Category: Facts

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People Divulge Their Weirdly Interesting Family Facts

Families are full of all kinds of secrets and surprising moments, and it’s important that we keep them in the family.

But sometimes, in the anonymity of a Reddit thread, some of the truth comes out.

Redditor QueenMoogle asked:

“What are some weird or interesting facts about your families?”

There was talk of family trees.

“I placed my newborn for adoption (open adoption, chose the family myself). A few years later my sister got pregnant and placed her newborn with the same family.”

“So the children are growing up as siblings and are cousins by blood. (This was over 20 years ago.)” – ihateknickknacks

“Not that unheard of but my husband likes to tell people about when he first met my family. He went with me to visit one side (my Mother’s family) for Thanksgiving and met many of my Uncles, Aunts, and cousins.”

“The next day, we were going to have Thanksgiving on my other side (my Father’s family). When we walked in the door that next day, he stopped and his eyes got really wide, and he loudly whispered, “These are the same people,’ and I went, ‘Yeah, I know… surprise!’”

“My mother’s brother married my father’s sister and my mother’s other sister married my father’s first cousin.”

“And then if that isn’t confusing enough, my Grandmother and Grandfather were first cousins when they got married. (legal as he was adopted as a teenager).”

“My Grandmother said she did this so she never had to change her last name and she was the only girl short enough for him. My Grandfather was only 5 ft 2 inches and my Grandmother was 5 ft. Both came from Canada. Out of their 8 children, including two sons, the tallest is one of my aunts at 5 ft. 4 in. Luckily my mother (5 ft) married my dad who was 6ft 2 inch so we at least have some height in our family.” – Tbjkbe

“We recently found out that I have at least 5 half-siblings because my parents decided it would be nice (and financially beneficial) for my dad to make some donations around the time I was born.” – BananaMantis

Some had some tough family history to accept. 

“My great grandfather got in a fight with his sister when he was 12, said ‘F**k this,’ asked for work on a boat as a cabin boy, got on a ship, and left England.”

“He never went back. We have no idea if that side of the family even knows he survived, but I kind of want to go to the English town and tell my distantly extended family, ‘So you know that little kid in your family history who just sort of disappeared? Well, he lived! Surprise!’”

“Another great grandfather stole a cannon from China (which my grandfather blew up accidentally with my dad nearby), then left his future descendants a letter, telling us, ‘If you still have this last name and go to this part of China, don’t mention your name. They might still be pretty p**sed off that I stole their cannon.’”

“A few generations back, a dude got kicked out of Norway for getting his maid and his sister pregnant. When he got to the US, he then befriended another guy from Scandinavia and stole his wife.”

“It’s funny because part of the family laughs about this, and part refuses to admit it ever happened even though we have proof it did.” – Vonozar

“My great grandmothers maiden name was Messerschmidt. rumor has it that a relative designed the Messerschmidt planes in Germany during the first world war. There’s no way to prove it though.”

“And on the other side of the family, My great-great grandfather’s name was James Potter.” – shroomie19

“My great uncle was in the car with JFK when he was assassinated.” – Sterling_-_Archer

“My grandfather was the first Black aerospace engineer in the United States.” – cycloneju51

“My great grandparents both worked for Thomas Edison, which is how they met. That great-grandmother is super bada**, too… she came to the States when she was 15 and didn’t speak English, just as the German Depression was getting bad.”

“She had to teach herself English and raise enough money to bring her starving family over from Germany to join her here. She lost all her savings in the US stock market crash and had to start all over, but she did it!”

“Okay, I talked to my mom and I was mistaken. Only my great-grandmother worked for him originally, and she met my great-grandfather while in NYC with Edison and his second wife.”

“She went out with a friend who was also German, who brought her out with a group of German friends, which is where she met my great-grandfather. After they were married, he too went to work for Edison, and that’s where I got the story mixed up. I’m sorry for the error!”

“Also, a commenter asked how they thought of him, since Edison was known as kind of a jerk. I copied my reply from another comment here:”

“So I asked my mom, and she said that her grandmother never felt he liked her very much. She was maid to him and his second wife toward the end of his life.”

