Every now and then, one is forced to interact with new people, be it at work or perhaps in a classroom. Most humans, even if pretty sociable, tend to struggle at making conversations immediately. Fortunately, humanity has put together a somewhat helpful method to end the awkwardness, the dramatically-named ice breaker.
Someone asked “What’s the ‘fun fact’ you use during ice breakers?” and people share their go-to piece of information. So get comfortable as you read through, upvote and perhaps save your favorite facts and be sure to add your own thoughts and examples in the comments section below.
#1
Whenever my daughter has to tell a “fun fact” on the first day of school she says she was named after Thomas Jefferson. He was named a long time ago and she was named after him.
Image credits: careerpathlost
#2
I was stationed at South Pole in December of 2015. At station midnight on Dec 31st, I went out to the geographic pole marker alone. Because of this, I like to tell people I was the first person to reach the South Pole in 2016….
Image credits: lakewoodhiker
#3
Platpuses are not only mammals that lay eggs and have venom, but they also make milk without having nipples. They sweat the milk out of their belly and make a bowl shape for their babies to lap it up.
Image credits: Idmaybefuckaplatypus
#4
the papal conclave (the vote thingy to decide who’s pope) in 1294 took so long that some hermit dude named Pietro sent a letter telling the cardinals to hurry the f**k up or God is gonna smite their holy a**es. The cardinals (who were also lowkey fed up of fighting between themselves) were like ‘ok then, you should be Pope. We shall now call you Celestine the Fifth.’ And Pietro was like ‘oh s**t’. He ran away. The other cardinals were like ‘no, Celestine, don’t do that,’ and crowned him. Pietro spent a few months then made a decree saying ‘popes can resign, also stop calling me Celestine for f***s sake’ then ran away. then the cardinals threw him in prison and he died. Poor bastard.
Image credits: therocketandstones
#5
The inventor of match.com's wife left him for someone she met on match.com.
Image credits: GreyFoxNinjaFan
#6
Over 99% of German Shepards are dogs.
Image credits: OldERnurse1964
#7
Due to the shape of the North American elk's esophagus, even if it could speak, it could not pronounce the word lasagna.
Image credits: tupperwarebowl
#8
Baby elephants suck their trunks.
Image credits: linedashline
#9
More of a rhetorical question:
Who’s the evil bastard who put an “s” in the word LISP?
#10
This is a limerick.
(12+144+20+3×√4)/7 + 5×11 = 9² + 0
If you're having trouble, it can also be written in English.
"A dozen, a gross, and a score
Plus three times the square root of four
Divided by seven
Plus five times eleven
Is nine squared, and not a bit more."
And yes, it does actually work out correctly.
#11
I have 120+ first cousins.
Answering a couple questions...
These are direct first cousins.
The older siblings had 10-14 kids each. The younger seem to have figured out either birth control or self control.
My mom and her siblings all had the same mom and dad.
My dad and his siblings all had the same mom and dad.
Image credits: AnnieJack
#12
One time I plugged a USB cable in correctly on the first try.
Edit: I am 100% lying. This never happened but it’s my go to fact to get a laugh. Then I say I like dogs or something like that.
Image credits: PeterVanNostrand
#13
Your chances of getting struck by lighting on the way to get a lotto ticket are better than you winning the lotto.
#14
The average cloud weighs a million pounds.
Image credits: HonnyBrown
#15
Chances of getting dismembered and devoured by a total stranger are rare, so why not come over to my place and let me show you my trophy collection.
Image credits: AffectionateAioli309
#16
Wholesome fact: Male mantises mate for life.
#17
The Eiffel Tower can grow six inches in the summer sun.
Image credits: SenselessSpectacle
#18
I was a witness on an episode of Judge Judy. I had some pretty awful neighbors and a very kind landlord, so I came along to be a witness to their property destruction and d**g use.
They ended up cutting the few things I said, so I got the full experience and none of the notoriety. Judy is a lot shorter than she looks on TV btw.
Edit: It's season 22, episode 198 for anyone who wants to check it out. "Hazmat Clean-Up, D**g Use, and the Police?!". I'm the nervous looking white guy sitting behind the old white guy landlord.
