Monday, December 01, 2008 | 4:34 p.m.

Trivia Bits by Paul Paquet

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Paul Paquet

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  • Trivia Bits, December 1
    Word of the week: "snow," specifically the Eskimo words for "snow." The idea that Eskimos have dozens of words for snow reflects the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that language is shaped by our experience of the world. Actually, Eskimo …

  • Trivia Bits, November 29
    STAN'S WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 113 What legendary figure from American history was once known as "Duck Bill" because of the shape of his nose and mouth? HOW TO WIN: Send your answer, with your full name and address, either by e-…

  • Trivia Bits, November 28
    The related words "denim" and "jeans" both have a geographical ancestry. "Denim" is derived from the French fabric "serge de Nimes," Nimes being the city where it was first made. "Jeans" comes from …

  • Trivia Bits, November 27
    Eponym of the week: Japanese engineer Tadao Kashio, who, with his father and three brothers, founded in 1946 what would become the Casio Computer Company. In 1954, Casio debuted its first calculator — the first with a 10-key number pad and a …

Trivia Bits, July 1

Actor Butch Patrick, portrayer of Eddie, the lupine son on "The Munsters," reveals in his new autobiography that he was offered a role in the film "American Graffiti" by director George Lucas himself (this was before "Star Wars," remember). Patrick turned Lucas down for what might well have started him on a successful film career. Why? Because the film was set in 1962, and Patrick didn't want to cut off his long hair.

Author Edward Everett Hale, best remembered for "The Man Without a Country," deserves to be remembered also for being one of America's first sci-fi writers. His 1899 short story "The Brick Moon" is the earliest known fictional description of an artificial satellite. Hale was the grandnephew of Nathan Hale, by the way.

Located a short distance from London, Hampton Court Palace, once the home of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, is today a major tourist attraction.
Its hedge maze is particularly popular. The largest of the many rooms in the Hampton Court complex was used by British royals for:
A) Sleeping
B) Dining
C) Roasting meat
D) Playing tennis

Previous answer: The global-strategy board game Risk, introduced in 1957, was invented by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse. His 1956 short film "The Red Balloon" won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and he received an Academy Award for writing the film's screenplay.

TRIVIA FANS: Send the trivia questions you've always wanted answered, or original TriviaBits ideas of your own, with your full name and hometown, to Stan Newman at StanTrivia@aol.com or on a postcard to P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762.



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Originally Published on Tuesday July 01, 2008

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