Trivia

Tue., Feb. 18, 1997

L.M. Boyd Crown Syndicate

Every year has 53 of the day it begins on.

Julius Caesar is credited by some historians as the first notable to decide an issue by the flip of a coin.

Item 551D in our Love and War man’s file on “Divorce” is the contention of that master of the legal argument, Gerry Spence: “When one is in control of the marriage, alas, there is no marriage.”

Chicagoans bragged at length about their great world’s fair in 1893. That irked Charles Dana, a writer on the old New York Sun. It was he who in reference to their boasts coined the term: “Windy City.”

Buffalo snore, too.

Water is more destructive than wind. You can read it not just in this year’s weather reports, but in the statistics of all hurricanes. Therein water, not wind, causes 70 percent of the injuries and fatalities.

In Scotland, someone who’s bad-tempered or sullen is called “dorty.”

Q. What proportion of the houses nationwide have handguns in them?

A. About 20 percent. That’s the guess of researchers who’ve looked over various local and state audits. But what proportion of handguns actually show up on such audits is still an open question, isn’t it?

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