One habit of intelligent humans is being easily annoyed by people around them but saying nothing to avoid a meaningless argument.
100 Mind-Blowing People Facts
The Lego Group is the world’s most powerful brand. There are more Lego Minifigures than there are people on Earth.
The largest Japanese population outside of Japan stands at 1.6 million people who live in Brazil.
People who post their fitness routine on Facebook are more likely to have psychological problems.
There is a company that sells mirrors that make people look 10 pounds thinner. Overall, the mirrors have contributed to 54% of total sales for retailers that use them.
28% of people on the autism spectrum are left-handed, and only 10% of people, in general, are left-handed.
China is spending 3 billion dollars to build panda-shaped solar farms to get more young people interested in renewable energy.
“Opposites attract” is a common myth. People are attracted to people who look like family members or those with a similar personality type.
Cruise ships have morgues that can store up to 10 bodies at once. The average amount of people who die on cruise ships per year is 200.
Popularized by Shakespeare’s play, many people think Julius Caesar’s last words were, “And you, Brutus?” In reality, he said, “You too, my child?”
The majority of blind people in the U.S. and the U.K. cannot read Braille. Statistically, less than 1% of blind in the U.K. and under 10% in the U.S.
Over 290 people have died climbing Mount Everest since 1922. Most deaths occur because of avalanches, and not all bodies have been recovered.
There’s a bar in Yukon that serves a “Sourtoe cocktail.” It consists of a shot of whisky with a human toe floating in the glass. An estimated 60,000 people have had it.
Pope Francis has been given many extravagant gifts over the years, and one of them was a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. However, rather than keeping it for his pleasure and adventures, he sold it off and used the money to benefit homeless people.
Disappointment Island is an uninhabited island in New Zealand. Over 65,000 pairs of white-capped albatross live there. In 1868, a steel tanker crashed on the island, killing 68 people, and leaving the 15 survivors waiting 18 months to be rescued. In 1907, another ship ended up crashing there, and 12 men drowned.
In 2005, Connecticut was accidentally issued an Emergency Alert to evacuate the entire state. Only about 1% of the people tried to leave.
Underneath the streets of Beijing, there are over a million people who live in nuclear bunkers.
Elephants think people are cute, the same way people think puppies or kittens are cute.
To keep Nazis away, a Polish doctor faked a typhus outbreak. This strategy saved 8,000 people.
Animal Planet aired two fake documentaries that “proved” mermaids exist. So many people thought it was real that the U.S. government issued an official statement about it.
“Tater Tots,” a registered trademark, originally failed because people thought the product was too cheap. Popularity rose after the price was raised.
People who donate blood in Sweden are sent a text message each time their blood saves a life.
Even though drugs are officially illegal in the Netherlands, it is legal to be under the influence of any drug to encourage people to seek medical help.
3 inches of ice can support one person on foot. 4 inches can support a group of people, single file. 36 inches can support up to 110 tons of weight.
People can suffer from a psychological disorder called Boanthropy that makes them believe they are a cow.
The Poodle is one of the cleanest breeds of dogs, making them a great choice for people with pet allergies. They don’t moult much at all, and they rarely smell, either.
Long ago, people chewed on tree bark as a method of pain relief. Willow bark has a high amount of salicylic acid, an ingredient still used in aspirin today.
While most people think of Neil Patrick Harris as an actor, he is also a writer, producer, comedian, singer, and even amateur magician!
In New Delhi, if a tree falls sick, an ambulance is dispatched to treat them. This came into effect in 2009 and takes four people to do the job.
7% of all American adults believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows. That works out to 16.4 million people.
In Japan, many families eat a KFC for Christmas Dinner. Many people order their meals months in advance and queue for hours to collect them.
The first roller coaster was used to transport coal down a hill. After people found that it could reach speeds up to 50 miles per hour, tourists asked to ride on it for a few cents.
The word “barbarian” originally referred to people who don’t speak Greek. The Greeks thought people who spoke a foreign tongue sounded like they were saying “bar bar bar” all the time.
Extreme ironing is a sport in which people take ironing boards to remote locations and iron items of clothing. It originated in England.
