Yahoo Lifestyle50 Cool Trivia Facts to Impress Your Friends
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50 Cool Trivia Facts to Impress Your Friends
Here's a little piece of trivia for you: Did you know that National Trivia Day takes place on Friday, January 4? This year, we're celebrating with some fun facts that will make you smile. We're talking animals, food, music and other terrific topics worth knowing about. These facts are worth their weight in gold, so prepare to dazzle your friends with these fantastic tidbits.
Whether you're into fun facts about wine or craving some satisfying American food facts, you'll have your friends begging for even tastier trivia! Have tons of fun quizzing your crew with facts that are unknown but surprisingly true. When you're gathered around the dinner table for some quality time after checking out our family style recipes, pull one (or more) of these wildly unknown facts from your fun hat as a cool conversation starter or an interesting beginning to a mind-boggling game — you'll be sure to impress with your knowledge.
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The hashtag symbol is technically called an octothorpe.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the "octo-" prefix refers to the eight points on the popular symbol, but the "thorpe" remains a mystery. One theory claims that it comes from the Old English word for "village," based on the idea that the symbol looks like a village surrounded by eight fields!
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The 100 folds in a chef's hat represent 100 ways to cook an egg.
Yes, that tall, pleated white hat that chefs wear — technically called a toque — has 100 folds for a reason! According to Reclutant Gourmet, the pleats used to signify a chef's level of experience, like the number of ways he or she knew how to prepare eggs.
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The longest wedding veil was longer than 63 football fields.
If you thought Meghan Markle's wedding veil was long, get this: there's a woman in Cyprus who set the Guinness World Record for the longest wedding veil. How long was it, you ask? Nearly 23,000 feet, which is the same length as about 63.5 football fields.
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Some cats are allergic to people.
FYI for all you people allergic to cats: they might be allergic to you, too! It's pretty uncommon due to the fact that we bathe ourselves more often than other species and don't shed as much hair or dead skin, but yes, it does happen.
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Apple Pie isn't actually American at all.
The next time you call something "as American as apple pie," you might want to consider the fact that neither apple pies nor apples originally came from America. Apples are in fact native to Asia, and the first recorded recipe for apple pie was actually written in England.
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The unicorn is the national animal of Scotland.
Yes, although it's a fabled creature, the national animal of Scotland is actually the mythical unicorn — chosen because of its association with dominance and chivalry as well as purity and innocence in Celtic mythology. BRB, moving to Scotland real quick.
RELATED: 20+ Magical Unicorn Gifts for People Who Love Rainbows, Glitter, and Sparkles
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The largest known living organism is an aspen grove.
Pando (Latin for "I spread out") is a group of genetically identical quaking aspens in Utah with an interconnected root system. It's an estimated 80,000 years old and takes up more than 100 acres.
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M&M stands for Mars and Murrie.
Forrest Mars (son of the Mars Company founder) first spotted the British confection Smarties during the Spanish Civil War and noticed the candy shell prevented the chocolate from melting. He teamed up with Bruce Murrie (son of Hershey Chocolate's president) and the company later trademarked the "Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hand" slogan.
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Neil Armstrong didn't say "That's one small step for man."
The astronaut insists he actually stated, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." "That's the only way the statement makes any sense," Armstrong told biographer James Hansen. And for the record, no real astronaut ever uttered "Houston, we have a problem" — Tom Hanks only said that in the movie Apollo 13.
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You can hear a blue whale's heartbeat from more than 2 miles away.
The world's largest animal's heart weighs about 400 pounds — approximately the size of a small piano.
RELATED: 15 Amazing Whale Facts That Prove Just How Majestic They Are
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The odds of getting a royal flush are exactly 1 in 649,740.
Poker fiends have a slightly better chance of laying down a straight flush: Try 72,192 to 1. Out of the 7,462 distinct five-card poker hands, you have a 42% chance of getting a single pair though.
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If you drive south from Detroit, you'll hit Canada.
