Word of the week: "vertiginous," pronounced "ver-TIDGE-a-nuss." It can mean "spinning" as well as "dizzy," the latter meaning betraying its kinship to "vertigo." We first encountered the word in a humorously polysyllabic version of "a rolling stone gathers no moss," which we can't remember the precise wording of.

Walking Tall: Don Hein of Poulsbo, Wash., wants to know if the 22-foot-high cowboy boots that are a fixture of Seattle's Oxbow Park are the world's largest. Sorry, Don. That record is claimed by San Antonio's North Star Mall, which has a pair of 40-footers outside it. Edmonton, Alberta, has a single cowboy boot that's just a little shorter that that.

The first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for a novel was:
A) Margaret Mitchell
B) Edith Wharton
C) Pearl S. Buck
D) Harper Lee

Previous answer: California and Alaska each have eight national parks, the most of any U.S. state.

TRIVIA FANS: Send the trivia questions you've always wanted answered, or original TriviaBits ideas of your own, with your full name and hometown, to Stan Newman at StanTrivia@aol.com or on a postcard to P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762.

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