Amusing Facts - 15

The average mall Santa weighs 218 pounds and has a 43-inch waist.

Fifty-two percent of Americans drink coffee.

The one physical act that's recognized in every known society is the shrug of shoulders to mean, "I don't know."

An execution by hanging takes 21 feet of rope.

The flesh that dangles from the back of the human throat is called a "uvula." The word comes from the Latin, meaning "little grape."

The average cat can reach speeds of nearly 30 miles an hour over a short distance.

In 1836, Alabama was the first U.S. state to declare Christmas a legal holiday.

Thirty percent of women who engage in oral sex swallow their partner's ejaculate every time.

New Orleans is the US city that, per capita, consumes the most ketchup.

A bolt of cloth is 120 feet long.

"Hybristophilia" is arousal derived by having sex with people who have committed crimes.

About 75 percent of stage and screen actors change their names.

If you're American, you'll move an average of 11 times in your lifetime.

Russian Czar Peter the Great had a morbid fear of crossing bridges.

The Union army lost about 360,000 men during the Civil War. Just 110,070 were killed in battle. The rest died of disease or other causes.

Paris was once the world's biggest city—for one year. The year was 1684.

Forty percent of batteries are purchased during the holiday season.

Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Nazi SS during World War II, was once a chicken farmer.

In Canada, if a debt is more than 25 cents, it's illegal to pay it with pennies.

There are more than 10,000 varieties of tomatoes. Their scientific name is Lycopersicon lycopersicum, which means "wolf peach."

There were seven pairs of ruby slippers used during the filming of The Wizard of Oz.

It's estimated that 40 percent of players in the NBA have a criminal record.

Experts claim the color combination that has the most visual impact is black on yellow.

The medical term for a nosebleed is "epistaxisis."

Only 0.1 percent of animal species that have ever lived are still alive today.

In poker, a card combination of 9 and 5 is called a "Dolly Parton," in reference to the film in which Parton starred, 9 to 5.

Actor Tom Hanks is a third cousin, four times removed, to Abraham Lincoln.
 

Mallard ducks have 360-degree vision.

Two hundred million atoms placed in a row would measure one inch.

Just 14 percent of Chinese women believe having sex with an animal should be illegal.

During his entire lifetime, Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" only sold about 3,000 copies.

Robert E. Lee was the only person to graduate from West Point without a demerit.

Ninety percent of Brazilian women classify beauty products as an essential rather than a luxury (the average worldwide is 77 percent).

"Cainophobia" is the fear of newness.

Since Neptune was discovered in 1846, it has made about three-quarters of one revolution of the Sun.

Julius Caesar hated cats.

In New York City, rats bite about 311 people in an average year. However, 1,519 residents are bitten annually by other New Yorkers.

The set of glasses filled with different levels of water used to make different musical tones is called a hydrodaktulopsychicarmonica.

"Judo" translates as "the gentle way."

About 130,000 freed slaves became Union soldiers during the Civil War.