WEEK OF NOVEMBER 10, 2008

Word of the week: "transliteracy," which is the ability to read, write and interact using multiple media, including the latest electronic media such as Facebook and MySpace. The term was coined just a few years ago by a team of researchers in the English department of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Ken Clark of Kent, Wash., asks us about words like "emcee," that are spelled-out versions of the letters that they stand for. We've been unable to discover a specific term for these "acronym opposites." Is there one? Ken is also looking for more instances of two-letter reversals of words like these, to add to "kayo" and "okay," plus "jayvee" and "veejay." If you can help with either of these, please let us know.

A popular "trick" trivia question is, "What is the official language of Mozambique?" It's Portuguese, even though the country has a very French-sounding name. It turns out that the name isn't from the French at all. The country was named for a sultan of the region named Muça Alebique. Portuguese explorers first reached the area in 1498.

Although remembered today primarily as a horror-film actor, Vincent Price had quite a few non-horror film assignments, including "Laura" and "The Ten Commandments." Price was also a gourmet cook, authoring several cookbooks and once hosting his own TV cooking show. On a memorable visit to "The Tonight Show" in the Carson era, Price demonstrated how to poach a fish in a dishwasher.

Trivia Time: Some recent Internet browsing of ours yielded these nuggets from a Time, Inc. page: The two oldest people to be on the cover of Time magazine were "Grand Old Man" college football coach Amos Alonzo Stagg in 1958 (at age 96) and folk artist Anna Mary "Grandma" Moses in 1953 (at age 94). The youngest? An infant, for the August 1983 cover story "What Do Babies Know?"

Baby boomer Brad Williams, a radio news anchor in La Crosse, Wis., is one of only two people in the world known to have a "superior autobiographical memory" -- the ability to remember in minute detail everything about his life. Name any date in the past 40 years, and he'll tell you what happened to him on that day, as well as what was in the news that day. He appeared on "Jeopardy!" in 1990, but didn't win.

Eponym of the week: London-born clergyman John Harvard, who did not found the university named for him. He bequeathed some cash and his library to New College, which was renamed in his honor in 1639. The 1884 statue of Harvard in Harvard Yard does not depict him, since no likeness of him is known to exist. A Harvard student's face is said to be the model for the statue.

You're probably familiar with some of the humorous but insightful quotations of baseball great Yogi Berra, such as "It ain't over till it's over" and "Never answer an anonymous letter." Many such quotes not coined by Berra have been attributed to him, and Yogi had something quotable to say about that: "I didn't really say everything I said."

The "animal babies," "portable bed" and "trash" meanings of the word "litter" are all derived from the same Latin word, meaning "bed." Not surprisingly, the "bed" meaning entered English first, then "straw used for bedding," then it came to mean "the offspring of an animal in one birth" (that is, in one bed). The "trash" meaning came last, from the notion of strewing bits of straw.

Thanks to a tip from Lanny of Concord, Calif., we discovered the fascinating website www.hiddenmickeys.org, which reveals the locations of hidden images of Mickey Mouse that have been deliberately concealed in the designs of Disney attractions. For example, the Disneyland Toontown cobblestone street has one, as does the mural adjacent to the loading area of Epcot's Viking in the Maelstrom.

TRIVIA

1) "For the benefit of all" is the motto of:
A) The Red Cross
B) NASA
C) The London Police
D) The United Way

2) About a half-trillion Oreo cookies have been sold since their introduction by Nabisco in 1912. During the first 10-or-so years of production, Oreos were available in two different flavors of fillings: the familiar cream, and:
A) Lemon meringue
B) Coconut
C) Marshmallow
D) Peanut butter

3) Two people with the first name of Charles (Conrad and Duke) are among the 12 men who have walked on the moon. What other first name is represented twice on the list?
A) John
B) James
C) Alan
D) Edwin

4) Who was the first male to appear on the cover of the women's fashion magazine Vogue?
A) Burt Reynolds
B) Sean Connery
C) Tom Cruise
D) Richard Gere

5) The world's largest inhabited castle is also the world's oldest in continuous operation. It is located in:
A) Japan
B) England
C) Austria
D) Egypt

ANSWERS

1) "For the benefit of all" is the motto of NASA. (Thanks to Trip Payne of Boca Raton, Fla.)

2) When Oreo cookies were first introduced, they were available with cream and lemon meringue fillings.

3) Two Alans (Shepard and Bean) are among the 12 men who have walked on the moon.

4) The first male to appear on the cover of the women's fashion magazine Vogue was Richard Gere, for the November 1992 issue.

5) The world's largest inhabited castle as well as the world's oldest in continuous operation is England's Windsor Castle. Dating back to the days of William the Conqueror, the castle's floor space is about 500,000 square feet.

STAN'S WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 111
What eight-letter word for an item found at home-furnishings stores has all five vowels?

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. 111, 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. 104
The proverb "Waste not, want not" can be spelled entirely from the letters in the expression "no sweat." Winner: Emory Ackley of Buckfield, Maine. (Thanks to Trip Payne of Boca Raton, Fla.)


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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