WEEK OF AUGUST 25, 2008

Word of the week: "pescatarian." Derived from the Latin word for "fish" plus "vegetarian," it's a vegetarian whose diet includes fish. This is one of about 100 new words that will appear in the new edition of Merriam-Webster's college dictionary. At least one of those 100, "air quotes," was previously mentioned in this space.

"Cash Cab" update: Thanks to Bruce Campbell of Martinez, Calif., a fan of the on-the-road game show who recently visited the Big Apple, where the show is filmed. Knowledgeable locals told him that at least some of the contestants are not picked up at random, but are carefully screened in advance. The show's closing credits mention this, in fact.

The more literate among you may have heard of French hyphenate Jean Cocteau. His impressive list of credits includes poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, filmmaker, and most unexpectedly, boxing manager. In the 1920s, Cocteau managed the career of bantamweight boxer Panama Al Brown, who became the first Hispanic world boxing champion in 1929.

Triple-star update: Our Oscar trivia expert, Lance Richmond of Seattle, decided to go one better on our "star trios in different films with different roles" challenge: He found eight such instances with Oscar winners only. The trios include Hattie McDaniel, Olivia DeHavilland and Gig Young; Walter Brennan, Anne Baxter and Walter Huston; and Jane Darwell, Loretta Young and Don Ameche.

Thanks to intrepid trivia detective Sue Douglass of Albany, Calif., who searched for states that had towns named both for a country and the capital of the same country. She found Egypt and Cairo in Georgia, Poland and Warsaw in both New York and Ohio, Peru and Lima in Illinois, and England and London in Arkansas.

Who was James Murray Spangler, and why should you care about him? A janitor from Canton, Ohio, in 1907 he invented the upright vacuum cleaner (patented the next year), using a fan, a soap box, a broom handle, a pillowcase and a rotating brush. You've probably never heard of him because, lacking the funds who exploit his invention, he sold the patent to W.H. Hoover.

Eponym of the week: 19th century Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, who first theorized the Doppler effect -- that the frequency and length of waves change, as perceived by an observer moving toward or away from it. The Doppler radar seen on TV weather reports uses the Doppler effect, as do air-traffic control systems and police radar guns.

Before the age of recorded music, a song's success was measured by the sales of sheet music. Million-selling songs were not uncommon 100 years ago, but sales of sheet music steadily declined as sales of 78s, LPs and CDs increased. The last million-selling sheet music was the 1950 tune "The Tennessee Waltz," popularized by Patti Page, and Les Paul & Mary Ford. (Thanks to Roger Lucas of Seattle.)

Because more than one-third of the Australian state of Tasmania is in reserves, national parks and World Heritage Sites, it promotes itself as "The Natural State." Like mainland Australia, Tasmania's first European settlers were mostly convicts and their guards. Our pick for the world's two best-known Tasmanians are actor Errol Flynn and Crown Prince Mary of Denmark, wife of Frederik, current heir to the Danish throne.

Charcoal briquettes, the backyard barbecue staple, were first produced in the U.S. in the 1920s, from the wood scraps left over from the production of Model T Fords. Henry Ford, his friend Thomas Edison and Ford relative E.G. Kingsford all had a hand in the invention. What eventually became the Kingsford brand was first sold in Ford showrooms under the Ford Charcoal name.

TRIVIA

1) Type "Donald Tusk" into any of the major Internet search engines, and you'll get more than 2 million hits. So who or what is Donald Tusk?
A) The current prime minister of Poland
B) A Sesame Street character
C) A walrus at the San Diego Zoo
D) A Grammy-winning rap artist

2) What did author Ernest Hemingway call "a swell way to keep from working and yet feel you've done something?"
A) Writing letters
B) Playing tennis
C) Watching TV
D) Sleeping

3) "Wuthering Heights" was the only novel written by Emily Bronte, originally published in 1847 under the pseudonym of Ellis Bell. The title refers to the Yorkshire manor that is the setting for the novel, but what is "Wuthering"?
A) The name of the family that built the residence
B) A regional word meaning "stormy"
C) The village where the residence is located
D) An archaic spelling of "withering"

4) Praise, Buzzsaw and Spa 73 are all the names of:
A) Designer fragrances
B) Satellite radio stations
C) Professional wrestlers
D) Chains of haircutting salons

5) What is the most recent film to receive more than 10 Academy Award nominations?
A) "Titanic"
B) "The Aviator"
C) "Dreamgirls"
D) "Forest Gump"

ANSWERS

1) Donald Franciszek Tusk is the current prime minister of Poland.

2) In a letter to his friend and colleague F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway called letter writing "a swell way to keep from working and yet feel you've done something."

3) The "Wuthering" of "Wuthering Heights" is a Yorkshire word for "stormy."

4) Praise (gospel), Buzzsaw (rock) and Spa 73 (New Age) are stations on Sirius Satellite Radio.

5) Previous answer: The 2005 biopic "The Aviator" is the most recent film to receive more than 10 Academy Award nominations.  It received 11 nominations, winning five Oscars.

STAN'S WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 100
What U.S. president won every election he ever competed in, except one: for a seat on a city school board?

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. 100, 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. 93
The name of CNN business reporter Casey Wian (son of the founder of Bob's Big Boy restaurants) is pronounced almost exactly like K-C-Y-N. Winner: Claude Deutsch of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Stanley Newman is the editor of the Newsday Crossword and author/editor of more than 125 books on crosswords, word games and trivia, including "15,003 Answers: The Ultimate Trivia Encyclopedia" (Random House). To find out more about Stanley Newman visit StanXwords.com, or e-mail him at StanTrivia@aol.com.
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