Head north from Windsor, Ontario, crossing the Detroit River, and you'll reach the good ol' US of A.
RELATED: 21 Cool Road Trip Games to Try on Your Next Family Adventure
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A baby puffin is called a "puffling."
To feed its chick, a puffin parent will carry around 10 fish in its beak at one time, but the biggest recorded haul is a whopping 62 fish, according to Audubon Project Puffin.
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Four times more people speak English as a second language than as a native one.
While more people speak English as a second language, nearly three times more people speak Mandarin Chinese natively.
English has nearly two billion people learning it as a second language and only 350 million people speaking it natively.RELATED: The Surprising Origins of 15 Commonly-Used Words in the English Language
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The lyrebird can mimic almost any sounds it hears — including chainsaws.
Wildlife watchers have recorded the Australian species copying not only other birds but other animals, like koalas, and artificial sounds such as car alarms and camera shutters.
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Elvis only won 3 Grammys.
The King of Rock and Roll had 18 #1 hits in his career, but struck out on 11 of his 14 nominations. The record for the most Grammy wins actually belongs to George Solti, the longtime leader of Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with 31 awards to his name.
RELATED: The 35 Best Love Songs of All Time
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Coca-Cola consumers will pay more to drink less ounces.
Coca-Cola consumers prefer smaller packaging of their beverage and are willing to pay more per ounce. While soda consumption is declining in the U.S., Coca-Cola had a net revenue of $33 billion worldwide last year. Talk about vanity sizing!
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The speed of a computer mouse is measured in "Mickeys."
A British scientist first invented the roller-ball device in 1946 while working for the Royal Navy, but the word "mouse" didn't get coined until 1965.
RELATED: The Best Laptops for Every User
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Pumpkins, squash and gourds are all technically the same species.
That's right, your zucchini and Jack o' lanterns are one and the same: Cucurbita pepo, a species that originated in Mexico more than 10,000 years ago. Farmers have since developed the many cultivars we know and use today.
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Only one NFL team has a plant for a logo.
The New Orleans Saints' fleur-de-lis is actually a stylized lily historically associated with the French monarchy. It's also the state symbol of Louisiana and appears on the Quebec flag.
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Not every Model T was black.
For the first few years of production, Ford's famous car came in gray, green, blue and red. It was only after 1914 that customers could order "any color so long as it is black," as the dark paint dried faster than other hues.
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You can major in wine at Cornell University.
Technically it's a degree in "Viticulture and Enology" (a.k.a. the cultivation of grapes and the science of winemaking), but we're still sending in our applications.
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The Northern cardinal is the most popular state bird.
Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia all picked it as their favorite species. The western meadowlark takes second place as the honoree in six other states.
RELATED: Bow Down to These 50 State Animals
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Frank Lloyd Wright's son invented Lincoln Logs.
The famous architect's design for the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo inspired John Lloyd Wright to produce the interlocking log beams on a much smaller scale for kids.
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About 700 grapes go into one bottle of wine.
That's approximately 2.6 pounds, if you're wondering how much "fruit" you get when you uncork your favorite red.
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Fear of the number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia.
Irrationally scared of clowns? You might have coulrophobia. Oh, and gephyrophobia is a fear of bridges.
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A $1 bill doesn't live as long as you'd think.
According to the Federal Reserve, each buck lasts about 6.6 years, and there's about $1.79 trillion of U.S. currency in circulation right now.
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The most streamed Spotify single is Harry Styles' "Girl Crush."
The solo star's Spotify single has the most streams at 154 million. Such a win for the One Direction alum.
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The Crown Jewels contain the two biggest cut diamonds on Earth.
They both came from the Cullinan Diamond, a 3,106-carat gem found in South Africa in 1905. The largest stone, called the Great Star of Africa, is in the Sovereign's Sceptre, while the second largest is mounted in the Imperial State Crown (pictured).
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Baby sea otters can't swim right away.
Their moms will wrap them in pieces of kelp while they hunt until the buoyant pups learn how to paddle around on their own. A raft of otters will also hold hands while they sleep so they don't drift apart!
