Article created by: Mindaugas Balčiauskas Pedants will know that tomatoes are a fruit, but did you know that bananas are actually berries? If you did, pat yourself on the back, but, as it turns out, there are multitudes of facts and stories about our world that don’t sound realistic at all, but are entirely factual. Truth, as they say, is often stranger than fiction. Someone asked “What’s a fact that sounds fake, but is actually true?” and netizens shared their best examples. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to add your own thoughts and examples to the comments section down below. Read More: 45 Facts That Your Intuition Might Say Are Fake But They’re Actually True #1 For the price you need to pay to have your hip replaced in the US, you could fly to Spain first class, have it replaced. Go running with the bulls, break your hip again. Replace it a second time. Fly back to the US first class. And STILL have some left over. Image credits: The_Duke2331 #2 1 million seconds = 11 days. 1 billion seconds = 30 years. We don’t need billionaires. jpporcaro: The difference between a million and a billion is about a billion. Image credits: Lexinoz #3 Egyptian civilisation is so old that Ancient Egypt itself had Egyptology. They had no more clue about the origins of the Sphinx than we do today. ferret_80: Egypt is so ridiculously old it can be hard to truly picture. Cleopatea ruled in 50 BCE, there was already 5000 years of Egyptian civilisation at that point. We are currently only 2074 years from Cleopatra's rule. Think how old Roman ruins are, how ancient they seem to us. And Ancient Egypt 2000 years ago had double that time as a civilisation. Anyways prehistory fascinates me and I'll take most any excuse to enthuse about it. Right_Two_5737: They dug a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea and used it for a few centuries. Then economic conditions changed and the maintenance cost of the canal wasn't worth it anymore, so it was abandoned and filled in with sand. A few centuries later, economic conditions changed again so they dug the canal again. All of this happened several times. Image credits: Jolly-Minimum-6641 #4 The U.S. Appalachian Mountains and the Scottish Highlands are the same mountain range, torn asunder by plate tectonics. The ancient mountains are older than sharks, themselves older than the Rings of Saturn, and knew a world before trees. Tdhods: Sharks are also older than the North Star, which blew my mind. Image credits: The_Mr_Wilson #5 Michelin stars are given out by the Michelin tyre company. It was a marketing ploy, designed to get people to drive further, and to wear down their tyres. Now it is seen as one of the highest endorsements in the cooking world. Engineary: Also, the Michelin man ("Bibendum") is white because natural tire rubber was white / gray in color, and original tires were white. Once they started adding carbon to the tire mixture to add strength (and turning the road tires black), Bibendum was already so well-known and recognizable that they just left him white. athy-dragoness: Similarly, Guinness World Records was created by the Guinness beer company and originally given out in pubs. Image credits: interesseret #6 You can fit all the other planets in the Solar System between the Earth and the Moon. Locke_Erasmus: With plenty of room to spare, if I recall correctly. Pretty sure you can jam Pluto in there too. Justice for Pluto! Image credits: cwx149 #7 Woolly mammoths were still alive when the Egyptian pyramids were being built. #8 There is a fish with the scientific name Boops boops. "In the early third century CE, Athenaeus, in his Deipnosophistae, suggested that the name came from the sound that the fish makes. The name boops is mentioned due to the fish's large eyes." Image credits: MissMarionMac #9 As a species, humans can out-run every other animal on earth. EVERY ANIMAL. Its not that we're faster, its that we have the longest endurance. They might get away from us, but we always catch up when the animal gets tired. Image credits: Ganglebot #10 The largest desert in the world is Antarctica. #11 There are two comic strips called Dennis the Menace - one from the UK, one from the US. They have nothing to do with each other and were developed entirely separately from each other - but they both premiered on the same day (March 12 1951). CMDR_omnicognate: Also that Dennis the Menace US is like, a regular boy who sometimes gets into trouble, UK Dennis the Menace is an actual menace. The meme showing the difference between the two is funny to me, showing the US one fishing in a goldfish bowl, and the UK one just sawing his mum’s table in half for no reason at all. Image credits: Sable_Tip #12 99.6% (or so) of Canadians live further south than Glasgow. BondStreetIrregular: By way of context, a Canadian town on the same latitude as Leeds gets about 40 times more snow annually. Image credits: blaublau #13 Flying from Anchorage, Alaska to London is about the same distance and time as from Miami, Florida to London. Girth matters. Image credits: SupplyChainGuy1 #14 The first documented use of OMG to refer to "Oh My God" was sent by Admiral Jackie Fisher to First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill in 1917 via telegram. L3PALADIN: A lot of modern shorthand owes its origin to telegram because it was the first time you paid by the word/letter. it was also a time when people sat down at a desk to do their correspondences so there was no time based reason to shorten anything yet. Image credits: wikingwarrior #15 Apple Corps (record label owned by the