My Little Sister's Jokes > List of Interesting Facts > Set: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

My Little Sister's Jokes is happily maintained
 by the Community of Emmitsburg, MD.

Help us build our joke and story bank.
E-mail us at: humor@emmitsburg.net


 
Let's see how good you are on "COMMON KNOWLEDGE". 

No cheating! No looking around; no using anything on or in your desk. Can you beat 18? (The average.) Write down your answers and check the answers (which are on the bottom of e-mail) after completing all the questions. And remember ... No Cheating!

   1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the top or bottom?
   2. How many states are there? (Don't laugh, some people don't know)
   3. In which hand is the Statue of Liberty's torch?
   4. What 6 colors are on the classic Campbell's soup label?
   5. What 2 letters don't appear on the telephone dial? (No cheating!)
   6. What 2 numbers on the telephone dial don't have letters by them?
   7. When you walk does your left arm swing w/your right or left leg?
   8. How many matches are in a standard pack [cardboard flip top]?
   9. On the United States flag is the top stripe red or white?
  10. What is the lowest number on the FM dial?
  11. Which way does water go down the drain in the US, counter or clockwise?
  12. Which way does a "no smoking" sign's slash run?
  13. How many channels on a VHF TV dial?
  14. Which side of a women's blouse are the buttons on?
  15. On a NY license plate, is New York on the top or bottom?
  16. Which way do fans rotate?
  17. Whose face is on a dime?
  18. How many sides does a stop sign have?
  19. Do books have even-numbered pages on the right or left side?
  20. How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel?
  21. How many sides are there on a standard pencil?
  22. Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Doc. Who's missing?
  23. How many hot dog buns are in a standard package?
  25. On which playing card is the cardmaker's trademark?
  26. On which side of a Venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats?
  27. On the back of a $1 bill, what is in the center?
  28. There are 12 buttons on a touch tone phone. What 2 symbols bear no digits?
  29. How many curves are there in the standard paper clip?
  30. Does a merry-go-round turn counter or clockwise?

Submitted by Larry, Walkersville, Md.

Answers:

  1. Bottom
  2. 50 (please tell me you at least got this one!)
  3. Right
  4. Blue, red, white, yellow, black, and gold
  5. Q Z*
  6. 1 and 0
  7. Right
  8. 20
  9. Red
  10. 88
  11. Counter (unless you happen to be south of the equator)
  12. Towards bottom right
  13. 12 (no #1)
  14. Left
  15. Top
  16. Clockwise as you look at it
  17. Roosevelt
  18. 8
  19. Left
  20. 5
  21. 6
  22. Bashful
  23. 8
  24. Did you notice there wasn't one?
  25. Ace of spades
  26. Left
  27. ONE
  28.  *, #
  29. 3
  30. Counter

*Editor's note - According to David McNight, this answer is not true - apparently all letters are used in telephone numbers!
 

Return to: Top of Page, Interesting Facts List, My Little Sister's Jokes


One Hundred Years Ago:
  • The average life expectancy in the United States was forty-seven.
  • Only 14 percent of the homes in the United States had a bathtub.
  • Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
  • There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was ten mph.
  • Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the twenty-first most populous state in the Union.
  • The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
  • The average wage in the US was twenty-two cents an hour. The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
  • A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2500 per year, a veterinarian between $1500 and $4000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5000 per year.
  • More than 95 percent of all births in the United States took place at home.
  • Ninety percent of all US allopathic physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."
  • Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee cost fifteen cents a pound.
  • Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
  • Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason, either as travelers or immigrants.
  • Far more homeopathic physicians than allopathic physicians were in practice. The five leading causes of death in the US were:
    • Pneumonia and influenza
    • Tuberculosis
    • Diarrhea
    • Heart Disease
    • Stroke
  • The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.
  • Drive-by-shootings -- in which teenage boys galloped down the street on horses and started randomly shooting at houses, carriages, or anything else that caught their fancy -- were an ongoing problem in Denver and other cities in the West.
  • The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was thirty. The remote desert community was inhabited by only a handful of ranchers and their families.
  • Plutonium, insulin, and antibiotics hadn't been discovered yet. Scotch tape, crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.
  • There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
  • One in ten U.S. adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
  • Some medical authorities warned that professional seamstresses were apt to become sexually aroused by the steady rhythm, hour after hour, of the sewing machine's foot pedals. They recommended slipping bromide – which was thought to diminish sexual desire -- into the women's drinking water.
  • Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and the bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."
  • Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine.
  • Punch card data processing had recently been developed, and early predecessors of the modern computer were used for the first time by the government to help compile the 1900 census.
  • Eighteen percent of households in the United States had at least one full-time servant or domestic.
  • There were about 230 reported murders in the U.S. annually. 

Return to: Top of Page, Interesting Facts List, My Little Sister's Jokes


Did you know that bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days a week?

