As is obvious from the fact that I write the majority of articles on this site, I love lists. Recently I was reading through a book filled with interesting facts and figures I stumbled upon this list – 25 things that are not what they seem. It seemed perfect for the site, and so I have reproduced it here for you all. Without further ado, 25 things that are not what they seem:
1. A firefly is not a fly – it is a beetle
2. A prairie dog is not a dog – it is a rodent [image above]
3. India ink is not from India – it is from China and Egypt
4. A horned toad is not a toad – it is a lizard
5. A lead pencil does not contain lead – it contains graphite
6. A douglas fir is not a fir – it is a pine [image above]
7. A silkworm is not a worm – it is a caterpillar
8. A peanut is not a nut – it is a legume
9. A koala bear is not a bear – it is a marsupial
10. An English horn is not English and it isn’t a horn – it is a French alto oboe
11. A guinea pig is not from guinea and it is not a pig – it is a rodent from South America
12. Shortbread is not a bread – it is a thick cookie [image above]
13. Dresden China is not from Dresden – it is from Meissen
14. A shooting star is not a star – it is a metorite
15. A funny bone is not a bone – it is the spot where the ulnar nerve touches the humerus
16. Chop suey is not a native Chinese dish – it was invented by Chinese immigrants in California
17. A bald eagle is not bald – it has flat white feathers on its head and neck when mature, and dark feathers when young [image above]
18. A banana tree is not a tree – it is a herb
19. A cucumber is not a vegetable – it is a fruit
20. A jackrabbit is not a rabbit – it is a hare
21. A piece of catgut is not from a cat – it is usually made from sheep intestines
22. A Mexican jumping bean is not a bean – it is a seed with a larva inside
23. A Turkish bath is not Turkish – it is Roman
24. A sweetbread is not a bread – it is the pancreas or thymus gland from a calf or lamb [image above]
Source: The Book of Lists, 2
wtf. This is retarded.
This is stuff you learn in like 4th grade. Terrible list.
And, uh, yeah, pandas are bears.
Very good, why take the time to research if a Panda is a bear when clearly the list states Koala Bear? Maybe, reading isn’t fundamental but being a jerk is.
Why not look up the definition of “Retarded” and see if the word belongs on this list.
Awesome list. I honestly didn’t know a rabbit was technically different from a hare! Another reason this site is great, it learns me stuff.
Kudos
The things we learn…
Great list
OOOOOO number 2!
Panda Bear IS A BEAR.
Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca, “black-and-white cat-foot”; traditional Chinese: 大熊貓; simplified Chinese: 大熊猫; pinyin: Dàxióngmāo; literally: “big bear cat”) is a mammal classified in the bear family (Ursidae), native to central-western and southwestern China. The panda was PREVIOSLY thought to be a member of the Procyonidae.
The article referred to Koalas. READ!
FAIL
!!!
That only speaks for the Giant Panda. The original Red Panda is more closely related to raccoons.
Ha ha ha! Listen to me laugh at your epic fail.
I love lists like this. These facts equal power *evil*
I’ve learned soo much.
great list, but I don’t see how a panda bear can not be a bear.
Fail.
That sweetbread looked tasty until I read the description.
Grooaaannnn…
…and a computer mouse is not actually a rodent, but a plastic device with an optical eye inside. And speakers do not actually “speak” but project sound from a designated source. And black tea is not actually black, but reddish brown…
Groooaaannnn…
Having to read sarcasm from people who don’t know how to lighten up and enjoy this website.
jfrater:
everytime I log on and go to a list, I get logged out. Then sometimes after I make a comment it logs me in again…
it would be interseting to see your source Nikola. Probably Wikipedia…
interesting*
I agree with warrrreagl, lighten up people its just a list…
I thought this was quite a light-hearted list, fun to read. Obviously some of the other commenters don’t seem to think so.
The giant panda has an enlarged, flexible wrist bone, the sesamoid bone, which allows it to grasp bamboo stems.Its cousin, the lesser panda, also has this “false thumb”. For this reason, SOME scientists regard the giant panda as a member of the raccoon family or place it in its own family, the Ailuridae.
Funny List. It’s not that serious people!!!
Why is everyone so negative today? I, personally, didn’t know a cucumber was a fruit. So, good list, I say. Nice interesting read for my morning.
Sweetmeats are not meat–they’re bread.
I watch too much QI on BBC2 so i know most of these. Nice list though must be a good book.
