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Stump
Me Questions Answered in June 2003
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Q.: My daughter is working on a project on the
history of the belt, the one that keeps you pants from falling.
She has so far come up with nothing in regards to the inventors or from where it has
originated. Can you provide a web sight that can help?
- Marcel T.
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A.: None of my trivia books mention a thing, and that's saying something because I've got over 30 books.
I may not even find a reliable answer due to the amount of time people have been using belts. According to the
Dictionary of Etymology, the word "belt" has existed since sometime around the year 1000. Here is the exact
listing:
belt (n.) Old English (about 1000) belt, found also in Old High German
balz and Old Icelandic belti, all borrowed ultimately from Latin
balteus - girdle, belt, perhaps of Etruscan origin.
As a point of reference, the book describes Old English as being "before 1100."
Old High German also took place before 1100, while Old Icelandic was from 1300-1500.
Latin is described as being from 200 BC to AD 300. Like I said, I doubt I'll be able to find a reliable source as to the origin of the belt, seeing as to how the actual word can be traced
back so far.
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Q.: What percentage of African women are
circumcised?
- Sam D.
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A.: The percentage varies by country. For instance, in Uganda it's 5-10%; in Ghana it's 25-30%; and in the Sudan, it's estimated that up to 80% of women are
circumcised.
According to the World Health Organization, female circumcision is routinely practiced in approximately twenty-eight countries, with about 130 million African women
circumcised at some point between infancy and puberty.
There are two forms in practice, and both are widely regarded as
a form of mutilation. A clitoridectomy is the partial or complete removal of the
clitoris. The other, infibulation, is when the inner and outer lips of the vagina and the clitoris are completely removed.
The wound is then sewn shut, leaving only a small hole for urine and blood to pass through.
Later, on a girl’s wedding night, another ritual takes place in which the girl is cut open again so that her groom can penetrate her during intercourse.
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Q.: 1)
What city became home to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939?
2) Who was a thirty game winner for the Detroit Tigers in 1968?
3) What baseball feat was pitcher John Lee Richmond the first to accomplish in 1880?
4) In what year did regular season inter-league play begin?
5) Whose award goes to a player who best combines outstanding skills on the baseball field with civic responsibility?
- Jose F.
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A.: 1)
Cooperstown, NY.
2) Denny McLain.
3) He pitched the first perfect game.
4) 1997.
5) The Roberto Clemente Award.
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Q.: "If you give it air it will live. If you give it water it will
die." What is is it? This is from the Nancy Drew
Mysteries game CD. I can't get any farther unless I answer this riddle.
- No Name Given
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A.: The
answer is fire.
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Q.: I'm trying to write a paper and need a visual example, and don't know how to find the answer.
An atom is composed of a nucleus surrounded by electrons, so here's my question:
"If an electron was the size of a baseball, how far away from the nucleus would it be?"
- Jack O.
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A.: I wish there was a simple answer, but there isn't.
This comes directly from a college-level Physics book:
Atoms vs. Baseballs
Disregarding Bohr's theory of a model atom and it's atomic structure...disregarding the mass and density factors...A normal Hydrogen Atom consists of one proton nucleus and one orbiting electron (in this case, a circular orbit, for simplicity...not an elliptic orbit with unknown perigee or apogee).
We assume the distance between the two particles (center to center) is approximately 5.3E-11 meters.
Since this can be converted exponentially and proportionally, the distance between the two baseballs, or whatever in our dimension of that size and nature, would be roughly 17 feet, 4 inches.
This is a very abstract analysis because of all the factors that can come into play.
Also, some doctors of physics say that the distance could be up to several miles on that "baseball"
scale. And yet, some say it is impossible to find an exact proportional
magnitude.
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Q.: How in the heck can
you believe the world is 4.6 billion years old? It is proven that carbon dating is constantly incorrect meaning that your "rock" idea is pointless.
Do you believe the same thing about the Grand Canyon? Because it is proven the canyon was
created over an extremely short period of time by an extremely phenomenal event.
And how did rocks that are supposed to be on the bottom of the rock formations because they are said to be the oldest, due to the carbon dating, found on top of mountains?
- No Name Given
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A.: While it's true that the carbon 14 method of dating is not reliable for fossils less than 40,000 years old, chemical changes can be tracked. According to
Reader's Digest Book of Facts:
"Chemical changes that occur in the mineral components of volcanic ash during the heat and pressure of an eruption set
in motion a different kind of atomic clock: the decay of an isotope of potassium into an isotope or argon. By measuring the potassium isotopes' rate of decay, scientists can date layers of volcanic ash."
As for the Grand Canyon, its formation remains one of the great natural mysteries. More than 2.6 trillion cubic yards were swept away during its making, but nobody has been able to identify where the debris went. The river's flow is believed to have changed since the time of the canyon's forming, but scientists have not been able to locate any older river deposits downstream from the canyon.
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Q.: Okay... so this is completely random, but judging by the website I thought you MIGHT be able to help.
I was talking to some Phi Delt friends of mine, and we were trying to remember the words to an old Bud Ice commercial.
It has a woman talking about how she married some really old guy, and it was true love "or so I led him to believe until the wedding," then it talks about firing his nurses and replacing his medications with red-hots and stuff, this whole long monologue.
