Top 100 Useless Facts You Don't Need To Know

Top 100 Useless Facts You Don’t Need To Know

Did you know that Dr. Seuss invented the word "nerd"? That apple seeds release cyanide if you chew and swallow them? Or that Cap'n Crunch's full name is Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch?

Welcome to WatchMojo! And today, we’ll be counting down 100 useless facts you don’t need to know, but that we’ll tell you anyway!

For this list, we’ll be sharing small factoids that might be interesting to a very specific field or hobby but would not be pertinent to the average person!

If you have a useless fact, drop it in the comments, and we can all learn together!

#1: No one particularly wants to fall prey to a mosquito bite. So, if you're going to ward off these pesky insects, simply play Skrillex’s “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.” The song combines “very high and very low frequencies” and “excessive loudness” that discourages the bugs from biting victims and even mating.

#2: Your birthday is an occasion to celebrate another year alive on Earth. But it turns out that you’re also 13.8 percent more likely to die on your birthday.

#3: The King of Hearts is the only king in a deck of cards without a mustache.

#4: Did you know that the color you see when you open your eyes in a pitch-black room has a name? It’s called “eigengrau”.

#5: Cats can’t taste sweetness. Like several other meat-eating mammals, they lack the required gene.

#6: A group of hippos is called a “bloat.” The term first appeared in Juliana Berners’ 15th century book “The Book of St Albans”, to which we also owe gems like a "swarm of bees" and a "gaggle of geese."

#7: Alaska is the only US state whose name you can type out using just one row on a standard QWERTY keyboard.

#8: It turns out that your fingernails grow faster on your dominant hand. Because you use it more, it gets more banged around, so your body sends more nutrients that way.

#9: Despite having six legs, dragonflies can’t walk. Their legs are used for grasping, rather than walking around.

#10: Mulan has the highest kill count of any Disney character.

#11: In the English language, the dot that sits above the lowercase letter “i” and the letter “j” is called a “tittle.”

#12: Chickens and ostriches are more closely related to the Tyrannosaurus rex than reptiles such as alligators and crocodiles.

#13: The artist Anish Kapoor holds an exclusive artistic license to use what was until 2019 the world’s blackest black substance, called Vantablack.

#14: The actual first name of the Monopoly mascot “Rich Uncle Pennybags” is “Milburn.”

#15: The Cookie Monster’s real name is Sidney - Sid for short.

#16: Mattel’s iconic doll Barbie also has a full name: Barbara Millicent Roberts.

#17: The full name of “Toy Story’s” Sheriff Woody is Woody Pride.

#18: Mr. Clean’s full name is “Veritably Clean,” which came from a 1962 promotional campaign to name the mascot.

#19: The city known as Bangkok isn’t actually named Bangkok; that’s a nickname. Its full name is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. It holds the Guinness World Record for the city with the longest name.

#20: The ingenious inventor of Pringles, Fredric Baur, died at 89 years old. As per his wishes, his ashes were buried in an Original flavor Pringles can.

#21: Originally, ketchup seems to have been made from fish. It later became mushroom-based. Only in the 1830s did tomato ketchup become popular. Ohio physician John Cook Bennet sold it in pill form, claiming it could help cure diarrhea, indigestion, jaundice, and rheumatism.

#22: Your sweat doesn’t give off an odor. B.O. (otherwise known as bromhidrosis or osmidrosis) is caused by bacteria breaking down the protein found in sweat.

#23: Some of the first editions of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone” by J.K. Rowling were shipped off with misspellings and mistakes on the cover and inside. One such copy sold in 2019 for almost $90,000.

#24: A normal size piece of paper cannot be folded in half more than seven times. However, if you could fold it 42 times, it would reach the moon.

#25: You cannot swallow and breathe at the same time, although some other mammals can.

#26: It’s also impossible to really hum while holding your nose. Go on; we’ll let you try. Cool huh?