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And each day has a different color twist tie. They are:

  • Monday - Blue
  • Tuesday - Green
  • Thursday - Red
  • Friday - White
  • Saturday - Yellow

I thought this was interesting. I looked in the grocery store and the bread wrappers do have different colored twist ties, and even the ones with the plastic clips have different colors. You learn something new everyday!!

So today being Thursday, I wanted a red twist tie -- not white which is Friday (almost a week old)?

The colors go alphabetically Blue - Green - Red - White-Yellow, Monday thru Saturday. Very easy to remember. But I put a post-it note in my wallet when I first found out about this so I would not forget. Enjoy fresh bread with the right color on the day you are shopping.

Submitted by Andy, Gettysburg, PA.

Editors note:  Occasionally, entries the one above come to the notice of those who can shed further on a subject ...

I work for a bakery. While most companies use the color tie system in order to shorten the amount of time checking the date on the bread, the colors for the days of the week changing with EVERY brand name and EVERY label.

Just because you can get blue tie in iron kids bread on Monday does not mean that you can get blue tie in sunbeam on Monday.

All bread items should have a "best if purchased by" date stamped across the front. That is the best way to see how old the bread is. Sorry to rant and rave, but it gives us bakers a headache trying to explain it to people! Thanks!

Submitted by Felicia, somewhere in the hinterland ....

Return to: Top of Page, Interesting Facts List, My Little Sister's Jokes


Things Said in 1959........
  • "I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, its' going to be impossible to buy a weeks groceries for $20."
  • "Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long when $5000 will only buy a used one."
  • "If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous."
  • "Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?"
  • "The Government is wanting to get its hands on everything. Pretty soon it's going to be impossible to run a family business or farm."
  • "If they raise the minimum wage to $1, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store."
  • "When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 50 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage."
  • "Kids today are impossible. Those duck tail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed. Next thing you know, boys will bewearing their hair as long as the girls."
  • "Also, their music drives me wild. This 'Rock Around The Clock' thing is nothing but racket."
  • "I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying 'damn' in 'Gone With The Wind,' it seems every movie has a 'hell' or a 'damn' in it."
  • "Also, it won't be long until couples are sleeping in the same bed in the movies. What is this world coming to?"
  • "Marilyn Monroe is now showing her bra and panties, so apparently there are no standards anymore."
  • "Pretty soon you won't be able to buy a good 10 cent cigar."
  • "I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas."
  • "Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the president."
  • "Do you suppose television will ever reach our part of the country?"
  • "I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now."
  • "It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet."
  • "It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work."
  • "Marriage doesn't mean a thing anymore, Those Hollywood stars seem to be getting divorced at the drop of a hat."
  • " I'll tell you one thing. If my kid ever talks back to me, they won't be able to sit down for a week."
  • "Did you know the new church in town is allowing women to wear slacks to their service?"
  • "Next thing you know is, the government will start paying us not to grow crops."
  • "I'm just afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business."
  • "Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to congress."
  • "Why in the world would you want to send your daughter to college? Isn't she going to get married? It would be different if she could be a doctor or a lawyer."
  • "I just hate to see the young people smoking. As I tell my kids, "Don't take a cigarette from ANYONE. You never know what might be in it."
  • The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on."
  • "There is no sense going to Lincoln or Omaha anymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $15 a night to stay in a hotel."
  • "Anymore no one can afford to be sick, $35 a day in the hospital is too rich for my blood."
  • "If a few idiots want to risk their necks flying across the country that's fine, but nothing will ever replace trains."
  • "I don't know about you but if they raise the price of coffee to 15 cents, I'll just have to drink mine at home."
  • "If they think I'll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it. I'll have my wife learn to cut hair."
  • "We won't be going out much anymore. Our baby sitter informed us she wants 50 cents an hour. Kids think money grows on trees."
  • "Cars which dim their lights by sensors, automatic transmissions, and who knows what else? Pretty soon they will drive themselves."

No it wasn't so long ago!!!

Submitted by Wendy, Tipztime.com
 

Return to: Top of Page, Interesting Facts List, My Little Sister's Jokes


More totally useless facts for you to impress your friends with:
  • The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe.
  • The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.
  • The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language.
  • "Underground" is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters "und."
  • There are only four words in the English language which end in "-dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
  • The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
  • The only other word with the same number of letters is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural.
  • The longest place-name still in use is
  • Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturi-
  • pukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwenuakitnatahu, a New Zealand hill.
  • Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.
  • Steely Dan got their name from a sexual device depicted in the book 'The Naked Lunch.'
  • A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
  • The Ramses brand condom is named after the great pharaoh Ramses II, who fathered over 160 children.
  • There is a seven-letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters. This word is "therein," and the words within it are: the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
  • The letters KGB stand for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti.
  • To "testify" was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made by swearing on their testicles.
  • The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways the following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
  • The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
  • Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic."
  • The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead."
  • The first episode of "Joanie Loves Chachi" was the highest-rated American program in the history of Korean television. "Chachi" is Korean for "penis."

Submitted by Kevin, Dallas, Tx.  

Go to set: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 

Return to: Top of Page, Interesting Facts List, My Little Sister's Jokes