Of the over six million articles in the English Wikipedia there are some articles that Wikipedians have identified as being somewhat unusual. These articles are verifiable, valuable contributions to the encyclopedia, but are a bit odd, whimsical, or something one would not expect to find in ''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
''. We should take special care to meet the highest standards of an encyclopedia with these articles lest they make Wikipedia appear ''
idiosyncratic
An idiosyncrasy is an unusual feature of a person (though there are also other uses, see below). It can also mean an odd habit. The term is often used to express eccentricity or peculiarity. A synonym may be "quirk".
Etymology
The term "idiosyncr ...
''. If you wish to add an article to this list, the article in question should preferably meet one or more of these criteria:
* The article is something a reasonable person would not expect to find in a standard encyclopedia.
* The subject is a highly unusual combination of concepts, such as
cosmic latte,
death from laughter
Death from laughter is a supposedly extremely rare form of death, usually resulting from either cardiac arrest or asphyxiation, that has itself been caused by a fit of laughter. Instances of death by laughter have been recorded from the times ...
, etc.
* The subject is a clear anomaly—something that defies common sense, common expectations or common knowledge, such as
Bir Tawil
( arz, بير طويل, translit=Bīr Ṭawīl, lit=tall water well, ) is a area of land along the border between Egypt and Sudan, which is uninhabited and claimed by neither country. When spoken of in association with the neighbouring Halaib ...
,
Märket
Märket ("The Mark", ) is a small uninhabited skerry in the Baltic Sea shared by Sweden and Finland (in the area of the autonomous region Åland), with a lighthouse as its salient humanmade feature. Märket has been divided between the two c ...
,
Phineas Gage,
Snow in Florida, etc.
* The subject is well-documented for unexpected notoriety or an unplanned
cult following at extreme levels, such as
Ampelmännchen
(; literally ''little traffic light man'', diminutive of ''Ampelmann'' ) is the symbol shown on pedestrian signals in Germany. Prior to German reunification in 1990, the two Germanies had different forms for the , with a generic human figure ...
or
All your base are belong to us
"All your base are belong to us" is an Internet meme based on a badly translated phrase from the opening cutscene of the video game ''Zero Wing''. The phrase first appeared on the European release of the 1991 Sega Mega Drive port of the 1989 ...
.
* The subject is a notorious
hoax, such as the
Sokal affair or
Mary Toft.
* The subject might be found amusing, though serious.
* The subject is distinct amongst other similar ones.
* The article is a list or collection of articles or subjects meeting the criteria above.
This definition is not precise or absolute; some articles could still be considered unusual even if they do not fit these guidelines.
Each entry on this list should be an article on its own (not merely a section in a less unusual article) and of decent quality, and in large meeting
Wikipedia's manual of style. For unusual contributions that are of greater levity, see
Wikipedia:Silly Things.
In this list, a star () indicates a
featured article. A plus () indicates a
good article
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Click any of the topics above for a list of good articles on that topic.
Good Articles
...
.
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Unusual featured pictures
Wikipedia:Featured pictures contains some unusual images.
Image:2007 swifts creek lawnmower races04 edit.jpg, Lawn mower racing
Image:Train wreck at Montparnasse 1895.jpg, Train wreck at Montparnasse
Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...
Image:Agassiz statue Mwc00715.jpg, The Agassiz statue, Stanford University, California. April 1906
Image:Stowe_Armorial.jpg, Grenville Diptych
A diptych (; from the Greek δίπτυχον, ''di'' "two" + '' ptychē'' "fold") is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world w ...
Image:Peter Treveris - engraving of Trepanation for Handywarke of surgeri 1525.png, Medieval trepanation
Trepanning, also known as trepanation, trephination, trephining or making a burr hole (the verb ''trepan'' derives from Old French from Medieval Latin from Greek , literally "borer, auger"), is a surgical intervention in which a hole is drill ...
Image:Polydactyly 01 Lhand AP.jpg, Polydactyly
Polydactyly or polydactylism (), also known as hyperdactyly, is an anomaly in humans and animals resulting in supernumerary fingers and/or toes. Polydactyly is the opposite of oligodactyly (fewer fingers or toes).
Signs and symptoms
In human ...
Image:IsometricFlaw 2.svg, Isometric projection flaw
Image:Tacoma Narrows Bridge destruction.ogv, Collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is a pair of twin suspension bridges that span the Tacoma Narrows strait of Puget Sound in Pierce County, Washington. The bridges connect the city of Tacoma with the Kitsap Peninsula and carry State Route 16 (know ...
Image:DefecatingSeagull.jpg, Defecating seagull
File:Indecency2.jpg, Indecency
Inappropriateness refers to standards or ethics that are typically viewed as being negative in a society. It differs from things that are illicit in that inappropriate behavior does not necessarily have any accompanying legal ramifications.
C ...
File:Aerial house3.jpg, Aerial turning house
Image:B-36 tracked gear edit.jpg, Tank treads on an airplane
File:Salvador Dali A (Dali Atomicus) 09633u.jpg, Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...
File:Mount Rushmore2.jpg, Maintenance of Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (Lakota: ''Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe'', or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakot ...
File:1Mcolors.png, One million colors
File:Rice & Barton's Big Gaiety Spectacular Extravaganza Co. - Gaiety Dancers.png, Keep your hands to yourself!
File:Ch.megacephala wiki.jpg, Like a fly on...
File:Orlando-Ferguson-flat-earth-map edit.jpg, An elaborate flat Earth
The flat-Earth model is an archaic and scientifically disproven conception of Earth's shape as a plane or disk. Many ancient cultures subscribed to a flat-Earth cosmography, including Greece until the classical period (5th century BC), t ...
map drawn in 1893
File:Vegetable lamb (Lee, 1887).jpg, Vegetable Lamb of Tartary
The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary (Latin: ''Agnus scythicus'' or ''Planta Tartarica Barometz'') is a legendary zoophyte of Central Asia, once believed to grow sheep as its fruit. It was believed the sheep were connected to the plant by an umbilical c ...
File:Carrots of many colors.jpg, Carrots of many colors
File:Hadji Ali demonstrating controlled regurgitation Crisco edit.jpg, Professional regurgitator
Professional regurgitation is the act of controlled regurgitation. The act consists of swallowing and regurgitating various unusual objects. The objects may consist of anything from live animals (live aquatic: Mac Norton; and live mice: The Gr ...
Hadji Ali
Hadji Ali (Arabic: حاج علي) ( 1887–92 – November 5, 1937) was a vaudeville performance artist, thought to be of Egyptian descent, who was famous for acts of controlled regurgitation. His best-known feats included water ...
at work
See also
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Wikipedia:Featured articles
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Wikipedia:Unusual articles/Removed
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:Adages
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:Conspiracy theories
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Famous body parts
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:Hoaxes
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:Internet memes
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:Ironic and humorous awards
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:Profanity
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Depths of Wikipediasocial media account that highlights unusual Wikipedia articles
External links
Funcyclopedia*
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* A. Kleinman, M. Strachan
"The 49 Most Entertaining Wikipedia Entries Ever Created"14 January 2015 (updated 6 December 2017)
Huffington Post; Retrieved 15 September 2019
*Archive o
A Random Collection of Unusual Articles on Wikipediagame on
The Nethernet
{{List resources
Unusual articles