By Sam Wein
The Pinhead Chronicles
The combination “ough” can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all: “A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful plough man strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.”
Achluophobia is the fear of sitting in the dark.
In 1609 Henry Hudson steered his good ship, the Half Moon, into New York Bay, landed on an island, and there treated some Indians to alcoholic beverages. The natives promptly named the island, Manahachtaanienk, which in time was simplified and spelled, “Manhattan.” It means “place where we all got drunk.”
The first scheduled TV broadcast was in 1931 and featured George Gershwin and Kate Smith.
Colgate faced a big obstacle in marketing its toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries:
Colgate translated into the command, “go hang yourself.”
The right side of a boat was called the starboard side because astronavigators used to stand out on a plank (which was on the right side) to get an unobstructed view of the stars. The left side was called port side because that was the side you put in on the port in order not to knock off the starboard plank.
Since 1896, the beginning of the modern Olympics, only Greece and Australia have participated in every game.
There are 4,300 known species of ladybugs in the world.
MAFIA is an acronym for Morte Alla Francia Italia Anela, or “Death to the French is Italy’s Cry.”
The Davis Cup, awarded since 1900 to the country whose team wins the international tennis championships, is named for Dwight Davis (1879-1945), Secretary of War and Governor of the Philippines and avid tennis player.
Humphrey Bogart was not the Gerber Baby Food baby as often cited. He was actually the Mellins Baby Food baby. The real Gerber baby was Ann Turner Cook whose picture Gerber began using in 1928.
The first Medicare card was issued to President Harry S. Truman.
President James Polk’s term ended Sunday noon March 4, 1849. His VP, George Dallas resigned as president of the Senate March 5, 1849. President Zachary Taylor took his oath of office March 5, 1849, So David Rice Atchinson, president of the Senate, pro tempore, was President of the U.S. for a day.
Sam Wein is a Los Altos resident and trivia buff.