Beatles) sued Apple Computer for name infringement. They settled, with Apple Computer paying a fee and agreeing never to get into the music business. The first sound file on a Mac was called sosumi, a playful jab taunting Apple Corps “so sue me”. Image credits: HoochieKoochieMan #16 President Jimmy Carter was once attacked by a rabbit in a lake. "On April 20, 1979, during a few days of vacation in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, Carter was fishing in a johnboat in a pond on his farm, when he saw a swamp rabbit, which Carter later speculated was fleeing from a predator, swimming in the water and making its way towards him, "hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared", so he reacted by either hitting or splashing water at it with his paddle to scare it away, and it subsequently swam away from him and climbed out of the pond." Image credits: lkjandersen #17 Dolphins and migratory birds sleep with only one half of their brain in sleep mode, the other half remains active and continues to guide them. Image credits: ArkhamN7 #18 The scientific name of Llamas is 'Lama Glama'. Scientists have few opportunities to write their jokes in stone, but when they can, they do! #19 Redheads may need more anesthesia. I had a surgery consult today and brought that up to the doctor (my hair is naturally red,) and she told me that was ridiculous and “not everything on the internet is true.” Did a few google searches and it seems to be a real thing, peer reviewed studies and all. Image credits: sneekysmiles #20 ACHOO syndrome stands for Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst Syndrome. It is a condition where people experience involuntary, uncontrollable sneezing when exposed to bright light, such as sunlight or artificial light sources. The name is derived from the onomatopoeic sound of a sneeze, "achoo." The "helio-ophthalmic" part refers to the eyes (ophthalmic) being the trigger for the sneezing, while "outburst" describes the sudden and forceful nature of the sneeze. #21 There is a possibility the fastest, manmade object in the universe is a manhole cover that was thrown into space using a nuke. The U.S. army was testing nuclear bombs, and tested one by drilling a deep hole, lowering the nuke into it, and sealing it with a manhole cover. Despite using a high speed camera, the manhole cover post-detonation was only visible for 2 or 3 frames, with meant it was shot off extremely fast. In numbers, the manhole cover was even so fast it could have easily defied earths gravity and have left the planet. Of course, its also very well possible that due to the speed, the friction potentially had evaporated the cover. But I personally love the idea that there is a manhole moving through space and potentially crashing into another planet in our solar system. Image credits: GuyFromDeathValley #22 A polar bears skin is black, and its fur clear! #23 Cancer is cured several dozen times every day in your body alone. supremedalek925: That reminds me of a crazy cancer fact. There are actually cancers that are contagious and can hop from individual to individual, and have been reported in several different animals, including dogs. Unlike cancers that mutate from one’s own body, they still have the DNA of the individual they originated from. In dogs, it’s the cancer of a dog who contracted it thousands of years ago that is still being spread to this day. Image credits: Nexxus3000 #24 I've heard a shrimp's heart is in its head. It's a bizarre little fact that makes u stop and think about how wild animal biology can be. Image credits: Pixeko #25 The planet **PSR J1719−1438 b** is very likely a super dense diamond with an oxygen surface. #26 Your eyeballs have an entirely different immune system from the rest of your body. If your body finds out about your eyes, they treat it like any other invasive organism and attack it. #27 Greenland is more north east south and west than Iceland. punania: Similarly, Japan is more North, South, East and West than South Korea. Image credits: marcusthecarcassman #28 Gary Oldman is younger than Gary Numan. #29 Learned this in a design class: the world’s best-selling car since 1979—not a ford or Toyota—it’s the red-and-yellow Little Tikes “Cozy Coupe.”. #30 There are over 920 known moons in the solar system. On a personal note, my favourite moon is Styx, which orbits Pluto. #31 The average number of arms that people have is less than two. #32 Since 1950 human population tripled. #33 The U.S. still makes $2 bill, so if you ever want a $2 bill, just go to your bank and ask for it. #34 The largest air force in the world is the United States Air Force, the second largest air force is the United States Navy. biffbobfred: The Russian Air Force is 3rd. The U.S. Air Force, Navy, army air corps, and U.S. Marines are 1, 2, 4, and 5 A single ford class carrier can carry more planes than many national air forces. Ballpark, a single Ford class aircraft carrier would be 80th largest Air Force in the world on its own, and there’s like 200 nations on this planet. You Might Also Like: 47 Interesting Photos That Show The Side Of History That Didn’t Make The Cut Into Textbooks Image credits: MemoryDemise 34 Facts That Your Intuition Might Say Are Fake But They’re Actually True
Pedants will know that tomatoes are a fruit, but did you know that bananas are actually berries? If you did, pat yourself on the back, but, as it turns out, there are multitudes of facts and stories about our world that don’t sound realistic at all, but are entirely factual. Truth, as they say, is often stranger than fiction.
