Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Extraordinary Book of Facts: And Bizarre Information (24 page)

Monday is the only day of the week that has a one-word anagram: dynamo.

A misodoctakleidist is someone who hates practicing the piano.

It’s easy to spot someone with hexadactylism: he or she has six fingers on one hand or six toes on one foot.

Snapping your fingers is called a fillip.

If you have a compulsive urge to dance, you’re a dinomaniac.

The ball on top of a flagpole is called a truck.

The longest English word you can type with only the left hand: stewardesses.

Charles Barkley entered the league with the nickname Round Mound of Rebound.

Until 1937 the referee tossed a jump ball after every basket in basketball.

Michael Jordan always wore the shorts of his North Carolina basketball uniform under his Bulls uniform, beginning the trend for baggier shorts in the NBA.

Earvin “Magic” Johnson was, at 6 feet 9 inches, the tallest point guard in NBA history.

Tulsa guard Marcus Hill has a collection of over 300 pairs of shoes.

Hakeem Olajuwon was the first player to be named NBA MVP, NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and NBA Finals MVP in the same season.

The NBA instituted the three-pointer before the 1979–1980 season.

Wilt Chamberlain holds nearly 100 NBA records.

The first professional basketball league was formed in 1898; players earned $2.50 for home games, $1.25 for games on the road.

Shaquille O'Neal was sworn in as a Miami Beach reserve police officer on December 8, 2005.

Four players in NBA history have compiled 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, and 4,000 assists: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Karl Malone, and Charles Barkley.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holds the record for the most play-off game appearances: 237.

Basketball superstition: the last person to shoot a basket during the warm-up will have a good game.

As a 5 foot 11 inch sophomore, Michael Jordan was cut from his high school varsity basketball team.

PHONY

Meaning:
A fraudulent person or thing

Origin:
“Newspaperman H. L. Mencken suggested that a maker of fake jewelry named Forney is the origin of this word, but few experts agree with him. The majority opinion is that phony is an alteration of fawney, British slang for a worthless ring. The word probably comes from the fawney rig, a con game in which a worthless ring is planted, and when someone ‘finds’ it he is persuaded by a ‘bystander’ that he should pay the bystander for his share in the find.” (
Word and Phrase Origins
, by Robert Hendrickson)

EROTIC

Meaning:
Relating to sexual desire or excitement

Origin:
“Eros was the god of love, and the fairest of the gods in the Greek pantheon. But he was vain and spoiled and for sport shot his love-poisoned arrows into the hearts of men and gods. At his festival, the erotia, married couples of the day were supposed to patch up their differences and end all quarrels. From the Greek name Eros comes the word erotic, meaning ‘full of sexual desire,’ or ‘morbidly amorous.’” (
Word Origins
, by Wilfred Funk)

COCKTAIL

Meaning:
An alcoholic drink consisting of spirits mixed with other ingredients

Origin:
“One idea is that it came from cockfighting. A cock’s courage was fired up by slipping him a mixture of stale beer, gin, herbs, and flour, which was called cock-ale. More likely, the term was coined by Antoine Peychaud, a New Orleans restaurateur. During the 1800s, Antoine made drinks mixed from a number of different liquors. He served the wicked brew in little egg cups called coquetier in French. Wanting to give his drinks a special name, he simply Americanized the French word by changing it to cocktail.” (
Straight From the Horse’s Mouth
, by Teri Degler)

PARASITE

Meaning:
An organism that lives in or on another organism at the other’s expense

Origin:
“In ancient Greek it meant a professional dinner guest. It came from the Greek para (‘beside’) and sitos (‘grain, food’). Put together, parasitos first meant ‘fellow guest’ and acquired, even then, its present-day meaning.” (
Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, Vol. III
, by William and Mary Morris)

POOPED

Meaning:
Exhausted

Origin:
“Englishmen headed for the New World found that violent waves did the most damage when they crashed against the stern (rear end), or poop of a vessel. Any ship that came out of a long bout with nature was said to be badly ‘pooped.’ Sailors who described the splintered stern of a ship often confessed that they felt as pooped as their vessel looked. Landsmen borrowed the sea-going expression and put it to use.” (
Why You Say It
, by Webb Garrison)

