... Buddy's Trivia Page 5 ...

Schadenfreude ... a German word that conveys the whole concept of “pleasure derived from the misfortunes of another” ... the German language does have an affinity for sesquipedalians. It once led Mark Twain to quip, "Some German words are so long that they have a perspective."
Schadenfreude... it takes seven English words to define it: "malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others" – the Germans do have a way with words.
Scientists who have been persecuted by the church ... list is incomplete:
- Anaxagoras of Clazomenae held opinions in natural science so far in advance of his age that he was accused of impiety, he was thrown into prison, and condemned to death. Then Pericles, with great difficulty, got his sentence commuted to a fine along with banishment.
- Virgilius, Bishop of Salzburg ... was denounced as a heretic by St. Boniface for asserting the existence of antipodes.
- Galileo was imprisoned by the Inquisition for maintaining that the earth moved. In order to get his liberty he "abjured the heresy," but as he went his way whispered half-audibly, "E pur si muove" ... "but nevertheless it does move"
- Gebert, who introduced algebra into Christendom, was accused of dealing in the black arts, and shunned as a magician.
- Friar Bacon was excommunicated and imprisoned for diabolical knowledge, chiefly on account of his chemical researches.
- Dr. Faust, the German philosopher, suffered in a similar way in the sixteenth century.
- Dr. John Dee, was a man of vast knowledge, and whose library, museum, and mathematical instruments were valued at £2,000 (pounds). There was this one occasion where the populace broke into his house and destroyed the greater part of his valuable collection, under the notion that Dee held intercourse with the devil. He ultimately died a pauper, at the age of eighty-one.
- Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, in the reign of Henry III., the author of some two hundred works. He was accused of dealings in the black arts, and the Pope ordered a letter to be written to the King of England, enjoining him to disinter the bones of the too-wise bishop and burn them to powder.
- Averroes, the Arabian philosopher, who lived and flourished in the twelfth century, was denounced as a heretic and degraded solely on account of his great eminence in natural philosophy and medicine.
- Andrew Crosse was an electrician ... he asserted that he had seen certain animals of the genus Acarus ... which had been developed by him out of inorganic elements ... Crosse was accused of impiety, and was shunned as a "profane man," who wanted to arrogate to himself the creative power of G-d.
Scotland Yard is so called from a palace built there for the reception of the kings of Scotland when they visited England. Now it's the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police of London.
Seals ... the grown male is called a bull - its females are called cows - and the offspring are called pups - the breeding-place is called a rookery, a group of young seals is called a pod - the male seal until it is full grown is then called a bachelor - and a colony of seals is called a herd.
Seventy-five percent of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
Sexton is a corruption of the word, "sacristan" ... an official who has charge of the sacra, or things attached to a specific church, such as vestments, cushions, books, boxes, tools, vessels, and so on.
Schadenfreude, a German word meaning, taking pleasure at another's misfortune. I mention this here because it is something that is, unfortunately, more common than one would expect. Maybe (and I say maybe) knowing something about human nature, it is not surprising. Why is it we usually label the more negative part of people as "only human nature"? Maybe it is for the same reason that for news media, bad news is good, and good news is what few people enjoy reading or listening to.
Shakespeare (the bard) was also called "Gentle Will" ... and his wife was Anne Hathaway, of Shottery, about eight years older ... he had one son, Hamnet, who died in his twelfth year ... he also had two daughters.
Sharks can detect one part of blood in 100 million parts of water.
Sherlock Holmes ... we know he wasn't a real person, but believe it or not, he was based on a real person. The man who inspired the character of Sherlock Holmes was Dr. Joseph Bell. Conan Doyle met Dr. Bell in 1877 at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. Conan Doyle was studying to be a doctor and Bell was one of his professors.
Bell was thirty-nine years old when Conan Doyle first attended one of his lectures. He is said to have walked with a jerky kind of a step that communicated great energy. His nose and chin were angular and his eyes twinkled with shrewdness. In addition to being a brilliant doctor, Bell was also an amateur poet, a sportsman and a bird-watcher.