But it was absolutely hilarious, even though we can only remember parts of it, and some of us have been trying (without much luck) to find it somewhere online.
If you could help, I'd really appreciate it
- Connie H.
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A.: I
haven't been able to track it down, and Anheuser-Busch has a
policy against giving out many of their older commercials (I
have no idea why since they offer some commercials on their Web
sites). But, you're in luck because I do remember this commercial...probably better than I should. Here's what I remember:
"I fired his nurse.
Aliented him from his family.
Switched his heart medication with red hots. (Oopsie!)
Made it with the pool boy
Dropped his dog off at the pound.
Moved all of his money to a Swiss bank account and fled the country.
Where I promptly renewed my membership in the mile high club.
Man, that's cold! But not as cold as Bud Ice."
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Q.: Is the phrase spelled - Free reign or Free rein? Is it referring to a king's ability to do as he wishes or giving a horse free rein to run as he wishes?
- Craig B.
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A.: According to
Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, the answer is free rein.
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Q.: Okay, I've been listening to this song for about 2 months.. and I've searched every lyircs site I can find... and I still don't know the name of the song or who its by.. PLEASE... help me! Lyrics are:
Dark clouds on a rainy day
push and shove and almost find a way
yellow beams of brightened sun
(something something something) where you lay down
and it falls away
and you're hangin' on
carry on... I'll find you
dreaming on.. I (something) you
wishing I could be the one
and burning out before the sun
I surround you
and everything
I surround you
and everything...
- Megan S.
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A.: The name of the song is
Empty Promises by Sunset Black. And I'll do you one better: here's a
link that's got the all of the lyrics (so you don't have to keep singing "something
something something").
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Q.: Please
can you settle an argument which occurred around the dinner
table on Christmas Day. My in-laws (famous for talking
crap!) said that Clint Eastwood was the son of Stan Laurel.
No one else had heard of this and didn't believe it. Can
you confirm whether this is true or not?
- Janet S.
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A.: According to the Internet Movie Database, Clint Eastwood is the son of Clinton Eastwood, Sr., a former steel worker.
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Q.: A
riddle that'll kill your brain! This is going to make you so MAD!
There are three words in the English language that end in "gry".
ONE is angry and the other is hungry. EveryONE knows what the third ONE means and what it stands for.
EveryONE uses them everyday, and if you listened very carefully, I've given you the third word.
What is it? __gry?
- Jeff C.
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| A.: It's
a riddle, and a variant of the one that's always asked
of me. If you read the second sentence you see that
the "third" word is "angry" (it's usually hungry that's
listed first). Whoever sent this is writing about
the third word in the second sentence of the riddle,
exactly as quoted. That's why the ONE is capitalized.
By the way, the legitimate answer to this question
is gry, a now obsolete unit of measurement equal to
0.008 inch. I've answered this question over
and over again.
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Q.: Do you know the origin of the word
"copasetic?"
- No Name Given
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A.: According to the
Dictionary of Etymology, this is one of those words whose origins are uncertain.
What they do know is that it originated among southern American blacks in the 1800s.
It's been said that copacetic came from either of two Hebrew phrases - "kol b'seder (meaning "all in order") or "kol b'sedek" ("all with justice").
However, scholars of American English do not accept either of these.
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Q.: The question is:
Which word contains a block of four consecutive letters of
the alphabet in forward order? For example, calmness contains a block of three (lmn)?
I'm anxious to know the answer. Thanks for your help.
- Nancy
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A.: Actually, I can name four words that appear in the dictionary and that match your
criteria without doing an exhausted search:
Gymnophobia (mnop) - The fear of nudity
Overstuff (rstu)
Overstudy (rstu)
Understudy (rstu)
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Q.: I teach at Oakcrest High School and you have answered questions for my students in the past.
1) What is the meaning or origin of the word PICNIC?
2) what is the origin and meaning of the word "picaninny"
(spelling may be wrong).
- Mary L.
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A.: 1)
It surprised me how difficult it was to find the answer. Only three of my books had the origin of picnic:
The Dictionary of Word Origins, The Dictionary of
Etymology, and Webster's New Universal Unabridged
Dictionary. Since I trust The Dictionary of
Etymology the most, I'll use their answer:
From 1748, a fashionable social gathering in which each participant contributes a share of the provisions; borrowed from French
piquenique (1692) of uncertain origin; perhaps a rhyming reduplication of French
piquer- to pick, peck, from Old French - or possibly a compound of French
piquer - to pick - and nique - worthless thing, from a Germanic source. Verb form, 1821, furnish (provisions) by individual contribution; later, go on a picnic (1842) - from the noun.
2) As for piccaninny (you were so close with your
spelling), Cassell's Dictionary of Slang has the answer...as it does for most obscure
words. Piccaninny actually has two meanings. The noun (form the late 18th century) comes from the West Indies and means a Black child,
occasionally any Black person. It was adopted from the Spanish word
pequeno (small) or Portuguese pequenino (tiny).
The term was seen as neutral, since it was used mainly of children, but is now generally seen as patronizing and thus derogatory.
The other definition is as an adjective from the mid 1930s. The adjective form is Australian, meaning tiny. For example, piccaninny kaya is a small outdoor party.
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