For his radio play Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas invented a village called Llareggub. Everyone thought it was authentically Welsh until, after the broadcast, someone read the name out backwards.

Aldo Manuzio was a Venetian printer who lived during the Renaissance period. To avoid confusion while working on Greek classics one day (around 1490), Manuzio began separating words and clauses - and the comma, from the Greek work for "something cut off," was born. 

In Miami, a thief broke into a sneaker store and took 20 shoes," Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon reported in 2022. "But when he got out, he realized he only stole the left sneakers."

In 2022, a cargo ship got stuck in the mud, grounded off the coast of Maryland in Chesapeake Bay. Comedians had a field day with the vessel's name... the Ever Forward.

On his third day as a writer for The Simpsons, Conan O'Brien pitched an idea that he "almost didn't bring up" because he thought it wasn't great. It spawned "Marge vs. the Monorail," one of the show's best episodes.

For his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Jay Leno chose the location where he had been arrested 20 years earlier "for vagrancy: no visible means of support." 

Actor Mark Ruffalo lost his virginity on the first hole of a golf course in Virginia Beach.

On the set of The Hunger Games in Hawaii, a boulder came loose, rolled down a mountain, and wrecked the sound booth. "The Hawaiians were like, 'Oh my god, it's the curse!'" recalled Jennifer Lawrence, who'd been rubbing on the rock to relieve an itchy bum. "I'm around the corner going, 'I'm your curse - I wedged it loose with my ass!'"

When O. J. "The Juice" Simpson was acquitted of murdering Nicole Brown in 1995, Starburst changed their candy's slogan to "Turn Up The Juice." The original slogan? "The Juice Is Loose!"

Transit fare dodgers in Helsinki once formed an insurance company. "With the help of the freeloader's fund," organizers explained, "we can share the risk associated with stealing rides."