#27: Every US state shares a letter with the word "mackerel" except for Ohio.

#28: The word “dreamt” is the only word in the English language that ends with the letters “mt.”

#29: The lint that collects in the bottom of your pockets has a name — gnurr. It’s defined as “the substance that collects over time in the bottoms of pockets or cuffs of trousers.”

#30: Snails have teeth. Thousands of them. Fortunately, they’re too small to hurt humans.

#31: Cows, on the other hand, have no upper front teeth.

#32: Vending Machines are deadlier than sharks. According to a 2015 US report by the National Electronic Surveillance System, the machines cause four deaths a year on average! Compare that to sharks, who cause just 0.6 deaths a year on average.

#33: Speaking of deaths, coconuts and cows also kill more people than sharks do!

#34: The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

#35: Famed composer Beethoven and the first United States President George Washington were alive simultaneously. George Washington would’ve been in his late 30s when Beethoven was born.

#36: The TOMATAN is a hands-free backpack robot that feeds you tomatoes. It was invented by Japanese juice maker Kagome in 2015 as a way for runners to get nutrition on the go.

#37: Bees have five eyes. The two big front eyes help them recognize colors and shapes, while three smaller eyes on top of the head help with navigation.

#38: When he was 27, famed writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe married his 13-year-old cousin.

#39: According to his daughter, J. D. Salinger, the author of “Catcher in the Rye”, drank his urine.

#40: Mr. Potato Head used to be made of actual potatoes. The toy consisted of the hands, feet, eyes, nose, mouth, facial hair, and other decorative pieces. For the body, kids were expected to provide their own potato.

#41: Contrary to popular belief, the Great Wall of China cannot be seen from space. However, the Pyramids of Giza can!

#42: Soda fountain workers were called soda jerks, a play on their formal name, soda clerks. This was because of the jerking motion used to operate the fountains.

#43: According to actress Karen Black, Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button, due to stomach surgery.

#44: The first webcam was invented to monitor a coffee pot. This was because researchers in Cambridge University’s computer lab got tired of walking over to an empty coffee machine.

#45: A coin toss doesn’t have a 50-50 chance of landing on either side! According to math professor Persi Diaconis, the chances are 51-49 that the coin will land on the side that was initially facing upwards.

#46: The average belly button has 67 species of bacteria. The researchers behind this discovery found 2,368 different species of bacteria in all.

#47: Older maps included fake places to prevent plagiarism. Examples dating back to the 1800s show that cartographers would add fake streets, towns, or other landmarks to prove whether a competitor was copying their work.

#48: Bears don’t poop during hibernation. A fecal plug develops in their bowels, allowing them to sleep continuously.

#49: “Back in a jiffy” is a common phrase for “back shortly.” But astrophysicists are a little more specific, defining it as three septillionths of a second.

#50: Furbies were initially banned from NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. The NSA was afraid that the toys would hear and repeat confidential information.

#51: The longest English words that you can type on only the top row of a QWERTY keyboard include “typewriter”, among a few others, like “perpetuity”.

#52: Blue whales have the largest male genitalia on planet Earth. But as a proportion of body size, the record goes to the barnacle.

#53: A blob of toothpaste is called a nurdle.

#54: If you say "Jesus" backward, it sounds like "sausage."

#55: In 2008, a British teen changed his name from George Garratt to "Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk And The Flash Combined."

#56: Queen Elizabeth II owns 165 dairy cows, who sleep on waterbeds.

#57: In 1978, state delegate Isaiah Dixon Jr. tried to make Randy Newman’s song “Short People” illegal to play on the radio in Maryland.

#58: The largest bill to go into circulation in the US was a $10,000 note.

#59: The infinity symbol is called a lemniscate, from the Latin word for “decorated with ribbons”.

#60: The opposite sides of a die always add up to seven.

#61: The average American spends about 2.5 days a year looking for lost items.

