WEEK OF JUNE 16, 2008
Word of the week: "majuscule," which is a 10-dollar synonym for an uppercase letter. The word literally means "somewhat bigger," being composed of seemingly contradictory Latin components meaning "major" and "small." The corresponding word for a lowercase letter is "minuscule," though it's much more frequently used these days as a synonym for "tiny."
Starring trios update: Thanks to the Trivia Detectives who unearthed these threesomes starring in two relatively recent films with different roles: Estevez/Nelson/Sheedy in "The Breakfast Club" and "St. Elmo's Fire" (Lynn Skordal, Mercer Island, Wash.) and Curtis/Kline/Palin in "A Fish Called Wanda" and "Fierce Creatures." (Don Brockman, San Ramon, Calif.) More in a future issue.
Russian author Vladimir Nabokov (of "Lolita" fame") grew up in a trilingual family. Russian, English and French were all spoken in his household, and he learned to read and write in English before Russian. Twenty-two years before "Lolita" (1955), Nabokov published his Russian translation of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," in which he renamed the title character Anya.
You may remember the GoldStar brand of consumer products (such as TVs and microwaves) that were widely sold in the U.S. in the 1980s. Well, it's still around, but it's gone upscale. We know this South Korean company today as LG, maker of everything from cell phones to refrigerators. The "L" in its name stands for "Lucky," a household-products company it merged with; the "G" is for "GoldStar."
The Web site www.abevigoda.com does concern actor Abe Vigoda, of "Barney Miller" and "Godfather" fame. But unlike most celebrity-tribute websites you're probably familiar with, this site consists of just a single page, whose purpose is to inform you whether Mr. Vigoda is alive at the present time. This stems from the erroneous report published by People magazine in 1982 that Vigoda had died.
What was "Life" like 50 years ago? French World War II hero Charles de Gaulle (who later that year was elected the president of the Fifth Republic) was on the cover for June 9, 1958. Financial columnist Sylvia Porter, in a "What to Do About the Recession" article, had some sound advice: buy or build a home, bargain-hunt for the things you need, and set up a systematic savings-investment program.
Eponym of the week: New Hampshire-born Earl Tupper. A manufacturer of plastic beads and soap containers, he received a block of polyethylene soon after World War II from DuPont, which was hoping peacetime uses could be found for this new material created for the war effort. After much tinkering, Tupper created the burping-seal Wonderbowl, first sold in 1947. The brand name Tupperware was coined soon thereafter.
Can you name someone with the nickname Frankie who played second base at Fordham University and went on to be a Cardinal? If you're a baseball fan, you'll recognize Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals. But there's one more famous fellow who fits the same description. That would be Francis Cardinal Spellman, who was archbishop of New York from 1939 to 1967.
"Backwards word" update: Some recent Bits discussed those few words derived from other words spelled backwards, like the electrical unit mho (derived from "ohm"). We recently noticed that "wonk" (an overly studious person) spelled backwards is "know," and thought we discovered another member of this exclusive club. But alas, according to all the dictionaries we checked, "wonk" and "know" are unrelated.
Surprisingly, only one state (Virginia) chose its presidential electors by popular vote in the first U.S. presidential election, in 1789. The other states’ electors were chosen by state legislature. Also surprisingly, only 10 states cast electoral votes in 1789. Rhode Island and North Carolina were ineligible, since those states had not yet ratified the Constitution, and New York’s legislature failed to appoint its electors in time.
TRIVIA
1) The world's longest-serving current head of state rules on what continent?
A) Europe
B) South America
C) Africa
D) Asia
2) With 14 platinum albums, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass was one of the top-selling instrumental groups of the 1960s. Their most popular tunes included "A Taste of Honey" and "Tijuana Taxi." Including Alpert, the group had seven members. How many of those seven were of Hispanic descent?
A) None
B) Two
C) Four
D) Six
3) "The American Leonardo" is the title of a biography of what famous American?
A) Benjamin Franklin
B) Samuel Morse
C) Frederic Remington
D) Frank Lloyd Wright
4) In 1910, six years after the Wright brothers' first flight, the first successful powered flight was made on the Australian continent. The pilot wasn't Wilbur or Orville, but a fellow who was already famous worldwide as:
A) A magician
B) A novelist
C) An explorer
D) A king
5) What the Russians call an "air dragon" is known in English as a:
A) Bald eagle
B) Kite
C) Warplane
D) Thundercloud
ANSWERS
1) The world's longest-serving current head of state is Thailand's King Rama IX, who has reigned since June 1946.
2) None of the seven members of Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass were of Hispanic descent.
3) "The American Leonardo" is the title of a biography of Samuel Morse, whose renown as both an artist and inventor is not unlike that of Leonardo da Vinci.
4) In 1910, magician Harry Houdini made the first successful airplane flight on the Australian continent. Details of this event can be easily found on the Web by entering "Australia Houdini airplane" in your favorite search engine. (Thanks to Scott Nelson of Pleasanton, Calif.)
5) "Air dragon" is the Russian term for a kite.
STAN'S WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 90
Who is the only first lady (wife of a U.S. president) to receive an Emmy Award?
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. 90, 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. 83
One of the stone steps outside Colorado's Capitol building in Denver features the engraved message, "ONE MILE ABOVE SEA LEVEL." Winner: Mary Rausch of Canyon, Tex.
