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40 ‘Why The Hell Do You Know That’ Facts That People Probably Shouldn’t Have Shared But Did Anyway
We love to learn facts: fun ones, cool ones, strange ones. The internet is a treasure-trove of new facts to discover and share with your friends. On the other hand, it also brings us some things that we wish we didn’t know.
Have you ever heard a fact so weird and specific that it made you ask, “Why the hell do you know that?” Apparently, quite a few people have. A recent thread on r/AskReddit set out to find the strangest facts that people know and the internet has delivered once again.
Tell one of these facts to someone and it will surely bring a look of horror and confusion to their face. So, they’re probably not the best icebreakers to use at a party, but hey, maybe they’ll be useful at some point in the future. Check out part one here for more weird facts.
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#1
A co-worker told me one day “you’ll know when it’s truly the first day of spring because lake water will warm up and make any dead bodies in the lake float to the top surface due to bacteria” he continued with “except for in Lake Superior where the water temperature never gets warm enough to build bacteria in a dead body” and that’s one coworker I’ll never make mad right there
The thread has over 34K upvotes and u/BeefBall1010, the Redditor behind the post, told us they were surprised at the response their question got. “I never expected it to blow up like this,” they said.
There’s a whole slew of random and weird facts shared on the thread. BeefBall1010 told us that the one about rats was a personal favorite of theirs. Most of them are quite memorable ones but trying to remember every single fact you’ve ever heard can be quite a challenge.
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#2
I've been waiting for my time to shine.
You have erectile tissue in your nose. Orcas are the biggest natural predators of moose. There is a psychological disorder in which people believe they are a cow and it's called boanthropy. A wood frog can hold it's pee for up to eight months. If you keep a goldfish in the dark, it will lose it's colour and become white. You can actually "dig to China" from Argentina. The Mona Lisa doesn't have eyebrows. There is a kind of psychologist called a "wealth psychologist" that specializes in helping wealthy people deal with immense guilt or not being emotionally able to cope with being rich. A single spaghetti noodle is called a spaghetto. A Polish doctor faked a typhus outbreak in order to prevent nazis. The youngest Pope was only 11 years old. A man once filmed 7 episodes of a soap opera in IKEA without getting caught. (the opera). Pigs will eat the entire human body except for the teeth. When cremating a body, if you don't remove the teeth, they will pop like popcorn.
MauKini 3 years ago
When cremating a body, the body will move or even sit up during the process. This is due to the heat shortening the sinews.
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Mazer 3 years ago (edited)
This appears incomplete “ . A Polish doctor faked a typhus outbreak in order to prevent nazis” and to add to your list, There are micro-organisms that have sex on your face.
alwaysMispelled 3 years ago
He saved the town's Jewish population by faking paperwork and tests to make it look like an outbreak, the Nazis were too germaphobic to go in and round people up.
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Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
On the last one: Cremation is hot enough to burn bones. You're not gonna have any worries about hearing "popcorn" from the incinerator. The teeth crack, but don't "pop".
Jon S. 3 years ago
I'm not much up on modern cremation methods, but I thought bones remained and had to be cremulated? https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cremulator
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John C 3 years ago
To expand on the first point: you'll notice at any given point in the day you are mostly breathing out of one nostril or the other. Your body automatically cycles between nostrils by alternatively swelling the tissue on either side. Some theories on why this is stem from the fact that some scents are better picked up with lots of airflow, while other scents are best detected by allowing the air to move slower through your nose, and the alternation gives the "fast" side a break. If you're a side sleeper, you'll also notice the "top" nare is the one to (eventually) open up when you're sleeping.
Rick Krivoniak 3 years ago
You can't "actually" dig to China from Argentina. Nor vice versa. There may be an imaginary diameter line through the earth with endpoints in each country, but it's physically too hot and liquid to dig through.
