Showing posts with label Fun Fact Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fun Fact Friday. Show all posts

Friday, 29 May 2026

Fun Fact Friday #8: Bird Brains


Hello bird brains! Another Fun Friday quiz for you. Test your knowledge of all things feathery...


1.  Which Flamingo Fact is true?

A) Flamingos can only stand on one leg at a time.
B) Flamingos can only eat when their heads are upside down.
C) Flamingos can only fly if their wings are completely dry.


2. Which Albatross Fact is true?

A) An Albatross can swallow a fish bigger than itself.
B) Albatrosses can sleep while they are flying.
C) Albatrosses like to ride on sharks’ fins.


3. Australian Musk Ducks can mimic human speech. One duck made headlines in 1987 because it learned to say…

A) ”Strewth, mate!”
B)  “Throw another shrimp on the barbie!”
C)  “You bloody fool!”


4. What do Bassian Thrushes do to help them find food?

A) Sing a “Worm Song”.
B) Sneeze.
C) Break wind.


5. Which Blue Tit Fact is true?

A) A Blue Tit weighs the same as a chicken egg.
B) A Blue Tit weighs the same as a pound coin.
C) A Blue Tit weighs the same as a satsuma.


6. Which Blue Jay Fact is true?

A) Blue Jays aren’t actually blue.
B) Blue Jays can only eat blue insects.
C) Blue Jays can only fly on windy days.


7. Which Pigeon Fact is True?

A) Pigeons are good at spelling.
B) Pigeons are good at multiplication.
C) Pigeons are good at punctuation.


8. Which Woodpecker fact is True?

A) A woodpecker wraps its tongue round its brain when hitting wood.
B) A woodpecker can drill a hole in a tree faster than a power drill.
C) A woodpecker laughs whenever it sees a worm or grub.


9. Which Owl Fact is True?

A) Owls cannot move their eyes.
B) Owls can be taught to play chess.
C) Owls will sometimes keep mice as pets.


10. Which Crow fact is True?

A) Crows can pick locks using their beaks and claws.
B) Crows can tell other crows about specific humans they don’t like. 
C) Crows can redirect lightning bolts during thunderstorms so that they hit buildings.


Tweet me your guesses in the comments.



Friday, 8 May 2026

Fun Fact Friday #7: Friday Is For Phobias


Time for another of our semi-regular Friday quizzes... and this one's all about fear. 

Here are ten real life phobias... but if you've got them, what are you afraid of?


1. What is triskaidekaphobia?

A) Fear of tricycles
B) Fear of the number 13
C) Fear of kaleidoscopes


2. What is arachibutyrophobia?

A) Fear of spiders’ webs.
B) Fear of people called Rachel.
C) Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.

Neil Diamond - Fear Of The Marketplace

3. Adele has “laridophobia”. What is she afraid of?

A) Seagulls.
B) Pineapples.
C) Tripping over in the street.


4. What is nomophobia?

A) Fear of being without your mobile phone.
B) Fear of being called by the wrong name.
C) Fear of mops.

Peter Bruntnell - Fear Of Lightning

5. What is pogonophobia?

 A) Fear of pogo sticks.
 B) Fear of the internet.
 C) Fear of beards.


6. Ozzy Osborne had “musophobia”. What was he afraid of?

A) Music critics.
B) Motorways.
C) Rats.

Love of Everything - Fear Of Missing Out

7. What is mortuusequusphobia?

 A) The fear of queues.
 B) The fear of daffodils.
 C) The fear of tomato ketchup.


8. What is kakorrhaphiophobia?

The fear of lightning.
The fear of failure.
The fear of getting out of the wrong side of the bed.

Manic Street Preachers - Fear Of Motion

9. Kylie Minogue has “kremastraphobia”. What is she afraid of?

A) Elevators.
B) Dizziness.
C) Coathangers.


10. What is anatidaephobia?

A) The fear of pipes.
B) The fear of curtains blowing in the wind.
C) The fear that a duck is watching you.






Friday, 20 March 2026

Fun Fact Friday #6: If I Had Words...


Here's another Friday brainteaser / time-waster for you, based on a quiz I compiled at work. It's about words from other languages... words we don't have a direct translation for in English, but we really ought to get one. Because each of these is an excellent word, and would be very useful.


What do these words mean in English?


Let's start with one that I'm sure Walter will be familiar with...

1. What does the German word “Backpfeifengesicht” mean in English?

A) A face badly in need of a fist.
B) Looking backwards while walking forwards.
C) Snow that falls after Easter Sunday.

2. What does the Italian word “Slampadato” mean in English?

A) The orangey bronze glow that comes from being addicted to tanning salons.
B) The sound that’s made when you drop a sack of potatoes.
C) A car crash where nobody will accept responsibility.


3. What does the French phrase “Chanter en yaourt” mean in English?

A) Ordering yoghurt in a restaurant when it isn’t on the menu.
B) Racing to be first into a concert or gig, to get the best seat or place to stand.
C) Singing made-up words or sounds when you don’t know the lyrics to a song.


4. What does the Indonesian Word “Jayus” mean in English?

A) How you feel when the alarm goes off and you’ve been awake all night.
B) The happy feeling you get when you hear birds singing. 
C) A joke that is so unfunny or told so badly you just have to laugh.


5. What does the Japanese phrase “Age-otori” mean in English?

A) Looking worse after a haircut.
B) Feeling really old when you enter a nightclub.
C) Missing the last bus and having to walk home in the rain. 


6. What does the Finnish word “Hyppytyynytyydytys” mean in English?

A) Sleeping all through Sunday after a hectic Saturday night.
B) The pleasure derived from sitting or bouncing on a springy cushion.
C) Sneezing three times in a row.