#19
Virtually all honey found in stores has been diluted with corn syrup, and is one of the biggest agricultural scams of all time. And all the "big brand" honey comes from India, and average 10% corn syrup.
It's been that way for years, but it's only recently gotten enough traction for the US govt. to start investigating.
Always buy your honey from a guy with a bee suit.
Image credits: headhunterofhell2
#20
The government is hiding a billion pounds of cheese in a cave in Missouri.
Image credits: Falcononeniner
#21
Cold coffee and warm beer have the same temperature.
Image credits: Schifty
#22
I start talking about sleep apnea, then I call my cpap mask a strap on.
Image credits: Brindlehair
#23
Dragonflies are the most successful hunters in the animal kingdom by far. They are the only animals, other than humans, that will plot an intercept course to catch their prey, rather than just chase them down.
Image credits: LanceKing2200
#24
Due to the Migratory Bird Act, it is generally more illegal to own bird bones than it is to own human bones.
Image credits: AllegroFox
#25
Lawrence Sperry - the man who invented autopilot for the airplane - also invented the mile high club.
Image credits: _pounders_
#26
The world's largest tire manufacturer is Lego.
#27
So if you are at dinner, and there is a bottle of A1 sauce on the table. Look at the label, on the front it states "Est. 1862." 1862 was the bloodiest year of the American Civil War. Somebody out there in the middle of the war was like you know what we need right now? Some STEAK SAUCE!
*this is from a comedian but I can't remember who. so props to that guy for noticing because it's hilarious.
Image credits: McNasty420
#28
7 years ago I became an ordained minister for the sole purpose of having a "fun fact". I've not used my ordination once.
In 3 weeks I'm the officiant for my sister's wedding.
#29
John Wilkes Booth's brother saved Abraham Lincoln's son's life a few weeks before the Lincoln assassination.
Image credits: PhillipLlerenas
#30
The Dutch once did a genocide so they'd have a nutmeg monopoly. It used to be worth more than gold. Now every household has some that's often forgotten somewhere in our spice cabinet.
Image credits: ElNakedo
#31
In Great Britain from the 1500s until 1901 there was a position in the royal household of official royal buttwiper. It was a Knighted position. Amongst all of the knights who had fought many battles there was that one guy whose sole function was to wipe the Kings a*s every day.
#32
The speed record for fastest radio controlled [ed: model] plane is 908kph / 564 mph.
And it's held by a glider.
#33
>"Well, Pac-man was originally called Puck-man. They changed it because.. Not because Pac-man looks like a hockey puck. "Paku Paku" means "flap your mouth", and they were worried that people would change, scratch out the P turn it into an F, like..".
#34
The largest icebreakers in the world are nuclear powered, and in 1977 one of them broke its way though the arctic ice all the way to the North Pole.
Image credits: TeuthidTheSquid
#35
The suffix “wich” is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “place that has salt.” English towns with the suffix used to be salt producers.
Image credits: charcootmagoot
#36
Gary Numan is a couple of weeks older than Gary Oldman.
Also Ryan Adams and Bryan Adams share the same birthday.
#37
The human brain named itself.
#38
With the character Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will is short for William.
But with the actor Will Smith, Will is short for Willard.
#39
As a bartender, I had a regular who would send a corn dog (cheapest item on our menu, food or drink) to cute girls at the other end of the bar. If they ate the corn dog, he had an opener. If they rejected the corn dog, he knew they sucked and he was only out $2.50.
#40
My grandfather used to take over the machinist work station for the guy believed to be The Boston Strangler at the end of his shift.
#41
To help understand money amounts...a million seconds is roughly 9 days. A billion is 32 years.....Years!!
Edit: it's actually 11 days as I was corrected, but I think the huge difference between the two is still understood.
#42
I know what it sounds like for an airplane you’re in to completely lose power 5k feet above the ground.
Edit: grammar.
#43
I just ask "how many Wu-Tang Clan members can you name".
#44
Lightning McQueen’s real name is Montgomery.
#45
Your bellybutton is your original mouth.