Dr. Bell observed the way a person moved. The walk of a sailor varied vastly from that of a solider. If he identified a person as a sailor he would look for any tattoos that might assist him in knowing where their travels had taken them. He trained himself to listen for small differences in his patient's accents to help him identify where they were from. Bell studied the hands of his patients because calluses or other marks could help him determine their occupation.
By the end of Conan Doyle's second year Bell had selected him to serve as an assistant in his ward. This gave Conan Doyle the opportunity to view Dr. Bell's remarkable ability to quickly deduce a great deal about a patient. So while Conan Doyle went on to write about the brilliant Sherlock Holmes, he played Dr. Watson, at least for awhile, to his professor. Btw, Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson."
Shibboleth ... it was unfortunate for the Ephraimites who fell into the trap and pronounced it "Sibboleth," the word was the cause of their being slaughtered in the thousands. This most grim but diverting incident is chronicled in Judges 12:4-7 ... about an intertribal war that was being fought between the "men of Gilead" and the "men of Ephraim." After a successful surprise attack, the men of Gilead started to massacre their prisoners ... among whom were many who begged to be spared, swearing that they were not Ephraimites at all. The wily Gileadites thereupon put to them individually a test of pronunciation: "Say now Shibboleth," and if the prisoner said "Sibboleth" ... (different languages have their own requirements for framing the mouth), the hapless prisoner was slain.
Siamese Twins, inseparables, are so called from two youths (Eng and Chang), born of Chinese parents at Bang Mecklong ... Their bodies were united by a band of flesh, stretching from breast-bone to breast-bone ... They married two sisters, and had offspring. (1825-1872.)
Sick as a Horse means nausea unrelieved by vomiting ... A horse is unable to vomit, because the stomach cannot be compressed by the abdominal muscles, as is the case in man. Hence the nausea of a horse is more lasting and violent.
Siesta means "the sixth hour" which is noon ... in Latin, sexta hora ... It is applied to the short sleep taken in Spain during the mid-day heat.
Signs of the Zodiac. The zodiac is divided into twelve equal parts, proceeding from west to east; each part is thirty degrees, and is distinguished by a sign. Beginning with "Arie," we have first six northern and then six southern signs, i.e. six on the north side and six on the south side of the equator ... beginning with "Capricornus," we have six ascending and then six descending signs, i.e. six which ascend higher and higher towards the north, and six which descend lower and lower towards the south ... The six northern signs are: Aries (the ram), Taurus (the bull), Gemini (the twins) spring signs ... Cancer (the crab), Leo (the lion), Virgo (the virgin) summer signs ... The six southern are: Libra (the balance), Scorpio (the scorpion), Sagittarius (the archer), autumn signs; Capricornus (the goat), Aquarius (the water-bearer) and Pisces (the fishes), winter signs ... btw what's that line, "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in ourselves" ... something like that.
Simplicity is from "sine plica" without a fold ... duplicity is from "duplex plica" a double fold ... Conduct "without a fold" is straightforward.
Sincere ... properly means without wax (sine cera) ... The allusion is to the Roman practice of concealing flaws in pottery with wax.
Singapore only has one train station.
Sir Isaac Newton, who invented Calculus, had trouble with names to the point where he would forget his brothers' names.
Slave ... is an example of the strange changes which come over some words. The Slavi were a tribe which once dwelt on the banks of the Dnieper ... and were so called from slav (noble, illustrious) ... but as, in the lower ages of the Roman empire, vast multitudes of them were spread all over Europe in the condition of captive servants, the word came to signify a slave.
Sleep tight ... the phrase "sleep tight" originated when mattresses were set upon ropes woven through the bed frame. To remedy sagging ropes, one would use a bed key to tighten the rope.
Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating.
Snowflakes are not white. The ice crystals that make up snow are clear. The crystals reflect all colors of the spectrum. Human eyes see those combined colors as white.
