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Answer:
Grab a white shirt, dip it in water, and voila, it turns gray right before your very eyes. If we hadn't all seen it much too often it would make for an impressive magic trick. Since we have, it's an excellent trivia question. What causes this optical transformation is simple science. When fabric gets wet, light coming towards it refracts within the water, dispersing the light. In addition, the surface of the water causes incoherent light scattering. The combination of these two effects causes less light to reflect to your eyes and makes the wet fabric appear darker.
Question:
Why doesn't drinking water cool your mouth after eating spicy food?
Answer:
The spices in most of the hot foods that we eat are oily, and, like your elementary school science teacher taught you, oil and water don't mix. In this case, the water just rolls over the oily spices. So what can you do to calm your aching tongue? Try one of these three methods. Eat bread. The bread will absorb the oily spices. A second solution is to drink milk. Milk contains a substance called "casein" which will bind to the spices and carry them away. Finally, you could drink something alcoholic. Alcohol will dissolve the oily spices.
Question:
They weren't invented in France, so why does everybody call them "French fries?"
Answer:
It's true; the French fry wasn't invented in France. (Its origin is probably Belgian.) But the "French" in French fries doesn't refer to its country of origin. It refers to the way in which this side dish is prepared. Food that is cut into strips is said to be "Frenched." Since French fries are strips of potato that have been fried, they became known as French fried potatoes, or
"French fries."
Question:
How do astronauts go to the bathroom?
Answer:
Thanks to gravity, we here on earth take going to the bathroom for granted, but using the toilet in space isn't nearly as easy. For a long time, says NASA, astronauts actually taped a plastic bag to their backsides to collect feces and used a hose-and-bag device to urinate. Then, in the early 70s, NASA improved bathroom technology with its vacuum toilet. To defecate, astronauts now sit on this toilet and turn the vacuum on. Urination is done through what looks like your vacuum cleaner's hose attachment. Using this toilet is a bit tricky, so part of the preparation for space travel includes potty training, but it sure beats the old bag system.
Question:
Why is it called a "hamburger" if it doesn't contain ham?
Answer:
At first glance, it seems that the word "hamburger" is a combination of the words "ham" and "burger." Therefore, one naturally assumes that a hamburger is a burger that contains ham. But the word "hamburger" actually traces its roots back to Hamburg Germany, where people used to eat a similar food called the "Hamburg steak." Eventually, the Hamburg steak made its way to the United States, where people shortened its name to "hamburger."
Question:
Were hot dogs ever made of dogs?
Answer:
Nah. But when they were first introduced, people wouldn't touch hot dogs for fear that they were made of dogs. (More in the next question.)
Question:
How'd the hot dog get its strange name?
Answer:
The hot dog was originally called "frankfurter" after Frankfurt, Germany, its birthplace. But from the beginning people called it "dachshund sausage," because it looked like the long, thin dog. In the US, the German sausage was especially popular with New York baseball fans, which bought the newfangled sandwich from vendors who sold them by yelling, "Get your dachshund sausages while they're red hot." Ted Dorgan, a leading cartoonist, thought these vendors were so comical, that he decided to lampoon them. In his cartoon, they were shown selling REAL dachshund dogs in a roll, yelling, "Get your hot dogs!" at each other. The name stuck, and the rest is history.
Question: Do fish drink water?
The Answer:
W.C. Fields, the comedian from the golden age of the movies, who was known for drinking everything but water, would probably have answered this question with, "Only if nothing else were available." And I suppose that a thirsty, thoughtful fish might speculate, "Is this all there is?" because clearly, when fish belly up to the bar, there's only one liquid on the menu. The answer, then, is yes, they drink it. Saltwater fish do so under duress. Gulp! The greater concentration of salt in the water outside their bodies is constantly drawing the less salty fluid inside them out through their skin, a porous membrane, through the process of osmosis. Therefore they have to be drinking constantly to replace that lost fluid. Freshwater fish don't have this problem and don't need to drink, but they take in some water anyway when they open their mouths to eat.
Question: Why does it rain cats and dogs?
The Answer:
People who live with these critters and know how they can take over and rule the household -- especially cats -- might say that it's more likely reigning cats and dogs. Anyway, it would sound pretty funny to say that it was raining gerbils and parakeets.
