Trivia

Q. How often to people get killed by lightning strikes while talking on the telephone?

A. About once a year, research suggests.

The Icelander has to speak three languages to get a job.

Q. Saudi Arabia desalinates its water from the Persian Gulf. So do Qatar and Bahrain. What do they do with the salt?

A. Pour it back into the coastal waters, now next to dead. Critics say desalinization is like nuclear energy - it won’t work well enough until somebody figures out what to do with the wastes.

Q. Sign in stores read: “All major credit cards accepted.” What’s a minor credit card?

A. One the store won’t accept.

Q. How many fishermen drown in U.S. waters every year?

A. About 1,000.

Getting a little gray in your hair, are you? Never mind, if you don’t like the sound of that, you can call the process by its snazzier name: “achromotrichia.”

Q. What’s “jock couture”?

A. An apparel industry term since 1983 for athletic wear, warmup suits, sweatshirts and the like.

Marlon Brando has been quoted as saying, “An actor is a guy who, if you ain’t talking about him, ain’t listening.”