Going to a party with people you don’t know can be intimidating sometimes. Awkward conversations and small talk may fall short of “what do you do for a living?” One of the ways to break the ice is to give a fun fact. Not only will it be entertaining, but you’ll seem like a real trivia buff.
Smartest Person Facts
43. Don’t Mess With Abe
Abraham Lincoln grew up chopping wood, building cabins, and hauling stones. This made him incredibly strong, as well as tall. One story claims that during an argument, Lincoln picked up a man by the neck and tossed him aside easily, as if he was a rag doll.
42. Live Long and Prosper
In 1999, Leonard Nimoy, who is most known for his role of Spock on Star Trek, hosted a video about surviving the upcoming Y2K disaster….It never actually happened.
41. Stereotypes
In US grocery stores, candy is the most commonly stolen item. Over in Europe, shoplifters skip the cheap sweets and go straight for the expensive gourmet cheese.
40. You’re Getting Sleepy...
Yawning is contagious. This isn’t just with humans. If you yawn around a dog or monkey, they’ll start yawning, too. (Your cat might also yawn.)
Don't get us wrong though: the question of why we yawn is still a fascinating mystery.
39. I’ll Drink to That
In the United States, North Dakota drinks more beer than any other state. This is shocking, considering that Las Vegas is literally an entire city devoted to partying in the state of Nevada, and they are only #7 on the list.
38. Why Sweat When You Can Sit
On the Titanic, the boat was complete with a large gymnasium so the passengers could exercise. One of the machines was an electronic horse, for the English ladies who practiced the art of dressage and missed their ponies at home. Believe it or not, horseback riding is actually supposed to help tone your abs, back, buttocks, and thighs.
37. The Color of Nothing
Blind people don’t see the world in black. It’s a grayish color called “eigengrau”. You can experience this same sensation by sitting in a totally dark room. Your optic nerve isn’t receiving any light, and after about 20 minutes, the black will begin to lighten to a grayish-black, which is “eigengrau”.
36. Work With What You’ve Got
George Washington owned a whiskey distillery, which means he knew how to make liquor, but he was also into making cheap hooch if he really needed to. During the French and Indian War, he wrote a recipe for “small beer” that only had three ingredients.
35. No Expiration Date
During Bill Clinton’s presidency, he put a Twinkie in a time capsule that will be opened in 2100.
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34. What’s in Here?
The McRib has over 70 ingredients.
33. Cheaper Than Extras
In Star Wars Episode 3, every single Storm Trooper was made with CGI.
32. The “Better” Fast Food
If you’re concerned about eating meat coming from animals that were pumped with antibiotics, the only fast food places you can safely go are Panera Bread, Chipotle, and Chic-Fil-A. Dunkin Donuts and McDonald’s have a “C” rating, while pretty much everywhere else got an “F”.
31. It’s SO FLUFFY
In Scotland, the national animal is a unicorn. In Celtic mythology, the unicorn is a symbol of peace, healing, and and joy.
30. Crack One Open
The first beer cans came out in 1933. They were made by the American Krueger brewery in Newark, New Jersey.
29. Ladies Only
The Amazon Molly Fish is a species that is entirely female. If you’re wondering how that’s even possible, here’s how it works. A Molly Fish will lay her eggs, and then trick a male fish--any male fish--into fertilizing them. Instead of the sperm impregnating the eggs, it just turns them into hormones that are needed to produce clones of Mom.
28. Potato Sacks
Kate Spade is a wildly successful brand that sells designer handbags. When they first started the company, the founder, Kate Spade, couldn’t afford materials, so she used brown burlap, which is one of the cheapest fabrics you can buy. Her designs were so good that people still wanted to buy them.
27. Little Red Envelopes
In 2014, Netflix decided to stop paying for marketing to advertise their DVD rental option. Subscribers still paid for it, and they made $6 million that year on DVD rentals alone.
26. Slow Poke
Since sloths move so slowly and live in hot, humid climates, moss and plants will sometimes start growing from their hair.
25. Never-Ending Bunnies
For years, Brooklyn, New York was plagued with bunny rabbits who just kept on breeding. They were nicknamed “conies”, which is how Coney Island got its name. Today, it’s best known for housing the closest amusement park beach to New York City.
24. Fake Flavors
Ever notice how banana-flavored candy never really tastes like a natural banana? That’s because there are multiple varieties of banana. The “Gros Michel” banana used to be super popular in the 1950’s for its extra-sweet flavor, but it was almost wiped out. It still exists in Hawaii, and banana farmers agree it tastes like the artificial candy flavor.
23. I Can’t Sleep Without a Drink, Doc.
During prohibition in the 1920’s, people were prescribed “medical alcohol” by doctors, just like modern-day medical marijuana.
22. Global Hot Spot
New York City has embassies and consulates for 125 different countries, and the United Nations has their own embassy location in the Waldorf Astoria hotel.
