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Stump
Me Questions Answered in May 2001
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Q.: Where
does the word "Guinea" come from, as in an
Italian person?
- No Name Given
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A.:
The Italian slur guinea is the old name for the African coast.
It's presumed to be applied to olive-skinned Italians in order
to lump them in the same category as black slaves.
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Q.: Hey
my dad was telling me that I'm dreaming of a White
Christmas written by Irving Berlin is the top selling
single ever, is this still true? If not, what is?
- Kate
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A.:
According to The Top 10 of Everything, "Candle in
the Wind (1997) / Something About the Way You Look Tonight"
by Elton John is the number one single of all time, selling 37
million copies.
If you'd had this conversation prior
to 1997, your father would have known best. "White
Christmas" by Bing Crosby is number two with 30
million copies sold. Third place isn't even close - Bill
Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock"
sold 17 million copies.
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Q.: OK,
try this one:
What are the only three words in the
English dictionary that begin with the letters "dw"?
- Mike
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A.:
There's actually five words in the dictionary that begin with
"dw." They are:
dwarf
dwell
dwelling
dwindle
dwy
Dweeb also appears, but it's listed as
slang and not an "official" word.
Someone named Sari has asked that I
include "dwarfish" and "dweller." OK,
here you go.
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Q.: Who
was the first President of the United States to be born in a
hospital?
- No Name Given
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A.:
The answer may surprise you. Jimmy Carter was the first to be
born in a hospital. Every President before him was born in a
home.
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Q.: In
the 6th Star Wars film--Return of the Jedi-- what is the name of
the bounty hunter Leia disguises herself as in order to break
into Jabba's Palace?
- Mike
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A.:
She posed as Boushh, an Ubese bounty hunter. If you disagree,
talk to George Lucas...I found the answer on StarWars.com.
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Q.: What
artist has won more Grammy awards than any other?
- Junichi S.
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A.: Usually
I don't respond so quickly, but your question was fairly easy to
answer. Since you said "artist" I'm assuming you were
asking a trick question, because the artist with the most
Grammys isn't a singer...he's a conductor. Sir Georg Solti won
31 Grammys, five more than Quincy Jones.
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Q.: Sorry.
Let me be more specific. What singer (neither Sir Georg
Solti nor Quincy Jones sings) has won the most Grammys?
- Junichi S.
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A.:
Well, according to the same source that gave me your other
answer, Stevie Wonder is the singer with the most Grammys.
He's won 21 throughout his career.
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Q.: I
saw that someone asked you where the Lakers got their name. In
your answer all you said was that they kept their name from when
they were in Minnesota. But you never said where they actually
got the name Lakers. Do you know where the name Lakers came from
originally?
- Tami C.
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A.: The
name "Lakers" is a take on Minnesota's state nickname:
Land of 10,000 Lakes (although the state is known to have about
12,000 lakes).
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Q.: How
many strands of hair does a red-haired person have on their
head?
- Mike
Q.: Bet
you can't guess this one: How many hairs does the average
blonde have? Good luck
- Robbie B.
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A.:
I love it when people ask similar questions because the answers
are usually located in the same place. Like these two
about the number of hair people have. Blondes, on average,
have 140,000 hairs, while redheads tend to have between 90,000
to 100,000. By the way, redheads have thicker hair than
blondes.
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