Someone asked “What’s a fact that sounds fake, but is actually true?” and netizens shared their best examples. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to add your own thoughts and examples to the comments section down below.
#1
For the price you need to pay to have your hip replaced in the US, you could fly to Spain first class, have it replaced. Go running with the bulls, break your hip again. Replace it a second time. Fly back to the US first class. And STILL have some left over.
Image credits: The_Duke2331
#2
1 million seconds = 11 days.
1 billion seconds = 30 years.
We don’t need billionaires.
jpporcaro:
The difference between a million and a billion is about a billion.
Image credits: Lexinoz
#3
Egyptian civilisation is so old that Ancient Egypt itself had Egyptology. They had no more clue about the origins of the Sphinx than we do today.
ferret_80:
Egypt is so ridiculously old it can be hard to truly picture. Cleopatea ruled in 50 BCE, there was already 5000 years of Egyptian civilisation at that point.
We are currently only 2074 years from Cleopatra's rule. Think how old Roman ruins are, how ancient they seem to us. And Ancient Egypt 2000 years ago had double that time as a civilisation.
Anyways prehistory fascinates me and I'll take most any excuse to enthuse about it.
Right_Two_5737:
They dug a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea and used it for a few centuries. Then economic conditions changed and the maintenance cost of the canal wasn't worth it anymore, so it was abandoned and filled in with sand. A few centuries later, economic conditions changed again so they dug the canal again. All of this happened several times.
Image credits: Jolly-Minimum-6641
#4
The U.S. Appalachian Mountains and the Scottish Highlands are the same mountain range, torn asunder by plate tectonics. The ancient mountains are older than sharks, themselves older than the Rings of Saturn, and knew a world before trees.
Tdhods:
Sharks are also older than the North Star, which blew my mind.
Image credits: The_Mr_Wilson
#5
Michelin stars are given out by the Michelin tyre company.
It was a marketing ploy, designed to get people to drive further, and to wear down their tyres. Now it is seen as one of the highest endorsements in the cooking world.
Engineary:
Also, the Michelin man ("Bibendum") is white because natural tire rubber was white / gray in color, and original tires were white.
Once they started adding carbon to the tire mixture to add strength (and turning the road tires black), Bibendum was already so well-known and recognizable that they just left him white.
athy-dragoness:
Similarly, Guinness World Records was created by the Guinness beer company and originally given out in pubs.
Image credits: interesseret
#6
You can fit all the other planets in the Solar System between the Earth and the Moon.
Locke_Erasmus:
With plenty of room to spare, if I recall correctly. Pretty sure you can jam Pluto in there too. Justice for Pluto!
Image credits: cwx149
#7
Woolly mammoths were still alive when the Egyptian pyramids were being built.
#8
There is a fish with the scientific name Boops boops.
"In the early third century CE, Athenaeus, in his Deipnosophistae, suggested that the name came from the sound that the fish makes. The name boops is mentioned due to the fish's large eyes."
Image credits: MissMarionMac
#9
As a species, humans can out-run every other animal on earth. EVERY ANIMAL.
Its not that we're faster, its that we have the longest endurance. They might get away from us, but we always catch up when the animal gets tired.
Image credits: Ganglebot
#10
The largest desert in the world is Antarctica.
#11
There are two comic strips called Dennis the Menace - one from the UK, one from the US. They have nothing to do with each other and were developed entirely separately from each other - but they both premiered on the same day (March 12 1951).
CMDR_omnicognate:
Also that Dennis the Menace US is like, a regular boy who sometimes gets into trouble, UK Dennis the Menace is an actual menace. The meme showing the difference between the two is funny to me, showing the US one fishing in a goldfish bowl, and the UK one just sawing his mum’s table in half for no reason at all.
Image credits: Sable_Tip
#12
99.6% (or so) of Canadians live further south than Glasgow.
BondStreetIrregular:
By way of context, a Canadian town on the same latitude as Leeds gets about 40 times more snow annually.
Image credits: blaublau
#13
Flying from Anchorage, Alaska to London is about the same distance and time as from Miami, Florida to London.
Girth matters.
Image credits: SupplyChainGuy1
#14
The first documented use of OMG to refer to "Oh My God" was sent by Admiral Jackie Fisher to First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill in 1917 via telegram.
L3PALADIN:
A lot of modern shorthand owes its origin to telegram because it was the first time you paid by the word/letter. it was also a time when people sat down at a desk to do their correspondences so there was no time based reason to shorten anything yet.