#62: "Spoonfeed" is the longest English word that has all its letters in reverse alphabetical order.

#63: Pope Francis was made an honorary Harlem Globetrotter in 2015. The late Pope John Paul II was made one in the year 2000.

#64: Only 1% of corn in the US is sweetcorn - the kind you eat on the cob. The remaining 99% is field corn, which is used as livestock feed, ethanol, and processed foods like cereal.

#65: "I am" is the shortest complete sentence in English.

#66: Hasbro has trademarked the iconic scent of Play-Doh.

#67: Salt was so valuable in ancient Rome that it was used as currency. In fact, the “sal” in the word “salary” means salt in Latin!

#68: The legendary water gun known as the “Super Soaker” was designed and invented by NASA engineer Lonnie Johnson.

#69: In the US, 3.6 cans of Spam are eaten every second.

#70: The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "shāh māt", which means “the king is helpless” or “dead.”

#71: The word “Pennsylvania” is missing an “n” on the Liberty Bell, a symbol of American independence. Back then, this was an accepted alternative spelling.

#72: The Eiffel Tower has 1,710 steps and 108 stories.

#73: The “candy” flower cup that Gene Wilder chomped on in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” was made of wax.

#74: Over 10,000 Coca-Cola soft drinks are consumed per second around the world. These include Coke, Fanta, Sprite, and others.

#75: When a child learns to talk later than others his or her age, but is gifted in analytical thought, it’s called “Einstein Syndrome”. While it’s contested, some biographers claim Einstein was a late talker.

#76: The “Hawaiian” pizza was not invented in Hawaii, or by a Hawaiian. It was created in Chatham, Ontario, Canada by a Greek-born Canadian man named Sam Panopoulos.

#77: The croissant was created in Paris, but by an Austrian baker, based on a traditional bread roll known as a kipferl that was particularly popular in Vienna.

#78: Pogonophobia is the fear of beards.

#79: Sloths can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes - four times longer than dolphins.

#80: Due to contractual obligations, Frank Sinatra was offered the starring role in “Die Hard”. He was 70 years old at the time.

#81: According to Genesis 1:20–22, the chicken came before the egg.

#82: A “buttload" is an actual unit of measurement for wine. It’s about 126 gallon.

#83: The season six “Friends” episode titled "The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance," came out in 1999.

#84: Tom Hanks' brother, Jim, does voice substitution work for Tom. He voices Woody for toys and video games.

#85: At its peak, the IKEA catalog was more reportedly widely circulated than the Bible.

#86: In 2008, a Brazilian priest floated up into the air using hundreds of helium balloons to raise money for a chapel for truckers. Unfortunately, the wind blew him off course, and his body was found months later in the ocean.

#87: A small antelope species called a “dik-dik” cries scented tears to mark its territory.

#88: The first product that the tech company Samsung produced was noodles.

#89: Some researchers believe that Alexander the Great suffered from Guillain-Barré syndrome and was paralyzed, not dead, when he was laid to rest inside a sarcophagus.

#90: Nepal is the only country that doesn’t have a rectangular national flag.

#91: The Facebook logo is blue because founder Mark Zuckerberg is red-green color blind, making blue the “richest color” for him.

#92: The planet Uranus was once called the planet “George” - or, more specifically, Georgium Sidus, meaning George's Star.

#93: One court you might be surprised to find in the United States Supreme Court Building is a basketball court.

#94: In the UK, it’s illegal to wear a suit of armor in Parliament.

#95: There is a jail specifically for polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.

#96: The term “sexy primes” describes prime numbers that differ from each other by 6. For example, 5 and 11.

#97: Many millions of years ago, snakes had feet and walked instead of slithered.

#98: Technically, cannibalism isn’t illegal in the United States. However, there are laws against the desecration of corpses.

#99: All clownfish are born male, and have the ability to change their sex.

#100: The German word for a birth-control pill is “Antibabypille”.