“When she brought him meals or came in to tidy up, he wouldn’t speak to her and wouldn’t even make eye contact.”

“He was able to be up and walking around the grounds and conversing with others though, and he always wondered if it was because of her station, or because she was German.” – joey1115

Others were incredibly impressed by their family histories. 

“We only die in March. Dogs, grandparents, uncles, we all die in March.” – AnarchyBea

“I had an ancestor who lied about his age to join up with the Union Army in the American Civil War in 1861. He fought in most of its bloodiest battles: Antietam, Shiloh, and Gettysburg to name a few.”

“He survived all of those to come home to the family farm at the end of the war, where he promptly died of a fever he had picked up in camp.” – captainthomas

“My grandad was poisoning my nan’s tea with rat poison for ages. She was documenting it and told the police, they did a huge bust on him and arrested him in front of all their kids (inc. my mum).”

“In court, he admitted to it, he agreed to all the charges, he did the deed. Eventually, the judge, flummoxed, asked ‘… But why?’”

“And his answer was, ‘Because we agreed to it.’”

“Apparently, they had made an agreement to use rat poison to home-treat her deep vein thrombosis (this brand was basically a blood thinner so the rats couldn’t clot when they got injured, and they both distrust doctors). This woman is crazy and I fully believe my grandad’s side.”

“The case got thrown out of court.” – Howlingz

While some secrets are hard for us to accept, especially when they relate to our families, many of the truths in our families are what helped form our families into what they are, from the family tree itself to important involvement in history.

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Former Flat Earthers Explain Why They Finally Came Around

Despite hard evidence the earth is NOT flat, many naysayers, known as “flat earthers” insist our planet is not at all spherical, whatsoever.

And if they could, they would go to the ends of the earth to prove it. But none ever have, because, well, they’ll wind up right where they started in their quest to prove their ridiculous point.

But among those who proclaim our planet is as flat as a stale slice of flatbread, some have come to their senses.

So how did these people manage to undo what they were so convinced of was not possible?

Strangers online revealed how they saw the light or made flat earthers accept reality when Redditor jbarms asked:

“Former Flat Earthers. What made you come round?”

Explaining Basic Concepts

“I talked to a flat-earther about my job working for a company that tracks ship locations, routes, and speeds by satellite. We also had ways of monitoring carbon emissions based on fuel consumption and known weather conditions.”

“None of this would work at all if the earth was flat. Not a jot of it.”

“I could only explain the most basic concepts, but it was enough for him to understand and realise that I was right and that he’d been convinced by someone who had no practical experience of the spherical nature of the Earth.”

“I think that’s what really did it – my experience was really tangible. This happens then this happens then we measure this etc etc… no theory, just practice.”

“A bit like showing a child a rock dropping to the ground in order to explain gravity, rather than giving them the whole theoretical shebang. Y’know?” – Administrative-Task9

A Competing Theory

“The mobius strip earthers had more compelling arguments.” – jnhummel

A Timely Realization

“Quote I got from somewhere…”

“for 5 years I believed the Earth was flat, then I turned 6” – -QED-

It Was Worth A Try

“I convinced a flat earther, temporarily, by asking him if it was possible for a sphere to be so large that you could not tell it was a sphere my simply being on the surface of it.”

“It took him a while, I used an analogy of a extremely long line that was so slightly curved you could not tell so by looking at a small section of it.”

“Eventually he said yes to the sphere and I told him that was how big the earth is. A few days later he reverted, most of these people aren’t mentally stable, they believe in a lot of conspiracies.”

“Corny edit, but as connoisseur of flat earth content my personal favorite is Professor Dave on YouTube. He is a underappreciated dude who just had a Science channel on YouTube and got brigaded by flat earthers for an unrelated video.”

“He made like 6 video responses in total just owning these guys but they eventually gave up. Check it out.” – McClain3000

A Foolproof Method

“What I like to do is use telescopes. This telescope is strong enough to see distant stars and galaxies, yes? Okay, look out this direction across the ocean. Can you see Europe?” – HavanosArcova

Possible Profitability If True

“Look, it’s really easy:”

“If the Earth is flat, there would be an edge(s). And there would be a f’king Disney park at the edge, and we could bungie jump off the side and paraglide into the void etc etc.”

