15 Facts About Candy, Booze, and Making Whoopie In The 1800s

It can never hurt to have more non sequiturs in your deck. Consider this a booster pack to bolster your large arsenal of small talk. You never know when you’ll be able to impress people with the clever way Elvis’ manager cashed in on his haters, or how many more bones a baby has than anyone else (presumably) at the party, or perhaps Jane Austen’s surprisingly literal nom de plume.

Who knows; there might be information in this very article that could save the very party you’re at! Where on Netflix can you look if you need to remember how to do CPR? What’s the one thing you should never do with a loaf of bread in the presence of an Italian (we’re assuming this is a party at an Olive Garden)? How should you respond in the event your waiter or waitress offers you “horizontal refreshment”? Read on to find out!

15 Johnny Carson's first three wives were named very similarly.

Johnny Carson's first three wives were named Joan, Joanne, and Joanna. CRACKED.COM Carson married wife #4, Alexis Maas Carson, two years before retiring from The Tonight Show after a 30-year run. — Source: Cheatsheet

14 Elvis sold "I Hate Elvis" badges to get money from his haters.

Elvis Presley's manager sold I Hate Elvis badges. GRACKED.COM Colonel Tom Parker created the badges as a way to make money off of people who weren't buying his merchandise. — Source: CBC

13 Pigeons can be taught to differentiate paintings based on the painter.

Trained pigeons can differentiate between the paintings of Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet. CRACKED.COM Scientists trained the pigeons by showing them photos and videos of Monet's and Picasso's paintings, and then giving the groups food. — Source: National Library of Medicine

12 Babies have more bones than adults.

Newborn babies have about 100 more bones than adults. CRACKED.COM Spaces between the bones in a baby's skull, called fontanelles, eventually close, and the total number of bones decreases. — Source: Healthline

11 Jane Austen published her first novel as "a Lady."

Sense and Sensibility was at first credited as being written By a Lady. CRACKED.COM Jane Austen didn't publish her first novel under her real name in 1811, and took care to conceal her identity. — Source: History Today

10 You shouldn't lay bread upside down in Italy.

In Italy, it's considered bad luck to lay bread upside down. CRACKED.COM The bread represents the body of Christ, and as such needs to be treated with respect. — Source: “Growing up Italian Australian“

9 The CPR scene in The Office actually helped someone.

The Office saved someone's life. CRACKED.COM A 21-year-old man from Arizona saved a woman's life using CPR he learned watching an episode of The Office. — Source: CBS News

8 Miners in Wisconsin used to live in hillside burrows.

Lead miners in the 1830s used to spend winters in tunnels burrowed into hills. GRACKED.COM Wisconsin is known as the Badger State because of the way miners made temporary cave cut-outs into the hillsides. — Source: Politifact

7 Swedish blood donors get notified when their blood is used.

Blood donors in Sweden receive a thank you text when their blood is used. CRACKED GOM This system was created to boost the rates of blood donations, so that donors get feedback on their effort. — Source: Independent

6 LEGO is an abbreviation.

LEGO is an abbreviation of the Danish phrase leg godt. GRACKED.COM The phrase means play well.The company was originally called Billund Maskinsnedkeri. — Source: LEGO

5 Trees on your block make you feel much younger.

Having trees on your street can make you feel younger. CRACKED.COM According to a 2015 study, having 10 more trees on your block can make you feel as healthy as someone who's seven years younger. — Source: Washington Post

4 Booze is older than the wheel.

Alcohol predates the invention of the wheel. JACK DANIEL'S No.7 OTA CRACKED.COM Traces of mead have been found on clay from a 9,000-year-old Chinese village, which came 3,500 years before the wheel's invention in Mesopotamia. — Source: MentalFloss

3 "Horizontal refreshment" used to mean sex.

Horizontal refreshment was a 19th century slang term for sex. CRACKED COM This term was popular in the 1860s, which means Civil War soldiers were writing home to their sweethearts asking for the deed. — Source: Bustle

2 Peanut M&Ms creator couldn't eat them.

The creator of Peanut M&M's was allergic to peanuts. W tu w يا GRACKED.COM Forrest Mars developed the original M&Ms, as well as the peanut variety of which he could not eat. Не also created Uncle Ben's Rice and Pedigree pet food. — Source: MentalFloss

1 Weird Al couldn't see Episode I before writing his parody.

Weird Al wrote his The Phantom Menace parody before he saw the movie. Uamkome CRACKED.COM LucasFilm denied Al's request to see Star Wars: Episode I early, so he relied on internet spoilers for plot details. — Source: Ubisoft

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