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Trivia A
Trivia A
2. The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the Pacific.
When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun
ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage.
If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."
3. The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the
"General Purpose" vehicle, GP
5. Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are
already married.
7. On average, 100 people choke to death on ball point pens every year, so
be careful.
10. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
11. The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
12. Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
13. There are only four words in the English language which end in "-dous":
tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
14. 'Stewardesses' is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
15. Typing the word typewriter uses only letters from the top row of your
keyboard.
16. A 10 foot tall emu was spotted walking the streets of New York in 1973, it
had accidently escaped from a circus that specialized in large exotic birds.
When police questioned the circus owners they responded saying "George
was constipated, so we thought a run around the grounds may help him feel
better" Police fined the circus 25 dollars, and 5 months later a bi-law was
passed stating that all emus within New York City must be on a leash.
17. Things that are Canadian, or invented by Canadians: Mike Myers, Michael
J. Fox, Jim Carey, Basketball, the 24 time zone divisions, Hockey, Apple Pie
and the reason the Whitehouse is white. The Canadians burned the capital to
the ground, and the US repainted it.
19. More people are killed annually by donkeys than in airplane crashes.
22. Pinocchio is Italian for pine eye (Pino is Italian for pine, Occhio is Italian
for eye)
27. Blueberry jelly beans were especially made for Ronald Reagan.
30. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds while dogs have only ten.
32. "two plus eleven" and "one plus twelve" not only give the same result but
use the same letters
33. With lunchables you have 50% less crackers then toppings. To use them
all with no left overs you would have to do two toppings per cracker.
34. When you sneeze water can come out of your mouth at speeds of
60mph.
36. On a Canadian 2 dollar bill the flag flying over the parliament building
appears to be an American flag. It's actually Canada's earlier flag of the Red
Ensign.
42. "Angry" and "hungry" are the only words in the English language ending in
"-gry" (although gry is a word, it does not *end* in -gry, since a suffix requires
the word before it to be a word)
43. Sloths can move quickly, they just prefer to move at a slow pace.
(source)
44. There are only two families who produced a father and son who were US
presidents: Bush and Adams.
46. Humans and horses are the only two animals that have hymens
47. Polish is the only word in the english language that has two completely
different meanings when the first letter is capitalized.
49. Margaret Kerry was the live action model for Walt Disney's Tinkerbell.
54. Humans, dolphins and apes are the only mammals that have sex for
pleasure.
56. "I am" "Go" is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
58. A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
60. Two thirds of the world's eggplants are grown in New Jersey.
61. All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
66. The only real people to be heads on a Pez dispenser are Betsy Ross,
Daniel Boone and Paul Revere (source).
67. When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers play football at home, the
stadium becomes the state's third largest city.
68. The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert
the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "Its A Wonderful Life"
(probably apocryphal)
69. A mayfly only lives a few minutes to a few days, depending on the
species.
72. The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
73. Who's that playing the piano on the "Mad About You" theme? Paul Reiser
himself.
74. In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak during a
debate.
75. The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube
and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
76. Mr. Rogers was an ordained minister.
79. Underground and Underfund are the only two words in the English
language that begin and end with the letters u-n-d.
80. The combination "ough" can be pronounced in ten different ways. The
following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced,
thoughtful ploughman swam through the lough at Scarborough; after falling
into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
81. The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are
antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
82. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is
uncopyrightable.
83. Facetious, abstemious and arsenious contain all the vowels in the correct
order.
84. The sloth's metabolism is so slow that it can stay under water for more
than 30 minutes and not drown.
86. "A quick sly fox jumped over the lazy brown dog" has every letter in the
alphabet. So does "The five boxing wizards jump quickly."
90. The term "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass mokey" started
when sailors in the navy witnessed the stack of cannon balls tumble off a
steel plate called a brass monkey in winters on the oceans.
91. The electric door bell was invented by Joseph Henry in 1831.
92. The wingspan of a Boeing 747 (~ 213 feet) is longer than the Wright
brothers' first flight (~ 120 feet).
93. Alexander Graham Bell refused to have a phone in his study - the ringing
drove him nuts.
95. Time Magazine's "Man" of the Year in 1982: The Personal Computer.
97. The smallest physically meaningful unit of time is one planck time, or the
time required for light to travel one Planck length. It is about 5.4 x 10 -
44
seconds.
100. Only female ducks quack. The males coo, hoto, honk and grunt, but they
don't quack.
104. The tallest mountain on earth is not Mt. Everest, it's Hawaii's Mauna
Kea, 31,800 feet from the ocean floor.
105. The right rear tire on your car will generally wear out before the others
do.
106. Superglue will not stick to Teflon.
108. After spending 84 days in Skylab, astronauts found that they were 2
inches taller.
