The Fact Labyrinth

Contrary to popular belief, "hello" is actually younger than both "hey" and "hi." "Hey" dates back to the 13th century, "hi" to the 15th century, while "hello" is as recent as 1834.

In 2022, Jim Carrey said he was retiring from acting....unless he was handed a script "written in gold ink." Two years later, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 wanted him back as Dr. Robotnik. So they literally delivered his script in 24-carat gold ink. And yes, he came back.

In 2011, a mystery man walked into an Australian TV station and spent five hours inside a bathroom, disposing of $100,000 in cash down a toilet and into a sanitary bin. No one ever figured out who he was, why he did it, or where the money came from.

Ever wondered why we say "o’clock"? It’s a contraction of "of the clock", so "three o’clock" once meant "three of the clock." As mechanical clocks became common, the phrase helped distinguish clock time from other ways of telling time. Eventually, "of the clock" became o’clock.

'Scared Straight' programs were meant to deter youth crime by exposing at-risk teens to prisons and intimidating inmates. Instead, research found they made things worse: participants had about 68% higher odds of later offending than comparable youth who received no intervention.

Have you ever wondered about the most effective way to reduce crime? Daniel Nagin's 2013 review 'Deterrence in the Twenty-First Century' found that increasing the certainty of being caught deters crime significantly more than increasing sentence severity.

The Killers’ 'Mr. Brightside' has never reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart; its peak is only No. 10. Despite this, it has spent a record 10 years in the UK Singles Chart Top 100.

Serious crimes are overwhelmingly committed by fare evaders. LA Metro: 97% of violent-crime suspects had evaded fares. Washington, DC: 99.5% of Part 1 crime (homicide, rape, robbery, arson, or motor vehicle theft) suspects had evaded fares. (Source: City Journal)

Google Trends data from 2004-2020 found searches for skin tanning were relatively more common across much of Europe and the Americas, while skin whitening dominated across large parts of Asia and Africa. (Image source: Google Trends/India in Pixels)

The Zammit family refused to sell their five-acre property in Sydney’s west, despite being offered up to $50 million by developers. As the surrounding land was sold off and developed, an entire suburb was built around their home.

Attractiveness changes how funny we think people are. According to this study, physically attractive people were rated funnier on video than in audio. Less attractive people showed the opposite pattern: they were rated funnier in audio than on video. (library.scottbarrykaufman.co…)