100 Random Facts That You Walk Past Every Day Without Noticing

We go through life on autopilot. We tie our shoes, eat our lunch, and look at logos without ever stopping to ask: Why is it designed like that?

It turns out, the world is filled with “Easter Eggs”—secret features, hidden meanings, and biological oddities that are right in front of your face, yet nobody notices them.

At Interestory, we love the details. Here are 100 random facts about the things you see, touch, and say every day, but never truly noticed.

Hidden in Logos & Design

You will never un-see these.

1. The FedEx Arrow: Look between the “E” and the “x.” There is a perfect white arrow pointing right (symbolizing speed).
2. The Amazon Smile: The yellow arrow points from “A” to “Z” (meaning they sell everything).
3. The “Power” Symbol: It’s not a random drawing; it’s a binary “1” (on) inside a “0” (off).
4. The Toblerone Bear: Look at the mountain in the logo. There is a hidden dancing bear (symbol of Bern, Switzerland).
5. Jeans have tiny rivets: Those copper buttons on your pockets are there to reinforce weak spots where miners used to rip their pants.
6. The Tiny Pocket in Jeans: It wasn’t for coins; it was originally designed for pocket watches in the 1800s.
7. Pen Cap Holes: The hole in the top of a BIC pen cap is there to prevent suffocation if a child swallows it.
8. Keyboard Bumps: The “F” and “J” keys have little bumps so you can find the “home row” without looking.
9. Solo Cup Lines: The lines on a red plastic cup measure standard alcohol pours (1oz liquor, 5oz wine, 12oz beer).
10. Converse Holes: The two extra holes on the side of Chuck Taylors were originally for “bar lacing” to keep the shoe tight for basketball players.
11. Gas Gauge Arrow: There is a tiny arrow next to the gas pump icon on your dashboard. It points to the side your gas tank is on.
12. Bobby Pins: The wavy side is supposed to go down (against the scalp) for better grip. Most people wear them upside down.
13. Chinese Takeout Boxes: They unfold into plates. You aren’t supposed to eat out of the deep box.
14. Soda Can Tabs: The hole in the tab is designed to hold your straw in place so it doesn’t float up.
15. Heinz 57 Trick: To get ketchup out of a glass bottle, tap the “57” on the neck. It’s the sweet spot for flow.

Geography & The World

Your mental map is wrong.

16. Reno is West of Los Angeles. Check a map. Nevada curves.
17. Maine is the closest US state to Africa. Not Florida.
18. Russia has a larger surface area than Pluto.
19. Australia is wider than the Moon. (Australia: ~4,000km wide. Moon: ~3,400km wide).
20. Saudi Arabia imports sand. Theirs is the wrong type for construction.
21. There is an island in a lake, in an island, in a lake, in an island. It’s in the Philippines (and Canada).
22. France shares its longest border with Brazil. (French Guiana is in South America).
23. Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.
24. Mount Everest isn’t the furthest point from the center of the Earth. Chimborazo in Ecuador is (because of the Earth’s bulge).
25. New York City is further south than Rome.
26. You can fit all the planets between Earth and the Moon. With about 5,000 miles to spare.
27. The Pacific Ocean is an antipode to itself. If you dig a hole through the Earth from parts of the Pacific, you still come out in the Pacific.
28. Africa is bigger than the USA, China, India, and most of Europe combined. Mercator maps lie.
29. 90% of the world’s population lives in the Northern Hemisphere.
30. Alaska is the Westernmost AND Easternmost state. It crosses the 180th meridian.

Your Own Body

You are living in it, but you don’t know it.

31. You can always see your nose. Your brain just chooses to ignore it (scotoma).
32. Your tongue rests on the roof of your mouth. Not the bottom. (You just checked, didn’t you?)
33. You are taller in the morning. Gravity compresses your spine during the day.
34. You have stripes. Humans have “Blaschko’s Lines,” invisible stripes on our skin visible only under UV light.
35. Your fingers don’t have muscles. The muscles are in your forearm; you move them like puppets with tendons.
36. Your liver can grow back. You can cut 75% of it off, and it will regenerate.
37. Babies don’t shed tears. They cry, but tear ducts don’t develop for a few weeks.
38. Earwax is a type of sweat.
39. You swallow a liter of mucus every day.
40. Your heartbeat synchronizes with the person you love.
41. You can’t tickle yourself. Your brain predicts the sensation and cancels the surprise.
42. Your little finger provides 50% of your hand strength.
43. Human teeth are as strong as shark teeth.
44. The “hyoid” bone is the only bone not connected to another bone.
45. You blink 15-20 times a minute. That’s 10% of your waking hours spent with eyes closed.

