12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Monday, March 17, 2025

40 Foreign Words to Spice Up Your Vocabulary

Eric Idle Calls Out ‘The Worst Monty Python Show Ever’

40 Battered Bits of Trivia That Are Ready for A Deep-Frying in That Boiling Brain of Yours

40 Random Bits of Pop-Culture Trivia We’d Urgently Tell Our Ancestors If We Could Go Back in Time

40 Random Bits of Trivia That Other Random Bits of Trivia Look to for Guidance

You’ve heard of a man’s man, well these facts are a fact’s facts

40 Random Bits of Trivia That Other Random Bits of Trivia Look to for Guidance

November 26, 2024

If the facts in your head have kids, they’ll want them to grow up to be just like these facts. They’re confident, kind, generous, funny, and most importantly, they’re smart as all hell with humility to boot.

So tell those facts to take notes today. The next generation of facts (and the rest of us) will thank them for it.

40

The Color Purple

Purple is a royal color because of the properties of purple dye in ancient times. It was made from sea snails' glands, and unlike so many other dyes, it only got more intense over time instead of fading away. CRACKED.COM — Source

39

Radiohead

In his spare time, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood raises chickens. In an interview with music mag Uncut, he's complained about foxes. We get foxes every few years and it all goes a bit 'crime scene' when that happens - lots of burials. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Celebrity Hobbies That Don’t Get A Lot Of Coverage

38

Tool

CRACKED.COM TOOL'S UNSETTLING SONG 'DIER VON SATANI FROM THE ALBUM AENIMA IS SPOKEN IN GERMAN. BUT WHEN TRANSLATED IT REVEALS... ...A cookie recipe. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2900 — Source

37

Portland, Oregon

Portland, OR was almost named Boston. CRACKED.COM When Portland, Oregon's two founders wanted to name the site after their hometowns of either Portland, Maine or Boston, Massachusetts, they decided to flip a coin. — Source: Boston Magazine

36

Newspapers

Newspapers are so big because they were taxed based on the number of their pages. Trouw Verstleping 11 I - - - - - - محمد Trouw Made - Metail - - 1 magness - (Motjregre Sing - NE SPOR - up groot - format which - - - Now - - / - - - - - - - I - - I - - - - - / ! - - - = - with - The British govern- ment began taxing newspapers in 1712 based on the page count, so the 33.1-inch by 23.4-inch page size became — Source

35

Shotguns

Dramatically cocking a shotgun is a waste of ammo. The cocking is intended to eject spent shells or bullets. If you do it just to show that you mean business, you're throwing away a perfectly good round. CRACKED.COM — More: 5 Ridiculous Gun Myths Everyone Believes (Thanks to Movies)

34

Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp has a room full of fancy Barbie dolls. Не reportedly uses them to test new voices. Не originally collected them for his daughter, and when she lost interest, he couldn't bring himself to get rid of them. Не has a number of limited-edition Babies, like Beyonce, Paris Hilton, Marilyn Monroe, and Audrey Hepburn. CRACKED.COM — Source

33

The Simpsons’ Color

The characters' yellow was designed to be eye-catching An animator showed the color to Matt Groening who approved because when you're flicking through channels with your remote control, and a flash of yellow goes by, you'll know you're watching The Simpsons. CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Facts About The Simpsons (In Case You Run Out Of Episodes To Watch)

32

Cardi B

Cardi В based her name off Bacardi alcohol. Her sister's name is Hennessy so people used to call her Bacardi, which she shortened. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

Ancient Rome

ROMANS WASHED THEIR MOUTHS WITH URINE. Romans didn't have Listerine, so they used human urine instead. The ammonia in pee does indeed have a cleaning and whitening effect on teeth. Portuguese piddle was considered the premium stuff. CRACKED.COM — Source: 25 Details From History That Are Just So Gross

30

Aardvarks

Ever wonder how an aardvark's dust-raising dietary habits don't result in constant nasal irritation? Aardvarks actually have the ability to close their nostrils when eating, to stop dust (and particularly brave bugs.) CRACKED.COM — Source: National Geographic

29

Sharks

There's a white shark cafe in the Pacific where all the sharks go. It's a Colorado-sized patch of ocean about 1,200 nautical miles east of Hawaii, and great white sharks from the west coasts of Mexico and the U.S. swim there en masse every year. Once there, they dive deep below the surface and then come back, over and over, for days -- but it's not clear why. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

