The latest edition of the Guinness Book of World Records boasts a number of record-breaking feats by Southern Californians.
Los Angeles resident Chanel Tapper, for example, can claim the state's longest tongue. Yup, that's right. Her tongue, according to Guinness, measures 3.8 inches from tip to top lip. She got beat out, though, for the world record by Stephen Taylor of the United Kingdom, whose licker measures 3.86 inches.
Local collectors also top the charts. Denise Tabangui of San Jacinto owns 2,429 cow-related items as of March 2011. The collection began in 1990 when she saw a cow figurine in her mother's kitchen. Now she needs a lot more than a kitchen to hold her own cow menagerie, which includes a life-sized calf that her neighbors gave her as a present.
Charlotte Lee of Huntington Beach owns 5,249 different rubber ducks -– enough for the record books. Her rubber friends are kept in glass showcases in a dedicated duck room.
Then there's W.R. 'Rusty' Haight of San Diego, who owns the dubious distinction of being in the most car collisions. By February 2003, the traffic collision reconstructionist had endured 718 collisions as a human crash-test dummy.
In all, there are 2,500 new records in the Guinness Book of World Records, including 39 Southern California records, a spokesman for the book says. So take heart, there's still hope for the rest of us next year.
