Hi, and welcome to fasab’s fascinating festive facts.
Everything on my blog this week is in Christmas mode including these tidbits of information that you may be able to work into the conversation if you are at a party or two this week.
Enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas.
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The traditional three colors of Christmas
are green, red, and gold.
Green has long been a symbol of life and rebirth;
red symbolizes the blood of Christ,
and gold represents light as well as wealth and royalty.
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The first printed reference to a
Christmas tree was in 1531 in Germany.
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Apparently seven out of ten British dogs
get Christmas gifts from their doting owners.
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A lot of people don’t like it,
but the abbreviation of ‘Xmas’ for
Christmas is not irreligious.
The first letter of the word Christ in Greek is chi,
which is identical to our X.
Xmas was originally an ecclesiastical abbreviation
that was used in tables and charts.
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Electric Christmas lights
were first used in 1854.
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Some people who were born on December 25
feel hard done by because they have to
make do with one present instead of two
and share their big day celebrations with everybody else.
Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island,
recognized the problem. When he died on December 4, 1894,
he willed his November 13 birthday to a friend
who disliked her own Christmas birthday
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Franklin Pierce was the first president to
decorate an official White House Christmas tree.
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Silent Night was written in 1818,
by Austrian priest Joseph Mohr.
He was told the day before Christmas
that the church organ was broken
and would not be repaired in time for Christmas Eve.
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Artificial Christmas trees
have outsold real ones since 1991.
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In the British armed forces it is traditional
that officers wait on the other ranks
and serve them their Christmas dinner.
This dates back to a custom from the Middle Ages.
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Long before mistletoe became a saucy ‘kiss encourager’,
it was considered to have magic powers.
It was said to have the ability to heal
wounds and increase fertility.
Celts hung mistletoe in their homes
in order to bring themselves good luck
and ward off evil spirits.
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Each year there are approximately 20,000
“rent-a-Santas” across the United States.
“Rent-a-Santas” usually undergo seasonal training
on how to maintain a jolly attitude
under pressure from the public.
They also receive practical advice,
such as not accepting money from parents
while children are looking and
avoiding garlic, onions, or beans for lunch.
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In Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea,
your age is measured not in years
but in how many Christmases you’ve lived through;
you’re not 20, you’re twenti krismas.
Rather less charmingly,
the Japanese expression to describe
single women over 25 years old is
kurisumasu keiki – left-over Christmas cake.
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Most of Santa’s reindeer have male-sounding names,
such as Blitzen, Comet, and Cupid.
However, male reindeers shed their antlers around Christmas,
so the reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh
are likely not male, but female – or castrati.
(I wonder if that is the origin of hanging balls
on a Christmas tree comes from?)
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The popular Christmas song “Jingle Bells”
was actually written for Thanksgiving.
The song was composed in 1857 by James Pierpont,
and was originally called “One Horse Open Sleigh”.
What better way to start a new week and a new month than with a good quiz.
It’s the usual random mixture of difficult, easy and tricky
And again as usual the answers are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below – but NO cheating!
Enjoy.
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Q. 1: Where is the only place today comes before yesterday?
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Q. 2: What is another way to say “every 9 years”?
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Q. 3: What US State has almost twice as many caribou as people?
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Q. 4: What is the only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter?
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Q. 5: What is the national animal of Thailand?
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Q. 6: What kind of nut has no shell?
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Q. 7: What is the largest denomination bill produced by the US Treasury?
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Q. 8: Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the tallest mountain in the world?
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Q. 9: What is the most common atom in the Universe?
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Q. 10: Whoever makes it tells it not, whoever takes it knows it not, and whoever knows it wants it not. What is it?
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Q. 11: Which Ocean is saltier, the Atlantic Ocean or the Pacific Ocean?
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Q. 12: What well known city was originally called Edo?
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Q. 13: We all know about the Titanic and probably seen the movies about the disaster. The full name of the Titanic ship is R.M.S. Titanic, but what do the letters “R.M.S.” stand for?
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Q. 14: What was the tallest structure in the world prior to the construction of the Empire State Building in 1930?
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Q. 15: Construction workers hard hats were first invented and used in 1933 in the building of what?
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Q. 16: What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?
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Q. 17: What belongs to you, but is used mostly by others?
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Q. 18: If you keep a Goldfish in the dark room what color will it eventually turn?
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Q. 19: What famous American invented the rocking chair?
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Q. 20: Which Corset Company, with a very famous name not necessarily related to the corset business, created the bra cup sizing system, which is now used universally by manufacturers?
