True or Just Popular Belief? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Richard M. Nixon

The words were in Richard M. Nixon's nomination acceptance speech at the Republican Convention on August 8, 1968. Incredible, wouldn't you say? He really had us all fooled especially when he said "I am not a crook".

Answer: False

In the late nineteenth century, Portuguese sailors brought the "cavanquinho" to the Sandwich Islands (later named Hawaii). The Hawaiians named this instrument the ukulele from the Hawaiian words uke ("flea") and lele ("jumping"). The ukulele later arrived in the United States where it became very popular with the "flappers" in the 1920s and with Tiny Tim in the 1960s.

Answer: True

Actually canaries have certainly been found on the Canary Islands, however, the Romans named the islands Insulae Canariae because they were inhabited with wild dogs. The English version of the name became Canary which later became the name of the birds. Strangely, the name of the birds really means "dogs".

Answer: White Squirrel Fur

French writer Charles Perrault retold the ancient and internatioanl Cinderella story in his book "Stories or Tales from Times Past, with Morals" that was published in 1697. Instead of writing that Cinderella wore pantouffles en vair (slippers made of white squirrel fur) as written in the old French version of the story, Perrault wrote that Cinderella wore pantoufles en verre (slippers made of glass).

He confused the two similarly pronounced words and through the ages the mistake was carried. It continued into modern day times.

Answer: False

In 1848, Richard Wagner wrote the "Bridal Chorus" for a bedroom scene in his opera "Lohengrin", produced in 1850. In this scene, servants undressed a newly married couple, Elsa and Lohengrin while a chorus sang the majestic march. In 1858, Princess Victoria of England, the oldest daughter of Queen Victoria, decided to use the march for her walk down the aisle to marry Prince Frederick William of Prussia.

It didn't take long for British brides to begin copying the princess and her choice of music and in doing so, they created a new tradition,

Answer: False

Interestingly, the Earl of Sandwich did give the sandwich its name but that's about all. History's first recorded sandwich was the Hillel sandwich, invented by Rabbi Hillel between 70 B.C.E. and 10 C.E. This sandwich that was eaten during Passover seders, consisted of charosets (a combination of fruits, nuts, bitter herbs and honey) and placed between two pieces of matzah (Hebrew for unleavened bread). Some say a slice of sacrificial lamb was also used. As early as the Middle Ages, Arabs have eaten meat stuffed inside a pocket of pitabread and medieval European peasants ate bread and cheese lunches in the field.

The fourth Earl of Sandwich (John Montagu) was born in 1718 and died in 1792.

Answer: Caffeine

Caffeine is found in many items such as sodas, coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate candies and even over the counter medicines. The National Institute on Drug Abuse states that caffeine is an addictive drug that creates physical dependence and causes an increase in heart rate, body temperature, urine prodution and gastric juice secretion.

It can also raise blood sugar levels and cause tremors, loss of coordination, decreased appetite and can postpone fatigue. It may also interfere with the depth of sleep and the amount of dream sleep. Through the ages, physicians have seen these symptoms but did not understand what a real culprit caffeine is.

Answer: True

The Quetzalcoatl, the largest ancient pyramid in the world, sits in Cholula de Rivadabia, sixty-three miles southeast of Mexico City. It was built between the second and sixth centuries C.E. and dedicated to the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. The pyramid rises 177 feet and covers nearly 45 acres. By comparison, Egypt's Great Pyramid of Cheops, built in the third millennim B.C.E. rises just 130 feet and covers less than 13 acres---but quite clearly, it gets far more publicity that its Aztec cousin.

Answer: He needed a two syllable river word.

This is the correct name of the song but people still call it "Way Down Upon the Swanee River". Stephen Foster never set foot in Florida and he wrote this song in Pittsburgh in 1851, consulting an atlas to find a medodic-sounding river name. He needed only a two syllable name for the river so he changed the name to Swanee - a river that never has existed. Regardless of the misspelling and the incorrect title, "Way Down Upon the Swanee River" is the official state song of Florida.

The real Suwannee River is a black river that starts in Georgia's Okefonokee Swamp and winds through Florida to the Gulf of Mexico. It is very famous thanks to Stephen Foster, but for all the wrong reasons.

Answer: False

In the 5th century B.C.E., Greek historial Herodotus attributed the barbaric custom of scalping an enemy to the Scythians - a nomadic tribe from southern Russia. In eleventh-century England, Godwin, Earl of Wessex, scalped his enemies. The Dutch brought this practice to America in the seventeenth century. Spanish, French, Dutch and English colonists offered bounties for scalps of their enemies and most American colonies paid settlers money for Indian scalps. In retaliation, the Indians began to scalp Europeans, who then promptly blamed them for starting the practice.

Reference for this quiz was "Contrary to Popular Belief" by Joey Green
Broadway Books, New York, 2005.