Image credits: wikingwarrior
#15
Apple Corps (record label owned by the Beatles) sued Apple Computer for name infringement. They settled, with Apple Computer paying a fee and agreeing never to get into the music business.
The first sound file on a Mac was called sosumi, a playful jab taunting Apple Corps “so sue me”.
Image credits: HoochieKoochieMan
#16
President Jimmy Carter was once attacked by a rabbit in a lake.
"On April 20, 1979, during a few days of vacation in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, Carter was fishing in a johnboat in a pond on his farm, when he saw a swamp rabbit, which Carter later speculated was fleeing from a predator, swimming in the water and making its way towards him, "hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared", so he reacted by either hitting or splashing water at it with his paddle to scare it away, and it subsequently swam away from him and climbed out of the pond."
Image credits: lkjandersen
#17
Dolphins and migratory birds sleep with only one half of their brain in sleep mode, the other half remains active and continues to guide them.
Image credits: ArkhamN7
#18
The scientific name of Llamas is 'Lama Glama'.
Scientists have few opportunities to write their jokes in stone, but when they can, they do!
#19
Redheads may need more anesthesia. I had a surgery consult today and brought that up to the doctor (my hair is naturally red,) and she told me that was ridiculous and “not everything on the internet is true.” Did a few google searches and it seems to be a real thing, peer reviewed studies and all.
Image credits: sneekysmiles
#20
ACHOO syndrome stands for Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst Syndrome. It is a condition where people experience involuntary, uncontrollable sneezing when exposed to bright light, such as sunlight or artificial light sources. The name is derived from the onomatopoeic sound of a sneeze, "achoo." The "helio-ophthalmic" part refers to the eyes (ophthalmic) being the trigger for the sneezing, while "outburst" describes the sudden and forceful nature of the sneeze.
#21
There is a possibility the fastest, manmade object in the universe is a manhole cover that was thrown into space using a nuke.
The U.S. army was testing nuclear bombs, and tested one by drilling a deep hole, lowering the nuke into it, and sealing it with a manhole cover. Despite using a high speed camera, the manhole cover post-detonation was only visible for 2 or 3 frames, with meant it was shot off extremely fast. In numbers, the manhole cover was even so fast it could have easily defied earths gravity and have left the planet.
Of course, its also very well possible that due to the speed, the friction potentially had evaporated the cover. But I personally love the idea that there is a manhole moving through space and potentially crashing into another planet in our solar system.
Image credits: GuyFromDeathValley
#22
A polar bears skin is black, and its fur clear!
#23
Cancer is cured several dozen times every day in your body alone.
supremedalek925:
That reminds me of a crazy cancer fact. There are actually cancers that are contagious and can hop from individual to individual, and have been reported in several different animals, including dogs. Unlike cancers that mutate from one’s own body, they still have the DNA of the individual they originated from. In dogs, it’s the cancer of a dog who contracted it thousands of years ago that is still being spread to this day.
Image credits: Nexxus3000
#24
I've heard a shrimp's heart is in its head. It's a bizarre little fact that makes u stop and think about how wild animal biology can be.
Image credits: Pixeko
#25
The planet **PSR J1719−1438 b** is very likely a super dense diamond with an oxygen surface.
#26
Your eyeballs have an entirely different immune system from the rest of your body. If your body finds out about your eyes, they treat it like any other invasive organism and attack it.
#27
Greenland is more north east south and west than Iceland.
punania:
Similarly, Japan is more North, South, East and West than South Korea.
Image credits: marcusthecarcassman
#28
Gary Oldman is younger than Gary Numan.
#29
Learned this in a design class: the world’s best-selling car since 1979—not a ford or Toyota—it’s the red-and-yellow Little Tikes “Cozy Coupe.”.
#30
There are over 920 known moons in the solar system.
On a personal note, my favourite moon is Styx, which orbits Pluto.
#31
The average number of arms that people have is less than two.
#32
Since 1950 human population tripled.
#33
The U.S. still makes $2 bill, so if you ever want a $2 bill, just go to your bank and ask for it.
#34
The largest air force in the world is the United States Air Force, the second largest air force is the United States Navy.
biffbobfred:
The Russian Air Force is 3rd. The U.S. Air Force, Navy, army air corps, and U.S. Marines are 1, 2, 4, and 5
A single ford class carrier can carry more planes than many national air forces. Ballpark, a single Ford class aircraft carrier would be 80th largest Air Force in the world on its own, and there’s like 200 nations on this planet.
- You Might Also Like: 47 Interesting Photos That Show The Side Of History That Didn’t Make The Cut Into Textbooks
Image credits: MemoryDemise
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