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In Swaziland, witches on broomsticks are not legally permitted to fly above 150 meters.
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Word of the day: SMYSTER (19th century Scots) - to smile to yourself while daydreaming
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@qikipedia
"When a man loves cats, I am his friend and comrade, without further introduction." MARK TWAIN
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The average public swimming pool contains 75 litres of urine.
480
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The British Army briefly used a phonetic alphabet including "M as in Emma".
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Last week, a Danish museum gave 534,000 kroner in cash to artist Jens Haaning who was supposed to display it in two glass frames in another museum. The artist pocketed the cash, sent two empty frames to the museum, and changed the title of the artwork to ‘Take the Money and Run’.
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A tautological compound is a word with two parts that have the same meaning, e.g. ‘sledgehammer’ (hammer-hammer), ‘pathway’ (way-way), and, if one etymological theory is correct, ‘slowworm‘ (snake-snake).
483
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Instead of requesting a traditional wake-up call in a hotel, the French writer Alphonse Allais would have the concierge call the room on either side of his one in order ‘to be gently woken by the sound of your neighbours’ protests’.
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The longest-running lab experiment started in 1927 and measures how fast pitch falls from a funnel. Nine drops have fallen so far, showing pitch isn’t a solid, but a liquid 100 billion times more viscous than water. [📷: John Mainstone, University of Queensland.]
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As he's making an appearance on tonight's QI, it's time to dust off the GYLES BRANDRETH ANECDOTE GENERATOR.
"It was during the London 2012 Opening Ceremony when I did the ice bucket challenge with a trifle-laden Delia Smith..."
Brand new QI, tonight at 10pm, BBC Two
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A newly discovered species of dinosaur found on the Isle of Wight has been given a name which translates as 'horned crocodile-faced hell heron'.
487
@qikipedia
In 1952, the Kray twins became the last people to be held in the Tower of London (for failing to report for national service).
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When he died in 1955, Dewey Beard (Wasú Máza) was the last known Native American survivor of both the Battle of the Little Big Horn (1876), and the massacre at Wounded Knee (1890).
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Northern Ireland is facing a clown shortage.
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England gets more tornados per sq km than anywhere else on earth.
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The first known chili recipe used human flesh for meat.
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Word of the day: JOTTLE (20th century Scots) - to appear busy but not get anything done
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Phrase of the day: XĪ MĀO (吸猫; Mandarin slang) - to zone out and enjoy the company of a cat, literally "inhale/sniff cat"
Some people literally bury their faces in the fluff and inhale, but @qikipedia disclaims responsibility in any claw injuries that may result.
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The first domesticated bird was not the chicken, but the cassowary.
Adult cassowaries weigh 60 kilograms and are highly aggressive.
495
@qikipedia
In the USA, there are eleven times as many monuments to mermaids as there are to congresswomen.
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@qikipedia
The word ‘bear’ can be traced to the Proto-Indo-European for ‘brown’, and the word ‘beaver’ can be traced to the Proto-Indo-European for ‘brown-brown’.
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Over 5,000 years ago, someone spat out their chewing gum. Then this happened. 🤯 #QI
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In Maori myths, trickster Maui tried to make people immortal by entering the vagina of the goddess of death and leaving through her mouth when she slept. His friends laughed at him and woke up the goddess, who crushed him with vaginal teeth, and thus brought mortality to people.
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Tortoiseshell cats are 99.6% female.
Image: Hammersfan
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✨COMPETITION TIME✨
Win a signed copy of our brand new book ‘Funny You Should Ask Again: More of Your Questions Answered by the QI Elves’ and all the other QI goodies in this photo!
Just RT to enter and we’ll pick a name at noon tomorrow.
Pre-order: amzn.to/3lkSIYu
@qikipedia
A Quite Interesting Twitter feed from the team behind the BBC TV show QI.
linktr.ee/TheQIElves