What’s a completely useless fact you love sharing?

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Today’s question makes a couple of interesting assumptions. First, that I have a collection of completely useless facts floating around in my head. Second, that I love sharing at least one of them.

The first assumption is probably accurate. The second? Not so much.

I know a lot of trivia. Some of it is historical. Some of it involves sports, literature, movies, or any number of subjects I’ve picked up information about over the years. I’m sure a substantial percentage of it qualifies as useless, particularly when you consider how frequently I walk into a room and forget why I went there in the first place.

Apparently, my brain has decided there’s room for obscure historical information but not necessarily for remembering what I came into the kitchen to retrieve.

But I don’t have a favorite useless fact I’m just dying to share with someone. I don’t wander around looking for opportunities to drop some obscure bit of information into an unsuspecting conversation. Frankly, that seems like a rather strange hobby.

“Hey, how’s the family?”

“Great! Did you know the shortest war in recorded history lasted about 38 minutes?”

I suppose that’s one way to make sure nobody asks about your family again.

That’s not to say I don’t share trivia. I do, particularly in my classroom. We’ll be discussing something in a story we’re reading, and something about the subject will trigger a connection in my mind. It might be a historical event, an interesting person, or some strange occurrence that helps put what we’re reading into perspective. When that happens, I’ll share it with my students.

I think of it as value-added knowledge. The information may not be essential to understanding the story, but it might provide some additional context, spark a little curiosity, or help a student make a connection that wouldn’t otherwise occur to them.

And that raises another question: Is a fact really useless if it helps someone understand something else? I don’t think so.

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about learning is discovering connections between seemingly unrelated subjects. History connects to literature. Literature connects to human behavior. Human behavior connects to just about everything else. Sometimes the most obscure piece of information turns out to be the one that makes something click.

That’s also part of what I enjoy about writing. A strange historical detail that might seem completely insignificant on its own can become the foundation of an interesting story. I’ve written plenty of those stories, and I suspect I’ll write plenty more.

So perhaps the real issue is that I don’t consider much of the information I’ve accumulated to be completely useless. It might not have an immediate practical application, and it certainly isn’t going to help me repair a leaky faucet or remember where I left my glasses. But that doesn’t mean it has no value.

It just means the right opportunity to use it hasn’t come along yet. And when that opportunity does arise, I’ll probably share it. But I’m certainly not going to stand around waiting for someone to ask me about the Anglo-Zanzibar War.

That would be weird.

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