Wikipedia turns 14 years old on Thursday! So we thought we'd pay tribute to what has become one of the world’s most comprehensive sources of obscure information by pointing out the weirdest and funniest pages on the site.
It’s hard to articulate what makes a Wikipedia page one of the greats. Maybe it’s easiest to say it’s sort of like pornography: You just know it when you see it. Nevertheless, we've compiled an admittedly subjective list of some of the most absurd entries on Wikipedia, without too much regard for how “accurate” they might be -- thanks in part to a Wikipedia page entitled “Wikipedia:Unusual articles.” Enjoy!
"Lists of lists of lists."Just what it says, but five times better than it sounds. "List of common misconceptions." Everything you know is a lie. Well, almost everything.
"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."This is an actual sentence that makes sense.
"James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher."So is this.
"Year 10,000 problem." “[A]lso known as the Y10K problem.”
"Argel Fucks."A retired Brazilian soccer player who once inspired the headline "Fucks off to Benfica.”
"Inherently funny word."Some words are just funny, OK?
"List of Kim Jong-il's titles."Includes notable nicknames like “Party Center” and “The Great Sun of Life.”
"List of words containing Q not followed by U." Perfect for Scrabble.
"List of English words without rhymes."“Woman” makes the list.
"The Matrix Defense."This isn’t even the real world, man. How can I actually commit a crime?
"Longest word in English."There is a word that’s 189,819 letters long. It’s the chemical name of titin, the largest known protein.
"Shit happens." It does indeed.
"List of people who have lived at airports."One man lived in an airport for more than 17 YEARS after he was exiled from Iran and his documents were stolen. His story was the basis for the Tom Hanks movie “The Terminal.”
"List of animals with fraudulent diplomas." “Oreo C. Collins (born around 2007) is a tuxedo cat who gained notoriety when she received a diploma from Jefferson High School Online in 2009, although her age was misrepresented in order to qualify.”
"Death during consensual sex."A surprisingly short list.
"Death by coconut."A surprisingly long list.
"Execution by elephant."This is an actual thing that people used to do.
"Fan death."Some people think you’ll die if you sit in a closed room with an electric fan. You won’t.
"List of animals displaying homosexual behavior."Among those who make the list: Bears, rats, bison, cats, dogs, elephants, foxes, giraffes. You get the idea.
"Buttered cat paradox."“Cats always land on their feet. Buttered toast always lands buttered side down.” So what happens when you put some buttered toast on a cat?
"Toilet paper orientation."Over is correct. Under is wrong. Get over it.
"The Truman Show delusion."Some people think they’re being filmed 24/7.
"Uncombable hair syndrome."A bad hair day. Every day.
"Sex in space."Everything you ever wanted to know about sex but were too afraid to ask astronauts.
"Cosmic latte."The “name assigned to the average color of the universe, given by a team of astronomers from Johns Hopkins University.” Are you not entertained?
"Waffle House Index."An actual FEMA metric. "Modern flat Earth societies."They exist. "Prostitution among animals."Presented without comment.
"Products produced from The Simpsons."Duff Beer is real, people.
"Mike the Headless Chicken."This chicken lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off.
"Spongiforma squarepantsii.""The name of the fungus is derived from the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants.”
"Hoover (seal)."He could speak!!!!
"Evil clown."Complete with a long list of evil clowns throughout history.
"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."The shortest (and saddest) novel ever.
"Dusty the klepto kitty."This cat is a thief.
"4’33”."A piece of music that involves all the musicians just silently holding their instruments.
"As Slow As Possible."“The performance of the organ version at St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt, Germany, began in 2001 and is scheduled to have a duration of 640 years, ending in 2640.”
"Cigarettes and Valentines."The Green Day album that was stolen from the studio and never to be heard of again.
"Dark Side of the Rainbow."If you line up Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz, some trippy, trippy stuff happens, man.
"List of music considered the worst."Somehow only one Nickelback song makes the list.
"McDonald's urban legends."“One belief is that McDonald's uses cow eyeballs in its products, permitting it to brand them as ‘100% beef.’”
"Unusually shaped vegetable."Obviously, most of them look like they have penises.
"Snail racing."“The track usually takes the form of a damp cloth atop a table.”
"Global Orgasm."Was supposed to happen on Dec. 22, 2006. Fortunately, it did not.
"Nix v. Hedden."In 1893, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit. Yet the debate rages on.
"Lawsuits against God."One of the lawsuits “was dismissed because God could not be properly notified, not having an address.” "Wicked Bible."An infamous 1631 version of the Bible that accidentally included the commandment “Thou shalt commit adultery.”