Funny Thanksgiving Trivia Questions — 50 Hilarious Q&A

They don't! This is a popular myth. Turkeys do sometimes stare skyward at rain, but they don't actually drown from it. Domestic turkeys can be a bit dopey, but not that dopey.

It's a chicken stuffed inside a duck, stuffed inside a turkey. Because apparently one bird wasn't enough. John Madden popularized it on TV and now it's a Thanksgiving tradition for the truly ambitious cook.

He called the turkey a 'much more respectable bird' than the eagle in a private letter to his daughter — calling the eagle 'a bird of bad moral character.' Somehow this became 'Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird,' which he never actually formally proposed.

Red, blue, or white — all three! The snood and wattle of a male turkey change color rapidly based on mood. It's basically a built-in emotional display board.

True! Turkeys have surprisingly good visual memory. They can recognize individual humans and will remember if you scared them. Be kind to turkeys.

Turkeys make over 30 distinct sounds, including purrs, yelps, clucks, cackles, and putts. The 'putt' is an alarm call. Apparently turkeys have a lot to say.

Approximately $1 billion. Forty-six million turkeys worth about $1 billion are consumed every Thanksgiving. That's a lot of leftovers.

They were often slaughtered anyway. The pardon was mostly symbolic until more recent years, when the turkeys were sent to actual farms or animal sanctuaries. Some are now sent to live out their days at universities.

Competitive eating champion Joey Chestnut ate 13.22 pounds of turkey in 10 minutes. Which is impressive or horrifying depending on your perspective.

Selective breeding for big breasts. Domestic turkeys have been bred to have such large breast muscles that many cannot fly, run properly, or reproduce naturally. Wild turkeys are lean, fast, and capable — they could absolutely outrun you.

66 days. In comparison, a modern cruise ship does it in about 7 days. The Pilgrims spent two months cramped on a 100-foot ship. Thanksgiving starts making more sense now.

About 50%. Of the 102 passengers, approximately half died before spring. The fact that they celebrated at all the following fall is actually remarkable.

Absolutely not. The iconic black-and-white Pilgrim outfit with buckled hat is a Victorian-era invention. Real Pilgrims wore normal English clothing in various colors.

Wine. The Mayflower was a merchant ship that typically transported wine and cloth. It then transported Pilgrims, which based on the survival rates may have been a step down in cargo satisfaction.

Primarily for religious freedom — but also for economic opportunity. However, many passengers on the Mayflower were 'Strangers' (non-religious settlers) just looking for a new start, not Separatists.

Tisquantum (Squanto) was captured by English explorers, enslaved in Spain, escaped to England, returned to America, found his entire village had died of disease, and then served as translator for the Pilgrims. His story makes the Thanksgiving myth look tame by comparison.

About 50 Pilgrims — and about 90 Wampanoag people showed up. The Wampanoag actually outnumbered the Pilgrims by almost 2:1, which made for an interesting guest list.

Plymouth Colony, which is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. You can visit Plimoth Patuxent and see a reconstructed version of the settlement. They serve authentic 1620s food and somehow pumpkin spice lattes are not on the menu.

Sort of. It was an agreement among the colonists for self-governance — but only adult male church members signed it. About half the people on the ship were not consulted. Democracy was a work in progress.

Saints. They called themselves Saints; other colonists called them Separatists. The term 'Pilgrim' wasn't widely used until the 1800s, when romanticized accounts of early American history became popular.

Pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and cranberry sauce. The Pilgrims had none of these. They probably ate boiled pumpkin, roasted deer, shellfish, wildfowl, and corn porridge.

3,000 to 4,500 calories in a single meal. The recommended daily intake is 2,000–2,500 calories. Thanksgiving is basically a full extra day of eating in one sitting.

A whole turkey lowered into 3–5 gallons of boiling oil outdoors. It produces incredibly juicy, crispy turkey — and about 900 house fires per year in the United States. The NFPA estimates Thanksgiving is the leading day for home cooking fires.

