Random and Useless Thoughts

A pineapple is called an 'ananas' in over 30 languages - but not English​

That's right - pick a language, and the word for pineapple is probably 'ananas' - or something like it, at least. Why didn't English go for the same thing? Well, it's thought that the word 'pineapple' refers to their resemblance to a pinecone, while the apple bit refers to the fruit inside. If you think that's weird, you should see how they grow - not on trees, but on little shrubs in fields!

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Bananaphobia is...you've guessed it, a fear of bananas​

Bananas might sound like an odd thing to be scared of, but there are loads more weird phobias out there that are a bit odd, including: bibliophobia (fear of books), Koumpounophobia (fear of buttons) and trypophobia (fear of holes!) Are you scared of anything strange?

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About 10 percent of the worlds population is left handed​

No one is quite sure why left handers exist. Some people think it may be genetic, others think it may be to do with how the baby behaves in the womb. Either way, about 10% of the global population is left-handed, and southpaws show up in all cultures and countries. Famous lefties include Leonardo Da Vinci, Napoleon, Bart Simpson and Prince William.
 

Tea used to be so special and expensive in Europe that it was locked in special boxes​

Tea is everywhere today, and you've likely had a cup before you've read this article! But in the 16th and 17th centuries when it was starting to be imported from China to Europe, tea was so fancy and expensive that people who could afford it would lock it away in special boxes so it wouldn't get stolen! Can you imagine locking away your Yorkshire Gold?

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Wrestling is one of the oldest sports in the world​

Depictions of wrestling in art go back thousands of years and have been found in cave paintings. It was also popular in ancient Greece, and it was even a sport in the original Olympic games. Modern athletes might not have enjoyed it though - you had to participate in all events naked!

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The average temperature on Venus is 462 degrees Celsius, or 864 degrees Fahrenheit​

Venus is one of the hottest planets in the solar system, largely due to its position near the sun, but also due to the fact that it's atmosphere is made up of a lot of carbon dioxide, which traps the sun's heat. This makes Venus even hotter than mercury, which is nearer to the sun! Venus's average temperatures are way above what human being could handle, so if you're hoping for a Venus colony to be set up any time soon, you may be disappointed!
 

About 69% of Japan is covered in forest​

Japan is known for being a densely populated country, with Tokyo being its most densely populated city. However, what you may not know is the reason for this density is because most of the country is covered in forests! Yup, Japan is about two thirds forest, and forests have long been part of Japanese art and culture, including forest bathing - the idea of walking through a forest and bathing in its peacefulness. Sounds nice!

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There is no wind on the moon​

Have you ever wondered what it's like on the moon? Well, apart from there being no oxygen, it's pretty still. So still in fact, that every footprint ever made by an astronaut on the moon is still there! That's right, there's no wind on the moon, so everything stays exactly the same, which must be pretty eerie! If you look at the flag planted by American astronauts you can see that a pole is making is stick out - because there's no wind to wave it around!

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Queen Elizabeth I of England wore a wristwatch​

It might seem hard to believe, but all the way back in Elizabethan England people had wristwatches! Or rather, very wealthy people like the queen did. Watches were a relatively modern invention at the time, and lots of people still used the sun to tell the time. Described as an 'arm watch', Elizabeth's watch was given to her by a courtier called Robert Dudley in 1571. Snazzy!

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Bessie Coleman was the first black person to earn an international pilot's license​

Bessie Coleman was born in 1892 in the USA and in 1921 became the first black woman and first Native American to earn a pilot's license. She soon became famous and flew all around the world, taking lessons from a French ace pilot. Sadly, she died in a plane crash aged just 34, but cemented her place in history with her incredible accomplishments.

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Hawaiian pizza doesn't come from Hawaii​

Sorry to spoil it, but Hawaiian pizza doesn't come from Hawaii - or even from Italy. Like most of the popular pizza recipes out there, this was dreamt up in North America - in Canada, to be precise, by a Greek immigrant called Sam Panopoulos in 1962. He liked the idea of having a dish that was sweet and savoury, and since pineapples were grown in Hawaii, the name stuck!

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The Scots have 421 words for snow​

You may have heard that Inuit peoples in Northern Canada have lots of words for snow, but the Scots come close behind! These include 'snaw', 'sneesl', 'driffle', 'feefle', 'fyoonach' and 'skelf' among many others, as well as lots of other weather related words. Well, there certainly is a lot of weather in Scotland!

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Hippopotamus means 'river horse' in Greek​

Hippos are some of the coolest (and most dangerous) animals in the world, but did you ever wonder where their slightly weird name comes from? Well, it's Greek - from 'hippo' meaning 'horse' and 'potamus' - 'of the river'. They aren't related to horses at all, which makes you wonder why they got the name - maybe the ancient Greeks hadn't seen many other animals?

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You breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide​

Ever wondered why trees are so important? It's because they balance out all the breathing we humans do! Human being inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide - and trees do the opposite! They breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen! The reason we do this is because we need oxygen for energy - the carbon dioxide is more like a waste product we need to get rid of. Now you know!
 

The Aboriginal people of Australia have lived there for over 50,000 years​

You may recognise parts of Aboriginal culture from things you've seen like boomerangs, digeridoos, wall paintings and their sacred place Uluru rock. Over half a million Australian's identify as Aboriginal, and keep their culture alive through song, dance, and clothing. Sadly, many parts of Aboriginal life have been harmed by colonisation, but now more than ever they are fighting to have their way of life preserved and respected.

