Social History of Household Items Trivia

1. This baby contraption has been around since at least the 15th century, but in Canada since 2004 you can spend up to 6 months in jail just for owning one. What wheeled device is this?

From Quiz Banned

Answer: Baby walker

Baby walkers originated in Europe in the 15th century. Today, they usually take the form of a handle with or without a seat, surrounded by wheels, which babies and toddlers can grip while walking. However, baby walkers can cause injuries or even deaths due to bumping and falling. While using the walkers, babies can fall into pools or down stairs. While parents are warned against using baby walkers in the United States, they were outright banned in Canada in 2004. This included not just selling them, but possessing them as well; violators can be jailed for up to 6 months or fined $100,000.00 Canadian dollars. So: killing trap or justifiable transportation device? You decide.

From Quiz Baby Stroller Trivia On Board!

Answer: pulled by dogs or Shetland ponies

Those first baby carriages, pulled by dogs or Shetland ponies, were too large and bulky and proved clearly that streamlining was needed. They really weren't an improvement over the Native American method of using a cradleboard, covered in cloth, held in by laces running across the cloth. The cradleboard was then strapped to the parent's back. Shawls and slings have probably always been used, even nets as the people of Papua New Guinea used.

From Quiz Under The Umbrella

Answer: shadow

The umbrella dates back to ancient civilizations. It was originally used for protection from the sun and can still be used for that purpose.

From Quiz Sunglasses through the years

Answer: 1929

Although coloured quartz crystals were apparently used by Chinese judges at least as early as the 12th century to help conceal facial expressions, and tinted lenses in England in the 18th century to correct visual impairments, the first commercially available non-corrective sunglasses were sold by Sam Foster in Atlantic City in 1929.

From Quiz The Secret Ingredient is Salt

Answer: Salt could preserve food

Salt was first used to preserve meat and fish c. 6050 B.C.E. As a result, people could carry foodstuffs with them on longer journeys and thus more easily migrate to areas around rivers where the early civilizations began and flourished.

From Quiz Pinot Egregious

Answer: Armenia

The winery was discovered in 2007 and includes fermentation vats, an early wine press and shards of pottery proposed to have been used for both storage and serving. It predates the world's second oldest winery, found in the West Bank, by around 1,000 years. The cave system is also known for the Areni-1 shoe, an extremely well preserved leather shoe found in the same cave in 2008.

From Quiz A Brief History of the Napkin

Answer: Ancient Romans

When they were used, one napkin was tied around the neck; slaves used another to clean the eaters' hands. Cloths were spread on the couches where Romans reclined to eat. Spartans and Romans would also use dough or bread to wipe their hands. (Taken from "Beautiful Napkins")

From Quiz The Glove Has Been Thrown

Answer: Seconds

The two seconds would try to get the duellists to settle matters without fighting, but if this were not possible they would then deal with the selection of weapons, time and date of the duel, finding a suitable location, checking the weapons and making sure a doctor was standing by. They also dealt with the aftermath of the duel, which could include arranging for an undertaker.

From Quiz History of Dining Utensils

Answer: Eating shellfish and eggs

The spoon is the first utensil that was designed to put food in the mouth and has been found in Paleolithic sites. The spoon in England resembled the early Roman spoons, likely due to the Roman occupation of the island. The term cochleare amplum still appears as a medical term denoting a tablespoon full.

From Quiz Baby Stroller Trivia On Board!

Answer: Cavendish

Though all these are types of bananas, only Cavendish is a name in British royalty, and William Kent crafted the baby stroller out of wood, wicker, and brass for the Duke of Devonshire to play with his children. By the middle of the 19th-century, the stroller design began to see some additions and tweaks: brakes, foldability, and accessories like parasols and umbrellas.

From Quiz The Wrong Trousers: Clothing Through the Ages

Answer: The ancient Greeks and early Romans

The trousered nomadic horsemen (and women) from Eurasia were first recorded on the artworks found in ancient Persepolis. Also it is known that various peoples living in what is now Iran also wore trousers. Ancient Greeks ridiculed the clothing, and called them "sacks" in their common slang, while patricians of Republican Rome (i.e. before the Roman Empire)thought them a mark of an uncivilised people. There is a beautiful Attic vase dated at 470 BC in the British Museum, which shows an Amazon clad in black trousers which look exactly like modern women's clothing. All the wrong alternatives are recorded as wearing trousers. Can you imagine riding for hours without them?

From Quiz Under The Umbrella

Answer: London

"James Smith and Sons" is located on New Oxford Street in London and looks pretty much like it did in the 1800s. Besides selling umbrellas for ladies and gents, the shop also sells canes and walking sticks.

From Quiz Sunglasses through the years

Answer: Edwin Land

Although Edwin Land clearly did not invent polarization itself, he did spend years of his life developing the technology that went towards creating the polarization technique used in sunglasses. He patented his 'Polaroid' material in 1929.

From Quiz The Secret Ingredient is Salt

Answer: The Roman Empire

A Roman soldier was lucky if he proved to be 'worth his salt'. Payment or a 'salary' in salt was popular during the Roman Empire. We get the word 'salary' from this ancient practice.

From Quiz A Brief History of the Napkin

Answer: The tablecloth

They might also have used their clothes and the backs of their hands. Tablecloths were changed several times during the meal, which could last for hours. This change of cloth is the origin of the cover charge in restaurants. ("Beautiful Napkins" and "Fancy Folds")

From Quiz Things You Never Knew About Umbrellas

Answer: Sun

People have been using umbrellas for thousands of years to protect them from the sun and its heat and only a few hundred years for rain protection.

