WEEK OF JUNE 2, 2008
Word of the week: "pulchritude," pronounced "PUHL-kri-tood." Frequently seen in standardized tests and spelling bees, it's a 10-dollar synonym for "beauty." In a key scene in the 2006 film "Akeelah and the Bee," the young title character misspells the word, which leads her to take a more studious approach to preparing for spelling contests.
"Trivia Wanted" Category of the Month: Sports. Because many trivia fans we know aren't sports fans, we're pretty choosy about the kind of sports trivia we use. We prefer our sports stuff to have an element of cleverness and/or surprise that would appeal to non-sports fans. So if you've got something like that, and long to see your name and hometown in newspapers throughout this great land, please let us know.
25 Years Ago in TV Guide: Our favorite June 1983 cover featured this motley group: Alan Alda, Valerie Bertinelli, Erik Estrada and Linda Evans. Those four and others were discussed in the article "They're Stars -- But Can They Act?'' Alda was praised as "A consummate actor. Will be around forever." The comments on the other three were (how shall we say it) somewhat less flattering.
Reverent/irreverent update: Our recent Bit about the wide range of films scored by Elmer Bernstein prompted Allan McKibben of Walnut Creek, Calif., to write us about screenwriter James Lee Barrett. His Hollywood scripts had a comparably impressive range, from the Biblical epic "The Greatest Story Ever Told" to the less-than-epic "Smokey and the Bandit." Barrett received a Tony Award for collaborating on the musical "Shenandoah."
Weird Wide Web: Visit www.thepointless.com/?c=dot and you'll have the opportunity to view your choice of a large red dot or a large green dot, that you'll discover (as the site's proprietor proudly points out) "doesn't do anything when you click on it." We're not counting the reminders you get if you do try clicking, that clicking on it doesn't do anything.
Would you be surprised to learn that Grace Kelly wasn't the first American to become Princess of Monaco? We were. The New Orleans-born, socially prominent Alice Heine (grandniece of German poet Heinrich Heine) was the second wife of Monaco's Prince Albert I, who was the great-grandfather of Grace's husband, Prince Rainier III. Alice and Albert married in 1889.
Eponyms of the week: Chicagoans William Rand and Andrew McNally, who started out in the printing business in the 1850s. They originally specialized in the railroad industry, printing tickets, timetables and guides. Their first map appeared in an 1872 railroad guide. They published their first atlas in 1876, and their first automobile road map (of New York City and vicinity) in 1904.
Misplaced trust? The slogan of McGraw Hill's Access Medicine website is "Trusted Content. Instant Answers." The site offers for sale its "Bioterrorism Sourcebook." On page 9, in reference to a simulated bioterrorism attack, you'll find this rather egregious typo, "...both national quarantine and Marshall law were considered." (Thanks to Chris Sanford, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Washington.)
The first known usage of the word "astronaut" in the sense of "space traveler" was in sci-fi writer Neil R. Jones' story "The Death's Head Meteor," which was published in Air Wonder Stories in 1930, nearly 30 years before the establishment of NASA. "Astronaut" first appeared in a sci-fi novel way back in 1880, in "Across the Zodiac" by Brit Percy Greg, but he used it as a term for a spacecraft.
A revival of the Clifford Odets play "The Country Girl" premiered on Broadway last month, directed by Mike Nichols. It stars Frances McDormand, Morgan Freeman and Peter Gallagher. In a subtle nod to the past, Bing Crosby (who had Gallagher's role in the 1954 film version) can be heard singing during scene changes.
TRIVIA
1) To give a person "the third degree" is to subject him to intensive questioning and/or rough treatment. This colloquialism is derived from:
A) Academia
B) A Biblical passage
C) Freemasonry
D) Milton's "Paradise Lost"
2) Long before Wisk was introduced in 1956 as the first liquid laundry detergent (its "Ring around the collar" commercials debuted in 1974), the name Wisk was:
A) A character in a Charles Dickens novel
B) A brand of hunting rifle
C) A variety of avocado
D) A common surname in Austria
3) According to "Q," the autobiography of music-industry hyphenate Quincy Jones, the Kennedy Center honoree admitted that he has never learned how to:
A) Read music
B) Swim
C) Drive a car
D) Dance
4) What word literally means "forest man" in its original language?
A) Sequoia
B) Orangutan
C) Grizzly
D) Camouflage
5) The cocktail known as the screwdriver contains vodka and orange juice. Use cranberry juice instead of orange juice, and you've made a:
A) Purple Passion
B) Turkey Trot
C) Cape Cod
D) Mistake
ANSWERS
1) Giving a person "the third degree" is derived from Freemasonry. Specifically, the Masonic ritual associated with attaining the Third Degree.
2) Mrs. Wisk is the fiancee of Mr. Quale in the Dickens novel "Bleak House."
3) Music-industry legend Quincy Jones admitted in his autobiography that he never learned how to drive an automobile.
4) The word "orangutan" literally means "forest man" in the Malay language.
5) A cocktail with vodka and cranberry juice is called a Cape Cod because cranberries are grown in that region of Massachusetts.
STAN'S WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 88
The longest year in recorded history, in terms of days, had a lot more than 366 days. This one-time-only calendrical anomaly occurred by order of what head of state?
HOW TO WIN: Send your answer, with your full name and address, either by e-mail to TriviaBits@gmail.com, or on a postcard to Stan Newman's Trivia Challenge No. 88, P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762. Only one submission per person, please. Answers must be received within seven days of publication. One winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries, who will receive a copy of Stan's new book "15,003 Answers: The Ultimate Trivia Encyclopedia," courtesy of Random House. Answer and winner will be announced in a future issue.
ANSWER TO TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 81
Boston's JFK Library is the repository for the archives of President Kennedy (Pulitzer Prize for "Profiles in Courage") and Ernest Hemingway (Pulitzer Prize for "The Old Man and the Sea.") Winner: Chris Korow of Helena, Mont.