“Someone would be making an absolute sh*t ton of money off of it – if it existed.”

“Guess what? Nobody is doing that – adn in this world where absolutely everything is exploited for profit – if no one is making money off of it – it does.not.exist. No edge. Not flat. Get a clue.” – Gedwyn19

Approach With Kindness

“I watched a documentary about flat earthers called ‘Truth behind the curve’ and my analysis from watching that these flat earthers are a group of people who found a community to be a part of.”

“It’s a shame their community is based on a lie, but I saw a bunch of people who were to be part of A community.”

“Most of the people were social awkward and whatnot, and so an opportunity to be an influential figure within the community so they double down on their flawed logic.”

“The more against you are of them, the harder they rep their flatness.” – imthatguydavid

“I was debating a flat earther in Mexico, and I asked him about how GPS worked if there were no satellites. He said that they had devices in the ground to route you.”

“I told him the Mexican government is barely able to put decent water pipes in the ground; would he really think they had the tech to put routing devices in the ground?”

“He chuckled with a thousand mile gaze.” – mzaouar

The Authority On All Things Space

“A serious answer here.”

“The thing that made me stop was just the question ‘why would nasa lie to you.’”

“I will try replying to all of yall but will go to a study hall so ill reply later.” – The_Holy_Fork

Impossible Secret

“This a solid point, there’s no way 70,000 scientist could keep it a secret.” – needsmoreusername

“That’s the biggest reason for me to not believe so many conspiracy theories, especially major ones like a Flat Earth… We know how often things leak about everything, and suddenly a collection of 10s of thousands of people are all gonna keep this one big secret?” – JerHat

“Flat earth is absolutely sh*t tier. It not only fails on the level you described, but also: why? Why pretend the shape of the earth is different than it is? When does someone convene a high level meeting to circulate that idea?” – heseme

Some Deep Digging

“I spent about a year infiltrating the flat Earth community on Instagram. I garnered a decent following with an account dedicated to flat earth travel photos (an intentionally absurd premise). In that time I learned a quite a bit about the community including how to discern the trolls from the real deal.”

“The majority of legit flat earthers are extremely distrustful of anything the government says or does. These same people are 9/11 truthers, Holocaust deniers, and anti-vaxxers and they connect these conspiracies together.”

“Many of them have also attached flat Earth theory to religion, magic, or mysticism. Before my infiltration I’d always considered conspiracies fun. Like they were the fan fiction of real life. Now they mostly make me sad.”

“For all the phony accounts like mine, there are still plenty of people out there willing to drop a couple of hundred dollars on a flat Earth convention.” – Zelph_Onandagus

The Trip Confirmed It

“Had to travel to Japan, gave up on my beliefs in order to make a shorter trip.” – uvzla792

Based on some of the comments above, it is entirely possible to change the minds of people who have pretty much been rejected from society and found acceptance from a community with whom they shared the same flawed logic.

It may have taken some hard convincing, but eventually, they flat-out came ’round.

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People Share The Facts That Were Hidden From Them As Children

Breaking:

It has come to our attention that in most places it is NOT, in fact, illegal to have your vehicle’s interior cabin light on at night.

It’s just really distracting and annoying.

Some day some parents decided it was just easier to say it was illegal and it kind of stuck since then. Parents have just been out here telling kids half-truths like it’s literal law.

Reddit user jagenton25 asked: 

“What’s a fact that was hidden from you as a child?”

I know I just said half-truths, but some of these are outright lies—and outright brilliant.

Official Policies

“It is actually not the official policy of Wonderland (large amusement park near where I grew up) that you are only allowed to visit once per year.”

“I’m not mad, I actually think it was hilarious that my parents convinced us of this.”

– pm-a-surprise

“My parents let us believe that you were only allowed to go to Chuck E Cheese on your birthday (or your sister’s birthday, I guess).”

– kaleidoverse

“As a parent who had to pay for Wonderland…. this is amazing.”

– QueenA68

The Trade-In Program

“There isn’t a trade-in program to bring in old legos to get new ones. Some f*cker just stole all my legos from our parked car and my parents told me this so I would not be sad.”

