So what is the biggest piece of useless information YOU know?

[geronimo]

sharks can't get cancer

tomatoes are fruit not veg

freeze the balls of a brass monkey comes from yesteryear when the artillery would stack there cannon balls on a brass holder called a monkey and when it got cold the brass would contract and the cannon balls would fall off

Earrings where worn by sailors before women, it was a gold hoop the sailor would wear encase he got washed over the side and drowned then got washed up. The earring was payment to get a funeral.

Also did you know when a useless bit of info goes into my head a useful bit gets pushed out.

 

[GB72]

The 'V' sign dates back to the battle of Agincourt. They were the 2 fingers that English archers used to draw their longbows. The french threatened to cut off the bow fingers of any English archer they captured so the English archers would taunt the French by showing them their bow fingers. Hence the 'V' sign became an insulting gesture.

 

[brendy]

No matter how many material goods you present to a woman over the years, she will never, I repeat, never forget one minor discrepancy regarding alcohol and a bite mark on ones cheek!

 

[billyg]

on film credits a 'gaffer' is the Director of Photography's right hand man. I was told that this title comes from the Hollywood studio days when lighting technology was quite primitive and exposure levels were simply controlled by opening and closing blinds over windows. These blinds were called gaffer blinds.

similarly the 'best boy' (a gaffers' second in command) hailes from a similar era of film making when a gaffer was too busy to help the DoP he would ask for the 'best boy' they had instead.

could all be complete pants but that's the way I was told it anyway.

 

[Leftie]

Koala is Aboriginy for Bear so its a Bear Bear.

A Koala isn't a bear but a marsupial, closely related to kangaroos and wombats.

 

[Imurg]

The angle of dangle is proportional to the heat of the moment.

And the first person to pass the driving test was called Mr Bean!!

 

[brendy]

A duck is the only animal whose call has no echo. Fact.

 

[TonyN]

There is actually no such thing as 'useless information' Because once someone has shared it, it has served a purpose and therefor is no longer useless. Fact!

 

[viscount17]

fewer cats are injured falling from above seven storeys than from below.

 

[geronimo]

fewer cats are injured falling from above seven storeys than from below.

that sounds like a sport i could get into, woof

 

[madandra]

fewer cats are injured falling from above seven storeys than from below.

I guess you don't class DEATH as an injury.

 

[toonarmy]

A duck is the only animal whose call has no echo. Fact.

Myth.

http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/duckecho.asp

 

[grumpyjock]

Japanese Sumo wrestlers are trained from the start of puberty to retract their testis up inside the abdominal wall.
Therefore every one should be able to do this but not once puberty has passed.
Sorry karate training.

 

[viscount17]

fewer cats are injured falling from above seven storeys than from below.

I guess you don't class DEATH as an injury.

injuries you can recover from.

the theory is that above 3 ft the cat's self-righting mechanism turns it right-way down, thereafter it's got it's landing gear extended so the higher it falls from the bigger the shock on a small area and the greater the risk of injury. as it approaches terminal velocity (60 mph for a moggie) it relaxes and spreads out into an impression of a flying squirrel, which cushions the landing.

 

[brendy]

A duck is the only animal whose call has no echo. Fact.

Myth.

http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/duckecho.asp

Dont believe the hype toon fella, its a conspiracy...theres another fact!

 

[grumpyjock]

An old Penny coin thrown from the Forth Rail Bridge did embed itself to half the diameter of the coin in the Teak foredeck of the Minesweeper that Iwas serving on as it passedunderneath.

 

[brendy]

Grumpyjock, I heard a similar fact regarding westminister clock (big ben to us!) with a coin dropped and the damage it could do.

 

[Dave3498]

The coefficient of friction is the tangent of the angle of repose.

 

[GB72]

A Ginglimoid is a hinge-shaped object.

 

[grumpyjock]

That actually happened right in front of me,standing for leaving Rosyth docks