Trivia

Sailors in the early English Navy heaped their noon dinner on special square, wooden plates, small enough to fit on narrow tables but big enough to hold all the food of their day’s one heavy, hot meal. Whence the old-timey term “square meal.”

Assorted human teeth run about 160 to the pound.

Two out of five child psychologists advise parents to tell their preschoolers there’s a Santa Claus. Or so report researchers.

Claim is that Phoenix, Ariz., and its environs have more square footage of supermarket space per capita than any other metropolitan area nationwide.

The old Romans taught early England how to make bricks. But that architecture didn’t last. By Shakespeare’s era, just about everything thereabouts again was made of wood. In 1666 London burned down. Fire-fearful rebuilders brought out the old Roman craft and restacked the city, much with stone but mostly with brick. Every ancient city has been numerous cities, one after another.

The letter “e” is used five times more than any other letter in English.

Q. A walking woman takes 116 steps a minute, typically. A man, usually 110. How many for a military marching band?

A. Exactly 120.