10% of Filipinos (approximately 10 million people) live overseas. The country with the highest amount is the United States, with almost 4 million Filipinos.
Sunflowers can help clean radioactive soil. Japan is using this to rehabilitate Fukushima. Almost 10,000 packets of sunflower seeds have been sold to the people of the city.
It is illegal to play a musical instrument in the Northern Territory, Australia, to annoy other people.
People who eat breakfast feel better both mentally and physically throughout the day.
By using big data, Wal-Mart determined that people stock up the most on strawberry Pop-Tarts and beer before a hurricane.
There are more people in the U.K. than in Canada, Australia, Norway, and Iceland combined. The UK population is over 65 million.
In general, people tend to read as much as 10% slower from a screen than from paper.
Pistanthrophobia is a common fear of trusting people due to past experiences with relationships gone bad.
Every day in the U.S., more than 100,000 people get a speeding ticket.
Japanese people rarely leave rubbish on the streets. As a result, Japan doesn’t need janitors.
Northern Korean people are legally only allowed to have one of 28 haircuts. Men and women can choose from 14 different styles.
Although many people think shaving causes hair to grow back quickly, there is no scientific evidence for this.
Around 70% of people tilt their heads to the right rather than the left when kissing somebody else.
Mulan has the highest kill count of any Disney character, including villains, and was the first Disney Princess to be shown killing people on-screen.
85% of people have experienced a dream so real that they were not sure if it happened in real life or not.
January 10th is “Peculiar People Day” – a day to celebrate those of us who are a little quirky, weird, or eccentric.
Cards Against Humanity celebrated Black Friday by digging a hole as long as people donate. They raised over $100k.
There are computers designed for Amish people, with selling points like “No Internet, no video, no music.”
Giraffes are 30 times more likely to get hit by lightning than people. True, there are only five well-documented fatal lightning strikes on giraffes between 1996 and 2010. However, due to the population of the species being just 140,000 during this time, it makes for about 0.003 lightning deaths per thousand giraffes each year. This is 30 times the equivalent fatality rate for humans.
You can die laughing. Several people have, typically due to intense laughter causing a heart attack or suffocation. Comedy shows should come with a warning.
One in 18 people have a third nipple. Known as polythelia, the third nipple is caused by a mutation in inactive genes.
Deaf people are known to use sign language in their sleep. A case study of a 71-year-old man with rapid eye movement disorder and a severe hearing impairment showed him using fluent sign language in his sleep, with researchers able to get an idea of what he was dreaming about thanks to those signs.
Finland is the happiest country on Earth. According to the World Happiness Report, it has been for six years in a row. It’s not surprising, given that Finland is the home of Santa Claus, reindeer and one sauna for every 1.59 people.
You could sweat when you’re anxious to alert others. One theory suggests we’ve evolved to sweat whilst anxious to alert the brains of other people around us so they are primed for whatever it is that’s making us anxious. Brain scans have revealed that when you sniff the sweat of a panic-induced person, regions of the brain that handle emotional and social signals light up. When you’re anxious your sympathetic nervous system releases hormones including adrenaline, which activates your sweat glands.
People who eat whatever they want and stay slim have a slow metabolism, not fast. A skinny person tends to have less muscle mass than others, meaning their basal metabolic rate (BMR) is lower than those of a high muscle mass – this gives them a slow metabolism, not a fast one.
You have a 50 per cent chance of sharing a birthday with a friend. In any group of 23 people, two people will share a birthday, according to the maths. To find the probability of everyone in the group having a unique birthday, multiply all 23 probabilities together, giving 0.493. So the probability of a shared birthday is 1 – 0.493 = 0.507, or 50.7 per cent.
China is the world’s most populous country, with around 1.4 billion people living there.
Allodoxaphobia is the fear of other people’s opinions.
People once ate arsenic to improve their skin.
Japan has one vending machine for every 40 people.
Approximately 10% of people are left-handed.
In the early 1900s, when Jewish people were banned from visiting beaches and certain hotels near New York City, they settled in New York’s Catskills Mountains and built a thriving resort region in what was dubbed “The Borscht Belt” or “Yiddish Alps.”