28

Air America

The American passenger and cargo airline 'Air America' was secretly operated by the CIA. AIR AMERICA AIR AMERICA NICHEA CRACKED.COM It supplied and sup- ported covert opera- tions in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, including provid- ing support for drug smuggling in Laos. — LA Times

27

Medieval Armor

Medieval plate armor was actually surprisingly comfortable on the inside. It wasn't just bare metal - it was lined with cloth, both for comfort and to reduce wear and tear, and that significantly contributed to its cost. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

26

Pamela Anderson

Back in the day, Pamela Anderson got Hepatitis С by sharing tattoo needles. EX She shared them with Tommy Lee, her husband at the time, and they told her she had 10 years to live - which ended up being completely wrong, and she announced in 2015 that she was officially cured. CRACKED.COM — Source

25

Pythagoras

Pythagoras' weird religion: 6TH CENTURY BC CRACKED.COM The mathematician (and bane of seventh graders in perpetuity) actually started up a weird little cult-like religion. Among his commandments were to eat a vegan diet, but do NOT eat beans, and NEVER let a swallow nest under your roof! — Source: 14 Smart People Who Said And Did Utterly Dumb Things

24

Lorde

CRACKED.co The title of Lorde's ROYALS comes from baseball. No, the song is not secretly about sports- Lorde just saw the word on an old photo of baseball legend Royala George Brett and liked it enough to use it.

23

Tomb Raider

Angelina Jolie had to wear bra padding in the first Tomb Raider movie to match the video game character. CRACKED COM Jolie wore considerably less or no padding in the sequel, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, as the decision was made to give Lara more realistic dimensions. — Source

22

Fishing

CRACKED EUCH . : FISHERMAN The Labor Department's data shows that in 2011, people who worked in the fishing industry had the highest rate of deaths while on the job, with 121.2 deaths per 100,000 people. — US News / NPR

21

Prince

Manic Monday was actually written by Prince. GRACKED.COM — Source

20

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park's Alan makes a faulty seat belt work by tying two buckles. Не needs to create something new and all he has are receiving, or female, parts. So he improvises. This is exactly what ends up happening with the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, who reproduce despite no males being available. CRACKED.COM — Source: 21 Movie And TV Brilliant Foreshadowing Moments (That Get Missed)

19

Citibank

CRACKED CITIBANK Citibank made a mistake and accidentally sent $900 million to the wrong people, and the lenders refused to return the money. The lenders were taking advantage of the situation due to a longer running saga between them and Revlon, the company that borrowed the money. — Source

18

Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter filed a report in 1973 for a UFO sighting four years prior. CRACKED.COM Carter, as well as 10 to 12 other people who wit- nessed the same event, described the object as 'very bright chang- ing colors and about the size of the moon.' — Source

17

Rick and Morty

BEHIND-THE-SCENESFACTS JUSTIN ROILAND ALMOST DIDN'T VOICE BOTH RICK AND MORTY. Rick Mery lock Adult Swim didn't think Morty's character was working with Roiland, so an audition process was started to get a new voice actor. Eventually, the team realized Morty's character was the problem and not the voice. After rewriting the part, Adult Swim gave Roiland a green light to voice Morty. CRACKED.COM — Inverse

16

The Sopranos

15

The Lobster

CRACKED.COM The Lobster Colin Farrell gained 40 pounds for the role. According to Farrell, he just ate the same things he typically ate, but in bigger portions. It only took him two months to shed the weight off. — Source

14

Bosnia Loves Kung-Fu

Bosnians are obsessed with Hong Kong kung-fu movies, especially the ones starring Bruce Lee. There's even a life-size bronze statue of Lee in Zrinjski

13

Subaru

The lesbians drive Subarus stereotype exists because of a targeted ad campaign. It's Not a Choice. It's Not a Choice. It's the Way We're Built. It's the Way We're Built. Subaru All-Wheel Driving System. Subaru All-Wheel Driving System. In every car we make. In every car we make. Subaru realized the potential demographic for their cars in the '90s and actively marketed towards a lesbian audience. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

12

Sean Astin

Jocks playing dorks SEAN ASTIN has completed ten marathons and a half-Ironman in seven hours and 25 minutes, which he considers a confidence- building accomplishment. CRACKED — New Line Cinema
People