Food & Supermarkets

Read the label.

46. Froot Loops are all the same flavor. The colors are just dye; the taste is “froot.”
47. Cashews come from a fruit. They grow out of the bottom of a “Cashew Apple.”
48. Peanuts aren’t nuts. They are legumes (beans).
49. Strawberries aren’t berries. But bananas, watermelons, and pumpkins are berries.
50. White chocolate isn’t chocolate. It contains cocoa butter but no cocoa solids.
51. Figs might contain dissolved wasps. Fig wasps die inside the fruit to pollinate it (don’t worry, enzymes digest them).
52. Honey is bee vomit. Technically regurgitated nectar.
53. Carrots used to be purple. The orange ones were bred by the Dutch in the 17th century.
54. Pineapples eat you back. They contain bromelain, an enzyme that digests protein (which is why your mouth tingles).
55. There is no ham in “Hamburger.” It’s named after Hamburg, Germany.
56. Double Dipping spreads bacteria. Myth confirmed. It’s gross.
57. Green, Red, and Yellow peppers are the same vegetable. Just at different stages of ripeness.
58. Ketchup was originally made from fish. No tomatoes involved.
59. Crackers have holes to stop them from exploding. Without holes, steam would bubble them up in the oven.
60. Nutella was invented during WWII. Cocoa was rationed, so they added hazelnuts to stretch the supply.

Pop Culture & Words

Things you hear but don’t listen to.

61. The “Universal Pictures” theme song. If you hum it, it fits the words: “Look at the stars, look how they shine for you…” (Coldplay didn’t write it, but it matches).
62. “Ye Olde” is pronounced “The Olde.” The “Y” was a thorn character (þ) that made a “th” sound.
63. “Dreamt” is the only English word ending in “mt.”
64. Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy.
65. Barbie and Ken are siblings. (Sort of). They are named after the creator’s children, Barbara and Kenneth.
66. Cookie Monster’s real name is Sid.
67. The “20th Century Fox” lights. In the intro, the searchlights form a “V” (for victory).
68. E.T. is in Star Wars. You can see E.T.’s species in the Galactic Senate in The Phantom Menace.
69. “Goodbye” means “God be with ye.”
70. The longest word you can type with your left hand is “Stewardesses.”
71. A “jiffy” is 1/100th of a second.
72. The dot over an “i” or “j” is called a “tittle.”
73. The plastic tip of a shoelace is an “aglet.”
74. “Queue” is just “Q” followed by 4 silent letters.
75. There is no “I” in “Team,” but there is an “M” and an “E.”

Everything Else

76. Clouds weigh 1.1 million pounds.
77. Dolphins have names for each other.
78. Cows can walk upstairs but not downstairs. Their knees don’t bend that way.
79. Lighters were invented before matches.
80. The King of Hearts is the only king without a mustache.
81. You can’t snore and dream at the same time.
82. Ducks have waterproof feathers.
83. Wombats have square poop.
84. Fire doesn’t have a shadow.
85. Water makes a different sound depending on its temperature. You can hear the difference between a cold and hot pour.
86. Mirrors are green. If you look at a “mirror tunnel,” it fades to green.
87. Bananas are radioactive. (Slightly).
88. There are more fake flamingos than real ones.
89. A group of pandas is called an “Embarrassment.”
90. High heels were originally for men.
91. Bubble wrap was originally 3D wallpaper.
92. The Queen (in Chess) used to be the weakest piece.
93. Cotton Candy was invented by a dentist.
94. Chainsaws were invented for childbirth.
95. Sloths can’t fart. They absorb the gas.
96. You can hear a blue whale 2 miles away.
97. Diamonds can burn.
98. A “butt load” is an actual unit of measurement. (126 gallons of wine).
99. Your brain eats itself if you don’t sleep.
100. You just checked your nose again.

Conclusion

The world is hidden in plain sight. From the arrow in the FedEx logo to the way your tongue sits in your mouth, there are layers of design and biology we ignore every day.

Keep your eyes open—you never know what you might spot next.

Did you spot the arrow? Read more Design Secrets or explore our Weird Facts tag.