Trivia

Takes about as much time to age a good cigar as a good wine, contends one studious convert to the long smoke.

Q. When did American women first take up smoking in a big way?

A. Shortly after the country became independent - about 1799. A Massachusetts pamphlet then blamed the rise in fires on “the smoking of cigars by women in bed.”

Reindeer tastes like duck. Or such is the dubious claim of some who purport to know.

No carnivorous animal naturally prefers human flesh to other meats. Or so says one expert.

That weather word said to be most often misspelled is “lightning.”

To hitch a horse to a plow was utterly unthinkable. At least, the knights in shining armor never thought of it. Their understanding was that horses had been domesticated for transportation, and particularly for transportation in battle. The farmer didn’t replace his ox with a horse until about two centuries ago.

An encyclopedia published in 1804 warned people to shield their eyes from a whale oil lamp. Some question arose then as to whether human eyes could stand the brightness of the nine-candle-power Argand flame.

“To take a walk” translates in the Malay “to eat the wind.”

“Zot” is Australia’s version of “zap.”