Red 3 years ago
"The Mona Lisa doesn't have eyebrows." My whole life i have been wondering why did her face looked different
Agnes Jekyll 3 years ago
I was told she used to have eyebrows, but they "fell off"
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Not A Panda 3 years ago
They don't remove the teeth before they cremate people, for goodness sake.
dee dee 3 years ago
Aside from the very, extremely disturbing last fact, please elaborate on the first one. We have what now and where?!
Jon S. 3 years ago
I presume 'erectile tissue' just means tissue that swells with blood, like many tissues in our body can.
Load More Replies... bonnyatlast 3 years ago
The Mona Lisa does have eyebrows. They are light brown. The painting was cleaned a while back and they are more visible today. You could always see them before if you were close up. What is a lot more interesting than that is her eyes. No matter where you go in the room it looks like she is staring right at you. They do not know how Leonardo did it. It creeped out the person who commissioned the painting. It was the Duke of Milan. She is the Duchess of Milan. He sent the painting back to Leonardo because it creeped him out so bad. Leonardo still had the painting when he died of old age in France while under the care of the French King. The king cared so much about Leonardo that he had a tunnel built from the castle to the house he was in and talked to him every day until he died. That is how the Mona Lisa ended up in the Louvre. -retired Art teacher here.
bonnyatlast 3 years ago
More weird facts-- plants have DNA individual to the plant. Even grass. It was proven in court to catch a murderer. The body was found in a remote location under a tree. The guy who killed her was found to have seed pods in his pickup bed from that tree. The DNA matched. You can tell a skeleton is over 40 because of bone nodules around the joints. These cause the person not not move around as well. Men have a bone ridge inside their skulls that women don't have. --all from some forensic science show on tv
Patsy 3 years ago
I thought Mona did have eyebrows, but due to...over-restoration...I think...they basically disappeared...
bonnyatlast 3 years ago
She does. Light brown. You have to real close to see them, however after it was cleaned they are more visible.
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Riley Quinn 3 years ago
Is that why we can flare our nostrils so dramatically? Moose are excellent swimmers (faster than humans) and swim between the islands for food. A wealth psychologist is one sick, twisted individual for assisting a-holes to feel less guilty. That's one smart doctor coming up with an anti-Nazi scheme. Never, ever piss off a hog farmer.
Nadine Bamberger 3 years ago
Just watched a bit of IKEA Heights and it's hilarious https://youtu.be/DscIhisUgn0
Chaotic-Pansexual (she/they) 3 years ago
I can’t be the only one who just stopped reading and googled the Mona Lisa
Devil's Advocate 3 years ago
The first one is interesting because some people can sneeze when sexually aroused
Laura Hunn 3 years ago
It's thought by art historians that the Mona Lisa did originally have eyebrows but they were lost after cleanings/restorations.
Cheri Aline Sydney 3 years ago
I'm just hoping that the face I'm making right now does not stay permanent.... and that these don't ever cross my mind again....
Katrina 3 years ago
Pigs are omnivores just like humans, though domestic ones rarely eat meat. It was found out they eat humans because of a serial killer in Canada
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John Grimley 9 months ago
Spaghetti is plural, just like scampi so the singular are spaghetto and scampo.
John Grimley 9 months ago
regarding the white goldfish - so how is it that I have approx 50 goldfish in my pond (which is in full sun and also has a window) and all of them started life being totally black but over a few years, the black goes to be replaced by white scales on some but gold on most? All have the same access to sunlight/darkness.
Concept-Peter Roosdorp 3 years ago
Bonus fact, the Mona Lisa has had eyebrows but they have been lost over time due to cleaning of the painting.
Peggy Teach 3 years ago
Planning on being cremated. Agree with Diana, that last one made me cringe a little.
Marvin HoG 3 years ago
Not at all thinking about how to off my spouse now .. definitely not searching for a pig farm/ creamatoriam...
Jackie Porter 3 years ago
The Mona Lisa did have eyebrows but they were eventually cleaned off over the years.
Robin Roper 3 years ago
That last one - not necessarily. Teeth may crack in the heat and most crematoriums do not remove teeth.