Socialism did not start with Karl Marx ... This political and social scheme was suggested by Robert Owen, who in 1816 published a work to show that society was then in a wretched condition, and all its institutions and religious systems were based on wrong principles. The prevailing system was competition, but Owen maintained that the proper principle should be co-operation; therefore he advocated a community of property and the abolition of degrees of rank.
Society does not include you ... not unless you are on those visiting lists of the fashionable social leaders of the time. I'm not sure you want to be there, but it's certainly not the same as Thomas Jefferson's "we, the people."
Socrates was certainly the greatest of the Greek philosophers, and his chief aim was to amend the morals of his countrymen, the Athenians. Cicero said of him that "he brought down philosophy from the heavens to earth" and he was certainly the first to teach that ... "the proper study of mankind is man" ... he used to call himself "the midwife of men's thoughts" and out of his intellectual school sprang those of Plato, Euclid, Aristippos, and Antisthenes.
Sojourn ... is from the Italian soggiorno, or sub-giorno (under a day) ... means a stopover or temporally.
Solecism ... a misapplication of words; an expression opposed to the laws of syntax ... so called from the city of Soli, in Cilicia, where an Athenian colony settled, and forgot the purity of their native language.
Solstice ... the summer solstice is June 21st; the winter solstice is December 22nd ... it is so called because, on arriving at the corresponding points of the ecliptic, the sun is stopped and made to approach the equator again. It's from Latin, "sol stat," and really means: the sun stops.
Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
Son of a gun ... the expression has its origins with sailors. When a ship was in port for an extended period of time, wives and other women were permitted to live on board with the ship's crew. Occasionally, children would be born on board and a convenient place for the birth to happen was between guns on the gun deck. If the child's father was unknown, the child was entered in the ship's log as "Son of a gun."
Sorbonne ... this is the institution of theology, science, and literature in Paris founded by Robert de Sorbon, Canon of Cambrai, in 1252 ... Then in 1808 the buildings were given to the University, and since 1821 have been the Académie universitaire de Paris. They used to have public disputations which began at 5 a.m. and lasted till 7 p.m. Note that Rabbi Schneerson, the last Lubabitcher Rebbe, was a graduate of the Sorbonne.
Southpaw ... has its origins in 1880s' baseball slang. In baseball, a left-handed pitcher is called a southpaw. This term comes from the fact most baseball diamonds were laid out with home plate toward the west so the sun wouldn't bother the batter. The left-handed pitcher, as a result, faced the west with his pitching arm to the south.
Speculate ... means to spy into with the mind's eye ... in commerce it means to purchase articles which your mind has speculated on, and has led you to expect will prove profitable.
Spendthrift ... one who spends the thrift or savings of his father.
Sphinx ... in Egypt, it was a sea-monster, half woman and half lion, that would propose a riddle to the Thebans ... and murdered all who could not guess it. Edipus solved it, and the sphinx put herself to death ... The riddle was this: "What goes on four feet, on two feet, and three ... But the more feet it goes on the weaker it be?" ... it's not difficult; see if you can figure the answer.
Spinoza ... a Jewish philosopher, and his system was that matter is eternal, and that the universe is G-d ... now of course, this didn't sit well with the orthodox. They questioned: Could matter be eternal and have no beginning ... (contrary to science where everything has a cause.) ... and if the universe is G-d, could this universe be the cause of itself (unlikely).
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 of 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.
Spirituality ... the words spirit, spiritual, and spirituality originally referred to breath and wind and first appeared in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, respectively. This means that these terms weren't even around during the indeterminable antiquity when many world religions were formed. Nevertheless, other words have been available in cultures and traditions throughout the world and the ages to refer to aspects of what is now called spirituality and spiritual energy. Some of these words include Holy Ghost, Chi, Tao, Sefirah, Prana, Ki, and for at least one bushman tribe in Africa, a clicking sound made with your tongue.
For example, what is now referred to as Holy Spirit in the Bible was, before the twentieth century, translated as Holy Ghost. The word ghost originally meant "the soul regarded as the seat of life, the principle of life," as when somebody died and "gave up the ghost."
