Useful Facts

• The YKK on the zipper of your Levis stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushibibaisha, the world's largest zipper manufacturer.
• The reason why women's dress shirt buttons are on the left and men's on the right is because when buttons were first used during the Victorian period maids used to dress the ladies, and since the maids put on their shirts the buttons were put on the servants right side, hence the women's left.
• In Thailand, the left hand is considered unclean, so you should not eat with it. Also, pointing with one finger is considered rude and is only done when pointing to objects or animals, never humans.
• In Pakistan, it is rude to show the soles of your feet or point a foot when you are sitting on the floor.
• It was once against the law to slam your car door in a city in Switzerland.
• Malcolm Lowry had pnigophobia—the fear of choking on fish bones.
• Augustus Caesar had achluophobia—the fear of sitting in the dark.
• Androphobia is a fear of men.
• Caligynephobia is a fear of beautiful women.
• Pentheraphobia is a fear of a mother-in-law.
• Scopophobia is a fear of being looked at.
• Phobophobia is a fear of fearing.
• Mageiricophobia is the intense fear of having to cook.
• Papaphobia is the fear of Popes.
• Taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive.
• Clinophobia is the fear of beds.
• Incredible means not believable. Incredulous means not believing. When someone's story is truly incredible, you ought to be incredulous.
• The terms "prime minister," "premier" and "chancellor" all refer to the leading minister of a government, and any differences from nation to nation stem from different systems of government, not from title definitions.
• Tennis pro Evonne Goolagong's last name means "kangaroo's nose" in Australia's aboriginal language.
• A "sysygy" occurs when all the planets of the our Solar System line up.
• The most common letters in the English language are R S T L N E. Sound familiar? Watch an episode of "Wheel of Fortune"...
• A "necropsy" is an autopsy on animals.
• EEG stands for Electroencephalogram.
• The English word pajamas has it's origin in Persian. It is a combination of the Persian words pa (leg) and jamah (garment).
• The ZIP in zip code stands for "Zone Improvement Plan."
• Yucatan, as in the peninsula, is from Maya "u" + "u" + "uthaan" meaning "listen how they speak," and is what the Maya said when they first heard the Spaniards.
• Punctuation was not invented until the 1500's.
• Women were banned by royal decree from using hotel swimming pools in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, in 1979.
• In Riverside, California, there is an old law on the city's books which makes it illegal to kiss unless both people wipe their lips with rose water.
• In Saudi Arabia, a woman reportedly may divorce her husband if he does not keep her supplied with coffee.
• In the kingdom of Bhutan, all citizens officially become a year older on New Year's Day.
• On average, there are 333 squares of toilet paper on a roll.
• Theaters in Glendale, California can show horror films only on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.
• You can't plow a cotton field with an elephant in North Carolina.
• In Lehigh, Nebraska it's against the law to sell donut holes.
• Anti-modem laws restrict Internet access in the country of Burma. Illegal possession of a modem can lead to a prison term.
• Lawn darts are illegal in Canada.
• In Idaho a citizen is forbidden by law to give another citizen a box of candy that weighs more than 50 pounds.
• Every citizen of Kentucky is required by law to take a bath at least once a year.
• No one seems to know why people blush.