1. Long words: Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliofobia is the fear of long words
2. Walking cheese: East marzu case from Sardienen contains live maggots. It is also called ‘the walking cheese’ because it can move. The taste is described as a “very ripe Gorgonzola”. However, there is one caveat to the cheese: it should only be eaten if the maggots are alive – if they are dead, the cheese is too toxic for human consumption. The cheese is also illegal in Italy, as it obviously does not meet EU food hygiene requirements
3. Dance sickness: I Middle Ages several European cities were hit by the so-called “dance sickness“, where people danced for days for no apparent reason. Many people danced themselves to death. The most well-documented case was in Strassbourg in 1548, where 400 people contracted the disease
4. First smiley: The smiley was officially invented by American Scott Fahlman on September 19, 1982. Fahlman is a computer scientist specializing in language technology
5. Sigurd the Mighty: Sigurd the Mighty, the first Earl of the Scottish Orkney Islands, was killed by an enemy he had already beheaded! In the 9th century, Sigurd had a falling out with the magnate known as Maelbrigte Fang because of his protruding teeth. Sigurd decapitated Maelbrigte, tied his head to his horse and rode home. On the way home, he tore his leg on one of the teeth in the severed head. He later died from the infection in his leg
6. Ivan the Terrible: Ivan the Terrible, who was Tsar of Russia from 1547 – 1584, claimed to have “deflowered thousands of virgins and slaughtered a similar number of the resulting offspring”
7. Small adult: Charles Sherwood Stratton was born on January 4, 1838 and literally stopped growing when he was 6 months old. As an adult, he measured only 1 meter in height. He later became a huge success in the circus world, where he was known as ‘General Tom Thumb’
8. Typewriter: The longest English word that can be typed with the top row of letters on a keyboard is ‘typewriter’
9. Pinocchio: The name ‘Pinocchio’ means ‘fir-head’ in Italian (because Pinocchio’s head is shaped like a fir tree)
10. Pac-Man: There are 240 dots in the computer game Pac-Man

Fact: Charles S. Stratton stopped growing when he was just 6 months old and his adult height was only 1 meter. He went on to become a success in the circus world under the name ‘General Tom Thumb’

 

Weird facts – 15 quick facts

1. Long words: Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliofobia is the fear of long words
2. Walking cheese: East marzu case from Sardienen contains live maggots. It is also called ‘the walking cheese’ because it can move. The taste is described as a “very ripe Gorgonzola”. However, there is one caveat to the cheese: it should only be eaten if the maggots are alive – if they are dead, the cheese is too toxic for human consumption. The cheese is also illegal in Italy, as it obviously does not meet EU food hygiene requirements
3. Dance sickness: I Middle Ages several European cities were hit by the so-called “dance sickness“, where people danced for days for no apparent reason. Many people danced themselves to death. The most well-documented case was in Strassbourg in 1548, where 400 people contracted the disease
4. First smiley: The smiley was officially invented by American Scott Fahlman on September 19, 1982. Fahlman is a computer scientist specializing in language technology
5. Sigurd the Mighty: Sigurd the Mighty, the first Earl of the Scottish Orkney Islands, was killed by an enemy he had already beheaded! In the 9th century, Sigurd had a falling out with the magnate known as Maelbrigte Fang because of his protruding teeth. Sigurd decapitated Maelbrigte, tied his head to his horse and rode home. On the way home, he tore his leg on one of the teeth in the severed head. He later died from the infection in his leg
6. Ivan the Terrible: Ivan the Terrible, who was Tsar of Russia from 1547 – 1584, claimed to have “deflowered thousands of virgins and slaughtered a similar number of the resulting offspring”
7. Small adult: Charles Sherwood Stratton was born on January 4, 1838 and literally stopped growing when he was 6 months old. As an adult, he measured only 1 meter in height. He later became a huge success in the circus world, where he was known as ‘General Tom Thumb’
8. Typewriter: The longest English word that can be typed with the top row of letters on a keyboard is ‘typewriter’
9. Pinocchio: The name ‘Pinocchio’ means ‘fir-head’ in Italian (because Pinocchio’s head is shaped like a fir tree)
10. Pac-Man: There are 240 dots in the computer game Pac-Man

 

Weird things you can’t do

 

You can’t lick your own elbow

Some people can lick their own elbow, but most people can’t.

Although the editors of the Guinness Book of Records are used to the strangest requests, on a daily basis they receive around 5 emails from people claiming they can lick their own elbow – and as the editor of the record book himself puts it: “Being able to lick your own elbow is not – by any means – a world record.“

 

You can’t sneeze with your eyes open

It is physically impossible to sneeze with your eyes open because the brain sends a coordinated signal to the muscles in the abdominal cavity, chest, diaphragm, neck, face and eyelids, as well as various sphincters, glands and blood vessels in the nose that the sneeze is coming and that they should contract. All of this happens automatically and there is nothing you can do to prevent it.

When you sneeze, the heart’s electrical impulse stops for a fraction of a second.

 

Draw the number 6 while rotating your leg clockwise

• Sit on a chair
• Lift your right foot and make clockwise circles with it
• Meanwhile, draw 6s with your right hand

As weird as it sounds, it can’t be done!

 

You can’t tickle yourself

It is physically impossible to tickle yourself because the part of our brains that monitors our movements is able to anticipate our own movements and thereby automatically stop ourselves from reacting to our own tickling. When another person tickles us, the brain can’t anticipate the movements and, of course, can’t stop the reaction either.

 

The paralyzed ring finger

If you place all your fingers on a table with your middle finger bent in (as in the picture on the right), you can lift all fingers except your ring finger.

It is physically impossible to lift the ring finger because its tendons are connected to the middle finger.