Very little on its own. Turkey contains tryptophan (a sleep-inducing amino acid), but not more than chicken or cheese. The real reason you're sleepy is that you ate 4,000 calories, drank wine, and watched football.

About 40%. Dorcas Reilly invented it at Campbell's in 1955 using cream of mushroom soup. Campbell's estimates it generates $20 million in annual soup sales from Thanksgiving alone.

'How to cook a turkey' spikes dramatically on Thanksgiving morning every year. Apparently millions of people wait until the last possible moment to figure out what they're doing with a 20-pound bird.

3–4 days, according to the USDA. The mashed potatoes you're eating on Sunday? Borderline. Monday? You're brave.

A Thanksgiving leftover sandwich with an extra gravy-soaked slice of bread in the middle. Ross Gellar invented this and was famously devastated when someone ate it at work. It became a real recipe people actually make.

Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger — but not actually pumpkin. Pumpkin spice is a spice blend, not a pumpkin flavor. Real pumpkin has almost no taste. The irony is deep.

Because stuffing inside the turkey doesn't always reach safe temperature (165°F). Food scientists recommend cooking it outside the bird, which deeply offends traditionalists and creates annual dinner table debates.

The night before Thanksgiving — reportedly the biggest bar night of the year as people return home and reconnect with old friends. Also called 'Drinksgiving.' Bartenders earn it.

Over 55 million people, making it the busiest travel period of the year. Americans collectively hate flying and driving but do it every single year anyway.

Not a holiday. Moving on.

From Philadelphia police, who used it in the 1960s to describe the chaotic crowds and traffic the day after Thanksgiving. It was later reinterpreted as the day retailers 'go into the black' (profitability). Neither explanation is particularly uplifting.

1973. The Skylab 4 crew became the first people to eat Thanksgiving in space. Their menu included thermostabilized turkey, cranberry sauce, and canned candied yams. Floating.

FDR in 1939. He moved it a week earlier, creating 'Franksgiving.' Half the states refused to comply, creating two different Thanksgivings in the same country for two years. Congress stepped in and fixed it in 1941.

About 100,000 people each year call or chat with Butterball's hotline for emergency turkey cooking advice. The most common question is about frozen turkeys that weren't thawed in time.

Sycamore, Virginia's 'Thanksgiving Gun.' Some small towns have cannon-firing or gun salute traditions dating back to early American celebrations.

Snoopy. The Peanuts beagle has appeared in more Macy's parades than any other balloon character, first appearing in 1968.

Approximately $190,000 per balloon. Each balloon takes months to design and construct, requires a team of 90–100 volunteers to handle, and costs a small fortune to create and store.

A 2011 event in Detroit served Thanksgiving dinner to 15,231 people simultaneously, setting a Guinness World Record for largest Thanksgiving gathering.

About 50 million. Americans eat approximately 50 million pumpkin pies each Thanksgiving. Libby's estimates that 85% of all canned pumpkin sold in the U.S. ends up in Thanksgiving pies.

About 200 million pounds of turkey is thrown away after Thanksgiving, according to the NRDC. That's roughly 35% of all Thanksgiving turkeys.

He died within months. Early pardoned turkeys were not well-suited to farm life after a lifetime of commercial breeding. Modern pardoned turkeys now go to proper animal sanctuaries.

Several weeks of continuous viewing. The NFL has played over 100 Thanksgiving games since 1920. There are worse ways to spend a few weeks.

Running about 3 to 4 marathons. A 4,000-calorie Thanksgiving meal would take approximately 40 miles of running to burn off. Most people choose not to do this.

About 220–240 million. Of those, around 46 million are consumed on Thanksgiving alone — nearly 20% of the entire annual supply in one day.

A 2012 gala in New York City charged $1,000 per plate, featuring truffle-stuffed heritage turkey, Périgord black truffle gravy, and other ingredients that would make the Pilgrims weep.

Nothing — they're volunteers. The 90–100 handlers per balloon are all unpaid volunteers. They do get a cool balloon, though.

About 1 in 9.2 quintillion — essentially zero. Nothing to do with Thanksgiving. But it's a great fun fact for any trivia night.