109. Enter the value 0.1134 on your calculator, then turn it upside down.
You've just written "hello."
114. A survey of people's greatest fears had the following results: 1) Heights,
2) Snakes, 3) Spiders, 4) Public speaking.
116. Timothy Leary was the godfather of actresses Uma Thurman and
Winona Ryder.
117. All of your body's functions, even your heart, stop when you sneeze.
118. The average American family spends more on taxes than on food,
clothing and shelter combined.
119. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of where they grew up.
120. In almost every language on earth, the word for Mother begins with the
letter 'M'.
121. If you counted 100 stars a minute, it would take 2,000 years to count all
the stars in our galaxy.
122. Every day, 1 acre of trees produces enough oxygen for 18 people.
123. If Earth were the size of an apple, its atmosphere would be thinner than
the skin.
124. Before Columbus arrived in the Americas, no native american had type B
blood.
127. The best-selling passenger car ever was the VW Beetle. At least 22
million have been sold since 1937.
130. What do Albert Einstein, Tom Cruise and Walt Disney have in common?
Dyslexia.
131. Scientists say the easiest sound for the human ear to hear is "Ah."
132. When Astronauts returned from the moon, they had to go through
customs.
137. The 7 deadly sins are: Pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, gluttony, lust.
138. The 7 virtues are: Faith, hope, charity, fortitude, prudence, justice,
temperance.
139. The 7 dwarfs are: Dopey, Sneezy, Bashful, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy,
Doc.
140. The 7 seas are: Red, Adriatic, Black, Caspian, Mediterranean, Persian
Gulf, Indian Ocean.
141. Napoleon was not short as many people think. He was in fact 5 foot 6
1/2 inches, which is slightly taller than the average French man at the time.
The cause of the confusion was that in his autopsy it was said he was 5 foot 2
inches, but that was in French feet.1
144. It's impossible for most people to lick their elbow (try it).
145. A human yell would take 3 1/2 hours to travel from New York to San
Francisco.
146. Princeton professor John W. Tukey coined the term "software" in 1958.
149. Oscar the Grouch got his name from a seafood restaurant called Oscar's
on Lexington Avenue in NYC. Jim Henson and Jon Stone had lunch there
once and were inspired by an ill-tempered waiter.
151. Albert Brooks, voice of Marlin the clownfish in Finding Nemo, was named
Albert Einstein.
152. The following capital letters are the same when viewed upside down: H,
I, N, O, S, X, Z
153. Subcontinental, uncomplimentary, unoriental and unproprietary contain
all of the vowels in reverse order.
154. A polygon with a million sides is called a Megagon and one with
countably infinite sides is called an Apeirogon.
157. Your foot is about the same size as the distance from your wrist to your
elbow and your height is approximately the same as your wingspan (fingertip
to fingertip of your outstretched hands).
159. A kangaroo can't jump or walk backwards because of their thick tail. For
that matter, they can't walk at all.
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3. 2. Cory Aquino’s favorite color was RED, not YELLOW.
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37. 8. The first same-sex marriage in the Philippines was
between two NPA members.
38.
39. Image source: www.workers.org
40. In February 2005, Ka Andres and Ka Jose, two members of the
NPA (New People’s Army), exchanged vows in a symbolic ceremony
held in the Compostela Valley province in Mindanao.
1. Who was the legendary Benedictine monk who invented champagne? Dom Perignon.
2. Name the largest freshwater lake in the world? Lake Superior.
3. Where would you find the Sea of Tranquility? The Moon.
4. What is someone who shoes horses called? A farrier.
5. What item of clothing was named after its Scottish inventor? A Mackintosh.
6. What kind of weapon is a falchion? A sword.
7. Which word goes before vest, beans and quartet? String.
8. What is another word for lexicon? Dictionary.
9. Name the seventh planet from the sun. Uranus.
10. Who invented the rabies vaccination? Louis Pasteur.
1. Which is the only American state to begin with the letter 'p'? Pennsylvania.
2. Name the world's biggest island. Greenland.
3. What is the world's longest river? Amazon.
4. Name the world's largest ocean. Pacific.
5. What is the diameter of Earth? 8,000 miles.
6. Where would you find the world's most ancient forest? Daintree Forest north of Cairns,
Australia.
7. Which four British cities have underground rail systems? Liverpool, Glasgow,
Newcastle and London.
8. What is the capital city of Spain? Madrid.
9. Which country is Prague in? Czech Republic.
10. Which English town was a forerunner of the Parks Movement and the first city in
Europe to have a street tram system? Birkenhead.
1. Name the actor who starred in 142 films including The Quiet Man, The Shootist, The
Searchers and Stagecoach. John Wayne.
2. Name the film noir actress who starred in I Married a Witch, The Glass Key, So Proudly
We Hail! and Sullivan's Travels. Veronica Lake.
