Trivia

Hardly anybody in the Western World wore underwear before King Arthur’s time, and most didn’t get around to it even then.

A live-coal loyalist in the barbecue dodge says you need a pound of charcoal for each whole chicken.

Q. Who invented horseshoes?

A. Can only tell you who invented the first machine for manufacturing same. Henry Burden of Troy, N.Y. On Nov. 23, 1835. He wound up making most of the horseshoes for the Union cavalry in the Civil War.

The name “Ryan” comes from an Irish Gaelic word for “little king.”

Can you refute the claim that the only warm-blooded fish is the yellow-finned tuna?

Q. Who were the brothers Ellis and Action Bell?

A. Make that sisters. Pen names of Charlotte and Emily Bronte.

Chesapeake Bay’s water is up to half again as salty as the Atlantic’s.

Claim is the setting of diamonds in wedding rings goes all the way back to the ancient Egyptians.

Chinese windmills turn horizontally.

Arizona has more kinds of old bats than any other state in the union. Wait, delete old. Be specific. Say 28 different species. And do not post this on the bingo bulletin board.

To rest on the heels in a kneeling position is particular to the Japanese. To sit cross-legged is common to many but especially to the Islamic and Turkish. To squat in a relaxed manner is notable among the Hindu. The point? If you’re not born into one of these cultures, you probably can’t easily take the characteristic physical position. Your bones and that which holds them together just don’t know how.

The wise Shalom Aleichem said of one best left nameless here: “He was so conceited it was beneath his dignity even to talk to himself.”

Q. Birth rates have been high in certain polygamous countries where men can divorce their wives just be walking out on them. Why?

A. Many wives choose to have children as quickly as possible in the hope it will keep their husbands from abandoning them. Or so say the sociologists.