50 Coolest Random Pieces of Trivia That Will Impress Your Friends
Share these weird (but true!) fun facts with kids and adults, then watch their minds implode.
Here's a little piece of trivia for you: Did you know that National Trivia Day takes place on Friday, January 4? But when it comes to fun facts and random trivia, any time of year is the right time to impress your friends and family with your knowledge of all things weird and fascinating. We're talking animals, food, music and other terrific topics worth knowing about. These facts are worth their weight in gold, so prepare to dazzle your friends when you share these fantastic tidbits.
Whether you're into fun facts about all 50 states or craving some satisfying American food facts, you'll have your friends begging for even tastier trivia! Have tons of fun quizzing your crew with facts that are unknown but surprisingly true. When you're gathered around the dinner table for some quality time after whipping up one of our favorite family-style recipes, pull one (or more) of these wildly unknown facts from your fun hat as a cool conversation starter or an interesting beginning to a mind-boggling game.
The hashtag symbol is technically called an octothorpe.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the "octo-" prefix refers to the eight points on the popular symbol, but the "thorpe" remains a mystery. One theory claims that it comes from the Old English word for "village," based on the idea that the symbol looks like a village surrounded by eight fields!
The 100 folds in a chef's hat represent 100 ways to cook an egg.
Yes, that tall, pleated white hat that chefs wear — technically called a toque — has 100 folds for a reason! According to Reclutant Gourmet, the pleats used to signify a chef's level of experience, like the number of ways he or she knew how to prepare eggs.
The most streamed Spotify single is Harry Styles' "Girl Crush."
The solo star's Spotify single has the most streams at 154 million. Such a win for the One Direction alum.
The longest wedding veil was longer than 63 football fields.
If you thought Meghan Markle's wedding veil was long, get this: there's a woman in Cyprus who set the Guinness World Record for the longest wedding veil. How long was it, you ask? Nearly 23,000 feet, which is the same length as about 63.5 football fields.
Some cats are allergic to people.
FYI for all you people allergic to cats: they might be allergic to you, too! It's pretty uncommon due to the fact that we bathe ourselves more often than other species and don't shed as much hair or dead skin, but yes, it does happen.
Apple Pie isn't actually American at all.
The next time you call something "as American as apple pie," you might want to consider the fact that neither apple pies nor apples originally came from America. Apples are in fact native to Asia, and the first recorded recipe for apple pie was actually written in England.
The unicorn is the national animal of Scotland.
Yes, although it's a fabled creature, the national animal of Scotland is actually the mythical unicorn — chosen because of its association with dominance and chivalry as well as purity and innocence in Celtic mythology. BRB, moving to Scotland real quick.
RELATED: 20+ Magical Unicorn Gifts for People Who Love Rainbows, Glitter, and Sparkles
The Crown Jewels contain the two biggest cut diamonds on Earth.
They both came from the Cullinan Diamond, a 3,106-carat gem found in South Africa in 1905. The largest stone, called the Great Star of Africa, is in the Sovereign's Sceptre, while the second largest is mounted in the Imperial State Crown (pictured).
The voices of Mickey and Minnie Mouse got married in real life.
Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor were married for 18 years until Allwine's death in 2009.
The largest known living organism is an aspen grove.
Pando (Latin for "I spread out") is a group of genetically identical quaking aspens in Utah with an interconnected root system. It's an estimated 80,000 years old and takes up more than 100 acres.
M&M stands for Mars and Murrie.
Forrest Mars (son of the Mars Company founder) first spotted the British confection Smarties during the Spanish Civil War and noticed the candy shell prevented the chocolate from melting. He teamed up with Bruce Murrie (son of Hershey Chocolate's president) and the company later trademarked the "Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hand" slogan.
Facebook has more users than many major populations.
At 2.89 billion monthly users, Facebook overshadows China's (1.4 billion) and India's (1.3 billion) populations.
Neil Armstrong didn't say "That's one small step for man."
The astronaut insists he actually stated, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." "That's the only way the statement makes any sense," Armstrong told biographer James Hansen. And for the record, no real astronaut ever uttered "Houston, we have a problem" — Tom Hanks only said that in the movie Apollo 13.
You can hear a blue whale's heartbeat from more than 2 miles away.
The world's largest animal's heart weighs about 400 pounds — approximately the size of a small piano.
RELATED: 15 Amazing Whale Facts That Prove Just How Majestic They Are
The Oscars used to give out an award to child performers.
The award show discontinued the Academy Juvenile Award in 1960 after famous names like Shirley Temple and Judy Garland nabbed the honor. Also no longer on the ballot? Best Dance Direction and Best Title Writing.
The odds of getting a royal flush are exactly 1 in 649,740.
Poker fiends have a slightly better chance of laying down a straight flush: Try 72,192 to 1. Out of the 7,462 distinct five-card poker hands, you have a 42% chance of getting a single pair though.
If you drive south from Detroit, you'll hit Canada.
Head north from Windsor, Ontario, crossing the Detroit River, and you'll reach the good ol' US of A.
RELATED: 21 Cool Road Trip Games to Try on Your Next Family Adventure
A baby puffin is called a "puffling."
To feed its chick, a puffin parent will carry around 10 fish in its beak at one time, but the biggest recorded haul is a whopping 62 fish, according to Audubon Project Puffin.
Four times more people speak English as a second language than as a native one.
While more people speak English as a second language, nearly three times more people speak Mandarin Chinese natively.
English has nearly two billion people learning it as a second language and only 350 million people speaking it natively.
RELATED: The Surprising Origins of 15 Commonly-Used Words in the English Language
The lyrebird can mimic almost any sounds it hears — including chainsaws.
Wildlife watchers have recorded the Australian species copying not only other birds but other animals, like koalas, and artificial sounds such as car alarms and camera shutters.
Caroline is a writer and editor with almost a decade of experience. From 2015 to 2019, she held various editorial positions at Good Housekeeping, including as health editor, covering nutrition, fitness, wellness, and other lifestyle news. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism and dreams of the day Northwestern will go back to the Rose Bowl.
Yaa Bofah is an editorial fellow at Good Housekeeping. She is a freelance illustrator and created original cover art for The Fashion Bomb Daily’s first e-book series. She enjoys supporting philanthropic endeavors and being an advocate for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
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