Did you know?

By Halimat Sunmonu 

·         The longest fingernails ever were over 42 feet in total and belonged to American Diana Armstrong, recognized as the new record holder in March 2022. The previous record was held by American Lee Redmond, with fingernails over 28 feet in total.

·         The origin of the word “sinister” reflects a historical bias against left-handed people. It comes from the Latin word for “left,” which was also seen to be unlucky or evil.

·         There is not one letter “q” in any US state name, the only letter in the alphabet to be missing. "J" and "Z" are only represented once each—in New Jersey and Arizona.

·         The word “strengths” is the longest word in the English language with only one vowel.

·         Cartoonist Mort Walker, creator of Beetle Bailey, came up with names for the things we often see in comics and cartoons: “briffit” is the dust cloud a character makes when he runs away quickly; “plewds” are the beads of sweat when a character is under duress; and “grawlix” are symbols such as “#@*%” that stand in for curse words.

·         A mash-up of two words to make a new word (such as breakfast and lunch into brunch, or motel from motor and hotel) is called a portmanteau. In case you’re wondering, the word “portmanteau” itself is not a portmanteau; it’s a compound word that refers to a duel-sided suitcase.

·         The dog ate John Steinbeck’s homework—literally. The author’s pup chewed up an early version of Of  Mice and Men. “I was pretty mad, but the poor fellow may have been acting critically,” he wrote.

·         The tallest building in the world is the Burg Khalifa in Dubai

, standing at over 2,700 feet.

·         The tallest building in the US is One World Trade Center in New York, which comes in at number six on the worldwide list. It stands at exactly 1,776 feet as a nod to the date of the Declaration of Independence.

·         The Empire State Building in New York was the tallest building in the world from 1931 until 1971, and was the first building of over 100 floors.

·         Contrary to popular belief, it’s really, really hard to see the Great Wall of China from space, particularly with the naked eye.

·         The first footprints on the moon will remain there for a million years.

·         Days on Venus are longer than years. Due to its slow axis rotation, it takes 243 Earth days to spin once; but it only takes 225 Earth days to go around the sun.

·         Humans could never “land” on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus or Neptune because they are made of gas and have no solid surface.

·         Our modern interpretation of Santa Claus with a red outfit and white beard is due in large part to holiday Coca-Cola ads that began in 1931.