79 Odd and Completely Useless Facts

If you’ve been following our fact files for a while, you’ll likely already know that we enjoy following particular themes and styles. However, once in a while, we like to go a little off-script. Not all facts have to be substantial! In fact, there are some truly mind-boggling facts and figures out there which actually end up being pretty useless! That, we hope, is why you’re here – to dive into a world of completely useless, yet completely true facts!

These are facts and figures to make you smile, and to share with friends – they really are dinner party specials! Show off your incredible knowledge of completely useless trivia and stock up on the below to replenish your reserves.

1.   Bats prefer to turn left

It seems that bats never turn right when they leave a cave. They seem to prefer the left way out. Who knows why?

2.   Lick stamps in moderation

Stamps offer around one tenth of a calorie when you lick them. Go sparingly!

3.   Catfish have more taste buds than you think!

The animal with the most taste buds is the catfish. It’s thought to have well over 27,000 taste receptors.

4.   Witchcraft is legal?!

Witchcraft was first made legal in the US in Pennsylvania.

5.   People generally fall asleep quickly

It’s thought it’ll take you up to seven minutes to fall asleep, on average.

6.   In English, only one word ends ‘MT’

There’s only one word in the whole of the English language which ends ‘mt’ – the word ‘dreamt’. There are variations, but all words ending in these two letters refer to the past tense of sleep.

7.   And many words don’t rhyme

There are many words in the English language which have no rhyming pairs. For example, there is no official match for the word ‘month’.

8. Doctors need to work on their handwriting

It’s thought that appalling doctor handwriting is responsible for killing around 7,000 people per year!

9. There’s more to a potato than you might imagine

A humble potato has more chromosomes than you do. That’s not an insult – it’s the truth!

10.   The darkest black…

The darkest shade of black imaginable has a trademark, and it’s called vantablack. It’s owned by Anish Kapoor, who has full rights to the shade.

11.   …Versus the pinkest pink

In fact, Stuart Semple, a fellow artist, created a publicly-available color, the ‘pinkest pink’, which is available to you on the proviso that you are not Anish Kapoor, or are affiliated with him.

12. A slow and steady life

A snail has a lifespan of up to three years – if it’s lucky enough not to get squashed in the meantime!

13. A Bugs Bunny related irony

Mel Blanc was a legendary actor perhaps best known for voicing several Looney Tunes characters, particularly Bugs Bunny. Ironically, he was allergic to carrots.

14. A fear of birds is an actual condition

There’s such a thing as a fear of beards! It’s called pogonophobia.

15. The cutest balls

A golf ball, built to full regulation, boasts 336 different dimples.

16. Butter is NOT included

Buttermilk doesn’t actually contain any butter.

17. Don’t eat apple seeds!

Yes, the rumours are true – apples do contain deadly cyanide, or at least the compound to lead to its production. However, don’t get too worried about your favourite fruity snack. Apple seeds contain amygdalin, which can turn into cyanide when digested. Throw the seeds away!

18. Your feet are really complex

Around 25% of your body’s bones can be found in your feet alone.

19. Australia has more camels than any other country

While you might assume they tend to live out in the deserts of Africa and Asia, there are more camels in Australia than any other country on the planet.

20. Carrots were once purple

Carrots used to be purple – they started mutating into orange around the 1800s.

21. Giraffes vs camels

Camels are, in fact, thought to be some of the hardiest animals on the planet when it comes to dehydration. However, giraffes can actually go longer than camels can without water, on average.

22. Switching genders for mating season

Some aquatic creatures, such as sea bass and clownfish, can change gender when it comes time to mate.

23. Many insects have six legs

Around 80% of all known animals are six-legged – they’re all insects.

24. Very heart healthy

Some animals, such as octopuses, have three separate hearts.

25. Sugar can help you heal faster

Believe it or not, if you have a wound, pour some sugar on it – as Def Leppard once sang. It can actually help to heal you quicker. Just don’t mix it up with salt!

26. Freeze!

Hot water will actually freeze quicker than cold.

