History Main / LittleKnownFacts

* In ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', Mike asks Willy Wonka if other things could be transported via the Television Chocolate setup, such as breakfast cereal. Mr. Wonka is aghast at the mention of cereal: "Do you know what breakfast cereal is made of? It's made of all those little curly wooden shavings you find in pencil sharpeners!" (Mr. Wonka being the eccentric {{Trickster}} he is, he may or may not be taking advantage of a child's gullibility here.)

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', Patrick Star comes up with loads of these, usually in TheBlindLeadingTheBlind situations with [=SpongeBob=]. They both believe them. Subverted in their knowledge of [[BearsAreBadNews seabears]]. Every single camping tip they stated turned out 100% factual.

* During the 1980s trivia craze, many giant books of "facts" and "trivia" were published aimed at inquisitive children. Some of the information within them was true; some of it was genuinely believed true at the time; some of it consisted of already-debunked urban legends; and a great deal of it were ''this.''

* Via ''WebVideo/LoadingReadyRun'':
-->'''Paul:''' [[http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/31/Out-of-Sync Alright look. It's not that bad if you really think about it.]]\\
'''Graham:''' Really.\\
'''Paul:''' It's a well-known fact that thousands of people have to live with this affliction all over the world, and they manage okay.\\
'''Graham:''' That's not a well-known fact.\\
'''Paul:''' Well I know it. And I know it well. So it's a well-known fact.

* [=JigglyJacob=]'s "Wacky Facts" videos for games such as [[http://youtu.be/MFvwxtTV3kE?list=PL7geb652VoblGc9gqjP1ZyfvXocms3641 Metal Gear Solid]] and [[http://youtu.be/QTy-Fwy_i-g Five Nights at Freddy's]].
* WebVideo/{{Jacksfilms}}' parodies of Mathew Santoro's 50 facts series definitely qualify. There was also a YIAY episode where he asked his fans for some.
* Geoff Ramsay of ''WebOriginal/AchievementHunter'' routinely pulls this on his daughter, Millie, such as [[https://youtu.be/4SfmMkL9FfQ claiming that "flip-flops" are actually "flop-flips"]], or that [[https://youtu.be/-EnwTmCo4ro bears eat poop and live in toilets]] to [[ItMakesSenseInContext help potty-train her]].
-->'''Geoff:''' We're at the point now that if she asks a question and I tell her something, she looks over at [her mother]. Looks for a head nod.

->'''Charlie Brown''': Now, Lucy, I know that's wrong. Snow doesn't come up, it comes down.\\
'''Lucy''': After it comes up the wind blows it around so it looks like it's coming down, but, actually, it comes up out of the ground, like grass. It comes up, Charlie Brown, snow comes up.\\
'''Charlie Brown''': Oh, good grief--\\
'''Linus''': Lucy, why is Charlie Brown banging his head against a tree?\\
'''Lucy''': To loosen the bark so the tree will grow faster. Come along, Linus.

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

* ''Comicbook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'' takes place far in the future. [[FutureImperfect A lot of knowledge has either been lost or is no longer known commonly.]] After procuring some of Hitler's urine to do drugs to, one person explains to a friend the history of the man.

[[folder:Film]]

--> Twenty thousand tons of cornflakes pass under this bridge every day. It's a well known fact.

-->'''Cat:''' Little known fact: cats ''always'' land on their tushie.
-->'''Conrad:''' I thought they always landed on their feet.
-->'''Cat:''' Oh great, ''now'' you tell me. ''[chuckles and swiftly rights himself]''

-->'''Wanda Gershwitz''': Let me correct you on a couple of things, OK? Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not "every man for himself". The London Underground is not a political movement. Those are mistakes. I looked 'em up.

* The comedy book ''Great Lies To Tell Small Kids'' consists of these:

* Luna in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' was full of these, mostly focusing on bizarre animals.

* ''Literature/TheAreasOfMyExpertise'' is full of this, especially in the "Were You Aware Of It?" segments. Among other things, there's a fifty-first state inhabited by thunderbirds, and hobos tried to conquer the United States during the Great Depression.
** Continued in ''Literature/MoreInformationThanYouRequire''. UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson got the idea for the Declaration of American Independence from mole-men, air conditioners were invented to make Brooklyn more violent, and Music/JonathanCoulton was created in a lab to be the ultimate destroyer of cats. There's a reason the series is called ''Literature/CompleteWorldKnowledge''.
* The [[http://www.haggis-on-whey.com/ Haggis-On-Whey]] books are lavishly illustrated educational books of the Dorling-Kindersley mold that explain how, for instance, giraffes are from Neptune and came to Earth via conveyor belt.