From Quiz The Chair Gang

Answer: They are X-shaped like the crossed bones.

The curule seat is particularly associated with the Roman Empire. It was usually made from ivory, and its use denoted status as it was reserved for those with "imperium". The Dante and Savonarola chairs date from fifteenth century Italy and bear the names, respectively, of Dante Alighieri and Girolamo Savonarola. A German version is named after Martin Luther.

From Quiz The Glove Has Been Thrown

Answer: Dawn

Many duels took place at dawn for various reasons. There was less likelihood of law enforcement agents stopping the duel if it happened early in the day, and in the case of pistols being used it was harder to both see your opponent and to be seen clearly yourself in early dawn light. Also, there was little of likelihood of a crowd of spectators at dawn.

From Quiz History of Dining Utensils

Answer: They ate only with the first three fingers

At that time, eating with the first three fingers was considered more refined.

From Quiz Banned

Answer: Lawn darts

Lawn darts have an incredible history, stretching back to around 500 B.C. After they were manufactured commercially starting in the 1950s, however, their reputation for being a little lethal began. Lawn darts usually consist of a set of large darts that players throw across their yard, with various amount of points given depending on how close to the target the dart lands. Unfortunately, however, the darts had metal tips that could very easily pierce unsuspecting onlookers. A campaign to ban the toys in the United States in 1970 was unsuccessful, but after several deaths, usually those of children who had been hit in the head with the darts, they were finally banned in 1988. Canada followed suit in 1989. The darts continued to be available in Europe, however, and soft-tipped lawn dart variants became available in the United States in 2020. So: innocent outdoor game or lethal weapon? You decide.

From Quiz Baby Stroller Trivia On Board!

Answer: reversible seat

William Richardson fashioned a stroller with a reversible seat so that the baby could then be positioned facing the parent or whoever was pushing the carriage. This is especially helpful when the baby is younger. Richardson also designed the stroller's wheels to roll and pivot individually, making them easier to manoeuver.

From Quiz Under The Umbrella

Answer: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

This movie is unusual in that there is no dialogue, just singing. What makes the movie so memorable is the director's use of vibrant colors and the hauntingly beautiful music. The umbrellas of the title feature prominently in the film. (French title: "Les parapluies de Cherbourg).

From Quiz Sunglasses through the years

Answer: 1936

Initially given to pilots to help reduce glare in 1936, these became commercially available in 1937. Developed by optical firm Bausch and Lomb with green lenses, the new 'Ray-ban' was born.

From Quiz The Secret Ingredient is Salt

Answer: A gold salt cellar

"La Salaria' was created by Cellini for Francis I of France. It is an ornate gold salt cellar and famous not only for its design but for its association with the great Renaissance goldsmith, Cellini.

From Quiz Toilet Non-Humor

Answer: Minoan

A well-organized drainage system was found in the Minoan city of Knossos, including lavatories, sinks, pipes and stone drainage channels. The toilets were not simply holes allowing waste to fall into a water system, but they had a flushing system. This used water held in cisterns that then flowed through conduits built into the wall. The Minoan pipe system for removing waste was sophisticated for its time, with burnt-clay pipes well fitted at joins and buried below the surface. Of course, the naturally steep landscape made all this gravity-based drainage possible.

From Quiz A Brief History of the Napkin

Answer: Elbow to the end of the middle finger

That's quite a large napkin. Napkins became smaller over time, with dinner napkins always being the largest. Flanders became a central linen trade site after the Hundred Years' War. ("Fancy Folds")

From Quiz The Chair Gang

Answer: Because it's also known as a plank chair

The Adirondack chair was designed by American, Thomas Lee, in the early twentieth century. It is so named because Lee's motivation was a chair he could use outdoors when vacationing in the Adirondack mountains of New York state. The first examples were manufactured locally at Westport by carpenter, Harry Bunnell, and bore the name of the town. In Canada it is known as a Muskoka chair.

From Quiz The Glove Has Been Thrown

Answer: Throwing down a glove

When someone felt they or their honour had been insulted they would issue a challenge verbally and accompany this by throwing down a glove. If the other party picked up the glove then the challenge had been accepted. Not picking up the glove was a sign of cowardice. This probably goes back to knights challenging each other when they threw down a gauntlet. It was of course not a gentlemanly thing to issue a challenge to a social inferior, and if this did happen the person challenged was under no obligation to accept.

From Quiz History of Dining Utensils

Answer: Ancient Greeks

By the 7th century C.E. forks were common in the Middle East and by the 13th century they were popular with the wealthy Byzantine upper class. The fork was a serving implement much earlier with mention of it in the Book of Samuel in the Bible.

From Quiz The Wrong Trousers: Clothing Through the Ages

Answer: German

In the 17th century, Russia was considered a bit of a backwater of civilisation, so in 1701, as part of his campaign to bring Russia into European society, Peter the Great decreed that the male members of the gentry should conform to his guidelines: "... The upper dress shall be of French or Saxon cut, and the lower dress and underwear - waistcoat, trousers, boots shoes and hats - shall be of the German type". Women were also commanded to wear only Western dress - all members of the upper-classes had to abandon their traditional Russian dress, and Peter even put a tax on beards!

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