27. Man vs machine

Japan has more vending machines than people – around 23 per person, in fact.

28. Your blood vessels are extremely long!

Your blood cells travel incredible distances! It’s thought that in the average human body, there are around 100,000 miles of blood vessels alone. That’s before even getting started on the intestines and the digestive system!

29. Your nose may ‘lie’ but your eyes never

Your nose will never stop growing. However, your eyes are the size they will be until the day you die!

30. Coca-Cola it to ‘blame’ for Santa’s outfit

Coca-Cola is responsible for the current perception of Santa Claus dressing in red and white. Traditionally, you’d find him in green and white before Coke’s advertising campaigns.

31. Lucky sevens

Try adding up the opposite sides of a single die. The sum will always be seven, no matter what you roll.

A baseball in the Major League is thought to need replacing every seven pitches. That’s a stack of balls needed each match!

32. A fitting record …

The Guinness Book of Records is thought to have been stolen more times than any other library book. A fitting record!

33. Trying to find something? Don’t waste your time

It’s thought you’ll spend just short of three years looking for things you might have lost. Be more careful to free up some time!

34. The praying mantis is rather independent

The praying mantis is unique amongst all insects in that it can move its head independently.

35. The heaviest scrambled eggs

The largest pan of scrambled eggs ever cooked weighed around three and a half tons!

36. Purple… eggs?

New Jersey is thought to be home to around 66% of all aubergine grown on Earth. Another random fact – it’s called ‘eggplant’ in the US as it starts growing white, like an egg, before it grows into its natural purple color.

37. Polar bears are ‘lefties’

All polar bears are said to be left-handed.

38. The connection between typing and Mark Twain

While most books these days are written via tablet or PC, it wasn’t until Mark Twain wrote Tom Sawyer that authors started using typewriters for their novels.

39. Jellyfish are made of water

A jellyfish isn’t made of jelly – but up to 95% of a specimen is water.

41. Alive and kicking

There are very few Disney animated movies where both parents of the protagonist appear and are still alive by the end. Some of these include Lady and The Tramp, Mulan, 101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan.

42. Put your phone down

You’ll likely spend around two years of your life on the phone. Better keep those conversations brief!

43. Russian vodka is quite an earner

It’s thought that the Russian government’s income comes from a variety of places – but that at least 10% of their revenue derives from vodka sales.

43. A Queen with a useful skill

Queen Elizabeth II once trained to be a mechanic.

44. The all seeing bee

An average bee has five different eyes – two, as you’d expect, at the front, with another three on top of its head.

45. Elephants’ wrinkles help their comfort

Elephants are adept at dealing with mosquitoes. If a bloodsucker lands on their backs, they will simply crush them with their skin folds. Now that’s something worth evolving wrinkles for!

46. Everest is shrinking

It’s thought that Mount Everest was once much taller than it actually is today – an earthquake brought it down to size.

47. Roll the ‘dice’

Wombats poop in cubes.

48. Your IQ is reflected in your hair

There seems to be an interesting trend in the hair of people who score higher on intelligence tests than most. They seem to have hair richer in zinc.

49. A phone-free life

It’s thought that up to 50% of people on Earth have never had to handle a telephone call.

50. A ‘Q’ less America

There are no states in the US which have the letter ‘Q’ in its name.

51. No ‘A’s until 1,000

There are no letter ‘a’s in any written numbers all the way up to 999. In some cases, you might spell 101 as one hundred and one, but US counters will not encounter a single ‘a’ until they hit 1,000!

52. France wasn’t kind to the unfaithful

France has had some interesting laws over the years. In ancient times, unfaithful wives were forced to chase after chickens in the streets, completely naked.

53. Have you tried a ‘skin’ diet?

If you’re trying to lose weight, remember this slightly disgusting fact – you’ll probably lose around 40lbs of skin through shedding during your whole life.

54. Go chickens!

Chickens outnumber people around two to one.

55. Intentional or…? It’s up to you to decide

The longest word you can make on the top row of a keyboard is, fittingly, ‘typewriter’. Was this intentional…?