“I hope he experienced the small parts choking hazard himself, the c*nt.”

– Buroda

“I know they’re expensive, but there has to be a special place in hell for someone who steals Legos.”

“You have to know you’re stealing from a child. What a piece of sh*t…”

– JADW27

Special Tailored

“Birthday Suits are not real suits.”

“Growing up in a household where the attire was a cross between business attire and church clothes, I always assumed the term Birthday Suit was a special tailored suit that was given to you on your birthday.”

– brokenturle

“Yeah. I made this mistake, except I made it when I was older and working.”

“I was so excited about going out for my 21st birthday with my brand new outfit. I told everyone I was going to wear my birthday suit.”

“A coworker had to pull me aside and tell me what it was. He was almost in tears from laughing so hard at me.”

“I still say it though because it’s funny and a great memory.”

– WeHaveGuns

That’s Illegal – Or Is It?

“That playing around with the interior lights while in a moving vehicle is actually legal… It’s just annoying.”

– Atomic_Chad

“I thought this was illegal until even after college.”

“Thanks, Mom and Dad. So many times it would have been helpful to turn the inside light on while I’ve been in the car in the dark!”

– Kartash

“My whole life is a lie!!!”

– ABotchedVasectomy

“My parents were the same. They would freak out if I turned it on.”

“I found out after turning 16 that it was because the windshield of our van became a f*cking mirror when a light was turned on inside while it dark outside.”

“Couldn’t see a f*cking thing.”

– gslwbfianf

Steve

“I grew up thinking I had a 6th sibling—a stillborn brother named Steve.”

“My older brothers told me about ‘Steve’ when I was about five, and I didn’t believe them, so I went to verify this information with my mother.”

“My mother has run a tutoring business out of our house for as long as I’ve been alive. She’s usually exceptionally busy; I think she had about eight students when I went to ask her.”

“My mom had five young kids. We were poor. She was always hustling and exceptionally busy.”

“She didn’t have time to deal with our crap while she was tutoring, and we mostly just asked her if we could get food and she would usually respond yes.”

“So I ask her whether I had a sixth sibling named Steve. She doesn’t even look up.”

“She just says something like “Yeah, yeah, now go play somewhere else.”

“I, of course, take this as unequivocal proof that Steve existed and that he was dead. It came from my mother’s own mouth, after all.”

“I believe this for the next decade. I only think about poor stillborn Steve once in a while on his supposed birthday, and I don’t bring it up again for eleven years.”

“I was at a debate tournament with my brother, hanging out with all my closest friends, when we start talking about dead family members.”

“Somebody’s grandmother is dead. Somebody lost their brother. I mention I have a dead brother, too. His name was Steve.”

“And then this uncomfortable exchange happens in front of everyone.”

“‘Who’s Steve?’ my brother asks.”

“‘Our stillborn brother, remember?’”

“‘Huh?’”

“‘You told me about him when I was five?’”

“A slow grin spreads across my brother’s face. I know this grin. Everyone in my family calls it his Chinese Devil Grin because it means trouble.”

“‘Wait,’ he says. ‘You’ve believed that for eleven years!? We made that up’.”

“‘But mom confirmed it!’”

“‘Nope. Totally made up. I can’t believe you actually thought that for eleven years!’”

“I’m not going to explain what happened afterward, but people called me ‘Steve’ for weeks. Also, I double-checked with my mother. There was no Steve.”

“So the fact that I DIDN’T have a brother named Steve was hidden from me as a child, I guess.”

– Thomhobbes

That One Tomato Plant

“My parents were gardeners.”

“We were pretty poor, so we did subsistence gardening and ate out of that garden most of the summer, and fished for protein.”

“BUT they also grew this herb, which looked a lot like tomato plants.”

“That’s what I thought it was—except it never grew tomatoes and was kept in a separate garden.”

“I did finally catch on, but it took a while.”

“Young mary jane plants look a lot like young tomato plants. My folks were hippies who had a very decent crop, which I now understand in retrospect.” 

– calcaneus

“We had a huge garden, but my father always kept one tomato plant growing in a lighted box in the basement closet.”