11

Terrible Predictions

FEMALE 50 EVOLUTION DECEMBER 1950 1950 O , 2000 GRACKED.COM The woman of the year 2000 will be will be more than six feet tall, wear a size 11 shoe, have shoulders like a wrestler and muscles like a truck driver. -Associated Press. True for some women. AP also predicted, She may even be president. — Source

10

McDonald’s

WEIRD WORLD Somehow, McDonald's ran out of milkshakes throughout an entire country. McCafe It was in the UK, and it happened due to several reasons including a shortage of truck drivers - they had no choice but to take some items off its restaurants' menus. CRACKED.COM — Source: BBC

9

Samuel Goldwyn vs. Louis B. Mayer

Sick burns by distinguished people Hollywood mogul Samuel Goldwyn quipped about his nemesis Louis B.Mayer, The only reason so many people attended his funeral was they wanted to make sure he was dead. CRACKED — Underwood & Underwood, Wiki Commons,
Los Angeles Times/Wiki Commons
The Wall Street Journal

8

J.R.R. Tolkien

CRACKED.COM J.R.R. Tolkien turned down The Beatles WELCOME WDGY W D There was talk of the Fab Four making a live-action The Lord of the Rings movie, with Lennon playing Gollum, Paul McCartney playing Frodo, George Harrison playing Gandalf, and Ringo Starr, naturally, as Sam. Stanley Kubrick was approached to direct. Tolkien shut the idea down. — Source: Variety

7

Clueless

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM CLUELESS'WARDROBE WAS CREATED TO KIND OF GIVE THE ILLUSION OF A FANTASY WORLD. The costume designer went to check out what kids wore in actual high schools at the time, and it was dreadful, she says - so she designed the characters' looks from scratch, because she wanted that feel of a fantasy that you would like to live in. — Source

6

Bill Paxton

40 Random Bits of Trivia That Other Random Bits of Trivia Look to for Guidance — Source: Variety

5

Sushi

CRACKED SALMON SUSHI IS AUTHENTIC JAPANESE FOOD Before the Norwegian salmon industry got involved, sushi made with salmon wasn't something that was eaten in Japan. They even had to be convinced to give it a try. — NPR / Get Fish

4

Don’t Look Up

Leonardo DiCaprio came up with that devastating line at the end of DON'T LOOK UP. The line, We really did have wasn't in the script. DiCaprio came up with it the day of the shoot, and he pushed for them to add it in the final edit. CRACKED COM — Source

3

Rodney Dangerfield

Comedy Late Bloomers Rodney Dangerfield got noticed at 45 years old. Не actually began comedy at 19, but quit to support his family. After 15 years of selling aluminum siding, he gave comedy another try and booked The Ed Sullivan Show at 45. CRACKED — Public Domain/Wiki Commons
Ed Sullivan Show

2

Dave Portnoy

CRACKED DAVID PORTNOY'S ANTI-UNION RAMPAGE. The Barstool Sports co-founder wrote a series of tweets threatening to fire employees if they attempted to unionize. Не settled with the National Labor Relations Board, because threatening to fire employees for unionizing is illegal. State JIM NORTON SAM ROBERTS — CBS / Forbes

1

World War I

A Russian novella is kind of responsible for WWI. Danilo llic, the ringleader of the gang that assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, was inspired by the novella Seven Hanged, which is about a gang of failed political assassins. He'd translated the story and wrote about it, and tried to — Source: BBC

Tags:

Visual

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

Movies & TV

Bill Murray Was ‘Such A Creep’ to an Extra on ‘Kingpin’

Movies & TV

Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Are a Comedy Duo for the Ages

Trivia & Jokes

40 of the Funniest Tweets from Monday, March 17, 2025

Movies & TV

The Hotline Set Up by Scientists to Make Movies More Accurate

Trivia & Jokes

40 Random Bits of Trivia That Look Just As Cool As Smoking 40 Cigarettes (And Without the Harmful Side Effects)

Movies & TV

‘The Simpsons’ St. Patrick’s Day Episode Is Surprisingly Educational

VIRAL ON CRACKED

1

13 Trivia Tidbits For Slow Conversations

2

25 Pet Behaviors That Mean The Opposite Of What You Think

3

30 Funny Reasons Employees Called Out of Work

4

5 Light-Hearted Movies With Dark Moral Implications

5

20 Horrifying Sides Of Space Travel No One Talks About