April Burstedt of Danville, Calif., wants to know how to coin a word. Well, first you need to find out if it's really new, which you can assume if a Google search yields no hits (as it does on "TriviaBitting.") Next, you must define it (TriviaBitting means "reading this column"). To make sure that you're credited with the word, you must publicize it as your own and trademark it, to be sure you'll get your share of the T-shirt revenue and movie rights. Good luck!

Before George Washington created the military medal known today as the Purple Heart in 1782, medals were awarded only to officers. Gen. Washington's previous preferred reward to deserving common soldiers, a battlefield commission or promotion, had just been stopped by Congress because it didn't have any money for soldier salaries, let alone for salary increases.

As spoken by the main character in the Jane Austen novel "Mansfield Park," "the best recipe for happiness" is a:
A) Large income
B) Thanksgiving feast
C) Good book
D) House cat

Previous answer: Grindstone, Silver Charm and Real Quiet are the names of the horses that won the Kentucky Derby from 1996 through 1998, respectively.

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.

Stanley Newman is the editor of the Newsday Crossword and author/editor of more than 125 books on crosswords, word games and trivia, including "15,003 Answers: The Ultimate Trivia Encyclopedia" (Random House). To find out more about Stanley Newman visit StanXwords.com, or e-mail him at StanTrivia@aol.com.
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