7. What does the Hawaiian word “Akihi” mean in English?

A) When you wake up in the morning and you’re not sure where you are.
B) When you go to another room, then can’t remember what you went there for.
C) When you ask someone for directions, walk away, then immediately forget what they said. 


8. What does the Easter Island word “Tingo” mean in English?

A) The feeling you get when you suck on a lemon.
B) Borrowing items from a neighbour and not returning them, gradually stealing everything they own.
C) The smell that comes from someone who has fallen into a dung heap.


9. What does the Tagalog word “Gigil” mean in English? (Tagalog is the national language of the Philippines.)

A) The feeling you get when you see something unbearably cute and want to squeeze it.
B) The feeling you get when you’ve climbed a huge mountain and immediately want to go back down.
C) The feeling you get when you want to do something quickly, but everything is going SLOW.


10. What does the Tulu word “Karelu” mean in English? (Tulu is one of 19,500 languages or dialects spoken in India.)

A) An insect whose bite is only cured by music.
B) A game in which you cover your eyes and have to guess who’s hit you.
C) The mark left on your skin from wearing something tight, such as jeans, socks, or a watch.



Friday, 6 March 2026

Fun Fact Friday #5: Women's History Month


March is Women's History Month... though it probably should be called Women's Herstory Month?


Here are a few questions from the quiz I did this week... you can google them if you want, but it'd be more upright and honest to guess if you don't know the answer...


1. Which was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote in 1893?

A) Sweden
B) Austria
C) New Zealand


2. Which famous queen is recognised as the first woman golfer?

A) Mary, Queen of Scots
B) Queen Victoria
C) Queen Elizabeth I


3. What is Wonder Woman's real name?

A) Princess Diana of Themyscira
B) Princess Grace of Monaco
C) Princess Victoria of Ithaca


4. How did Annie Edson Taylor make history on October 24th, 1901?

A) She was the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and live to tell the tale.
B) She was the first person ever to take a selfie.
C) She was the first person ever to drink a Coca Cola. 


5. In 1958, Italian Maria Teresa de Filippis became the first woman to compete at world championship level in which sport?

A) Formula One
B) Darts
C) Wrestling


6. On December 1, 2022, Stéphanie Frappart became the first woman to ever…

A) Abseil down the Eiffel Tower.
B) Win the Grand National.
C) Referee a men’s World Cup match.


7. In the 1840s, Ada Lovelace became the world’s first…

 A) Deep Sea Diver
 B) Computer Programmer
 C) Hypnotherapist


8. Which Disney princess is the only one based on a real person? 

 A) Moana
 B) Pocahontas
 C) Mulan


9. Scientist Stephanie Kwolek was responsible for which life-saving invention?

A)  Seatbelts
B) Inflatable life jackets
C) Bulletproof vests


10. What is one of Adele’s most treasured possessions? 

A) A pair of sunglasses that once belonged to Princess Diana.
B) One of Marilyn Monroe’s false eyelashes.
C) A piece of gum that was once chewed by Celine Dion.



Friday, 21 November 2025

Fun Fact Friday #4: Geography Teacher

CMAT - Geography Teacher

Here are some questions from this week’s quiz, in celebration of Geography Awareness Week. I’m not sure I’d have got any of these right myself…


1. What percentage of the earth’s population live in the northern hemisphere?

A) 90%

B) 70%

C) 50%

Sam Butera & The Witnesses - Equator

2. What is the world’s largest desert?

A) Sahara

B) Kalahari

C) Antarctica

Johnny Barfield - Desert Lullaby

3. Which superhero is also the name of a city in Turkey?

A) Batman

B) Ironman

C) Antman

John Lennon - Cold Turkey

4. How many islands are there in the Philippines?

A) 76

B) 764

C) 7641

John Denver - Islands

5. The city with the longest name is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. But we call it...?

A) Bangkok

B) Shanghai

C) Beijing

Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok

6. By contrast, there is a village in France called…

A) X

B) Y

C) Z

James - Hymn From A Village

7. How many countries are there in the world today?

A) 195

B) 295

C) 395

Morrissey - The World Is Full of Crashing Bores

There was also a question about what the following three cities have in common… New York, Mumbai, Istanbul. But I’ll give you the answer to that one… as I might have done to one of the questions above, being unable to resist an obvious tune.



Friday, 14 November 2025

Fun Fact Friday #3: That's Novel

Every Monday, I run a quiz for my students to help with engagement. This week's topic was books, to tie into National Novel Writing Month.

O.V. Wright - I Could Write a Book

Here are three statements about famous novelists. Which ones do you think are true?

Father John Misty - I'm Writing a Novel

1. John Steinbeck had to completely rewrite Of Mice & Men after his dog ate the original manuscript.

Harry Connick Jr. - I Could Write A Book

2. Frank L. Baum named the fictional land of Oz after a filing cabinet in his office.

frYars - Novelist's Wife

3. JRR Tolkien liked to dress up as an Anglo Saxon warrior and chase his neighbour down the street with an axe.



Friday, 10 October 2025

Fun Fact Friday #1: Johnny Cash & The Ostrich

Yesterday I read about how Johnny Cash was once attacked, and nearly killed, by his pet ostrich, Waldo. And as I'm short for time, I thought I'd share that with you...

“All he did was break my two lower ribs and rip my stomach open down to my belt, If the belt hadn’t been good and strong, with a solid belt buckle, he’d have spilled my guts exactly the way he meant to. As it was, he knocked me over onto my back and I broke three more ribs on a rock—but I had sense enough to keep swinging the stick, so he didn’t get to finish me. I scored a good hit on one of his legs, and he ran off.”

Wow. I bet that... Hurt.



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...