BUTTERFLY

Meaning
: An insect

Origin
: “The most generally accepted theory of how this insect got its name is a once-held notion that if you leave butter or milk uncovered in a kitchen, butterflies will land on it . . . and eat it. Another possibility is that the word is a reference to the color of the insects’ excrement.” (
Dictionary of Word Origins
, by John Ayto)

GENUINE

Meaning
: Real, not fake

Origin
: “Originally meant ‘placed on the knees.’ In Ancient Rome, a father legally claimed his new child by sitting in front of his family and placing his child on his knee.” (
Etymologically Speaking
, by Steven Morgan Friedman)

ADDICT

Meaning:
A person with an uncontrollable (usually bad) habit

Origin:
“Slaves given to Roman soldiers as a reward for performance in battle were known as addicts. Eventually, the term came to refer to a person who was a slave to anything.” (
Etymologically Speaking
, by Steven Morgan Friedman)

According to Middle Eastern tradition, the original forbidden fruit was a banana.

According to some spiritualists, the human aura cannot be photographed through polyester.

Buddhist monks at Japan’s Yakushido Temple perform a purification ritual by “setting fire to their own pants.”

There are more churches per capita in Las Vegas than in any other U.S. city.

In Greek mythology, Nike is the goddess of victory.

The ancient Sumerians had a goddess of beer.

Four most common names for popes: John, Gregory, Benedict, and Clement, in that order.

As pope, John Paul II performed at least three exorcisms.

In 1997, 87 percent of people surveyed said they were “likely” to go to heaven, more than the number (79 percent) who said Mother Teresa was likely to go to heaven.

Among other things, the ancient Egyptians worshipped cabbages.

Fastest-growing religion in Ireland: Buddhism.

Roll of film: 38¢

Toilet paper (20 rolls): $2.39

Combination 19-inch television/FM radio/phonograph: $495

Corvette (1953): $3,498

Jackie Robinson’s salary (1951): $39,750 per year

The ancient Romans dyed their hair with bird droppings.

About three quarters of American adults wear some kind of fragrance.

The average fashion model weighs 23 percent less than the average American woman.

When she died in 1603, Queen Elizabeth I owned 3,000 dresses. When Empress Elizabeth of Russia died in 1762, she owned 15,000 dresses.

Queen Elizabeth I owned 2,000 pairs of gloves.

Percentage of Americans who say a unibrow is a turnoff: 35.

Bozo the Clown wore size 83AAA shoes.

The average person owns 25 T-shirts.

Don’t believe the Scots. The kilt originated in France.

Blue neckties sell best. Red ties are second.

Julius Caesar wore a laurel wreath crown to hide the fact that he was balding.

In 1907 egret plumes were worth twice their weight in gold.

The first person to wear silk stockings: England’s Queen Elizabeth I. They were a gift.

In 1797 James Hetherington invented the top hat and wore it in public. He was arrested for disturbing the peace.

knots per hour

temporary reprieve

cluster together

disappear from view

total extinction

violent explosion

Average caloric requirement for existing (breathing, eating, sleeping): 1,000–1,500 per day.

Thirty-five percent of American dieters blame candy for their failure to lose weight. Twenty-one percent blame cheese.

Melting an ice cube in your mouth burns about 2.3 calories.

You’d have to walk five miles to burn off the calories of a hot fudge sundae.

You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching TV.

Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil.

To lose one pound of fat, you need to walk at least 35 miles (briskly).

A karaoke singing of “We Are the World” burns 20.7 calories.

About 36 percent of people who make a New Year’s resolution to diet and exercise break it by January 31.

Play a round of golf, then drink two cocktails. You’ve just gained more calories than you burned.

President Reagan and Pope John Paul II shot; both recovered

Charles and Diana married

Sandra Day O’Connor became first woman

appointed to Supreme Court

52 U.S. hostages released from Iran

AIDS identified for the first time

MTV debuted