Sarah Nolan 3 years ago
Teeth don't pop. If they are not fully broken down in the cremation process they are ground to dust along with any large bones left over.
V Martinez 3 years ago
I've heard of a few of these, but now I want to research the others! Inquiring minds want to know! Lol
Assistant to DJ 3 years ago
Your brain is full of all kinds of random knowledge. I like it. You must be perfect zombie bait.
Son of Philosoraptor 3 years ago
Love it but you don't have to remove the teeth before cremation. I've seen the oven after it was done.
Bobert Robertson 3 years ago
The goldfish one seems like common knowledge, but maybe just because I'm really into fishing? Like I know that bass in muddier water or water with lots of weeds will turn almost black to camouflage better, and in clear water they go really pale
BlackPearltheSeaWing/NightWing 3 years ago
I need to know how you know all this. These facts are too wtf for you to not tell us.
Marcellus II 3 years ago
The "orca" one is a well-known misrepresentation, so I stopped reading.
One way of recounting information is the use of mnemonics. This refers to a system that can help you remember information by tying it to certain patterns. Examples of this can be acronyms (such as ‘Every Good Boy Deserves Football’ that musicians use to remember the lines on a music ledger) or musical methods (like putting the alphabet to the tune of ‘Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star’). Surely a lot of us still recount the alphabet by using this method, I know I do.
An experiment was performed on how mnemonics such as acronyms can make a difference in remembering information and enforcing our work without interruptions. It required the 65 participants to complete a task with multiple different steps. Half of the group were given an acronym to support and remind them of each step and the other half were not.
#3
When Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile, they cut off his reproductive organ and gave it to the local parish priest. The priest later sold it to raise money for his Parish and it's been sold and resold down through the centuries and to this day there are three people who claim to own Napoleon's reproductive organ.
No one knows why this happened, and it's not the important part of the story. The important part is, who the hell do those other two belong to?
Chucky Cheezburger 3 years ago
Oh, so they took Napoleons' "bone apart"...Ok, I'll see myself out...
#4
Dragonflies are the most effective hunter on the planet catching 95% of the prey they go after.
Results from the experiment showed that those with the acronym fared far better than their counterparts at completing the task. It was linked to the participants being able to perform and recover faster after being interrupted as part of the experiment. The sequential steps made it easier to visualize the steps in their minds and reinforce what needed to be completed next.
#5
Cows moo with accents depending on their regions.
Daria B 3 years ago (edited)
I think seagulls have dialects/languages too. I noticed the same species of animal sound different in Korea and in Croatia. In Korea, they produce higher pitch and short sounds, whereas, in Croatia they sound deeper and slower, makes you really feel lazy. In Umag, at least.
#6
Rats are bisexual by nature and females will have group orgies with each other when in heat.
Male's balls can take up 10% of their entire mass!
There was a study where they put females in 'lingerie' and accustomed the males to it to the point they only saw the lingerie wearing rats as suitable mates.
Rats can give into peer pressure and eat things they don't like if everyone else is eating it.
Rats cannot burp or vomit.
With the amount of people killing pest rats by poison, they are creating bigger, smarter, poison resistant mutant rats.
Another more visual way of memorizing information is the 'method of loci' or the use of a ‘memory palace’. This was used to effect in Benedict Cumberbatch’s modern portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, where he closes his eyes and imagines a virtual space that stores all of the most useful information in his memory. All he had to do was walk through the space led by certain cues and pluck out memories from wherever he had filed them, helping him to solve cases in a jiffy.
#7
In Massachusetts, it’s illegal to consume more than 3 sandwiches at a funeral.
The most random law I’ve ever heard about
Diana Eriksson 3 years ago
Another random law: If a Swede crosses over the frozen sea between Denmark and Sweden, Danes are allowed to beat them up. It's a relic of when Denmark and Sweden were constantly at war, so if a group of Swedes crossed over the ice they probably didn't have good intentions, thus this law allowing the Danes to defend themselves. As far as I know, it was never changed.