– Rosyshortcake

“The funny thing is it kind of smells like tomato plants, too. Oh, and they also have nearly identical nutritional requirements.”

– Capt_Hawkeye_Pierce

I Ain’t Afraid Of No Magic

“My dad had a 45rpm of the Ghostbusters theme song. He would play it for my brothers and I, and then say that he was magic and he would make the words disappear.”

“He would pick the record up, shake it around, say some magic words, and put it back on the record player.”

“Lo and behold, when the song started playing again, there were no vocals.”

“It blew our minds! Our dad really knew a magic trick!”

“Then I forgot about it for 15 years.”

“My dad decides he wants to get rid of most of his record collection, and asks me if I wanted any before he gave them away.”

“So, I’m sorting through the stack of 45s and there it is; The Ghostbusters theme! I excitedly hold it up, and remember the magic trick.”

“Then I flip it over and see that the B-Side was the instrumental version.”

“Of course I burst into laughter at the realization that I fell for such a simple trick. But I still had to confront Dad.”

“So, I bust into the kitchen all serious and toss him the disc.”

“I said accusingly: ‘what’s this!?’”

“‘Uh….The Ghostbusters theme song?’”

“‘Yeah, and what’s the B-Side?’”

“‘The instrumental version?’”

“‘Magic words my ass!’”

“The memory suddenly clicked and he started laughing hysterically. I guess it was something we had all forgotten.”

– ChuckZombie

So now that you’ve had some time to recover from the shock of that whole interior light thing, and you’ve read through what Reddit has to say, it’s your turn at the mic.

What truths did your family hide from you as a kid?

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People Break Down The Most Expensive Wastes Of Money

Money can be hard to come by these days. There’s often no room for error or waste.

A global study from 2014 showed that only 33% of adults were financially literate. The study measured the individuals understanding of basic numeracy, interest compounding,
inflation, and risk diversification.

With only a small percentage of the population able to understand 3 out of 4 of these concepts, there are a lot of ways people can waste money.

So we went to AskReddit to learn about the biggest wastes of money so we don’t make the same mistakes.

Redditor Animeking1108 asked:

“What is the most expensive waste of money?”

Get your note pads ready!

Scams around water.

“Designer water.” – invalidpassword

“Voss, Fiji etc.” – SnooPoems5454

“Voss has a good quality bottle. Buy it once then refill it from the tap for 6 months.” – Dr_D-R-E

“Smart water bottles are popular with backpackers for a similar reason. Thin, durable and lightweight.” – sctbct

“Or structured water.” – VattghernCZ

Phone psychics.

“My ex-girlfriend had an obsession with phone psychics. Not all at once, but over the course of a single year she spent over $15k getting ‘life advice’ from multiple psychic lines.”

“No one in her circle of family or friends could convince her to stop. I haven’t spoken with her in a few years but I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s still wasting her money on them.” – Hollywood899

“Haha my friend used to be a phone psychic and she got paiiiiid. She said the people who typically called would obviously want to hear her say certain things so she would say them and they’d just keep calling.” – wasabitamale

“She spent at least 41 dollars per day in psychics. Wow. Why not just learn magic herself at thst point?” – Yokhen

Forgotten on the train.

“Well, I bought some Christmas presents and then immediately forgot them on the train so I would say that lol. I went back the next day and literally bought the same stuff. I just hope whoever found it either needed it or uses it for their own gifts.” – FluffDuckling

“I bought Chanel glasses once and left them in a taxi before ever putting them on my stupid face.” – northshorebunny

“I forgot sh*t I purchased once in the cart when I got to my car. I didn’t take anything out.” – IronyIntended2

A mobile app.

“The I’m Rich app. When launched, the screen only contains a glowing red gem and an icon.”

“It cost $999.99. You can’t buy it anymore but it was an expensive waste of money.” – GonnaGoFat

“The guy did it as a joke too and people bought it thinking that no one would actually dump thousands on an app.”

“This message brought to you by [mobile app]. Use my code and save 5% on the $999.99 Christmas beginner package.” – PM-Me-Your-TitsPlz

“I feel like he could probably sell the NFT for that app.” – runawaycity2000

Shopping while hungry.

