50 “Stupid Facts” That Sound Fake But Are Genuinely Real

Not everything that you read on the internet is true. In a similar vein, far from everything that sounds made up is fake. Fact is often stranger than fiction, and some truly bizarre things about life on Planet Earth are closer to reality than myth.

Reddit user u/Mmemyo sparked an interesting discussion on r/AskReddit. They invited everyone to share the “stupid facts” they knew which might sound suspicious and weird but are actually correct. We’ve collected the most intriguing ones to share with you, Pandas. Scroll down to check them out! Hopefully, you'll learn something new.

#1

Cows have best friends and can become stressed when they're separated from them.

Image credits: berrybandz_

#2

When basketball was first invented, at every game, they would have a man who would go up a ladder to retrieve the ball after every basket. It took them around 20 years to figure out maybe it would be a good idea to cut the bottom of the basket out to make retrieving the ball a lot easier. 20 years!!!

#3

The Eiffel Tower can be 15 centimeters taller during the summer due to thermal expansion.

#4

Pink is really just a light shade of red, but we think of it as a distinct color because we have a word for it that stuck. Not all languages have that. In Italian, they have a similar word for light blue, called “azzurro,” and it’s so common they actually think of it as a separate color from blue. We have the word “azure” in English, but it isn’t nearly as common, so we tend to think of that color as just a shade of blue.

Image credits: Atheist_Alex_C

#5

Coffee is not a bean it is the pit of the coffee plant which is a fruit.

Image credits: Chance-Personality50

#6

Our planet will exist long after humans go extinct

#7

You can go the rest of your life without breathing.

Image credits: Janube

#8

For every single human being on Earth, there are 2.5 MILLION ants.

Yes, this means that there are about 20 QUADRILLION ants on this planet.

If the ants decide to take over, are you strong enough to handle the 2.5 million that you'll be responsible for killing? If you've got kids, you might have to kill more because a 2 year old isn't going to accomplish a god damn thing if millions of ants are marching towards them.

Image credits: PM-ME-FOR-CATNIP

#9

Bald eagles are not actually bald. Balde is old english for white.

#10

Honey never spoils

Image credits: willyw0nka_

#11

A man named Wilmer McLean owned a farm in Manassas, Virginia USA where the very first battle of the US Civil War was fought. After the battle he's like "I'm outta here" and bought a farm way out in the country at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia...where Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses Grant in McLeans living room four years later.

#12

-40C and -40F are the same temperature.

#13

The original name for the color orange was "geoluhread," which means "yellow-red" in Old English

Image credits: willyw0nka_

#14

If you open your eyes in a completely dark room, the name of the color you will see is eigengrau, a kind of dark grey shade

Image credits: Wisanbon

#15

A lot of averages.

Example: The average number of legs humans have is less than 2.

Image credits: Uilamin

#16

Some invader (don't remember specifics) sent a letter to sparta saying that "If I invade Lakonia you will be destroyed, never to rise again" and the Spartans sent a letter back with a single word in it. "If" 

#17

Racecar spelled backwards is racecar.

#18

A man named John Young brought a corned beef sandwich to space illegally and shared it with his colleague on board and he would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for the recording of them talking about the sandwich.

Image credits: Watermelonseeds8U

#19

I’m closer to being a millionaire than Bill Gates is.

Image credits: i_am_cullivan

#20

- [ ] Of the few people who have top secret clearance at the White House one of them is the person who writes all of the party invitations.

Image credits: Eejaypea14

#21

Crows can be trained to bring you money

#22

Pirates wear eye patches to see better in the dark (covered eye doesn't get used to sunlight and is more sensitive after uncovering).

#23

Someone named the fear of long words hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia.

Image credits: Fynx_HD

#24

We thought to put wheels on luggage after we got to the moon.

The lighter the Roast the more caffeine coffee has.

A new car costs less than it's equal weight in Hamburgers.

Image credits: Chance-Personality50

#25

You have to kill about 400 people to get enough iron from their blood to make a sword

#26

The longest place name in the world is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu

Image credits: x_Fairy_Daisy

#27

Im always seeing my nose ..its just that my brain ignores it

Image credits: PYROMANIA6

#28

There are clouds of alcohol floating around in space.

Image credits: Unexpected_Waffles

#29

The Atari 2600's release date and the last execution by guillotine happened less than 24 hours apart.

#30

The average number of skeletons in a human body is more than 1.

#31

18% of adult Americans claim they have seen or been in the presence of a ghost.

Image credits: OJimmy

#32

The plural of cul-de-sac is culs-de-sac

#33

Sloths are most vulnerable to predators when pooping. They have to climb down to the trees to the floors floor, and it is a bit of a process for them to actually poop leaving them at risk of predators.

Image credits: Faultiergeist

#34

A species of frog, the African clawed frog, was the most reliable pregnancy test for a few decades before at-home tests were widely affordable and accessible.

#35

New Mexico (the state) got its name before Mexico (the country)

Image credits: HiThisIsMichael

#36

The vikings, who came from Scandinavia, used iron as their main ingredient for forging weaponry, but it was also common practice to add the bones of dead animals to the mix. The belief was that it would infuse the weapon with the spirit of the creature, making it stronger, but they ended up making a primitive version of steel because of the carbon in the bones mixing with the iron making the weapon stronger, just as they thought it would. 

Image credits: Nameless_Chad

#37

There are more planes in the ocean than boats in the sky

Image credits: vexix

#38

Redheads require more anesthesia than non-redheads.

#39

Bananas are berries, but strawberries are not true berries (in botanical terms berries are defined by their structure, and bananas fit the bill while strawberries don't)

Image credits: willyw0nka_

#40

6X9+6+9=69

Image credits: DushyantKhator

#41

The Earth is not round. It is an oblate spheroid.

#42

There are 5.87 Popes per square mile in the Vatican City.

Image credits: henfeathers

#43

There are more Hydrogen atoms in a single molecule of water than there are stars in the entire Solar System.

Image credits: Wadsworth_McStumpy

#44

Cleopatra is closer to the invention of the iPhone than the building of the Giza pyramids.

Image credits: feedg

#45

You are constantly clapping, but the claps are just spaced differently.

#46

Dung beetles navigate using the Milky Way

#47

Chip Wilson, the founder of Lululemon

created the name (Lululemon) to have many L's so that it would sound western to Japanese buyers, who often have difficulty pronouncing the letter. He later remarked that he found it "funny to watch (Japanese speakers) try and say it" and that "it was the only reason behind the name"

#48

A bone “break” is the same as a “fracture.” Fracture is just the medical term. It does not have any correlation with the severity.

#49

Less than 40% of great white sharks have filed their 2022 tax returns

Image credits: Due_Essay447