We don’t know why, but research shows that in the days leading up to a full moon, people go to bed later and sleep less, reports Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials.
National Puzzle Day, which takes place on January 29, was started by puzzle enthusiast Jodi Jill over 25 years ago. In 2023, over seven million people around the world shared their love of puzzles online.
You’re likely familiar with the concept of fingerprints, but people also have a “noseprint,” a set of distinct and unique impressions on the inside of your nose.
There are parts of Africa in all four hemispheres. For people whose education was largely focused on the Western world, it may be surprising to find out exactly how huge the continent of Africa is. For instance, it spans all four hemispheres and covers nearly 12 million square miles.
Wally Amos is responsible for making more than just cookies famous. You may be familiar with Wally “Famous” Amos, thanks to his packaged chocolate chip cookies. But before he worked his magic on the sweet treats, he was in the business of making people famous, Biography reports. He discovered and signed the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel and was a talent rep for acts like Diana Ross, Sam Cooke, and Marvin Gaye.
People once ate arsenic to improve their skin. You’ve probably heard about how a lot of the Victorians’ favourite cosmetics were riddled with arsenic, but it gets worse. There were also products on the market in the late 19th century, like Dr. James P. Campbell’s Safe Arsenic Complexion Wafers, that were meant to be eaten. They claimed to get rid of freckles, blackheads, and other “facial disfigurements.” Admit it: That’s one of the most interesting facts you’ve learned in a while.
Japan has one vending machine for every 40 people. Japan is thought to have one of the highest densities of vending machines in the world, with one for every 40 people in the country. While most sell various types of beverages, others feature ice cream, noodles, and disposable cameras.
Samsung tests phone durability with a butt-shaped robot. People stash their phones in their back pockets all the time, which is why Samsung created a robot shaped like a butt to “sit” on their phones to make sure they can take the pressure. Believe it or not, the robot even wears jeans.
The Windy City nickname has nothing to do with Chicago’s weather. If you live in Chicago, you might already know this random fact, but we’re betting most other people don’t. Chicago’s nickname was coined by 19th-century journalists who were referring to the fact that its residents were “windbags” and “full of hot air.”
Avocados were named after reproductive organs. You’ll never look at avocados the same way again. Indigenous people of Mexico and Central America used the Nahuatl word āhuacatl to mean both “testicles” and “avocado.” The fruits were originally marketed as “alligator pears” in the United States until the current name stuck.
Europeans were scared of eating tomatoes when they were introduced. Scholars think Hernán Cortés brought the seeds in 1519 with the intent of the fruits being used ornamentally in gardens. By the 1700s, aristocrats started eating tomatoes, but they were convinced the fruits were poisonous because people would die after eating them. In reality, the acidity from the tomatoes brought out the lead in their pewter plates, and they died of lead poisoning.
Ancient Egyptians used dead mice to ease toothaches. In Ancient Egypt, people put a dead mouse in their mouth if they had a toothache, according to Nathan Belofsky’s book Strange Medicine: A Shocking History of Real Medical Practices Through the Ages. Mice were also used as a warts remedy in Elizabethan England.
Onions were found in the eyes of an Egyptian mummy. Pharaoh Ramses IV of ancient Egypt had his eyes replaced with small onions when he was mummified. The rings and layers of onions were worshipped because people thought they represented eternal life. This aligns with the reason for mummification: to allow the pharaoh to live forever.
Baseball umpires used to sit in rocking chairs. People have been playing baseball since the mid-19th century. In the early days, umpires would officiate the games while reclining in a rocking chair located 20 feet behind home plate. By 1878, the National League also declared that home teams must pay umpires $5 per game.
Neil Armstrong’s hair was sold in 2004 for $3,000. The lucky buyer, John Reznikoff, holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of hair from historical celebrities, reports NBC. But Armstrong’s lawyers threatened to sue Marx Sizemore, the not-so-lucky barber who cut the former astronaut’s hair; they said he violated an Ohio law that protects the rights of famous people. Sizemore said he wouldn’t pay, and Reznikoff said he wouldn’t give back the hair but that he’d donate $3,000 to charity.