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A blue whale's heart weighs 400 pounds!​

The blue whale is the biggest animal in the sea. It's also the biggest animal on the planet, and it's ALSO the biggest animal to EVER live! Yup, bigger than all the dinosaurs,m giant sloth and wooley mammoths! A creature that big needs a big heart to keep it going, and the blue whale heart is 400 lbs! That's about 4 of your, give or take!

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Jamaica's women's bobsled team debuted in 2018​

It may sound a bit crazy, but Jamaica has a bobsled team! Despite being completely snow free, Jamaica is home to a popular past-time called box car racing, which is similar to bobsledding but on wheels. The men's bobsled team has been around since the 80s and competed in several Olympics games (and was immortalised in the film Cool Runnings) but the women's team only debuted in 2018. Let's hope they do well!
 

Alfred Hitchcock threw live birds at his lead actor Tippi Hedren in his horror film 'The Birds'​

Alfred Hitchcock was known for his unconventional directing style, which sometimes left his actors feelings a little frightened. In the horror film The Birds, for example, lead actor Tippi Hedren, who was scared of birds in real life, was made to walk into a storm of them, all swirling and screeching, which Hitchcock had thrown at her. The birds terrified her, and left her with loads of scratches. Apparently Hitchcock wanted to get a 'genuine' reaction out of her - sounds like he just needed to trust his actors more!

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Yrausquin Airport on the Caribbean island of Saba is considered the smallest airport in the world​

The airport is little more than a strip of runway on a rocky outcrop, and is considered the runway in the world, at only 400m! This means that bigger aeroplanes can't actually land there, so you probably can't go on a package holiday. Other tiny airports include Barra in Scotland, Charles Kirkconnell International Airport in the Caribbean, and Luang Prabang Airport in Laos.
 

The largest bone in the human body is the femur, also known as the thigh bone​

Not only is it the largest bone in the body, it's also one of the strongest, able to withstand a force of up to 1,800 to 2,500 pounds. The smallest bone in the human body, meanwhile, is the stapes, which can be found inside the ear, and which helps with transmitting sounds. All in all, you have over 200 bones in your body!

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Red and yellow are supposed to make you hungry.​

Have you ever wondered why so many fast food restaurants have a yellow or red colour scheme? It's actually a clever bit of science - according to research, these colours are meant to stimulate your taste buds and make you hungry! Blue, on the other hand, is supposed to suppress hunger. This may be because there are almost no naturally blue foods in nature - even blueberries are purple!

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Robinson Crusoe was based on a real man​

Daniel Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe, based his story on a real castaway called Alexander Selkirk, who survived alone on an island after being shipwrecked for four years in the 17th century. Selkirk lived on the island for four years and four months, unlike Crusoe, who was there for a whopping 28 years! Let's hope he brought enough sunscreen!

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There is a festival in Spain where people throw tomatoes at each other​

La Tomatin is a festival held every year in the town of Buñol in Spain and yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. People get together and throw tomatoes at each other in the street! There isn't really a reason behind it, apart from the fact that it's fun! The rules are very strict to make sure no one gets hurt, and at the end of it the whole town has to clean up!

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Beyoncé has an insect named after her​

Scaptia beyonceae is a species of horse fly that was named after the pop star in 2011. It's not entirely clear why the fly was named for her, although it does have a very prominent behind...Hmm, not as glamourous as it sounds, maybe.

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Daniel Radcliffe was allergic to the contact lenses they used in the Harry Potter films, which is why Harry's eyes aren't green​

Yes, you may have noticed that Harry doesn't actually have green eyes, despite it being made very clear in the books. This is because Daniel Radcliffe found the contact lenses they gave him (his eyes are blue) too irritating! As long as his eyes were the same colour as his mothers, it didn't really matter.
 

In China there is a dish called Bird's Nest Soup​

Yes, birds nest soup. As in, a birds nest. But it isn't made from twigs - the nests used are made by Swifts, and are composed of bird saliva! This makes them very rich in protein and (apparently) full of flavour, which means the dish is very highly prized! They have been part of Chinese cuisine for over 400 years, but you probably won't find it at your local Chinese restaurant! Would you eat a bird spit soup?

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High heels, wigs, dresses and make-up have all been worn by men in different times in history through the world​

We might think of these items as 'girly' today, but everything women wear has also been worn by men throughout history! Men in ancient times were much more likely to wear a tunic or skirt than trousers, whilst 17th century fashion favoured huge tall heels for men, the idea being that you would look taller and therefore more masculine. Everyone from the Celts to the Georgians wore make up, including face powder, rouge and eyeliner, and wigs were all the range a few hundred years ago in Britain - the bigger and curlier, the better!

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The Victorians had a special code language using flowers.​

The Victorians were into all sorts of weird ways to send messages, and flowers were no exception. The flowers you gave someone would send them a message, and people wrote whole books about which flowers meant what. For example, a bluebell could mean 'humility' while a yellow hyacinth meant 'jealousy'! And we thought they just looked nice!
 

The deepest part of the ocean is the Challenger Deep​

Located in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific ocean, the Challenger deep is about 36,200 feet deep, which is very VERY deep, much deeper than a human could ever dive safely. In fact, it's so deep down there that barely anything lives there, because so little light and oxygen reaches it. There may be undiscovered animals down there, but so far we haven't found them! Kinda spooky!

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The first ever sound recording was made in the 1850's​

We're used to being able to capture every little sound on our phones and computers nowadays, but a few hundred years ago, that wasn't the case. In fact, until the 1850s there was no way of recording sound at all! That all changed when scientific advancements started to develop inventions like the wax cylinder and the record, and now we can actually hear stuff from over 150 years ago! There is a bit of dispute as to exactly what the first recording was - some people think it was a recording of 'Clair de Lune' in 1860, but other people say that there are even earlier recordings!
 
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