50 Weird Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

Mannanafnanefnd is a committee in Iceland that determines whether a name is suitable for integration into the Icelandic language. New names are considered based on compatibility with Icelandic tradition and the likelihood that it might cause the bearer embarrassment.

In 1888, a scientist named Gerard Smets found a fossil fragment which he determined was a dinosaur, "Aachenosaurus". When it was proved that the fossil was in fact petrified wood, he withdrew from science completely from pure embarrassment.

The 2006 Mumbai "sweet" seawater incident was a strange phenomenon during which residents of Mumbai claimed that the water at Mahim Creek had suddenly turned sweet. Within hours, residents of Gujarat claimed that seawater at Teethal beach had turned sweet as well. This caused mass hysteria among people who started coming in large numbers to drink the seawater.

The man with the longest personal name ever used is Hubert Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff, Sr. That's only the abbreviation for it; in total his surname is made up of 26 other names and contains 666 letters.

The Pauli effect is a term referring to the supposed tendency of technical equipment to encounter critical failure in the presence of certain people. The term was coined after mysterious anecdotal stories involving Austrian theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli, describing numerous instances in which demonstrations involving equipment suffered technical problems only when he was present. According to the principal, a functioning device and Wolfgang Pauli may not occupy the same room.

Praise-God Barebone (1598-1679) was a radical English Puritan preacher and member of Oliver Cromwell's parliament. He gave his son Nicholas Barebone (or Barbon) the legendary middle name, “If-Jesus-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned.”

There is an Indian politician named "Adolf Lu Hitler Marak". Asked about his name, he said, "Maybe my parents liked the name and hence christened me Hitler... I am happy with my name, although I don't have any dictatorial tendencies."

The man often falsely cited as having the longest English surname on record, "Leone Sextus Denys Oswolf Fraudatifilius Tollemache-Tollemache de Orellana Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache", has a brother whose first 15 initials spell "LYONEL THE SECOND."

There is a series of organic molecules called NanoPutians whose structural formulae resemble human form.

Medical students’ disease (also known as second year syndrome or intern's syndrome) is a condition frequently reported in medical students, who perceive themselves to be experiencing the symptoms of a disease that they are studying.