Trivia for Squiggle #5
It is time for Trivia for Squiggle #5. Today's installment contains random facts about language, space, and geography. Did anyone notice that I said "today's" and not "this week's"??? That's because starting this week Trivia for Squiggle goes semiweekly with the second installment rounding out your workweek on Thursday.
101. The word "assassination" was invented by Shakespeare.
102. The word "homosexual" was not coined until 1869 by the Hungarian physician Karoly Maria Benkert.
103. The word "honcho" comes from a Japanese word meaning "squad leader" and first came into usage in the English language during the American occupation of Japan following World War II.
104. The word "karate" means "empty hand."
105. The word "samba" means "to rub navels together."
106. The world's largest alphabet is Cambodian, with 74 letters.
107. The ZIP in Zip-code stands for "Zoning Improvement Plan."
108. Victor Hugo's Les Miserables contains one of the longest sentences in the French language - 823 words without a period
109. Uranus is the only planet that rotates on its side.
110. On February 7, 1969 a meteorite weighing over 1 ton fell in Chihuahua, Mexico.
111. Only 55% of all Americans know that the sun is a star.
112. Olympus Mons on Mars is the largest volcano in our solar system.
113. Jupiter's moon Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System, and is larger than the planets Mercury and Pluto.
114. A hamlet is a village without a church and a town is not a city until it has a cathedral.
115. About one-tenth of the earth's surface is permanently covered with ice.
116. Alaska, with 8, is the US state with the most national park sites.
117. All gondolas in Venice, Italy must be painted black, unless they belong to a high official.
118. Australia is the only country that is also a continent.
119. Canada is an Indian word meaning 'Big Village'.
120. Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.
121. Devon is the only county in Great Britain to have two coasts.
122. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
123. Europe has no deserts - it is the only continent without one.
124. French was the official language of England for over 600 years.
125. Hawaii is the only US state that grows coffee.
"I know it's pretty damn weird to eat people."
101. The word "assassination" was invented by Shakespeare.
102. The word "homosexual" was not coined until 1869 by the Hungarian physician Karoly Maria Benkert.
103. The word "honcho" comes from a Japanese word meaning "squad leader" and first came into usage in the English language during the American occupation of Japan following World War II.
104. The word "karate" means "empty hand."
105. The word "samba" means "to rub navels together."
106. The world's largest alphabet is Cambodian, with 74 letters.
107. The ZIP in Zip-code stands for "Zoning Improvement Plan."
108. Victor Hugo's Les Miserables contains one of the longest sentences in the French language - 823 words without a period
109. Uranus is the only planet that rotates on its side.
110. On February 7, 1969 a meteorite weighing over 1 ton fell in Chihuahua, Mexico.
111. Only 55% of all Americans know that the sun is a star.
112. Olympus Mons on Mars is the largest volcano in our solar system.
113. Jupiter's moon Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System, and is larger than the planets Mercury and Pluto.
114. A hamlet is a village without a church and a town is not a city until it has a cathedral.
115. About one-tenth of the earth's surface is permanently covered with ice.
116. Alaska, with 8, is the US state with the most national park sites.
117. All gondolas in Venice, Italy must be painted black, unless they belong to a high official.
118. Australia is the only country that is also a continent.
119. Canada is an Indian word meaning 'Big Village'.
120. Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.
121. Devon is the only county in Great Britain to have two coasts.
122. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
123. Europe has no deserts - it is the only continent without one.
124. French was the official language of England for over 600 years.
125. Hawaii is the only US state that grows coffee.
"I know it's pretty damn weird to eat people."
posted by Scott at 11:09 AM
3 Comments:
Robotics was first coined by Isaac Asimov. The word "robot" comes from the Czech word "robota" meaning "compulsory labor" or slavery. Oddly enough, if you look up "Robotics" in Wikipedia, they make no mention of Asimov in the actual history of the word, but rather in the literary history. However, the title of his novel, I, Robot, appears as the 2004 movie and is attributed to the director instead of the author.
Regarding the long sentence, you're right that Les Mis contains one of the longest, but check this out: http://www.gavroche.org/vhugo/sentence.shtml
Thanks for the info, MJ! It was very interesting and I learned a lot from that article. As always, if anyone has any corrections to or further information on the trivia, please let me know if you have the time. I don't check every 'fact' before I post it...
Also, thanks to Doug for that awesome tidbit on robots/robotics...I had no idea!
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