Commonplace Fun Facts

Colorblindness: What It Is, What It Isn’t, and Why Your Charts Are the Problem

Explore colorblindness: what it is, common myths, causes, everyday challenges, and surprising advantages in this humorous, informative guide.

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April 4, 2026April 4, 2026

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Which is More Formidable?

In the early days of World War II, the Duke of Windsor (the former King Edward VIII), paid visits to French troops to help boost their morale. His flaccid grasp of the French language was also an occasional source of unintended levity. At one luncheon where he was the guest of the French Army, he…
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Getting Cut Off on the Phone Now Means Something Different

Found on a Telephone in Xining, China This telephone dials directly the telephone exchange. We sever you whole heartedly. Read more fun facts about languages. Read more fun facts about China.
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One Little Letter Makes All the Difference

Japanese speakers frequently have difficulty differentiating between the English letters “L” and “R”. This was particularly evident in 1950 when supporters of General Douglas MacArthur (then serving as military governor of Japan during the post-war occupation) tried to encourage him to run in the next US Presidential election. The banner stretched across a busy Tokyo…
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A Royal Snack

Second only to Elizabeth II herself, the star attraction at the 1953 Coronation was the massive Queen of Tonga, Salote Tupou III. As she rode by in an open carriage with her comparatively-small foreign minister, someone asked Noel Coward who the foreign minister was. Coward responded, “Her lunch.” source
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To Critique or Not to Critique?

Voltaire wrote of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “It is a vulgar and barbarous drama, which would not be tolerated by the vilest populace of France, or Italy…. One would imagine this piece to be the work of a drunken savage.”
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The Good and the Bad

Writing his assessment of an aspiring author’s work, Dr. Samuel Johnson wrote, “Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.”
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No Fan of Modernism

Al Capp, the creator and artist of the Lil’ Abner comic strip, described modern art as “a product of the unlettered, sold by the unprincipled, to the utterly bewildered.”
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Megalomania or Honest Assessment?

“If I spit, they will take my spit and frame it as great art.” — Pablo Picasso
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Carrying Method Acting a Bit Too Far

Edith Wheeler, a veteran actress, was playing the death scene in a Baltimore production of The Drunkard, in November 1986, when she dropped to the stage and, to tremendous applause, died. source
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From the Poison Pen of Robert Quillen

Robert Quillen (1887-1948), the editor of the Fountain Inn Tribune in South Carolina, was known for writing whatever came into his head. Heaven help whomever he was writing about if he was in a bad mood. For example, take this birth announcement:
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Laziness: the Cause of Boredom

Whenever he had to listen to a long-winded speaker or read a letter that went on and on, Abraham Lincoln would observe, “It’s like the lazy preacher who used to write long sermons; he’d get to writing and was too lazy to stop.”
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Newtonian Forgetfulness

Sir Isaac Newton, known for his absentmindedness, once left a visitor waiting while he unknowingly ate his own dinner. Upon realizing his mistake, Newton apologized and explained his fatigue. This humorous incident illustrates Newton’s dedication to his studies and the quirks of his personality.
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Funny… I Don’t Remember Being Absent-Minded

Jean de La Fontaine, a 17th century French author, is known for his simple animal stories laced with satire and social criticism. He was renowned for his absentmindedness, such as forgetting about a friend’s passing and not recognizing his own son at a social event.
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Don’t Look an Educated Horse in the Mouth

“Bernarr MacFadden had the wild glare of an educated horse doing a problem in arithmetic.” — Alva Johnston
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What Does He Really Think of Him?

“Calvin Coolidge, that runty, aloof little man who quacks through his nose when he speaks.” — William Allen White
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