Of course, there is a reason for this meteorological manifestation of our favorite pets. The expression is rooted in the mythology of Northern Europe, in which cats were thought to have some kind of control over the weather. (Most cats today would tell you that's one of their lesser powers.) It was also said that witches, who could assume the form of a cat, rode on their broom through storms. And dogs were associated with the wind and the storm god, Odin. So if you don't want your picnic spoiled by a cloudburst; be kind to your four-footed friend.
Question: Why do so many Irish names begin with "O'?"
The Answer:
With St. Patrick's Day approaching, there will soon be lots of "O's" in the air. I wonder how many people who will be affecting an Irish accent will know just what this name form is all about. It reflects a practice found in many cultures: the use of the "patronymic." Last names originated in the Middle Ages when men, who embodied the continuity of the family, started to be identified by their relationship to their immediate ancestors. The son of David, for example, might take the name Davidson. The Scots used "Mac," which meant "the son of," for this purpose. And so with the Irish and the "O'," except here it meant "the grandson of, " possibly because one of the first to use it, Teigue, grandson of Brian, High-King of the Irish in the 11th century, started to call himself Ua Briain (Gaelic for O'Brien) after his famous grandfather.
Question: How dangerous are tarantulas?
The Answer:
If this big hairy spider was as dangerous as it looks--which is absolutely wicked--it would rule the earth. The very sound of its name seems to suggest, "watch out." Indeed one of the prominent science fiction films of the 1950s, in which radioactivity created a gigantic horror from a common life form, was called "Tarantula." I'm not going to kid you and tell you that they're just pussycats with extra legs. They are poisonous, but the concentration of the venom in those found in North America is low enough that they're usually not a threat to human life. In fact, some people keep them as pets. (What the heck, some people also enjoy sleeping on a bed of nails.) But in South America, you had better be alert to the pitter-patter of lots of little feet... they are bad news!
Question: Why do lawyers often use the title "esquire" after their name?
The Answer:
Those who hold jaundiced views of lawyers or who thought "esquire" identified a subscriber to a prominent American men's magazine may be shocked to learn it's a term of dignity. Esquire was originally an English title, which placed the holder of it somewhere between a gentleman and a knight. It originated with the squire, the fellow who assisted a knight. In England, squire came to be a title accorded to a prominent local landowner, and esquire eventually was adopted as a bit of extra window dressing after the name of just about any professional person. In America, especially, it is favored by lawyers, who may feel that it justifies more billable hours.
Question: Why don't people go zebra-back riding?
The Answer:
I suppose it's possible that they just don't have the time, but I doubt that you would accept that as an answer. So here's the truth: The reason people don't go cantering around on zebras is that zebras are critters that would just as soon kick you in the teeth as transport you from here to there. Try to hand one of these striped ponies a lump of sugar and it might take your hand off. Never mind how interesting they look: they're not interested in wearing your saddle. Don't take it personally; it's a matter of how they evolved. You wouldn't try to pet an ocelot just because you live with a house cat, would you? Accept that this is a horse of another color--and another temperament. Admire it from a distance.
Question: Why is the person who helps a golfer called a caddy?
The Answer:
A caddy is a person who can tell you what a great shot you made. (You can't count on such support from your partner, whose fondest wish could be that you will totally humiliate yourself.) Caddys know enough not to hand you a brassie when you need a niblick (or is that a giblet? – I can never get it right). So why call them caddys? The word caddy (or caddie, as its sometimes spelled) comes from France, via Scotland, and is a corruption of "cadet." In France a cadet was a rich man's younger son. Since the eldest son inherited the whole estate, any males born after him often joined the army, which gives us the military sense of cadet. Eventually cadet came to mean someone who did lowly work, a "go-for" or errand boy--just the kind of person to serve another person who wants only to putter around.
Question: Why do we try to "egg" someone on?
The Answer:
Even if you're a chicken this makes no literal sense. Unless, of course, you arrive armed with rotten eggs at a concert or play, expecting the worst. But then you would be set to egg someone off. The mystery is etymological. "Egg" does not refer to what comes from a chicken, but rather is an earlier form of the word "edge, " once commonly used as a verb, meaning to excite or provoke. Look, for example, at this use of "edge" in a 13th century chronicle: "He accused the moonks of manie things, and did therewith so edge the king against them." (Love that spelling!) By the 16th century the expression had become to "edge someone on," or to push them toward doing something. Eventually the old form of the word, egg, edged out edge. Anyhow, I'd better stop here. Don't egg me on.