#8
Koala's are the most alien of all mammals on the planet. They have two thumbs on each hand, three vaginas, spend most of their lives asleep, and evolved to only eat one plant that has no nutritional value. They also eat their mother's poop.
Rabbit Carrot 3 years ago
Koala’s also have fingerprints that are almost indistinguishable from human fingerprints so the next time you’re thinking of robbing a bank, take a furry friend.
#9
The distance a squirrel would need to fall in order to die is 4,800 miles. This is because squirrels cannot die from a terminal velocity fall; they would have to fall far enough to die from starvation.
This is far from fictitious and it’s used most often by people competing in the World Memory Championships. That’s right, there’s a competition for the brainiest person out there that can memorize and recount enormous amounts of information within a certain timeframe. It’s been going on since 1991 with people from all over the world competing for the title.
#10
Most ‘sea monster’ sightings are actually a whale sticking its reproductive organ out of the water.
#11
The kiwi is a bird closely related to the emu and the ostrich, despite having the size of a chicken. Nature made it small but forgot about the egg, which is about the size of an emu egg.
#12
When bears hibernate they generate a mucous wax to cover their buttholes so that nothing can get in
Cheri Aline Sydney 3 years ago
What a relief to finally know.... I have been worrying about this for years!
Perhaps the most outstanding champion of the competition is Dominic O’Brien. Having won it a staggering eight times, he’s gone on to write about memorization techniques and even developed his own system.
O’Brien spoke with The Daily Mail about his use of 'loci' and how it helped him to win the titles so many times. He said, “This is undoubtedly the key to my success at the World Memory Championships. Placing each piece of data that I had to absorb in a particular place that I had already set aside in my mind made it easier for me to recall them.”
#13
The first Pong machine was dropped off at a local tavern owned by friends of one of the developers for a test run. After a few days, the game started to malfunction. The tavern owner called one of the Devs, Allan Alcorn, to come fix it, and when Alcorn got there it was discovered that it was malfunctioning because it was too full of quarters.
#14
According to Mattel, Barbie's real name is Barbara Milicent Roberts. And Ken's last name is Carson.
Rabbit Carrot 3 years ago
Ken Carson sounds like he should be on Fox News espousing terrible vaccine advice and generally being a Trump supporting Chad.
#15
In the 1700s they used to rent out pineapples for hundreds of dollars, people would parade their pineapple around the streets flexing on the peasants that couldn't afford to rent a pineapple
O’Brien explained how we already use loci: “An excellent everyday example of the art of location is the solution to the common problem of finding a set of misplaced keys. What we do is retrace our steps (logically or figuratively).”
“We check the hall where we hung up our coat when we first came home, the study where we went to check phone messages, and so we continue through the house until we eventually arrive at the place we put down our keys.”
#16
If you sneeze when coming from a dark room into sunlight, it is because of a specific gene which is named ACHOO. I know because I have it.
"Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helioopthalmic Outburst (ACHOO) Syndrome is characterized by uncontrollable sneezing in response to the sudden exposure to bright light, typically intense sunlight"
#17
Shrimp live in the canopies of the Redwood Forests. They get there via literal seagull poop, and the lush coastal ecosystem forms little puddles on the branches in which they grow and live.
#18
You're more likely to be sexually assaulted by a dolphin than eaten by a shark
#19
The first known vending machine was created in the 1st century AD and it was located in Egypt. The machine dispensed holy water and it also took coins like ours do today.
#21
You can’t cross Minnesota state lines with a duck on your head, it’s illegal. I learned that the hard way.
#22
Dolphins can fall deeply in love and develop relationships just like humans can.
It has been recorded multiple times that when a human and dolphin - who have formed a strong relationship between them over a long period of time are separated:
the dolphin becomes so depressed that they willfully commit suicide by sinking to the bottom of their pool/lagoon and refuse to come up for air until they drown to death.