3. What is the oldest film ever made, and when was it made? Roundhay Garden Scene
made in 1888.
4. Which actress has won the most Oscars? Katharine Hepburn, with 4 Oscars and 12
nominations.
5. Which actress said, "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night," in All About
Eve? Bette Davis (as Margo Channing.)
6. Name the director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Peter Jackson.
7. Who played Neo in The Matrix? Keanu Reeves.
8. Name the actress whose career began at the age of 3, and who went on to star in films
such as Contact, Maverick and The Silence of the Lambs? Jodie Foster.
9. Bray Studios, near Windsor in Berkshire, was home to which famous brand of horror
films? Hammer Horror.
10. In which film did Humphrey Bogart say, "We'll always have Paris?" Casablanca.
Source
Source
. Oscar the Grouch used to be orange. Jim Henson decided to make him green before the
second season of Sesame Street. How did Oscar explain the color change? He said he went
on vacation to the very damp Swamp Mushy Muddy and turned green overnight.
2. On Good Friday in 1930, the BBC reported, "There is no news." Instead, they played
piano music.
3. The 3 Musketeers bar was originally split into three pieces with three different flavors:
vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. When the other flavors became harder to come by during
World War II, Mars decided to go all chocolate.
4. Fredric Baur invented the Pringles can. When he passed away in 2008, his ashes were
buried in one.
5. In the 1980s, Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel was spending $2,500 a month on rubber
bands just to hold all their cash.
6. When he appeared on Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!, Bill Clinton correctly answered three
questions about My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
7. Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue" was penned by beloved children's author Shel
Silverstein.
8. Ben & Jerry learned how to make ice cream by taking a $5 correspondence course
offered by Penn State. (They decided to split one course.)
9. M&M's actually stands for "Mars & Murrie's," the last names of the candy's founders.
10. Carly Simon's dad is the Simon of Simon and Schuster. He co-founded the company.
11. When the mummy of Ramses II was sent to France in the mid-1970s, it was issued a
passport. Ramses' occupation? "King (deceased)."
12. In 1939, Hitler's nephew wrote an article called "Why I Hate My Uncle." He came to the
U.S., served in the Navy, and settled on Long Island.
13. In the 1970s, Mattel sold a doll called "Growing Up Skipper." Her breasts grew when her
arm was turned.
42. The Arkansas School for the Deaf's nickname is the Leopards.
43. Editor Bennett Cerf challenged Dr. Seuss to write a book using no more than 50
different words. The result? Green Eggs and Ham.
44. Norwegian skier Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset on why he didn't win gold at the 2010 Olympics:
"I think I have seen too much porn in the last 14 days."
45. When asked why he chose the name Piggly Wiggly, founder Clarence Saunders said,
"So people will ask that very question."
46. Obsessive nose picking is called Rhinotillexomania.
47. Jason Schwartzman's mom is Talia Shire.
48. The same person who sang "You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was also the voice of
Tony the Tiger (Thurl Ravenscroft).
49. Sorry, parents. According to NASA's FAQ page, "There are no plans at this time to send
children into space."
50. When asked who owned the patent on the polio vaccine, Jonas Salk said, "Well,
the people. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
51. The Q in Q-tips stands for quality. They were originally called Baby Gays.
52. A sequel called Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian was written but never produced.
53. After an online vote in 2011, Toyota announced that the official plural of Prius
was Prii.
54. In his book, Dick Cheney says his yellow lab Dave was banned from Camp
David for attacking President Bush's dog Barney.
55. Lyme disease is named after the town of Lyme, Connecticut, where several
cases were identified in 1975.
56. At the 2010 Grammy Awards, Taylor Swift won more Grammys (4) than Elvis did
his entire career (3).
57. When Coca-Cola announced the return of Coke's original formula in 1985, ABC
News interrupted General Hospital to break the story.
58. The giant inflatable rat that shows up at union protests has a name—Scabby.
59. When the computer mouse was invented, it was called the "X-Y Position
Indicator for a Display System."
60. The inventor of the AK-47 has said he wishes he'd invented something to help
farmers instead — "for example a lawnmower."
61. The Vatican Bank is the world's only bank that allows ATM users to perform
transactions in Latin.
62. The Procrastinators' Club of America newsletter is called Last Month's
Newsletter.
63. Google search suggestions for "Does Santa Claus" include "exist," "live in
Finland," "really exist," "have a dog" and "have an E at the end."
64. A milliHelen is the quantity of beauty required to launch just one ship.
65. The German word kummerspeck means excess weight gained from emotional
overeating. Literally, grief bacon.
66. The sum of all the numbers on a roulette wheel is 666.
67. Only one McDonald's in the world has turquoise arches. Government officials in
Sedona, Arizona, thought the yellow would look bad with the natural red rock of the
city.
