · 31/07/2023 20:33

Seven eights are fifty six.

I remember learning, and re-learning, and re-learning that over and over as a kid because I couldn't get it! Eventually it just got completely and permanently lodged there.

I cannot remember once ever finding this a useful thing to know as a adult. 🙂 Noone has ever asked me "what are seven eights?" And it doesn't seem to have been a necessary piece of knowledge in any area of my life (and I did statistics as part of my university degree!! So not averse to maths generally!!)

Seven eigths of what? I'm confused

AlanJohnsonsBeamer · 31/07/2023 21:04

Lellochip · 31/07/2023 20:48

Humans are more sensitive to the smell of petrichor than sharks are to blood

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Awesome!

Original poster
IseeNarcPeople · 31/07/2023 21:03

Quite a lot of our modern sayings and words have nautical origins.
"In the doldrums" a shipping area, a belt around the earth near the equator with barely any winds where boats and ships get stuck.
"Skyscraper" the highest sail on a ship.
" don't like the cut of your jib"
The jib was the sail that identified the ships nationality.
Xenophobia on the high seas..

OP posts:
MrsTerryPratchett · 31/07/2023 21:03

Wombats poo is a cube.

Ouch.