“Shopping when I’m hungry.” – thatluckyfox

“Lol oh yeah, go shopping for sponges and come out with $50 worth of junk food. Stopping at McDonald’s for fries beforehand has saved me so much money.” – Slight-Ad-1744

Cable is dying.

“Cable service, especially since half the channels are f* cking ads.” – Firebolt164

I was paying for YouTube TV for a while and then realized sh*t, I’m paying $65 a month for this and have a sh*t load of commercials. I could take that $65 a month and subscribe to the ad free versions of Paramount +, Disney +, Peacock, HBO Max, and Discovery + get all the same channels and have no ads.”

“TV service is f*cking insane.” – CrowGrandFather

“It’s even worse for us. We live out in the country 15 miles from the nearest town. Other only tv or internet service available is Satellite. We have Hughes net and Direct TV as the players. We have satellite internet and we had their TV service. It was atrocious. First, the 5 second lag between changing channels made channel surfing impossible. Second, they advertised a 200 channel package and we had 35 actual channels with content. The rest were all infomercials or music channels. We need to f*cking sue them for that ad practice.” – Firebolt164

Gender reveal party.

“A gender reveal party that burns down half of the state?” – wickedblight

“It really sucks that half of California is on fire but hey it’s a boy!” – DogsAreCool69420

“Too many people have tried to go all out for their gender reveal parties, and end up burning their house down, at the very least. Don’t understand it myself really. They already have baby showers. Just reveal the gender there. Why withhold what parts your child will be born with from friends and family to make a party out of something everyone is going to find out eventually anyway?” – Unabashable

“It’s very self indulgent. People act like they’re withholding information that you’d just die to hear when they make you wait for a gender reveal party. I’m happy for them but I couldn’t care less about the sex . My aunt asked me if I ever had kids what would I do for a gender reveal party. I did not mince my words: ‘I will take out my phone, find the family group chat and be like ‘what’s up fam! By the way it’s a boy. Now who’s up for painting the nursery?’” – blonderazor

What is it good for?

“War. Having a sworn enemy is expensive.” – theProfileGuy

“Did you know the war in Afghanistan cost the USA $300 million per day for two decades?

“Insanity.” – PM_ME_AYY_LMAOS

“Only expensive to the taxpayer and the ones fighting it. Profitable for everyone else involved.” – roundbrain5

“But free healthcare would be a waste of money?” – New_Needleworker6506

Payday loans.

“Payday loans. Is that still a thing?” – kincage

“Oh man I know this one. My dad lost his cushy a** job and had to take a massive pay cut so with all his expenses he’s on payday loan from A to pay back B to get more cash to pay off C and it goes on and on. My grandma always said my dad borrows from Peter to pay Paul. I’m not quite sure who those people are but it sounds right to me. Poor guy is still on that track almost 20 years later.” – PretendThisIsMyName

“I let them ruin my life. You think by the looks of things I must have had a serious drug problem to skid into the curb like I did, but no, it was predatory/payday loans. I got caught in cycle of bad credit and low liquidity. And worst of all, I believed it was ok. I’m nearing retirement age and it’s sad to think that if I hadn’t gotten on that treadmill, I could have done twice as much with my life than I did.” – NoPensForSheila

Being poor.

“Being poor is expensive as f@#k!” – Sterling_Thunder

“Yup, in many ways. One that I forgot about until recently was how much food budget is saved when one has a good fridge. I am currently in a temporary living space that has bottom of the line appliances. The fridge, while it keeps things cold, nothing lasts! I bought a weeks worth of veggies and by day two, the carrots in the crisper were no longer crisp. The second day! Poor people have challenges getting good fresh food but then it can go bad quickly even with working appliances.” – GorginaSpica

“Aka ‘the boots theory of socio-economic unfairness.’” – 84147

There are so many ways to make financial errors that lead down a rabbit hole.

Whether it’s the small moments like forgetfulness, or the big moments, like taking out loans that you can’t pay back, those mistakes can add up.

The cycle of poverty is incredibly difficult to break.

It’s not just about finding ways to reduce money waste for the individual, but the systemic and community based solutions that break generational poverty.

Though, this list is a start.