68. The Lebowski-inspired Church of the Latter-Day Dude says it has ordained over
100,000 Dudeist priests.
69. "Silver Bells" was called "Tinkle Bells" until co-composer Jay Livingston’s wife
told him "tinkle" had another meaning.
70. Michael Jackson's 1988 autobiography Moonwalk was edited by Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis.
71. How did Curious George get to America? He was captured in Africa by The Man
With the Yellow Hat — with his yellow hat.
72. An urban legend claimed Zima was not detectable by a breathalyzer, boosting its
popularity among the young and gullible.
73. On Saved by the Bell: The College Years, A.C. Slater learned his last name was
actually Sanchez. His dad changed it to get into the military academy.
74. In the first Kentucky Derby in 1875, 13 of the 15 jockeys were black. Of the first
28 Derby winners, 15 were black.
75. Tim Tebow's sister Katie married Gannon Shepherd, a 6'8", 315-pound former
defensive lineman from Duke who briefly played for the Jaguars.
76. Louie Anderson was originally cast as Balki's cousin on Perfect Strangers. After
the unaired pilot, Mark Linn-Baker took over the role.
77. Belmont University offered a course this year called "Oh, Look, a Chicken!
Embracing Distraction as a Way of Knowing."
78. Brenda Lee was only 13 when she recorded "Rockin' Around the Christmas
Tree."
79. Dr. Ruth was trained as a sniper by the Israeli military.
80. Asperger syndrome is named for Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger, who
described it in 1944. He called his patients "Little Professors."
81. The term "lawn mullet" refers to a neatly manicured front yard with an unmowed
mess in the back.
82. There was a long-lost fourth member of the Snap/Crackle/Pop gang. "Pow"
represented Rice Krispies' explosive nutritional value.
83. QR codes have been popping up in cemeteries. When you scan a code on a
gravestone, you can read an obituary and see photos of the deceased.
84. Judge Judy makes $45 million a year.
85. To prevent Baby Jesus theft, BrickHouse Security's "Saving Jesus" program
offers a free GPS tracker for the star of your nativity scene.
© Visuals Unlimited/Corbis
92. About one in every 4 million lobsters is born with a rare genetic defect that turns
it blue.
93. In France, the Ashton Kutcher/Natalie Portman movie No Strings Attached was
called Sex Friends.
94. The famous "Heisman pose" is based on Ed Smith, a former NYU running back
who modeled for the trophy’s sculptor in 1934.
95. For $45, the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing will sell you a 5-lb bag with
$10,000 worth of shredded U.S. currency.
96. Before going with Blue Devils, Duke considered the nicknames Blue Eagles,
Royal Blazes, Blue Warriors and Polar Bears.
97. At an NOAA conference in 1972, Roxcy Bolton proposed naming hurricanes after
Senators instead of women. She also preferred "him-i-canes."
98. For one day in 1998, Topeka, Kansas, renamed itself "ToPikachu" to mark
Pokemon's U.S. debut.
99. Horses can't vomit.
100. Before settling on the Seven Dwarfs we know today, Disney also considered
Chesty, Tubby, Burpy, Deafy, Hickey, Wheezy, and Awful.
101. The 1975 Dictionary of American Slang defines "happy cabbage" as money to be
spent "on entertainment or other self-satisfying things."
102. Herbert Hoover was Stanford's football team manager. At the first Stanford-Cal
game in 1892, he forgot to bring the ball.
103. The unkempt Shaggy of Scooby-Doo fame has a rather proper real name—
Norville Rogers.
104. From 1979-1985, G.E. Smith (of G.E. Smith and the Saturday Night Live Band)
was the lead guitarist for Hall & Oates.
105. Hawaiian Punch was originally developed in 1934 as a tropical flavored ice
cream topping.
106. Andy's evil neighbor Sid from Toy Story returns briefly as the garbage man in Toy
Story 3.
107. In the early stage version of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s faithful companion Toto
was replaced by a cow named Imogene.
108. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans spend $310 million on
pet costumes last Halloween.
109. Jacuzzi is a brand name. You can also buy Jacuzzi toilets and mattresses.
110. During a 2004 episode of Sesame Street, Cookie Monster said that before he
started eating cookies, his name was Sid.
111. The Corduroy Appreciation Club celebrated 11-11-11 as The Day That Most
Resembles Corduroy.
112. Roger Ebert and Oprah Winfrey went on a couple dates in the mid-1980s. It
was Roger who convinced her to syndicate her talk show.
113. Failed PEZ flavors include coffee, eucalyptus, menthol, and flower.
114. The word "PEZ" comes from the German word for peppermint—PfeffErminZ
115. The duffel bag gets its name from the town of Duffel, Belgium, where the cloth
used in the bags was originally sold.