The Totally Random Trivia Thread

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Okay, so I decided to make a totally random trivia thread for our newest phorum. Please post any trivial knowledge you have and wish to share.

I'll start.

The word [i]trivia[/i] originated from ancient times in which people would gather at public plazas where three roads ([i]via[/i] or [i]viae[/i], in the plural) would meet to discuss everyday issues and relatively unimportant things.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Johnny Unitas, one of the America's most famous football player, has his last name mispronounced. When his family immigrated from Scandanavia, the immigration dept. failed to spell it out correctly as far as phonics go. In his family's native land, the name would be pronounced [b]Joon-eye-tis[/b]. Instead, as we pronounce it now, it much more closely sounds like the Latin [i]unitas[/i], which means [i]unity[/i], an all American name for an all American athlete.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

The legendary Old West gunslinger Doc Holiday, known for his part in the shootout at the OK Coral, really was a doctor. He practiced dentistry in the town.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Kissing was not introduced to the Orient until Western soldiers arrived and were seen kissing with women. The Japanese considered it very offensive and completely contradictory to hygiene.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

The word [i]pretzel[/i] comes from Latin. A German monk wanted a way to reward his young students and so concocted a plan to bake little knots of dough made to look like praying hands. He gave them as presents to his young charges for learning their prayers correctly. Where does the Latin come in? The Latin word for rewards is [i]pretia[/i], the diminutive was [i]pretiola[/i]...pretzel...

[Sojourner]

All of the roles in Shakespeare's plays were originally acted by men and boys. In England at that time, it wasn't proper for females to appear on stage.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Apple Computers founder Steve Jobs had his plans for the PC rejected by Atari (whose parts he used to make it) because he hadn't graduated college yet.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

In 1859, Edwin L. Drake was rejected by drillers who scoffed at his proposals to drill for oil underground.

[Sojourner]

Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was published March 20, 1852. It was the first American novel to sell one million copies.

[Sojourner]

67 million pounds of pesticides and about 3 million tons of fertilizer are used annually on lawns in the US.

[Sojourner]

In 1889, the 1st coin-operated telephone, patented by Hartford, Connecticut inventor William Gray, was installed in the Hartford Bank. Local calls using a coin-operated phone in the U.S. cost only 5 cents everywhere until 1951.

[Sojourner]

Kikkoman soy sauce was originated in 1630 in Japan.

[theculturewarrior]

[quote name='Raphael' date='Sep 16 2004, 11:51 AM'] Okay, so I decided to make a totally random trivia thread for our newest phorum. Please post any trivial knowledge you have and wish to share.

I'll start.

The word [i]trivia[/i] originated from ancient times in which people would gather at public plazas where three roads ([i]via[/i] or [i]viae[/i], in the plural) would meet to discuss everyday issues and relatively unimportant things. [/quote]
I thought "trivia" came from the Trivium in medieval universities.

[Sojourner]

The word vaccine comes from the Latin word "vacca," which means cow. This name was chosen because the first vaccination was derived from cowpox which was given to a boy.

[Sojourner]

A healthy individual releases 3.5 oz. of gas in a single flatulent emission, or about 17 oz. in a day.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

The term [i]procrastination[/i] comes from Latin. [i]Pro[/i] means [i]for[/i] and [i]cras[/i] means [i]tomorrow[/i]. Because the sound of a crow sounds so much like the word [i]cras[/i], Medieval Folklore had the crow as a minion and symbol of Satan, tempting people with his call to the sin of procrastination.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='theculturewarrior' date='Sep 16 2004, 01:21 PM'] I thought "trivia" came from the Trivium in medieval universities. [/quote]
[i]Trivium[/i] was a word for a crossroads in Latin and is the singular of [i]trivia[/i].

[Thy Geekdom Come]

The first recipient of the vaccine, the boy who received the cow pox vaccine, died at a young age of a form of pox.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Edgar Allan Poe died a poor man.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

St. Nicholas Owen was a carpenter who build secret passages and hideaways for priests in mansions during the persecution of Catholics under Queen Elizabeth I. He was discovered and tortured, but never gave the name of a single customer.