Trivia

Sheriff came from Shire Reeve. During early years of feudal rule in England, each shire had a reeve who was the law for that shire. When the term was brought to the United States it was shortned to Sheriff.

An animal epidemic is called an epizootic.

Soweto in South Africa ws derived from SOuth WEst TOwnship.

The two longest one-syllable words in the English language are "screeched" and "strengths."

Since 1896, the beginning of the modern Olympics, only Greece and Australia have participated in every Games.

When ocean tides are at their highest, they are called "spring tides." When they are at their lowest, they are call "neep tides."

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

The ridges on the sides of coins are called reeding.

The Roman emperor Caligula made his horse a senator.

At latitude 60 degrees south you can sail all the way around the world.

The hyoid bone, in your throat, is the only bone in the body not attached to another bone.

Sunbeams that shine down through the clouds are called crespucular rays.

The correct response to the Irish greeting, "Top of the morning to you," is "and the rest of the day to yourself."

Giraffes have no vocal cords.

The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.

No word in the English language rhymes with month.

Anne Boleyn had six fingernails on one hand, but only five fingers on that hand. She had a small extra nail on the side of her finger that she kept hidden with long sleeves.

The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

Woodward Ave in Detroit, Michigan carries the designation M-1, named so because it was the first paved road in the U.S.

A poem written to celebrate a wedding is called an epithalamium.

The word 'byte' is a contraction of 'by eight.'

The word 'pixel' is a contraction of either 'picture cell' or 'picture element.'

Astronauts in the Space Shuttle are weightless not because there is no gravity in space, but because they are in free fall around the Earth.

Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey-decimal category.

The St. Louis Gateway Arch had a projected death toll while it was being built. No one died.

The letter W is the only letter in the alphabet that doesn't have 1 syllable... it has three.

All swans and all sturgeons in England are property of the Queen. Messing with them is a serious offence.

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe.

Spiral staircases in medieval castles are running clockwise. This is because all knights used to be right-handed. When the intruding army would climb the stairs they would not be able to use their right hand which was holding the sword because of the difficulties in climbing the stairs. Left-handed knights would have had no troubles except left-handed people could never become knights because it was assumed that they were descendants of the devil.