#23
The annual migration of birds was only discovered in 1822 when a stork turned up in Germany with a 30-inch African spear through its neck. Before that, we seriously thought migratory birds slept at the bottom of ponds or flew to the moon for the winter.
Google: Pfeilstorch
#24
The longest word you can make using the top row of a keyboard is typewriter
#25
It was an annual tradition for the pharaoh of Egypt to masturbate into the Nile with an audience.
#26
If people were otherwise immortal and nobody had anymore children, and you shot someone every second, it would take around 230 years to kill off the human race.
#27
There are more plastic flamingos in the world than real ones
Mr. Rogers personally replied to each piece of fan mail he ever received.
It takes a sloth a whole month to travel 1 mile across ground.
#28
The main legal consideration between grave robbery and archeology is age and if the deceased has any living relatives.
Where I live (ymmv), if the deceased has been dead over a century and has no living descendants, it's not considered grave robbery and you can claim any valuables found (jewellery, coins, artifacts, etc).
#29
Clown fish will change genders if their mate dies and then mate with their children
#30
Pineapples contain enzymes that break down proteins, which is why your mouth goes tingley when you eat lots of it.
Given this, theoretically you could dissolve a body in pineapple juice
Jo Johannsen 3 years ago
FRESH pineapple juice. Once "cooked" by canning, the enzymes are destroyed. Same reason you can't use fresh pineapple in Jello - the enzymes will prevent the Jello from setting.
#31
Before the Titanic sank a book titled "Futility" came out about a fictional British ocean liner called the Titan that sinks in the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg.
Rabbit Carrot 3 years ago (edited)
It’s by Morgan Robertson and is actually a decent read. Give it a read, you won’t be disappointed.
#32
Cannibalism is only illegal in one state of the United States (Idaho)
#34
A botfly egg can land on your skin and implant within a fraction of a second. If one hits you in the eye, it is possible that it can implant the egg under your eyelid so your eye incubates and subsequently feeds the growing larva. I know this because I have removed one from the underside of an eyelid before from a patient with a recalcitrant “eyelid infection”
#35
The quickest way to the heart actually IS through the stomach. According to archeological evidence, the Aztecs basically discovered through their years of sacrificing people that it’s way quicker to cut open the stomach and then go up and under the rib cage to cut the heart out, rather than trying to break open the ribs to get through them. They could apparently get someone’s heart out this way in only a few seconds, and there are accounts of sacrifices where multiple thousands of people had their hearts cut out in a single day, which would take forever if they didn’t know the quickest method.
#36
Your teeth are the only part of your skeleton that you actively clean
#37
I know the full name of Dom Pedro I, first emperor of Brazil, since I was a child: Pedro de Alcântara Francisco Antônio João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim de Bragança e Bourbon.
#39
A pregnant woman can legally poop on a footpath in Melbourne Australia.
#40
If humans wanted to have the same eyesight as an owl we would have to have eyes the size of a grapefruit
What do you think ?
ƒιѕн 3 years ago
I mean seriously, alot of this is bs, it comes from that swamp called reddit...
Nikki Sevven 3 years ago
Only parts of reddit are swamps. Other parts are lush rainforests of information. You must choose your subs wisely.
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Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
Please read further before passing information on to friends. Thank you.
~hUmMuS vIbEs~ 3 years ago
Another disturbing fact no one asked for: There's an Aussie marsupial called the Antechinus, which mate for two weeks straight until they internally bleed, go blind and die.
ƒιѕн 3 years ago
I mean seriously, alot of this is bs, it comes from that swamp called reddit...
Nikki Sevven 3 years ago
Only parts of reddit are swamps. Other parts are lush rainforests of information. You must choose your subs wisely.
Load More Replies... Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
Please read further before passing information on to friends. Thank you.
~hUmMuS vIbEs~ 3 years ago
Another disturbing fact no one asked for: There's an Aussie marsupial called the Antechinus, which mate for two weeks straight until they internally bleed, go blind and die.
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