WEEK OF JUNE 30, 2008
Word of the week: "calque," pronounced like "Cal" with a K at the end. It's a word or phrase formed by translating its parts from another language. Examples: Milky Way from the Latin "Via Lactea," and "gospel" from the Greek "evangelion" ("good news"). The French word for "skyscraper" is a literal translation of "scrape" and "sky." (Thanks to Ken Clark of Kent, Wash.)
A-to-E VIP update: Thanks to Rip Miller of Richmond, Calif., who found a celeb with a shorter name than Alec Baldwin with all the letters from A to E: '30s actress Alice Brady, who won an Academy Award for "In Old Chicago." He also found one with A-F: actor Broderick Crawford. Rip notes that "Alfred Bojangles Hitchcock" has all the letters from A-H. But alas, Hitch's middle name was Joseph.
Actor Butch Patrick, portrayer of Eddie, the lupine son on "The Munsters," reveals in his new autobiography that he was offered a role in the film "American Graffiti" by director George Lucas himself (this was before "Star Wars," remember). Patrick turned Lucas down for what might well have started him on a successful film career. Why? Because the film was set in 1962, and Patrick didn't want to cut off his long hair.
Author Edward Everett Hale, best remembered for "The Man Without a Country," deserves to be remembered also for being one of America's first sci-fi writers. His 1899 short story "The Brick Moon" is the earliest known fictional description of an artificial satellite. Hale was the grandnephew of Nathan Hale, by the way.
Found in oceans worldwide, the anglerfish is named for the unusual way it attracts its prey -- by wiggling a fleshy growth from its head, used as a lure. Most species of anglerfish have large, wide mouths and very sharp teeth. They are also known as goosefish in America and monkfish in the British Isles.
Unlikely Path-Crossing Department: Two young men, each destined to found a Dow Jones Industrials company, both lied about their ages in order to enlist in the ambulance service during World War I, and were assigned to the same unit. If they weren't exactly friends, they did know each other. These future business bigwigs were Ray Kroc of McDonald's and Walt Disney.
Eponym of the week: Vanadis, a goddess of beauty in Scandinavian mythology, corresponding to the Norse goddess Freya. The element vanadium was named for her, because of the multicolored beauty of its chemical compounds. Most of the other eponymous chemical elements, such as einsteinium, curium and fermium, have a more obvious etymological heritage.
One more Bit gleaned from Mickey Rooney's autobiography "Life Is Too Short": Automaker Henry Ford was so impressed with Rooney's portrayal of the title character in the 1940 film "Young Tom Edison" (Edison was a good friend of Ford), that he gave Rooney a new Lincoln Continental, which was in the first year of the luxury car's manufacture.
We love "apposite anagrams" -- phrases whose letters can be rearranged to form other phrases with the same (or nearly the same) meaning. Our crossword pal Mike Shenk, editor of the Wall Street Journal puzzle, once came up with BENEATH CHOPIN/THE PIANO BENCH. Your humble trivia author has dabbled in these as well, discovering HAPPIER TO SEE OYL/POPEYE THE SAILOR and SNUB I USE FOR NOSY ONE/NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
Pop Culture Department: You're no doubt familiar with the carbon-dioxide reaction that causes soda to spurt out of a can if it's shaken before opening. The same science is at work if you shake a champagne bottle before popping the cork. But we suggest you don't try this at home. If not removed properly, the cork will become a 30-mph missile and do some serious damage.
TRIVIA
1) The global-strategy board game Risk, introduced in 1957, celebrated its 50th birthday last year. (Sorry to have missed it.) The game's inventor was already a celebrity, world famous as:
A) A filmmaker
B) A chef
C) A war hero
D) A former head of state
2) Located a short distance from London, Hampton Court Palace, once the home of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, is today a major tourist attraction. Its hedge maze is particularly popular. The largest of the many rooms in the Hampton Court complex was used by British royals for:
A) Sleeping
B) Dining
C) Roasting meat
D) Playing tennis
3) The first name Vanessa was coined by what famous writer?
A) Miguel de Cervantes
B) William Shakespeare
C) Jonathan Swift
D) Mark Twain
4) According to Census Bureau estimates, the population of the United States reached the 300 million mark in October 2006. Who was president when U.S. population reached 200 million?
A) Theodore Roosevelt
B) Franklin D. Roosevelt
C) Lyndon Johnson
D) Jimmy Carter
5) As stated by a character in the George Bernard Shaw play "Back to Methuselah," what is "the most perfect expression of scorn"?
A) A yawn
B) A pun
C) Laughter
D) Silence
ANSWERS
1) The global-strategy board game Risk, introduced in 1957, was invented by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse. His 1956 short film "The Red Balloon" won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and he received an Academy Award for writing the film's screenplay.
2) The largest of the rooms in England's Hampton Court Palace was devoted to the roasting of meats.
3) The first name Vanessa was coined by Jonathan Swift -- not as a character for one of his books, but for a female acquaintance whose real name was Esther Vanhomrigh.
4) According to the Census Bureau, the U.S. population reached 200 million in the first half of 1968, while Lyndon Johnson was president.
5) Previous answer: As stated by a character in the George Bernard Shaw play "Back to Methuselah," "Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn."
STAN'S WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 92
For a time in the 1990s, a portrait of what famous woman (not a head of state) could be found on the circulating banknotes of two different European countries?
HOW TO WIN: Send your answer, with your full name and address, either by e-mail to TriviaBits@gmail.com, or on a postcard to Stan Newman's Trivia Challenge No. 92, P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762. Only one submission per person, please. Answers must be received within seven days of publication. One winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries, who will receive a copy of Stan's new book "15,003 Answers: The Ultimate Trivia Encyclopedia," courtesy of Random House. Answer and winner will be announced in a future issue.
ANSWER TO TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 85
Not counting the two blanks, the only two U.S. states whose names can't be spelled from a standard set of 98 Scrabble titles are KENTUCKY (one K too many) and CONNECTICUT (one C too many). Winner: Anne Ceplikas of Auburn, Me.
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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