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ANSWERS
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Q. 1: Where is the only place today comes before yesterday?
A. 1: In a Dictionary
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Q. 2: What is another way to say “every 9 years”?
A. 2: Another way to say “every 9 years” is “Novennial”
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Q. 3: What US State has almost twice as many caribou as people?
A. 3: The state of Alaska has almost twice as many caribou as people.
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Q. 4: What is the only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter?
A. 4: The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is “uncopyrightable”.
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Q. 5: What is the national animal of Thailand?
A. 5: The elephant is the national animal of Thailand
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Q. 6: What kind of nut has no shell?
A. 6: A doughnut.
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Q. 7: What is the largest denomination bill produced by the US Treasury?
A. 7: The largest denomination bill U.S. bill produced by the US Treasury is for $100,000.
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Q. 8: Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the tallest mountain in the world?
A. 8: Mount Everest, just because it hadn’t been discovered didn’t mean it wasn’t there!
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Q. 9: What is the most common atom in the Universe?
A. 9: Hydrogen is the most common atom in the universe
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Q. 10: Whoever makes it tells it not, whoever takes it knows it not, and whoever knows it wants it not. What is it?
A. 10: Counterfeit Money
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Q. 11: Which Ocean is saltier, the Atlantic Ocean or the Pacific Ocean?
A. 11: The Atlantic Ocean is saltier than the Pacific Ocean
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Q. 12: What well known city was originally called Edo?
A. 12: The city of Tokyo was originally called Edo
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Q. 13: We all know about the Titanic and probably seen the movies about the disaster. The full name of the Titanic ship is R.M.S. Titanic, but what do the letters “R.M.S.” stand for?
A. 13: “R.M.S.” stands for Royal Mail Steamship
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Q. 14: What was the tallest structure in the world prior to the construction of the Empire State Building in 1930?
A. 14: The Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure in the world prior to the construction of the Empire State Building in 1930.
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Q. 15: Construction workers hard hats were first invented and used in 1933 in the building of what?
A. 15: Construction workers hard hats were first invented and used in 1933 in the building of the Hoover Dam.
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Q. 16: What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?
A. 16: Charcoal
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Q. 17: What belongs to you, but is used mostly by others?
A. 17: Your Name
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Q. 18: If you keep a Goldfish in the dark room what color will it eventually turn?
A. 18: A lot of people think it will become darker and eventually black because there is no light, but the reverse is actually the case, it will become paler and eventually turn white. This is because the pigmentation cells in the fish’s scales that control color cannot work without light.
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Q. 19: What famous American invented the rocking chair?
A. 19: Benjamin Franklin invented the rocking chair.
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Q. 20: Which Corset Company, with a very famous name not necessarily related to the corset business, created the bra cup sizing system, which is now used universally by manufacturers?
Today a selection of questions, some of them easy, some tricky, and one or two rather difficult.
So grab a cup of coffee and have a go.
As usual the answers are waaaaaay down below, but no cheating!
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Q. 1: What becomes wetter the more it dries?
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Q. 2: A red-house is made of red bricks, has a red wooden door and a red roof.
A yellow-house is made of yellow bricks, has a yellow wooden door and a yellow roof.
What is a green-house made of?
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Q. 3: There are six eggs in the basket.
Six people each take one of the eggs.
How can it be that one egg is left in the basket?
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Q. 4: Why is it better to have round manhole covers than square ones?
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Q. 5: A New York city hairdresser recently said that he would rather cut the hair of three Canadians than one New Yorker. Why?
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Q. 6: There are six glasses in a row.
The first three are full of water, and the next three are empty.
By moving only one glass how can you make them alternate between full and empty?
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Q. 7: Three men in a cafe order a meal the total cost of which is $15.
They each contribute $5.
The waiter takes the money to the chef who recognizes the three as friends and asks the waiter to return $5 to the men.
The waiter is not only poor at mathematics but dishonest and instead of going to the trouble of splitting the $5 between the three he simply gives them $1 each and pockets the remaining $2 for himself.
Now, each of the men effectively paid $4, the total paid is therefore $12.
Add the $2 in the waiters pocket and this comes to $14.
….where has the other $1 gone from the original $15?
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Q. 8: How could a baby fall out of a twenty-story building onto the ground and live?
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Q. 9: If:
2 3 = 10
7 2 = 63
6 5 = 66
8 4 = 96
9 7 = ??
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Q. 10: Name three consecutive days without using the words Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday.
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Q. 11: Many shops have prices set just under a round figure, e.g. $9.99 instead of $10.00 or $99.95 instead of $100.00 . It is assumed that this is done because the price seems lower to the consumer. But this is not the reason the practice started. What was the original reason for this pricing method?
