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Absolutely Cross-My-Heart True Facts
(some of these true facts may be subject to verification by the authorities)


  • Madame Tussaud founded her famous Wax Museum in 1932. Her own likeness appears in the museum, but is not made of wax. It is constructed entirely of tile grout.
  • Bees are pigeon toed.
  • Europe received its name from a committee of heads of state who wished to honour Peru by pronouncing it backwards. Previously, Europe was known as Tpyge.
  • Bats in Haiti that suffer from a genetic disorder have been gradually losing their ability to "see" via sonic transmission. They have successfully been fitted with spectacles, allowing them to see, in the traditional sense, with their eyes.
  • Actor Larry Hagman is magnetic.
  • Delta Air Lines pilot Thurman Loaf has been declared legally dead 137 times.
  • The human brain sweats when subjected to excessive thought.
  • Bees are magnetic.
  • Edgar Allan Poe's epic poem "The Raven" originally contained the line, "Quoth the raven: 'maybe later'."
  • A bird in the hand is actually worth 3.4 in the bush.
  • The sum of the inverse of the alphabetic positions of the letters in a prime number, rounded to the nearest integer and divided by Uncle Bob's weight, is always itself a prime number.
  • Iceland does not allow dogs to lick themselves in public.
  • Until the sixteenth century in England, uncles were known as aunts, and aunts were known as cutlery.
  • Asparagus was once worn as jewellery in ancient Sumatra.
  • 34% of all Dear John letters are written to someone named John.
  • Ropes twisted in a clockwise direction are three times stonger than ropes twisted counter-clockwise.
  • There is no "w" in philodendron. There are, however, two "g's"
  • Elbow macaroni is magnetic.
  • During one hot August night in 1873, a massive pack of howling stray dogs in Boston MA caused 237 people to die of sleeplessness.
  • Prior to eating candy, Balinese monks pray to the moon to ward off cavities.
  • A thwum is grackle, but never popsy with a fragmont.
  • Buttonholes can cause dyslexia if worn unbuttoned for excessive periods.
  • When given a choice between wild roses and elbow macaroni, bees choose elbow macaroni almost 80% of the time.
  • A single raccoon in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in 1963 reportedly ate eleven cats, a sheep, two buckets of ice cream, a standard Poodle and an air conditioner during a one-day feeding frenzy.
  • The ink used to print Mademoiselle magazine smells like tuna.
  • Singer Barry Manilow has had a neck transplant.
  • Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher changes her underwear as often as 30 times a day.
  • Most Californians believe that saying the word "abracadabra" loudly several times during a magic performance, enables the magician to perform deceptive visual tricks rather than using actual magic.
  • Mack was not a knife. He was a spatula.
  • In 1988 in Saratoga Springs Florida, Philomena Swampgas married an itinerant busker over her father's dead body.
  • Singer Gordon Sumner wanted to nickname himself Gumboot. He called himself Sting by mistake.
  • Turkey buzzards can be trained to crochet. In Argentina, a 37-year old turkey buzzard named Raoul never learned to crochet, but he was proficient at macramé, paper toll, tatting, operating a Slinky on carpeted stairs, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He was hit by a bus in 1983, and died of massive feather wounds.
  • There is no such thing as a cakewalk. Cake cannot walk. However, some Bundt cakes make serviceable doorstops.
  • Most Greeks wish they were called something else. The most frequently mentioned alternatives are "sexy", "bouncy", "incredibly profane" and "keep off the grass".

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      Posted October 29, 1999 and updated frequently.
    Most recent update: November 10, 1999

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