* TheRemarkableMillardFillmore claims that Fillmore saved Andrew Jackson from assassination, wrestled with the emperor of Japan, and invented the t-shirt. If you check Amazon you'll see it has a three-star rating, due to complaints that it is "deceptively advertised" as an accurate biography. The cover illustration of Millard Fillmore riding a unicorn is apparently not enough of a clue.

* ''How I Edited An Agricultural Paper Once'' by Creator/MarkTwain is full of this. Some of his claims even were technically true--such as "the pumpkin as a shade tree is a failure" or "clams will lie quiet if music be played to them".

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* RE the 'taking advantage of gullibility' thing: on ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', Jerry told Elaine that the original title for Tolstoy's ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' was "War: What Is It Good For?".
** There's another episode where a guy snags a date with Elaine by making a bet with her over whether an obvious example of this trope is true or false, with the terms being that the loser buys the winner dinner. Jerry realizes (and explains to her) that the guy did this ''deliberately'' as a clever way to ask her out without risking rejection. They discover later that he uses this trick constantly (even to covertly try to and hit on women who are dating somebody else)
* ''Series/LookAroundYou'' was entirely made of this.

* ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'' had the [[http://www.kithfan.org/work/transcripts/two/facts.html "It's A Fact" Girl]], who would not only relate but demonstrate her Little Known Facts.

-->"If you met two guys on the street named Flippy and Hambone, which one would you think would like dolphins more? You'd guess Flippy, right? Well, you're wrong. It's Hambone."

* ''Series/{{QI}}'' exists to debunk these. This didn't stop RichHall suggesting that the show should just use Little Known Facts, since people would believe them.

-->'''Shaun''': "Cheaper [paint]brush hair is sometimes called "camel hair", although it doesn't come from camels. Apparently, it comes from tourists in India who are shaved against their will."

* [[Series/AllInTheFamily Archie Bunker]] was known to mix this trope with SeriousBusiness, offering up some absurd idea about how to do a simple task, such as eating dinner or putting on a pair of pants, then giving bizarre, pseudo-factual explanations as to why his way was best (for example, when you're eating dinner, you have to combine the various items on your plate and take small bites of each, rather than eating one thing at a time--if you do ''that,'' all of the pea nutrients might go to your hands, for example). Normally, this was harmless...it was when he started mixing this trope with ideas about social issues that things got a little more serious, though no less funny. For instance, in the famous episode with Sammy Davis Jr., Archie remarks that God obviously doesn't want integrated society, as "He put you over in Africa, and He put the rest of us in all the white countries"; Sammy [[DeadpanSnarker quickly replies]] "Well, you must have told him where we were, 'cause somebody came and got us."

[[folder:Magazines]]
* ''GamesMagazine'' used to run articles of LittleKnownFacts, with items like "David Letterman is a member of a club that only admits people named Michael" and "because cat litter is made of clay, workers in cat litter factories are legally considered miners and must wear mining helmets at work." The reader was expected to determine which facts were true and which were not. Ironically, many readers simply read the articles uncritically, or learned the "facts" but forgot they had come from a puzzle.

* ''Music/LesLuthiers'' on La Gallina Que Dijo Eureka Routine: "To the children we must always tell the truth; of course, in terms they can't understand."
* The liner notes to [[Music/TheyMightBeGiants John Linnell]]'s ''State Songs'' include ostensible trivia about each of the sixteen states the album's songs are named for. Usually these will be actual facts about a state juxtaposed with bizarre, obviously fake ones, leading to something of a BreadEggsMilkSquick effect. Take the entry on Michigan:

