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Useless Bits of Trivia

Useless pieces of trivia may actually have some uses in unexpected ways. They can provide a conversation starter or impress friends. Sometimes the trivia can be put to use in pub quizzes as well as other competitions that rely on knowing as many facts as possible. Be sure to fact-check any information to avoid creating or spreading an urban myth.

Sports
- The subject of sports features numerous pieces of trivia. James Naismith started the game of basketball in 1891 to provide an activity for students between the baseball season and football season. In baseball, the youngest person to pitch in the major leagues was Joe Nuxhall at age 15 years, 10 months and 11 days old. His team, the Cincinnati Reds, were playing against the St. Louis Cardinals. The first use of instant replay occurred in December, 1963 during the Army and Navy football game in Philadelphia.
History
- History includes an abundance of interesting facts. In 1886 and 1891, Martha Washington became the only woman to be featured on U.S. currency with her appearance on the $1 silver certificate note. John Hancock and Charles Thomson were the only representatives to actually sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. The first national observance of Thanksgiving came in 1863 after a declaration by President Abraham Lincoln. It is widely thought that the Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal after striking an iceberg but other ships had used the signal at least three years before. The shortest war ever lasted 38 minutes between England and Zanzibar.
Entertainment
- Entertainment trivia covers many aspects of the industry such as television, movies and its stars. The movie "Pulp Fiction" used $5 million of its $8 million dollar budget to pay actors. Many actors' voices made it into famous films. The voice of ET in the film "ET: The Extraterrestrial" belongs to actress Debra Winger, while actor John Larroquette provides the narration at the beginning of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Stars of TV series sometimes create the series theme songs. Kelsey Grammar both played and sang the theme song for his series "Frasier."
Language and Writing
- Language and writing include an abundance of facts. Every letter of the alphabet is in use for the sentence, "The quick red fox jumps over the lazy brown dog." The words screeched and strengths are the longest one syllable words in the English language. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the term for a fear of long words. As far as written numbers, the letters in "forty" appear in alphabetical order. The words month, orange, purple and silver have no rhyming words in the English language.
Animals
- Each species of animal has its own distinctive piece of associated trivia. Butterflies use their hind feet to taste. Bees have a total of five eyes, which includes three small eyes on the top of the head. Each lion has its unique pattern of whiskers. The giant squid has the largest eyes of any creature, while a shark is the only fish that can blink both eyes. There is a difference in the number of sounds a cat can make as opposed to a dog. Cats have 100 or more vocal sounds while dogs only have 10. All animals can jump except the elephant.

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