Thomas Edison is the reason you love cat videos. After inventing the kinetograph in 1892, Edison was able to record and watch moving images for the first time. He filmed short clips in his studio, some of which feature famous people like Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill. But the real stars of these early videos are the Boxing Cats—adorable cats that he recorded in a boxing ring circa 1894.
Martin Luther King Jr. got a C in public speaking. The world remembers Dr. King as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement, and people often quote his “I Have a Dream” speech, which he delivered in 1963. Yet more than a decade before that legendary speech, while attending Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, he earned a C in public speaking during his first and second terms.
People used to say “prunes” instead of “cheese” when having their pictures taken. In the 1840s, a big—dare we say, cheesy—grin was seen as childish, so one London photographer told people to say “prunes” to keep their mouths taut. And that look predated today’s “fish face” selfie by, oh, about 180 years.
“OK” most likely stands for fake words. In the 1830s, people jokingly spelt abbreviations incorrectly. One of the most famous: “All correct” turned into “orl korrekt,” and then of course into OK. Historians think it stuck because Martin Van Buren—known as Old Kinderhook, after his hometown in New York—supporters called themselves the OK Club when he was campaigning for reelection.
The world’s largest national park is located in Greenland. There are a lot of weird facts that people don’t know. Northeast Greenland National Park is conveniently also located on the world’s largest island. This remote national park is huge at 375,000 square miles.
Allodoxaphobia is the fear of other people’s opinions. It’s a rare social phobia that’s characterised by an irrational and overwhelming fear of what other people think.
People are more creative in the shower. When we take a warm shower, we experience an increased dopamine flow that makes us more creative.
Google Images was created after Jennifer Lopez wore that infamous dress at the 2000 Grammys. So many people were searching for her outfit, and the search engine added an imagine function.
Ketchup was once sold as medicine. The condiment was prescribed and sold to people suffering from indigestion back in 1834.
Humans are the only animals that blush. We’re also the only animals that experience embarrassment, too. This is because it’s a complex emotion that involves understanding other people’s opinions.
People used to say “prunes” instead of “cheese” when getting their pictures taken. In the 1840s, a cheesy grin was seen as childish, so a London photographer told people to say “prunes” to keep their mouths tight. Now you know why people never smiled in old photos.
Candles were once eaten in famines. They used to be mainly made from beef fat or beeswax, and so they were often stolen in famines for people to eat.
You share your birthday with around 19 million people. Yep, not feeling so special now as given the global population of around 8 billion, there are at least nearly 20 million people who were born on the same day as you.
People once ate arsenic to improve their skin. In the late 19th century they were said to get rid of freckles and blackheads.
Typing keyboards used to be arranged alphabetically. Have you ever wondered why keyboards aren’t arranged by the ABCs compared to the QWERTY keys we know now? You’d be surprised to know the uniform QWERTY keys we use were chosen at random. Before PCs and laptops, the typewriter was man’s first typing experience. The earliest typewriters had alphabetic keys, but people typed so fast that the mechanical arms got jammed and tangled up. To solve this, the keys were randomly positioned to slow down typing and prevent key jamming.
Dead people get goosebumps. One of the not-so-fun but amazing fun facts: When people die, the tiny muscles under their hair follicles contract. This gives skin the appearance of their hair standing on end. If you think death is a hair-raising concept, you are right.
At any point in time, 0.7% of the world’s population is drunk. As you are reading this, 50 million people are drunk! Check out other fun facts about alcohol!
People don’t sneeze in their sleep. While asleep, humans are more prone to sneezing because the mucous membranes swell when lying down. However, the brain shuts down the neuroreceptors that stimulate our sneezing reflex. That way, only very strong stimuli can wake one to sneeze.
The national animal of Scotland is the Unicorn. One of the fun facts that’ll make you feel like we’re pulling your leg: the unicorn is officially Scotland’s national animal. The unicorn is the Celtic symbol of purity, innocence, masculinity, and power. Because people believed they were real for around 2,500 years, there’s no wonder why the official coat of arms of the United Kingdom features a unicorn.