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There's a world record for the most world record titles.
It belongs to Brooklyn, New York resident Ashrita Furman, who's held more than 700 Guinness World Records in his lifetime, ranging from heaviest shoes walked in (323 pounds) to most baseballs held in a baseball glove (26).
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The Oscars used to give out an award to child performers.
The award show discontinued the Academy Juvenile Award in 1960 after famous names like Shirley Temple and Judy Garland nabbed the honor. Also no longer on the ballot? Best Dance Direction and Best Title Writing.
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There's a word for animals with partial pigment loss.
Albinism is the congenital absence of any pigmentation or coloration, but leucism is a different rare condition where some pattern or color remains.
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Facebook has more users than many major populations.
At 2.89 billion monthly users, Facebook overshadows China's (1.4 billion) and India's (1.3 billion) populations.
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We're all stars.
Okay, technically we're all made of stardust, but that's still pretty cool. Recent research found that humans and the galaxy share 97% of the same kind of atoms.
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Moon flowers actually bloom in response to the moon.
Sunflowers will follow the sun as it moves across the sky, but their lunar counterparts only open after nightfall or on cloudy days.
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The largest sand castle in the world measured 54 feet high.
It took 168 trucks over a week to deliver enough sand for this carefully sculpted masterpiece.
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There are over 10 holidays that celebrate chocolate.
The National Confectioners Association recognizes everything from National Milk Chocolate Day to National Bittersweet Chocolate With Almonds Day. National Chocolate Day alone happens three times annually: July 7, October 28 and December 28. We support this.
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Chocolate is (kinda) a fruit.
In more great chocolate news, the cocoa powder that goes into our fave best dark chocolate bars comes from the "beans" — or fruit of the cacao tree.
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A group of bunnies is called a "fluffle."
Most people dub them a herd, but apparently parts of Northern Canada use this much cuter designation.
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The voices of Mickey and Minnie Mouse got married in real life.
Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor were married for 18 years until Allwine's death in 2009.
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The way you eat Oreos says something about your personality.
Kraft Foods once surveyed hundreds of Oreo eaters (check out these cookie butter Oreos!) and sussed it out: Biters are easy-going and self-confident, while dunkers displayed more energetic and adventurous qualities. Twisters, on the other hand, are sensitive and trendy.
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The moon has its own time zones.
An astronomer even designed a special watch that relies on "lunations," or the amount of time it takes for the moon to revolve and rotate around the Earth.
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A team of six women programmed the first digital computer.
While historians have only recently recognized their achievements (or female discoveries credited to men), the female mathematicians participated in a World War II program coding instructions into the revolutionary Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC).
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Baby elephants suck their trunks for comfort.
They're just like human newborns making funny faces, except a tad bigger.
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There's a 107-acre forest made up of a single tree.
The "Trembling Giant" in Utah's Fishlake National Forest includes over 47,000 quaking aspen trees that share the same root system. Some scientists estimate it's close to a million years old.
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Dr. Seuss wrote "Green Eggs and Ham" on a bet.
Theodore Geisel's editor didn't believe the author could write a book in 50 words or less. The finished product contains 50 words on the dot.
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You can ride a train through the "Tunnel of Love."
The Ukrainian rails actually service an industrial train, but couples can still hitch a ride (or take one of these affordable family train trips) and make a wish, according to a new tourist legend.
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Fall leaf colors are present year-round.
The red, orange and yellow pigments only show once chlorophyll — the chemical that makes leaves green — breaks down in autumn. Check out these fall quotes for a little inspiration.
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Two-Buck Chuck once won a top wine award.
Trader Joe's 2002 Charles Shaw Shiraz beat out 2,300 other wines to win a prestigious double gold medal at the 28th Annual International Eastern Wine Competition, so don't feel bad stocking up on the bargain brand.
RELATED: 25 Cheap Healthy Foods You Can Buy at the Grocery Store
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