56. Short and efficient

The shortest sentence in the English language is three letters long. It’s “I am”.

However, there’s a school of thought that believes there’s a sentence which is even shorter: ‘go’!

57. Fast and furious

It’s thought that brain messages travel at 200 miles per hour – which is why you often find that you’re able to make such snap decisions!

58. Flies are well tuned

All house flies hum in the same key – F, in the middle octave.

A close up of a house fly

59. Current currency

Brazil can’t seem to settle on a national currency. History shows that they’ve changed their official money at least eight times since the 1940s.

60. An efficient clean job

It’s entirely possible for a giraffe to clean out its ears with its tongue.

61. Mr Moneybags?

Uncle Pennybags from the Monopoly game has a first name – Milburn. In fact, it’s hotly disputed over whether or not the character used to have a monocle. All signs point to no, however, many people claim they remember otherwise.

62. A phenomenon in Mandela’s name

This phenomenon is called the ‘Mandela Effect’, a shared perception of something which didn’t apparently exist. It’s named after Nelson Mandela, as many people believe hearing that the statesman had died in prison. However, he was released and lived for many years afterwards.

Nelson Mandela

63. Hidden weapons

Some traditional jail keys would double as single-shot guns, so that wardens could act in self-defense if they ever needed to.

64. Have you spotted ‘The Potato’?

Ever seen The Empire Strikes Back? It’s believed that someone snuck a potato into one of the asteroid fields. Go back and have a look for it if you don’t believe us!

65. Rainbow curiosities

Rainbows were once called ‘bows of promise’ in traditional Victorian English. Weirdly, there are more colors in a rainbow than we can see – as we only have a limited scope of color.

Chickens, however, have a wider capacity to see color, meaning it’s highly likely they can see the full extent of a rainbow’s palette.

66. The ballpoint pen is a killer

Ballpoint pens kill up to 100 people each year through choking accidents.

67. Careful where you keep your cows

A cow can walk upstairs, but not down them. Probably not worth trying unless they have a permanent room on the top floor!

68. Hail mucus!

Your stomach is at risk of digesting and eroding itself. It protects itself with regenerating mucus.

69. One name fits all

Legendary boxer George Foreman used the same name for all five of his sons – George. “Joe Frazier – Muhammad Ali – Ken Norton – Evander Holyfield – you let them hit you on the head and see how many names you can think of,” Foreman once stated.

70. Left-handed typing

You can type the word ‘stewardesses’ with one hand – and it’s the longest word you can type on a keyboard without needing the right.

71. Creative passwords

If your favourite password is ‘123456’, it’s time to change it. It’s the most common password on the planet and is therefore the least secure. Use your imagination!

72. Dangerous donkeys

It’s thought that donkeys claim more lives each year than plane crashes.

73. The crocodile’s politeness

It’s impossible for a crocodile to stick out its tongue. Therefore, it’s likely to be one of the least rude creatures on the planet!

74. Spiders are considered scarier than death

Believe it or not, people are more likely to fear spiders than they are death itself.

75. The refrigerator used to be quite dangerous

You can open a refrigerator from the inside, though this wasn’t always the case. Traditional models could only open from the outside, which led to a variety of fatalities!

76. You hate sitting in the dentist’s chair? Now you’ll know why

The electric chair was, believe it or not, the creation of a dentist. Double-check the safety of your chair the next time you go in for a check-up!

77. Up and down is good enough for cats

Cats have the inability to move their jaws in any direction barring up and down.

78. Hurricane all mighty!

It’s possible for a hurricane to expend more energy in a mere ten minutes than all the world’s nuclear weapons can in one outburst.

79. A ‘Die Hard’ twist

The classic 80s action movie Die Hard almost had a very different leading man. That man? Frank Sinatra, despite being in his 70s. This is because a contract stipulation from the movie ‘The Detective’ read that Sinatra be offered the sequel – which Die Hard, in a roundabout way, technically is. The history behind these books and movies is bizarre!

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This page was last modified on October 29, 2022. Suggest an edit