Squaring the circle ... is an attempt in the impossible ... The allusion is to the mathematical question whether a circle can be made which contains precisely the same area as a square ... seems it can't be done because of the imprecise Pi value, the ratio between the diameter and the circumference of the circle.
Star of Africa ... in 1905, during a rather routine inspection by the mine's superintendent, the largest diamond crystal ever found (3,106 carats), and named the 'Cullinan' was found at the Premier mine in Pretoria, South Africa. This Cullinan was cut into 106 polished diamonds, valued at tens of millions of dollars. The largest of the cut stones is the 'Star of Africa' which at 530.2 carats is the largest cut fine quality colorless diamond in the world. You can learn more at ... Diamond History ... for more on this world-shaking trivia.
Starfish have no brains.
State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska.
Statue of Liberty ... dedicated by Pres Grover Cleveland October 28, 1885, and is celebrated by first confetti (ticker tape) parade in NYC. Presented to the American people by the French. Lady Liberty is 152 foot tall, weighing 225 tons, resides on Liberty Island (originally Bedloe's Island but President Dwight Eisenhower renamed the Island). The Statue of Liberty is the work of French sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi.
Stepfather and stepmother ... means parent of one bereaved of the natural parent by death ... the word comes from the Anglo-Saxon: steop, meaning bereaved. The stepfather must be married to a widow, and thus become the stepfather of her children by a previous husband; and a stepmother must be married to a widower, and thus become the stepmother of his children by a former wife.
Stewardesses and reverberated are the two longest words (12 letters each) that can be typed using only the left hand. The longest word that can be typed using only the right hand is lollipop ... and skepticisms is the longest word that alternates both hands ... trivia information for typing with the feet is similar.
Stigmatise means to brand as shameful or dishonorable ... it derives from "to puncture or brand ... Greek,stigma,a puncture ... Slaves used to be branded, sometimes for the sake of recognizing them, and often as a way of punishing them ... This branding was done by applying a red-hot iron marked with certain letters to their foreheads (Romans were thoughtful), and then rubbing some coloring matter into the wounds. A slave that had been branded was by the Romans called astigmalic,and the brand was called thestigma.
Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building it has about thirty percent less chance of surviving than a cat that falls off the twentieth floor. It supposedly takes about eight floors for the cat to realize what is occurring, relax and correct itself.
Style ... is from the Latin stylus (an iron pencil for writing on waxen tablets, etc) ... The characteristic of a person's writing is called his style ... It is also applied to composition and speech. Good writing is stylish, and, metaphorically, smartness of dress and deportment is also so called ... "Style is the dress of thought, and a well-dressed thought ... like a well-dressed man, appears to great advantage."
Subpoena ... is a writ given to a man commanding him to appear in court, to bear witness or give evidence ... on a certain trial named in the writ ... It is so called because the party summoned is bound to appear sub poena (under a penalty ). We also have the verb, to subpoena.
Subsidy ... means literally a sediment, that which is on the ground. It is also a military term ... in battle the Romans drew up their army in three divisions: first, the light-armed troops made the attack, and, if repulsed, the pike-men came up to their aid ... then if these two were beaten back ... the swordsmen (principes) advanced ... and if they too were defeated ... the reserve unit went forward. These last were called subsidies because they remained resting on their left knee till their time of action. Today, money aid is called a subsidy.
Suffolk refers to the folk who live south of the folk who live in Norfolk ... who, in turn, are the folk who live north of the folk who live in Suffolk ... if you think I am all folked up, you're right. It’s also a county in New York State (on the eastern end of Long Island).
Swimming pools in Phoenix, Arizona, pick up 20 pounds of dust a year.
Sycophant ... from the Greek suko-phantes, "fig-blabbers." The men of Athens passed a law forbidding the exportation of figs; the law was little more than a dead letter, but there were always found mean fellows who, for their own private ends, impeached those who violated it; hence sycophant came to signify first a government toady, and then a toady generally.

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