This was fun to wake up to today! I don’t know why everyone is being so cranky, I don’t think the list was made to be anything but light-hearted….ugh…
Have fun with google maps (.com gives better results) try these:
From Mouth to Ass
From Cradle to Grave
From A to B
cool list XD
i am not The-Dude but why does it show my name wtf jamie :s
btw i havent even registered
i suppose its a bug
You are not me! Get out of my head.
Lol @ Dude
LOL. (It’s too early for groans anyway)
This reminds me of a Mike Myers sketch on Saturday Night Live called “Coffee Talk”. Myers played a stereotypical Jewish woman hosting the show. When she got upset, she said things like:
“The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire. Discuss.” (This quote is based on a famous comment by Voltaire.)
“The peanut is neither a pea nor a nut. Discuss.” (Oh, you did this one already…)
“Duran Duran is neither a Duran nor a Duran. Discuss.”
“Rhode Island is neither a road nor is it an island. Discuss.”
“The Thigh Master is neither a thigh nor a master. Discuss.”
“The Progressive Era was neither progressive nor an era. Discuss.”
“The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is neither Mormon nor a tabernacle nor a choir. Discuss.”
Ah, the infinite wisdom of Wikipedia strikes again.
I didn’t know one or two of these so nice list. As previously mentioned, Giant Pandas, although once thought to be a member of the raccoon family are now classified as bears. I think The-Dude mentioned them being classified as Ailuridae but as far as I know the Red Panda is the only surviving member of that family.
From http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/PandasForKids/classification/classification.htm :
The classification of the panda has been the subject of much debate. Some scientists thought that the giant panda should be classified with the red panda, which until recently was considered to be in the raccoon family. The red panda now has its own family. Both the giant panda and the red panda feed on bamboo and have long wrist bones that work like a human thumb to hold onto plants. However, by *****yzing the DNA of pandas and related animals, scientists have concluded that the giant panda is more closely related to bears and have placed the panda in the bear family Ursidae. The classification of the giant panda and related animals is shown below.
midnightdj: That’s pretty interesting, thanks for posting it
Just quietly, in #14 it’s spelled meteorite, and it’s not one until it hits the earth. While in the atmosphere it’s a meteor (where it’s visible to humans as a “shooting star”) and before it reaches the atmosphere it’s a meteroid.
What is the difference between a hare and a rabbit?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare
And just what is wrong with Wikipedia? 99% of the time the information is accurate, and the other 1% is due to vandalism. As long as sources are cited, I see no problem with Wikipedia.
Also, what is up with #25? Shortbread is the pancreas of a lamb or calf? Should that say something else?
Shortbread is number 14, the one you are talking about is called sweetbreads and sometimes it is also made from animals brains!!
a fun break to the day, thanks. that said….both firs and pines are in the pine family as are douglas-firs. They are in their own genus, Pseudotsuga, not the pine (Pinus) genus nor the fir (Abies) genus.
I love this List. Not just today’s List, but the List in general. Although I usually know most of the information on any given List, due to a wasted lifetime of reading non-fiction; sciences, histories, biographies, maths, reference works, et al., I come to the List for simple joy, and because I occasionally learn something I can follow-up with and learn more about.
So it makes me both sad and irritated when some small-minded people rend some half-understood information on the List, replacing, on occasion, with absolute pap or, more usually, with nothing except poorly executed sarcasm.
These people steal my joy. Worse, they steal the joy of others who, like me, come to the List for their morning dose of joy.
Grow up.
I can’t tell you how blown my mind was when I heard that, after years of knowing that pandas weren’t really bears, that they ARE in fact bears! I was so shaken, like I’d just realized the real world is really the Matrix. I started thinking, what if the scientists were right all along, and pandas weren’t bears, but then they changed and became bears. Then I wondered if the Earth used to be flat until they decided it was round, then it became round. Then I woke up naked in the gutter.
Many of these appeared in a Ripley’s Believe it or Not book our family had when I was a child. As I remember, another was “The alligator pear is neither an alligator nor a pear; it is an avocado.”
Whether we use the botanical definition “fruit” or the layman’s depends on how to classify the cucumber. In cuisine the cucumber is a fruit. Botanically, a fruit is the ripened ovary of a flowering plant. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, nuts, all fit that definition. I will now climb off my high horse and go back to work.