** There is also one intended-to-be-true fact that isn't quite right. Pennsylvania's state bird is the ruffed grouse, not the ruffled grouse.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Calvin's dad was notorious for these in ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''. Thanks to him, Calvin learns about the world only turning color in the 1930s (and pretty grainy color for a while, too), the sun setting every night in Flagstaff, Arizona ([[DepthDeception Hold up a quarter, the sun's about the same size]]), wind being caused by [[EpilepticTrees trees sneezing]] (not really, but the real answer is much more complicated), and babies being bought at Sears, as a kit (Calvin was a Blue Light Special from K-Mart, however. "Much cheaper, and almost as good"). Calvin's mom is usually around to correct things, though.
--> '''Calvin''': How do they know the load limit on bridges, Dad?\\
'''Dad''': They drive bigger and bigger trucks over the bridge until it breaks. Then they weigh the last truck and rebuild the bridge.\\
'''Calvin''': Oh, I should've guessed.\\
'''Mum''': Dear, if you don't know the answer, just tell him!
** What makes this even funnier is that Calvin's dad works as a patent lawyer, a job which requires a good deal of knowledge of technology and science, and as such could explain these things to Calvin if he really wanted to. Not to mention the fact that Calvin is [[LittleProfessorDialog likely to understand it]]. He won't tell you how a carburetor works, though. It's a secret.
** Note that there's one instance in an early comic where Calvin's dad states plainly he doesn't know the answer to some of Calvin's questions and they should probably try to look it up. Calvin's response: "I take it there's no qualifying exam to be a dad."
** Infrequently, he would attempt to educate Calvin with little success. When Calvin was playing in the sprinkler, he praised him for raising his heart rate, which took all the fun out of it. When he was listening to a record player, he explained how parts on the outside had a faster speed even though it had the same RPM; in the last panel Calvin is sitting up in bed [[MindScrew trying desperately to wrap his mind around the concept]].
* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}''
** Early strips (1955-1965, say) use Lucy telling these to Linus as a running joke, although those strips are rarely reprinted these days. An odd example given that Lucy actually believed these "facts" herself and it was Charlie Brown who had to try and protest them. An example is that leaves are actually flying south for the winter when they fall (because south is down on a map).
*** Before she started telling Linus these things, she would tell them to Charlie Brown and completely ignore his protestations otherwise, including the "snow comes up" idea.
** At one point, Lucy's extended misunderstanding of trees, up to and including claiming telegraph poles were a special type of tree developed for the phone companies, gave Charlie Brown a sore stomach. When she got up to leaves jumping off trees in autumn to escape the squirrels, even Linus could endure no more and developed a stomachache of his own.
** Linus believes in the Great Pumpkin even though he made it up himself.
* Bucky from ''ComicStrip/GetFuzzy'', usually to Satchel.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
* Creator/GeorgeCarlin regularly sprinkled supposed "truefax" lists in his comedy routines. One of the more memorable ones is the "It's No Bullshit" segment on ''Carlin On Campus'', parodying ''Franchise/RipleysBelieveItOrNot''.
* One stand-up lamented how some accents lend themselves to this; someone with a thick British accent could convince you that cocoa comes from a coconut just be being insistent enough, and conversely nuclear technicians with certain Southern accents...
[[/folder]]

* The Fact Sphere in ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' exists solely to spit these out, including such gems as:
-->"Creator/WilliamShakespeare did not exist. His plays were masterminded in 1589 by Francis Bacon, who used a ouija board to enslave play-writing ghosts."\\

"Pants were invented by sailors of the sixteenth century to avoid Poseidon’s wrath. It was believed that the sight of naked sailors angered the sea god."\\

*** Then there are "facts" made up solely to insult the other personality spheres ("The Adventure Sphere is a blowhard and a coward") and even Chell herself ("[[YouAreFat You could stand to lose a few pounds]]", "This is a bad plan, you will fail"), and other "facts" that are merely [[SmallNameBigEgo self-praise]] ("The Fact Sphere is a good person, whose insights are relevant") or nonsense ("Error, error, error, fact not found").
** The advertisements for Portal 2 also had several of those:
-->''"Fact: Four out of five people are crushed to death by giant diamonds every day."''

