Trivia 10 Answers
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- What's the proper way to pronounce "ye?"
The 'y' in signs reading "ye olde.." is properly pronounced
with a 'th' sound, not 'y'. The "th" sound does not exist in
Latin, so ancient Roman-occupied (present day) England use the rune
"thorn" to represent "th" sounds. With the advent of the
printing press the character from the Roman alphabet which closest resembled
thorn was the lower case "y".
- Did knights salute each other?
Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode
past their king. It's thought that this custom evolved to become the
modern military salute.
- Was Sir Issac Newton superstitious?
After Sir Isaac Newton died, a sealed trunk was found among his belonging
containing nearly 100,000 pages he had written on the subjects of alchemy,
astrology, and the occult.
- How can a wedding band predict a baby's sex?
According to legend, to predict the sex of a baby: Suspend a wedding band
held by a piece of thread over the palm of the pregnant girl. If the ring
swings in an oval or circular motion the baby will be a girl. If the ring
swings in a straight line the baby will be a boy
- How much warmer are houses kept now than they were 100 years ago?
One hundred years ago 50 to 55 degrees was considered a good house
temperature. Fireplaces provided the heat in those days. When stoves
came into use, about 90 years ago, the temperature rose to 62 degrees. With
the increasing use of furnaces, some 50 years ago, a heat of 72 degrees was
quite usual. Today a temperature of 70 degrees is considered standard.
- What kind of trees produce cork?
This material is the bark of the cork oak (Quercus suber.) All bark
is partially made up or cork, but in the case of oak this tissue attains
unusual thickness. Cork is composed of walls of dead cells filled with air,
rendering it very light, the specific gravity being only .24. It is elastic,
tough and impervious which renders it useful for stoppers for bottles,
floats for nets and life preservers
- What is the oldest city still in existence?
Damascus is thought to be the oldest city of the world. The origin of
the city is unknown. However its foundation is attributed to Josephus Uz,
the son of Aram..
- What mystical powers did ancients ascribe to turquoise?
In early Europe, there was a popular superstition that the wearer of
turquoise could never suffer a broken bone. Instead, the turquoise itself
would shatter and thus prevent the accident. The stones were also set
into horses' bridles to keep them from stumbling and falling. These days, it
is common for horses' bridles to be decorated with turquoise (usually
imitation), although not many people who own them know the custom's origin.
- How did counterfeiting almost bring about what the Confederacy couldn't?
By the end of the U.S. Civil War, 33 percent of all U.S. paper currency
in circulation was counterfeit. This was a devastating situation for a
nation struggling to recover economically from such a destructive war.
On July 5, 1865, the Secret Service was created as a part of the Department
of the Treasury to help suppress counterfeit currency.
- Why do firehouses have circular staircases?
Firehouses have circular stairways because, in the olden days, the engines
were pulled by horses. The animals were kept in stables on the ground
floor, and they learned how to walk up straight staircases.
- How big can a Great White Shark get?
The largest Great White Shark ever caught measured 37 feet and weighed
24,000 pounds. It was found in a herring weir in New Brunswick in 1930.
The harmless Whale Shark, holds the title of largest fish, with the record
being a 59-footer captured in Thailand in 1919.
- How much did Francis I pay for that famous smile?
King Francis I of France is reported to have paid master artist Leonardo
da Vinci 4,000 gold crowns for his masterpiece "Mona Lisa,"
but the king did not get immediate possession. Da Vinci kept the painting
hanging on a wall of his chateau to the day he died.
- Who was John Bartram, and why are there botanical gardens named after him?
Starting from his farm near Philadelphia during the 1700s, John Bartram
traveled north to Lake Ontario, south to Florida, and west to the Ohio River
in search of plants and natural history specimens for his own botanic garden
and for collectors at home and abroad. He and his son William are credited
with identifying and introducing into cultivation more than 200 of America's
native plants. By 1765, Bartram's international reputation earned him the
notice of King George III who honored him as Royal Botanist, a position
he held until his death in 1777. The Historic Bartram Garden is America's
oldest living botanical garden.
- How did PEZ candy get its name?
PEZ Candy was first marketed as a compressed peppermint candy over 70 years
ago in Vienna, Austria. The name PEZ was derived from the German word for
peppermint...PfeffErminZ. Today, over 3 billion PEZ candies are consumed
annually in the U.S.A. alone.
- Why do military men salute each other?
It's thought that the military salute is a motion that evolved from
medieval times, when knights in armor raised their visors to reveal their
identity.
- Did U.S. presidents ever visit Shangri-La?
Sort of - Shangri-La, the presidential hideaway near Thurmont, Maryland,
was renamed Camp David in honor of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's
father and grandson on May 22, 1953.
- Why don't dolphins sleep?
Dolphins do not breath automatically, as humans do, and so they do
not sleep as humans do. If they become unconscious, they would sink to
the bottom of the sea. Without the oxygen they need to take in periodically,
they would die.
- Are onions good for you?
Onions are usually eaten in such small amounts that they make very little
difference nutritionally, but the most nutritious ones are scallions,
with four times the vitamin C and 5,000 times the vitamin A as other onions.
If you enjoy eating onions by the pound, one pound has about 175 calories.
- Did John Wayne's wartime experience assist him in his films?
The closest that film star John Wayne came to military action was in 1944
during a three-month entertainment tour of Pacific bases. His boyhood
wish of becoming a naval officer never came true, although he did come close
to receiving an appointment to Annapolis. During World War II, he was
rejected for military service. Wayne was never a cowboy, either. Odd jobs
that "The Duke" held as a young man included those of fruit
picker, iceman, truck driver, and movie propman.
- Why do residents of Milan seem so happy?
In Milan, Italy, there is a law on the books that requires a smile on the
face of all citizens at all times. Exemptions include time spent
visiting patients in hospitals or attending funerals. Otherwise, the fine is
$100 if they are seen in public without a smile on their face.
- Did the Incans really freeze-dry food?
Incan soldiers invented the process of freeze-drying food. The
process was primitive but effective - potatoes would be left outside to
freeze overnight, then thawed and stomped on to remove excess water.
- How many steps does the Statue of Liberty have?
The Statue of Liberty's mouth is 3 feet wide. The statue weighs 450,000
pounds, or 225 tons. The copper sheeting weighs 200,000 pounds. There are
167 steps from the land level to the top of the pedestal, 168 steps inside
the statue to the head, and 54 rungs on the ladder leading to the arm that
holds the torch.
- Are polar bears efficient eaters?
Adult polar bears usually eat just the skin and blubber of a seal.
They leave the meat for cubs and scavengers. One seal will sustain an adult
bear for 11 days.
- How many grooves are on the edge of a quarter?
The trick is to get somebody to count them...
There are 119 grooves on the edge of a quarter.
- How was a cowboy most likely to die?
From the 1850s to the 1880s, the most common cause of death among cowboys in
the American West was being dragged by a horse while caught in the
stirrups.