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Q. 12: How do you get from cold to warm in four steps, changing only one letter at a time?
COLD
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_ _ _ _
WARM
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Q. 13: A snail creeps 10 feet up a wall during the daytime, then falls asleep.
It wakes up the next morning and discovers it slipped down 6 feet.
If this happens each day, how many days will it take to reach the top of a 22 foot wall?
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Q. 14: You are driving down the road in your car on a wild, stormy night, when you pass by a bus stop and you see three people waiting for the bus.
An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
An old friend who once saved your life.
The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.
Knowing that there can only be one passenger in your car, whom would you choose?
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ANSWERS:
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Q. 1: What becomes wetter the more it dries?
A. 1: A Towel
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Q. 2: A red-house is made of red bricks, has a red wooden door and a red roof.
A yellow-house is made of yellow bricks, has a yellow wooden door and a yellow roof.
What is a green-house made of?
A. 2: Glass
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Q. 3: There are six eggs in the basket.
Six people each take one of the eggs.
How can it be that one egg is left in the basket?
A. 3: The last person took the basket with the last egg still inside.
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Q. 4: Why is it better to have round manhole covers than square ones?
A. 4: Round covers cannot be dropped or fall down a manhole, unlike square ones.
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Q. 5: A New York city hairdresser recently said that he would rather cut the hair of three Canadians than one New Yorker. Why?
A. 5: Because he would earn three times as much money!
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Q. 6: There are six glasses in a row. The first three are full of water, and the next three are empty.
By moving only one glass how can you make them alternate between full and empty?
A. 6: Pour the water from the 2nd glass into the 5th glass.
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Q. 7: Three men in a cafe order a meal the total cost of which is $15.
They each contribute $5.
The waiter takes the money to the chef who recognizes the three as friends and asks the waiter to return $5 to the men.
The waiter is not only poor at mathematics but dishonest and instead of going to the trouble of splitting the $5 between the three he simply gives them $1 each and pockets the remaining $2 for himself.
Now, each of the men effectively paid $4, the total paid is therefore $12. Add the $2 in the waiters pocket and this comes to $14.
….where has the other $1 gone from the original $15?
A. 7: The payments should equal the receipts.
It does not make sense to add what was paid by the men ($12) to what was received from that payment by the waiter ($2)
Although the initial bill was $15 dollars, one of the five dollar notes gets changed into five ones.
The total the three men ultimately paid is $12, as they get three ones back. So from the $12 the men paid, the owner receives $10 and the waiter receives the $2 difference. $15 – $3 = $10 + $2
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Q. 8: How could a baby fall out of a twenty-story building onto the ground and live?
A. 8: The baby fell out of a ground floor window.
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Q. 9: If:
2 3 = 10
7 2 = 63
6 5 = 66
8 4 = 96
9 7 = ??
A. 9: f(n,m) = (n + m) * n
e.g. f(2,3) = (2 + 3) * 2 = 10
Hence, f(9,7) = (9 + 7) * 9 = 144
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Q. 10: Name three consecutive days without using the words Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday.
A. 10: Yesterday, today and tomorrow
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Q. 11: Many shops have prices set just under a round figure, e.g. $9.99 instead of $10.00 or $99.95 instead of $100.00 . It is assumed that this is done because the price seems lower to the consumer. But this is not the reason the practice started. What was the original reason for this pricing method?
A. 11: The practice originated to ensure that the clerk had to open the till and give change for each transaction, thus recording the sale and preventing him from pocketing the bank notes.
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Q. 12: How do you get from cold to warm in four steps, changing only one letter at a time?
COLD
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
WARM
A. 12:
COLD
CORD
WORD
WORMorWARD
WARM
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Q. 13: A snail creeps 10 feet up a wall during the daytime, then falls asleep.
It wakes up the next morning and discovers it slipped down 6 feet.
If this happens each day, how many days will it take to reach the top of a 22 foot wall?
A. 13: 4 days
Day 1: up to 10, down to 4
Day 2: up to 14, down to 8
Day 3: up to 18, down to 12
Day 4: up to 22 and done
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Q. 14: You are driving down the road in your car on a wild, stormy night, when you pass by a bus stop and you see three people waiting for the bus
An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
An old friend who once saved your life.
The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.
Knowing that there can only be one passenger in your car, whom would you choose?
A. 14: The old lady of course!
After helping the old lady into the car, you can give your keys to your friend, and wait with your perfect partner for the bus.
fasab 