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
List gets a 2/10.
Comments get a 9/10.
Its an ok list, but I think most people already knew almost all of them, I knew all but 2 of them. In defense of the list, I didn’t know about panda bears.
@118. segue
Oh blow me. There are two kinds of Panda. Did I say anything contradictory to your post.
Tonney SS, you so completely misunderstood what I said that I couldn’t possibly know where to begin.
So I won’t.
a think pandas are bears alright. the other you’re talking about is the lesser panda which really looks like a raccoon.
great list though, i was amazed by the mexican jumping beans
I had a little box of 3 or 4 Mexican Jumping beans when I was a kid. I forget how long, but after several months or so, I looked at the box. There were 2 little dead moths (that had matured from the larva stage) and the beans had little holes where the moths had chewed their way out.
I found out recently a sunflower seed is a fruit
Too much college education has left me asking “where are your sources?” :p
Good list.
a panda bear is not a bear? gee.always thought..that humungous huggable is a bear…hahaha..nice list!
So.
Is George Washington lying, or just trying to get us to go to some web site where we’ll (he hopes) buy into some deprogramming software, thereby making him rich?
#127. miller – May 31st, 2008 at 11:37 am
I found out recently a sunflower seed is a fruit
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Really? A fruit? I never knew this. I’m really surprised.
Why does it seem like every list’s comments are made by a mix of retired college professors, kids in the “special class,” a few guys taking a break from World of Warcraft and some cynical “ListVerse Dwellers” who seem to exist only to rain on everyone else’s parade??
rushfan -
rushfan: what group are you in
Rushfan: xD well put, very well put.
I can think of a few who belong in the first group.
And one right now who belongs in the last group *cough*
would that be you
MPW: I don’t think I belong to any of them, unless you think otherwise.
Sorry, spent the last five hours being with my ten month old daughter until she went to bed…I am simply a lover of lists and observer of comments of said lists
I’m new to this site, but honestly, reading the comments is almost as entertaining as the lists themselves at times. Attention-starved tweens bragging about being drunk and/or high, those of you who actually know each other using it as your own personal MySpace, and my personal fave, the “I’m too good for this, but I apparently have nothing else to do” crowd. Gotta love it!!
Wow only the internet call tell us theese things!
your usually pretty nice but at comment 135…..i dunno…
The bald of both ealges and old men comes from the root “bal” meaning white. White coloration and not lack of hair was the original meaning of the word.
douglas fir is not a pine, its name means false hemlock
I didn’t know that rabbits and hares were different. I love learning random trivia that probably won’t help me at all in life. Oh, well! =)
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Author: You don’t NEED to know my name *shifty eyes*
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OK!
This deserves a round of applause for the most sublime “Author” name I’ve run across.
Makes you wonder what he’s hiding. Hmmm
Its amazing i mean you cant khow without reading this its fantastic and what can i say its a fantabulous thing i have never seen
A fun list. I was going to comment on the Panda, but I see others have corrected the notion.
Keep it up!
Not only is the cucumber a fruit (ovary of a plaant which contains the seeds) but it’s also a gourd (related to squash a pumpkin) because it is a fruit that grows on a ground vine.
@Michael: Yeah, black tea in Mandarin Chinese is actually “red tea” (hong cha). =P
I knew most of the stuff on this list already, but it was still a fun read.
Dude! Sweetbreads = Ew!
That’s so cool. I learn something new everyday.
I’m just curious to how you find this information on a dailey basis? lol
24. A koala bear is not a bear – it is a marsupial
haha its funny coz every Australian knows that…and its really irratating people still call it a bear.
153. Georgia: Everyone with more than a kindergarten education I know calls them Koala’s. That they are marsupials is well known.
Pandas aren’t bears either, but they also get stuck with the appellation.
We’re going to be living with the misnomers of the early explorers for sometime yet, but the old names are dying out.
Take heart. One day everything will be called by it’s rightful name. Of course, you might not be around by the time that happens, but it will happen.
Number 9 is inaccurate many biologists believe the Giant Panda to be a bear.
155. PC: Everything I’ve read supports the raccoon relative theory.
turkish baths were invented by the assyrians a good 2000 years before rome in asia minor the romans inherited this idea. turkey is in asia minor ergo the baths are more turkish than roman
Georgia: I was about to say something just like that too! Nobody here calls them Koala /Bears/ They’re just Koalas.. XD
I think there’s a Song about it somewhere, I dunno.. Primary school had songs for everything.
Odd that a cucumber isn’t a vegetable, since it doesn’t have the sweet taste of fruit and can be grown in a garden (my dad grows it every year). Then again, the same can be said of tomatoes.
trfan, to me both cucumbers and tomatoes are sweet, so are red peppers, and yellow peppers.
So are carrots and celery for that matter, but those *are* vegetables.
Shortbread food of the gods
OH MY GOD….A PEANUT IS A LEGUME????
hey it says ’25′
where’s 25th????
ooooo yuff is right
good list, but some of these were horrifyingly obvious…
And this list is not what it seems to be, for it is caled “25 Things That Are Not What They Seem” but only has 24 items
Clever jfrater!
Sorry, but you should’ve stated that this is a list of incorrect names for these artifacts, not that they SEEM this way, just that they sound it. good list, though
good list jfrater , lovin the site m8, ive been coming for some time now , a year i think and ive never left a comment im bad aint i haha anyway keep up the good work :u
25. A list of 25 isn’t really a list of 25, it’s just 24.
Did you know that for Turks stable water considered dirty? In the history Turks dislike the idea of drinking from stable water (for example Roman water reservoir) or wash themself in stable water (bath tub).
That’s why traditional Turkish bath (hamam) doesnt contain any bathtub or pool etc. By the way, steam in hamam isnt a contolled one but side effect of hot springs that hamams built on.
in australia we know koalas are not bears because we dont call them koala bears we just call them koalas, whoever calls a koala a kala bears are stupid
hmm…
i think the one about the funny bone is wrong…
the funny bone is called that way because its real name is humerus bone w/c sounds lyk humerous w/c means funny…
It is not commonly known that a Red Panda is not a Panda. It is not even a bear. Red Panda’s come from the same family as Racoons.
HEY ITS ONLY TIL 24 HAHA
but kuul list all the same
@ingrid (174): HEY ITS ONLY TIL 24
Well then obviously that is the 25th thing that isn’t what it may seem.
A ***** star is not a star, just a bad actor.
Why is everyone saying “umm derr a panda IS A BEAR”
…
The list says KOALA BEAR is not a bear! Not Panda! Koalas are from Australia. And Australians don’t actually call them koala bears. We already know that they are marsupials.
A shooting star is not a metorite (sic), it is a meteor. A meteorite is an object that has already hit the earth.
pencils did contain lead.
sweetbreads are commonly referred to as the genitals of an animal.
It took me 2.4 seconds to look for #25, then I laughed and laughed.