* The "Uncle Sheogorath's helpful hints and tips" mod for ''{{VideoGame/Skyrim}}'' replaces the regular (accurate) information on the loading screens with observations and advice from everyone's favorite Daedric Prince of Madness, Sheogorath. Gems include that Skyrim's bears are harmless honey-eaters who make great pets for your children, that the Stormcloak Rebellion is all about mushrooms, that Khajit tails are hollow and used for smuggling (or, in an emergency, as a tent), that Draugr make for great and inexpensive dates, and that he used to be an adventurer like you. He also calls Clavicus Vile "oddly blurry", lampshades the unhealthy practice of eating disgusting alchemy ingredients, and insists that giants' toes are made of gold. (Which is metaphorically true, as they can be used to make a particularly potent - and thus valuable - potion.)

-->''"The biggest atom recorded by science was twelve meters long and shaped like a cucumber."\\

"A male duck's atoms have a different 'spin' than a female duck's."''

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Jim in ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' has a knack for quickly making up (hilariously wrong) definitions for odd words the GM uses. The most enduring is saying that "Jedi" is a kind of cheese, which may be the result of mishearing it as "cheddar;" he still calls the Jedi "Cheddar monks."
** One of the author comments on a later strip explains that a recent joke was not, in fact, in whatever cipher or language that everyone seemed to think it was in; but, Jedi was in fact "Ceda" in said language/cipher. They suggest that perhaps Jim was onto something there.

--> '''Paul''': [[http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/31/Out-of-Sync "Alright look. It's not that bad if you really think about it"]]
--> '''Graham''': "Really."
--> '''Paul''': "It's a well-known fact that thousands of people have to live with this affliction all over the world, and they manage okay."
--> '''Graham''': "That's not a well-known fact."
--> '''Paul''': "Well I know it. And I know it well. So it's a well-known fact."
* Numerous lists of these "facts" circulate the web. They almost invariably claim "A duck's quack [[http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/duckecho.asp doesn't echo,]] and nobody knows why."
** Not only does ''{{WebSite/Snopes}}'' address it, ''Series/MythBusters'' tested that one too, and they found the echo. So it's on national TV as well.

* [[http://facts-i-just-made-up.tumblr.com Facts I Just Made Up]] isn't trying to fool anyone, which resulted in embarrassment when [[http://facts-i-just-made-up.tumblr.com/post/49721797788/sorry-everyone-ive-been-informed-that-this-one one of his 'facts' was proven true]].

* WebVideo/{{Jacksfilms}}' parodies of Mathew Santoro's 50 facts series definitely qualify.
** There was also a YIAY episode where he asked his fans for some.

-->'''Geoff''': We're at the point now that if she asks a question and I tell her something, she looks over at [her mother]. Looks for a head nod.

* The first season of ''PlanetSketch'' had a series of sketches that revolved around a father telling these to his son, and usually ended with the son fleeing the room in panic.

* On ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'', Garfield starred in a skit called "It Must Be True" featuring several of these. Among them, Wyoming doesn't actually exist: Amerigo Vespucci had extra space left over when drawing the map of America, so his cat gave him the idea to name the blank space Wyoming, which is Italian for "no state here" (as proof: have you ever met anyone from Wyoming? Of course not). The episode ends with Garfield claiming that dogs have no brains, then discovering that his entire audience is made of dogs, who proceed to clobber him for that one. (Before this, he discovers his cue cards are loaded with dog jokes, and has to throw the lot of them out to avoid getting killed - the "dogs have no brains" one is the one he missed.)
* In ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', Patrick Star comes up with loads of these, usually in TheBlindLeadingTheBlind situations with Spongebob. They both believe them. Subverted in their knowledge of [[BearsAreBadNews seabears]]. Every single camping tip they stated turned out 100% factual.

* During the 1980s trivia craze, many giant books of "facts" and "trivia" were published aimed at inquisitive children. Some of the information within them was true; some of it was genuinely believed true at the time; some of it consisted of already-debunked urban legends; and a great deal of it was ''this.''

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/useless_fact.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[RunningGag "And now, another...useless fact!"]]]]

*** Then there are "facts" made up solely to insult the other personality spheres ("The Adventure Sphere is a blowhard and a coward") and even Chell herself ("[[YouAreFat You could stand to lose a few pounds]]"), and other "facts" that are merely [[SmallNameBigEgo self-praise]] ("The Fact Sphere is a good person, whose insights are relevant") or nonsense ("Error, error, error, fact not found").