21. BANANA!
The directors of Despicable Me wrote their own language for the Minions, called “Minionese”. If you listen closely, the language contains real words from multiple languages.
20. Hand-Eye Coordination
Surgeons who play video games for at least 3 hours a week are actually better at their jobs, and make fewer mistakes when performing surgery.
19. The Virtual World
The largest online battle was on Eve Online, an MMORPG. Over 4,000 players all joined together to play at the same time.
18. Politics We Can All Agree On
There is a small town in Alaska where the mayor is a cat named Stubbs. He has been voted back into office multiple times.
17. Scars Tell a Story
If someone is struck by lightning and survives, it leaves a scar that looks like a lightening bolt. People call it a “lightning tree” or a “lightning flower”. It’s like nature’s tattoo that proves you’re a survivor.
16. Sour Water
Most people realize that dumping garbage into the ocean is bad. But even without garbage, humanity is still damaging the ocean. With all of the extra carbon dioxide on the planet caused by pollution, it’s actually causing the pH level of ocean water to become more acidic. In recent years, the pH levels of the ocean have spiked by a whopping 30% higher than they used to be. A lot of marine life is extremely sensitive to the water’s pH, and it’s killing off a lot of fish.
15. Too Much of a Good Thing
If a human ate a polar bear liver, they would die. This is because it has such a high concentration of Vitamin A that it would give someone an overdose.
14. Aarrg, Matey!
Students at MIT can become “certified pirates” if they complete the following physical education classes: Sailing, Pistol Marksmanship, Archery, and Fencing.
13. Pass the Butter
In the early 1900’s, lobsters were looked down on as the “cockroaches of the sea.” There was a stigma that only poor people ate lobster. Ironically enough, they are now considered to be a very luxurious food.
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12. Patriotism
During World War II, Walt Disney was commissioned by the US Government to create a number of Anti-Nazi cartoons. Most of them starred Donald Duck.
11. Bunny Girl
Matt Groening was the artist who created The Simpsons. He has published books in the past with rabbit characters. When he first created The Simpsons, he gave Marge really tall hair, because the joke was that she was trying to hide tall rabbit ears. As the show progressed, that idea went away, and Marge has been seen with her hair down multiple times. However, the Simpsons video game includes clips of Marge ripping off a wig, revealing the rabbit ears.
10. Not-So-Starving Artist
Salvador Dali would get free meals and drinks by sketching his art on the bill. He would offer to give away his work in exchange, because he knew they could resell it for much more than what his bill was worth.
9. Tiny Terror
People are terrified of sharks, when they should really be scared of jellyfish. There is one species of jellyfish called “Irukandji” that is so tiny that it’s the size of a pinky fingernail, but it’s venom is so powerful that it can make someone feel the worst pain of their life and even kill them.
8. Below The Surface
The tallest mountain in the world is Mauna Kea in Hawaii, but it doesn’t usually get credit, because much of it is underneath the ocean.
7. Keep The Dream Alive
In Finland, near the Arctic Circle, there is an elaborate little town called Santa’s Village. For parents who want to spend the money to keep their children’s dream alive, they can fly them to the real “North Pole” during Christmas time to meet Santa.
6. Big is Beautiful
Blue whales are the largest animal in existence. They're even bigger than any of the dinosaurs. Their hearts can weigh 440 pounds, and their tongues alone can weight as much as an elephant.
5. Rock and Roll
Spiked dog collars were invented by the Ancient Greeks to protect their pets from wolves who would try to attack them and bite their necks.
4. Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
During World War I, the Russians and Germans were fighting one another in a battle. Suddenly, they all started getting attacked by wolves that had been starving in the Russian forests, because the soldiers had eaten all of their prey. The men on both sides had to stop fighting each other in order to defend themselves from the crazed pack of wild animals.
3. Be Aware of Your Surroundings
In 2013, a man named Darryl See had been taking a walk on the train tracks, listening to music and looking at his phone. A train was coming towards him, blaring its horn over and over, but he didn’t hear it, because the music was so loud. It hit him going 110 MPH, and he was thrown off the tracks. Somehow, he survived.
2. The Cinderella Rule
In South Korea, there is a serious issue with internet addiction and cyber bullying. Because of this, they actually had to set up a system that connects users with their age at internet cafes, and with online games. Anyone under the age of 16 is forced to get off the Internet by Midnight, and cannot log in again until after 6AM.
1. Syndrome K
During World War II, doctors in Nazi-occupied Italy got together to figure out a way to save the Jews that were supposed to be sent to the concentration camps. They made up a highly contagious disease called “Syndrome K” and warned the Nazi guards that if they attempt to transport the Jewish people from the hospital, they would get sick, too. They were only able to save anyone who was currently in the hospital at the time, so they saved the lives of about two dozen people.