If you live in or near Isle of Wight, England, you will know the following town names and such:
Needles you cannot thread
Freshwater you cannot drink
Cowes you cannot milk
Newport you cannot bottle
Lake you can walk through and stay dry
Ryde where you walk! and two newer wonders…
Newtown which is old
Winkle street where there are no winkles
I only knew six of these, some website may have added the other two
“Panda Bear IS A BEAR.”
I wonder if he meant koala bear…
Rocky Mountain Oysters are not rocky they are not mountains and they are not oysters
They are Bull Testicles. “Yum”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_oysters
Talk about “Things That Are Not What They Seem”
Has anybody ever had these?
Fun list by the way.
Robeywan: Reminds me of somebody who tried to convince me that tomatoes were vegetables. His reasoning was that one does not eat vegetables raw and that since he did not eat raw tomatoes it was a vegetable. Uhhh….. *facepalm*
I loved this list till I got to sweetbreads part right before I had my lunch. Someone tricked me into eating sweetbreads when I was 12. Imagine me as just a youngin’ expecting well..sweet bread and getting animal innards. I’m glad I didn’t turn into a vegitarian on the spot. ( I couldn’t, I like my steak too much!)
And there were some things on here I was not aware of. I guess my elementary school was not as sophisticated as Mr. Chris up there at number 12. Either that or I was busy learning manners that day..he must’ve skipped out on that lesson.
Banana trees are an herb? mind blown
I’m glad to hear that Giant Pandas are bears again (assuming people have their facts right). Red Pandas I can see being related to raccoons, but Giant Pandas? That threw me for a loop. I was picturing Giant Pandas going through my garbage.
And here is my uptight comment… don’t most people call a pencil a graphite pencil now? I do.
Also: mincemeat is not minced meat … as a kid I did NOT know that and was always grossed out at the thought of mincemeat pie XD
And: morning sickness doesn’t only happen in the morning … dunno who decided to call it “morning” sickness …
Sweetbreads are tasty if prepared properly. As for the vegetable/fruit debate – I was always told that if it had seeds it was a fruit and no seeds was a vegetable.
catgut is short for cattle-gutz
#5 – lead pencils USED to contain lead… and the name persists to this day.
A dragonfly is neither a dragon nor a fly!
Wasn’t Rhode Island named after the Island of Rhodes??
Cheesecake is not cake? OMG!!!! :-O
turkish baths are not turkish?
lol i am turkish and i didn’t know about this fact
well, i’ve never been in one actually.
The-Dude (the one who mentioned Qi)Thats the BEST show ever I love Stephen and Alan.
Okay, so I can curse the english language and other inventors who failed with creating good quality lead pencils using real lead… or was that taking the lead in lead production? I can’t remember whether I lead the way or lead the way now… or if I had so much lead in my britches that I lost the lead? Hurray for graphite! Of which I have several puncture marks from my childhood which still show grey/black under the skin/scar.
The Hundred Years’ War did not last for 100 years but 116.
A hot dog is named because it resembles a dog’s tail , it’s not really a foxxy dog
An egg cream is really chocolate flavored syrup with seltzer and milk. It typically contains neither eggs nor cream
Cars are driven on a parkway and parked on a driveway.
Tear gas is not a gas, but a (solid) crystalline substance
Mongooses are mammals, not geese
French fries did not originate in France. There are some doubts about their origin, but they most likely were invented in Belgium. They’re called “French” because vegetables sliced in that manner are called “julienned”, which sounds French.
French horns originated in Germany, not France.
The Canary Islands are not named after the canary, but dogs, the Latin word for dogs being canis. In fact, the bird was named after the islands, and not the other way round.
Chinese checkers did not originate in China (or even Asia). The name was meant to sound more exotic to American ears
Anti-Semitism is prejudice against Jews, not all Semites.
info from wikipedia
I was so delight to see a prairie dog on the front page. They been my favorite animal since I saw them at Brookfield Zoo (Chicago) when I was in Kindergarten.
i thought the guinea pig is a member of the rabbit family
Malt liquor is not malted, nor is it liquor.
dofnup: actually mincemeat pie does have meat in it. At least real mincemeat pie does. There are some areas of the world that call certain kinds of pecan pie or even fudge pie mincemeat.
I didnt know that a cucumber was a fruit. I think I am going to have to do some investigation into that one.
Nice, fun list to brighten up the mood of these mid-week blues. I always learn alil sumthin’ on this site!
A pickle is not a pickle; it is a cucumber.