19 Funny Facts Too Ridiculous for Your 1980s Classroom

Author image for Laurent Shinar
Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Jun 21, 2025 1:00 PM EDT

It is borderline criminal, the way that they used to teach us at schools in the '80s. And we are not even talking about the corporal punishment. We are talking about the baseless nonsense that we were taught to be true. Narratives that were made up to make things look good and banal bits of boring facts that we would forget faster than a dog could eat our homework. But thanks to the internet, there is still time for us to make up for lost time and learn some more about the world before we kick it and move onto the next one.

Which is why we made this list of funny facts that would have been too ridiculous for your 1980s classroom, seeing as there is absolutely no chance your teacher would have taught these, you'll have plenty to catch up on. So kick back, relax and get ready to open your mind.

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  • 01
    facts O FACTS instagram.com/facts The first slogan on a US coin was not "In God We Trust", but was actually "Mind Your Business". 787 MIND YOUR WB ARE BUSINESS ONE Source: Cracked.com
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  • 02
    O FACTS FACTS instagram.com/facts Male cheetahs have a special bark that causes female cheetahs to ovulate "on-demand." Source: National Geographic
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  • 03
    O FACTS FACTS instagram.com/facts During the Edo period in Japan, which lasted from 1603 to 1868, rich women would hire female servants called "heoibikani" to take the blame for their farts. Source: Elite Readers
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  • 04
    FACTS O FACTS instagram.com/facts In 2017, police arrested a 99-year-old woman so she could cross it off her bucket list. Source: Nijmegen Police Station
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  • 05
    FACTS O FACTS instagram.com/facts If 99% of the human population thought you were ugly, about 80,000,000 people would still find you attractive.
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  • 06
    FACTS O FACTS instagram.com/facts In 1978, a student earning minimum wage during summer could afford to pay a full year's in-state tuition at a four-year public university without going into debt. Source: LogicallyFacts TUITION 5688 REPRESENTATIONAL
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  • 07
    O FACTS FACTS instagram.com/facts In the 1700s, pineapples cost $8,000 (in today's dollars). People used to rent pineapples to show off to guests. Source: Mental Floss $8,000
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  • 08
    FACTS O FACTS instagram.com/facts Tidsoptimist: A person who is constantly late because they believe they have more time than reality affords. Source: Collins Dictionaray
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  • 09
    FACTS O FACTS instagram.com/facts Chris Hemsworth was not allowed to do interviews with Chris Evans because they were too childish when being together. Source: Yahoo News New Zealand
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  • Aside from these actors barely being born in the 80s, it is nice to know that classroom tomfoolery transcends the classroom itself and spreads its wings over the far reaches of society. If these two were put in the same class in the 80s they would have been spending most of their days awaiting canings from their headmaster.

  • 10
    FACTS O FACTS instagram.com/facts There's an extreme sport called "extreme ironing" where people go to remote locations and iron their clothes. Source: Wikipedia
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  • 11
    FACTS O FACTS instagram.com/facts Heimscheisser is a German word that means someone who is unable to poop outside of the comforts of their own home, literally: "home s**tter." Source: Wiktionary
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  • Oh the Germans, they truly do have a word for every situation in life that you could imagine, and a good few that you would hope would never even enter your consciousness. But hey, it is not hard to sympathize with these people, after all, even with all the improvements we have made as a society, we cannot seem to keep public toilets clean for each other. 

  • 12
    FACTS O FACTS instagram.com/facts Getting angry at people when we listen to them breathing or eating is called 'misophonia' and is an actual brain disorder. Source: WebMD
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  • 13
    GUFF FACTS facts by Guff Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter in which he advised taking older women as lovers since they are both "experienced" and "grateful."
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  • 14
    facts O FACTS instagram.com/facts To reduce cleaning costs, Amsterdam Airport printed pictures of flies inside urinals, thinking men would aim at the flies while using the bathroom, reducing the amount of urine landing outside the urinals. Their plan worked. Source: Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport
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  • 15
    facts O FACTS instagram.com/facts If you tickle a rat day after day, it will start "laughing" whenever it sees you.
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  • 16
    FACTS O FACTS instagram.com/facts Staying at home with kids is more stressful than going to work according to a study of 1,500 participants. Source: CBS News
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  • 17
    O FACTS FACTS instagram.com/facts Montana law states that if a student rides a horse to school, the principal is responsible for feeding and walking the horse. Six seniors discovered the law and rode their horses on the last day of school. Their principal did his duties. Source: Idaho Statesman
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  • 18
    facts O FACTS instagram.com/facts If you don't know someone's address in Iceland, you can draw a map on the front of the letter and the postal worker will get it to your destination. Country: Iceland City: Bu bardalur Name: a horse farm with an icelandic/danish couple and 3 kids and a lot of sheep! here Laugar "Isafigider 50 Sta Jarfell รษ Hvammsfjörður the danish woman works in Bu Sardalur a supermarket in Takk fyrir! Búðardalur. Image Credit: Steina Matt/jidoen via Imgur/ Source: Mental Floss
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  • 19
    facts O FACTS instagram.com/facts Dogs are capable of intentionally trying to make humans laugh. They understand that laughter means play, and they associate playing with something positive. Source: petMD
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classroom nostalgia ridiculous funny true facts 1980s fun facts
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