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People share 32 fascinating things they didn’t learn in school

Bored Panda · Jul 22, 2026 14:10 · 6 min read

People Share 32 Fascinating Things They Didn’t Learn In School

On days when everything seems to be going wrong or when the hours just seem to drag on, it can be easy to feel discouraged or unfulfilled. But the beauty of life is that there is always an opportunity to learn and grow, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. And what better way to do that than through our beloved subreddit 'Today I Learned' (TIL)?

From all walks of life, its 30 million members come together to share all the fascinating things they have recently discovered. Some of these tidbits may be purely for entertainment, raising an eyebrow in surprise or having a chuckle at their absurdity, and others may have the potential to change the way we think or approach life's problems, offering valuable insight and perspective.

So why not take a moment to scroll through the posts, upvote your favorites, and expand your mind? And if you're looking for even more learning opportunities, be sure to check out our previous TIL posts here, here, and here as well. You never know what you might discover that could make your day a little brighter and more complete.

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#1

TIL Ozzy Osbourne gave up taking acid during the recording of Black Sabbath's Volume 4. He said “I took 10 tabs of acid then went for a walk in a field. I ended up standing there talking to this horse for about an hour. In the end the horse turned round and told me to [darn] off. That was it for me.”

#2

TIL that despite having a 95% Muslim population, Christmas is an extremely popular holiday in the west African nation of Senegal, which has a tradition of Muslims and Christians adopting each other's holidays.

#3

TIL that the Bald Eagle population has recovered! They are now fairly common birds to be seen in residential areas.

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#4

TIL that during the middle ages it was believed that ringing church bells during thunderstorms would keep lightning away. The practice was abandoned after more than 100 bell ringers were killed by lightning.

#5

TIL that African elephants can distinguish between human languages and can avoid those considered a threat.

#6

TIL In 2019, Konami added a new official rule to Yu Gi Oh tournaments, the Hygiene clause where you would be disqualified if you smell bad or wear dirty clothing as it produces an "unpleasant" playing environment. The response was generally positive.

#7

TIL David Bowie used to travel around in New York carrying a Greek newspaper in the belief that people would assume he was just a Greek man who looked like David Bowie and leave him alone.

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#8

TIL Betty White was nominated in the 1st Emmy category for female performers in 1950, 1 of the first women to have full creative control of her own TV show, while she was still living at home with her parents, the1st woman to host her own talk show and 1st woman to win an Emmy for game show hosting.

#9

TIL that in 1931, a scientist tried to teach a baby chimpanzee human behavior by raising it alongside his human son. The chimpanzee never acquired language skills, and the experiment was called off when the human baby began imitating the chimpanzee's vocalizations.

#10

TIL When Jane married Stephen Hawking, she believed it would be a two year commitment, as doctors said he only had two years to live. Jane became his full time caretaker and they were together 25 years.

#11

TIL that when the set of James Cameron’s Titanic was submerged during filming, the Grand Staircase dislodged and floated; supporting the uncomfirmed theory that the missing original staircase dislodged and floated away during the real sinking.

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#12

TIL after U.S. President Garfield was shot, his doctors were so negligent and gave him such a bad infection that his assassin openly confessed at trial to the shooting, but argued that Garfield’s doctors had actually done the killing.

#13

TIL Although it is lauded as an excellent psychological tool by Government Agencies, Businesses, and even some schools, the Myers-Briggs Personality Test has been deemed useless by modern psychological experts.

#14

TIL about xocolatl and tlilxóchitl, now known as chocolate and vanilla. The Mexica (Aztecs of Mexico) were the first to use both vanilla and cocoa together to help with the flavor of their foods and drinks, often mixing them together.

#15

TIL Beethoven in his 1822 composition Piano Sonata No. 32 wrote a powerful, heavily syncopated passage that has been described as boogie-woogie, jazz, and ragtime, a style which would not exist for another 70 years.

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#16

TIL that Earth is the only known place in our solar system where fire occurs and no known exoplanets have oxygen enough to allow fire.

#17

TIL Rod Serling originally wrote an episode about Emmett Till but it was rejected and so he turned to science fiction, instead, to talk about social issues, creating The Twilight Zone.

#18

TIL there is a shrine in Wales where Dobby the house elf was buried. consisting of 1000's of painted rocks and socks.

#19

TIL The first man to report a rogue wave was Jules Dumont d'Urville in 1826, d'Urville was then publicly ridiculed because such a wave was believed impossible. A rogue wave was not measured until 1995 and the lack of earlier reporting is likely due to few wooden ships surving the encounter.

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#20

TIL that in addition to names like “Hope”, “Felicity”, and “Prudence”, Puritans also named their children things like “Jesus-Christ-came-into-the-world- to-save”, “d*****”, and “Fly-fornication”.

#21

TIL sloths can hold their breath for 40 minutes, which is longer than many marine mammals including dolphins.

#22

TIL about Eric Simons, a then 19-year-old entrepreneur who secretly lived at AOL headquarters in California for 2 months in 2011. He ate the food, used the gym, and slept in conference rooms, all while working on his startup "ClassConnect". Employees just assumed he worked there during this time.

#23

TIL when Frank Zappa was a kid, he always played with mercury that his father brought home from work, often covering his entire bedroom floor with the element. Childhood exposure to mercury is known to increase the risk of prostate cancer as an adult. Frank Zappa died from prostate cancer at age 52.

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#24

TIL An entire Roman legion went missing in the 2nd Century AD, and we're still baffled as to what happened.

#25

TIL two gifted college students considered themselves so superior they planned “the perfect crime” to prove their intellectual abilities. After [taking out] a child, despite their purported genius, they left plenty of evidence and were swiftly caught and brought to judgment.

#26

TIL that when Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, journalist Giovanna Chirri was the first to break the news as she was the only one to understand Latin. She recalls: "He said it in Latin and I was panicking. I was short of breath, my legs were trembling, it was a reaction to shock."

#27

TIL Public nativity scenes are often the victim of baby Jesus theft. Some churches have had to chain their baby Jesus down to deter theft while others have added GPS tracking to their baby Jesus.

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#28

TIL in the middle of Boston, Massachusetts, there is a 120-year-old abandoned concert hall known as Steinert Hall that is 40 feet underground, buried beneath a piano store.

#29

TIL while writing "A Christmas Carol," Charles Dickens was "taking night-time walks of 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 km) around London." to build out the story in his head.

#30

TIL that astronauts eat steak and eggs before a flight because it's filling and low on dietary fiber so they won't have to p**p during the mission.

#31

TIL - That during Apartheid in South Africa you were forbidden to have relations with someone of another race. The Boers developed the "Pencil Test"; if a pencil would stay in your hair when pushed in you were declared as "black" and could only have relations with other "blacks".

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#32

TIL that for a period of 20 years, Argentina ranked as one of the wealthiest nations on Earth, having the highest GDP per capita in 1895 and being among the 10 richest until 1920. Today, the country is in crippling debt, and is considered one of the biggest economic downturns in modern history.