* {{Eskimo|Land}}s Don't actually have [[MemeticMutation over nine thousand]] [[LanguageEqualsThought words for snow]]. Or even many more than English's "slush", "sleet", "blizzard", "powder", and so on. They really only have two: Snow on the ground, and snow in the air. Everything else comes from combining these with other words, or adding adjectives.

* {{Eskimo|Land}}s DOn't actually have [[MemeticMutation over nine thousand]] [[LanguageEqualsThought words for snow]]. Or even many more than English's "slush", "sleet", "blizzard", "powder", and so on. They really only have two: Snow on the ground, and snow in the air. Everything else comes from combining these with other words, or adding adjectives.

** Nor do the {{Eskimo|Land}}s have [[MemeticMutation over nine thousand]] [[LanguageEqualsThought words for snow]]. Or even many more than English's "slush", "sleet", "blizzard", "powder", and so on. They really only have two: Snow on the ground, and snow in the air. Everything else comes from combining these with other words.
*** Or adding adjectives. Of course the Inuits have a language whose sentences are basically really long words, so technically you can have near-infinite numbers of "words" for snow, the same way you can have near-infinite number of sentences about snow in English, but the same applies to any given concept in existence.
*** [[VideoGame/{{Portal2}} They do, however, have 234 words for fudge.]]
** [[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/263/what-are-the-nine-eskimo-words-for-snow "Observe the snow. It fornicates."]] [[TheStraightDope -- Cecil Adams]]

-->Creator/WilliamShakespeare did not exist. His plays were masterminded in 1589 by Francis Bacon, who used a ouija board to enslave play-writing ghosts.
-->Edmund Hillary, the first person to climb Mount Everest, did so accidentally while chasing a bird.
-->Pants were invented by sailors of the sixteenth century to avoid Poseidon’s wrath. It was believed that the sight of naked sailors angered the sea god.
-->At some point in their lives, one in six children will be abducted by the Dutch.
-->[[MetaphoricallyTrue Humans can survive underwater,]] [[CaptainObvious but not for very long]].

-->''"Fact: Four out of five people are crushed to death by giant diamonds every day.''

* Not strictly spaking a vanilla game, but the "Uncle Sheogorath's helpful hints and tips" mod for ''{{VideoGame/Skyrim}}'' replaces the regular (accurate) information on the loading screens with observations and advice from everyone's favorite Daedric Prince of Madness, Sheogorath. Gems include that Skyrim's bears are harmless honey-eaters who make great pets for your children, that the Stormcloak Rebellion is all about mushrooms, that Khajit tails are hollow and used for smuggling (or, in an emergency, as a tent), that Draugr make for great and inexpensive dates, and that he used to be an adventurer like you. He also calls Clavicus Vile "oddly blurry", lampshades the unhealthy practice of eating disgusting alchemy ingredients, and insists that giants' toes are made of gold. (Which is metaphorically true, as they can be used to make a particularly potent - and thus valuable - potion.)

* "Or So I Have Read" by Music/TheyMightBeGiants involves the narrator reading from a book of of increasingly bizarre nonsense facts, claiming that barber poles are found in the wild, clouds are white because they're made of bone (which the narrator believes would explain why there are skeletons living in space), and that mimes are the hybrid offspring of clowns and ordinary humans.

* "Or So I Have Read" by Music/TheyMightBeGiants is a long list of increasingly bizarre nonsense facts, like "animals can smell your dreams" and "Barber poles are found in the wild / and caught in a cage".

* {{Jacksfilms}}' parodies of Mathew Santoro's 50 facts series definitely qualify.

* In a variant, Dr. Vincent Nigel-Murray of ''Series/{{Bones}}'' is full of these, but they're actually true. He eventually gets on ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and makes two million dollars. He tends to spew them off more often when he's nervous.

* 'blend in the terrain but to hide embarrassing stains on your underwear.

* [[http://undeniablefacts.com/ undeniablefacts.com]]

'''Linus''': Lucy, why is Charlie Brown [[{{Headdesk}} banging his head against a tree]]?\\

It is often said that truth is stranger than fiction[[note]][[TheAreasOfMyExpertise But it is never as strange as lies.]][[/note]]. Little Known Facts are much too strange to be true. These improbable legends may be explained by the KnowNothingKnowItAll, TheDitz or the {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, or just by someone trying to take advantage of the gullibility of some person, usually a child. If any questions are asked, the answers will only compound the absurdity.