I don’t believe in “fun facts.”
No fact is fun.
Facts can be interesting, surprising, disturbing, memorable, shocking, unbelievable, upsetting, actionable, confusing, hilarious, enlightening, but not fun.
Watching your son play baseball is fun. Golfing is fun, even when you’re playing poorly. Teasing students is fun, and when they learn to tease you back, it’s even more fun. Watching a kitten chase a ball of yarn is fun. Going to dinner with friends is fun (depending on the friends). Sex is fun. Making an audience laugh and cry is fun. Climbing trees, attending Bruce Springsteen concerts, and throwing snowballs at your children are all fun.
Facts are not fun.
“Fun facts” are the result of alliteration and nothing more.
Both words begin with the letter F. Thus, somewhere along the way, the “fun fact” was born. Two words that begin with the same sound, pushed together for no other reason than alliteration and someone’s desperate attempt to replace “You might find this interesting” or “Did you know…” or “I was surprised to learn…” with the stupidity of “Fun fact!”
As a result, we are burdened with the ridiculous, ludicrous, nonsensical notion that facts can be fun.
Alliteration: The only reason “fun fact” exists.
Had a fact instead been called a “bact,” a “gact,” or a “mact,” we would not have fun facts today.
And that would be a far better world.
