Really TRUE odd factoids

[classic33]

The longest English word is nearly 190,000 letters in length

It's the chemical name of Titin, the largest known protein. It begins, "Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylalanylprolylthreonylphenylalanylthreonylglutaminylprolylleucylglutaminylserylvalylvalylvalylleucylglutamylglycylserylthreonylalanylthreonylphenylalanylglutamylalanylhistidylisoleucylserylglycylphenylalanylprolylvalylprolylglutamylvalylseryltryptophylphenylalanylarginylaspartylglycylglutaminylvalylisoleucylserylthreonylserylthreonylleucylpro and goes on for tens of thousands of letters.

The word in full can be found here.

 

[classic33]

"hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia" is the fear of long words.

 

[Chris S]

Several senior military officers in the Third Reich had some Jewish heritage. Adolf Hitler personally had them reclassified as 'Aryans' so that they could stay in their posts. Some of his best friends were Jewish

 

[classic33]

Bill Frost was a Welsh inventor who apparently took to the air 8 years before the Wright brothers in his ‘Flying Machine’ in Saundersfoot in 1895 before crashing into a tree.

Nany people from Saundersfoot claimed that he flew in his glider/airship on or around 24th September 1896. He travelled, it was claimed, for about 500 yards, a distance that, if true, was considerably longer than the Wright Brothers managed seven years later in 1903.

 

[DaveReading]

Many people from Saundersfoot claimed that he flew in his glider/airship on or around 24th September 1896.

That story would be slightly more convincing if it could make up it mind which it was - glider or airship ?

If the latter, it wouldn't be particularly newsworthy (except maybe in Wales), more than 100 years after the Montgolfier brothers were piloting hot-air balloons.

 

[Beebo]

That story would be slightly more convincing if it could make up it mind which it was - glider or airship ?

If the latter, it wouldn't be particularly newsworthy (except maybe in Wales), more than 100 years after the Montgolfier brothers were piloting hot-air balloons.

Wiki says it had two gas chambers sufficient to lift it and powered by a fan so clearly not a plane.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frost_Airship_Glider

 

[T4tomo]

The Welsh are famous for making up crap, like how they dominated rugby in the 1970's

 

[Chris S]

"A storm that night destroyed the craft and scattered the remains"
Very convenient

 

[Chris S]

Joaquin Phoenix was born Joaquin Bottom.

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

Joaquin Phoenix was born Joaquin Bottom.

So you were watching Pointless as well😯😯😯

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

The "na na na" or "la la la" parts of songs are called vocables.

 

[classic33]

Ever wonder why rugby balls are oval?

The first ever rugby balls were made by a Richard Lindon who fashioned it out of hand stitched leather casing and pigs’ bladders. Apparently, pigs’ bladders naturally take on an oval shape.

The trademark oval ball only took over from the spherical ball they’d originally used in 1892.

 

[classic33]

The same whistle has been used for the first opening Rugby World Cup game since 1987.

It’s named after the Welsh referee Gil Evans, the first to use it.

 

[classic33]

On the 20th June 2020, in the small Siberian town of Verkhoyansk, North of the Arctic Circle, a heat wave baking the region peaked at 38 degrees Celsius — just over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It was the highest temperature ever recorded in the Arctic.

 

[CharlesF]

Two pounds of pepper and ginger, a pair of scarlet trousers and 1,000 eels.

In medieval England, people paid their rents with all manner of items – and one of the most bizarre was eels.

The idea of accepting eels as rental payment may strike modern readers as unusual. But in early medieval England (1000-1300), eel-rents were commonplace. During the period, before there was enough available coinage, landlords often accepted in-kind rents such as eggs, ale, grain, and, especially, eels. The fish were remarkably plentiful, accounting for 25 to 50 per cent of fish in England’s rivers.