Bit of This and That No 7 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Popeye

Poopdeck Pappy is a creation by American cartoonist, E. C. Segar, who was born in Chester, Illinois, in 1894. He was, of course, the man who also created Popeye. After enduring a long battle against leukaemia, Segar died in 1938 at the relatively young age of 43. His home town dedicated a park to his memory in 1977. It features a six foot tall statue of Popeye. Not only that, but from 2006, the town started erecting a new statue of a character from the Popeye series at a different location throughout the town each year taking place at the annual Popeye Picnic celebration. They include Wimpy, Olive Oyl and Swee' Pea.

Poopdeck Pappy is Popeye's father. He's 99 years old, as ruggedly handsome and fit as Popeye himself, and just as addicted to the ghastly tin of spinach. I'd like to challenge you now to see if you can quickly say "Poopdeck Pappy" over and over ten times. Toot, toot!

Answer: Cajun

Cajun immigrants ended up in Louisiana after being departed from Canada, a country to where they had originally moved from France in the 18th century. The dish with the unfortunate name of dirty rice consists of white rice, bell peppers, celery, onion and chopped up chicken liver or giblets. It is the latter which gives the dish its dark colour. Some salmon main dishes now include it as a side dish - a little like fish with a chicken chaser. Many restaurants which serve dirty rice now call it Cajun rice instead. Much more appealing.

I was going to give you a small sentence in the question as a clue, but all I could find was "Fisça da Geda ywum ywum doun bayeou". That translates to "we enjoy hunting alligators in the bayou", which didn't seem to be particularly helpful.

Answer: Individuals bursting out laughing during church services

This is a really unfortunate affliction, and particularly so, I imagine, if it occurs during someone's heartfelt sermon. Holy laughter originally appeared in the American west during the 1800s, at meetings which were based on John Wesley's theologies. John Wesley himself heartily disapproved of holy laughter, and stated in indignation, when it occurred during his meetings, that it was the work of the devil. It hasn't been around for a while, but recently sprang up again during the 1990s in charismatic churches.

Down in Florida in 1993, for example, the congregation really went to town there with wild bursts of laughter during meetings led by South African preacher, Rodney Howard-Browne. It spread from there to many other charismatic meetings elsewhere, with people falling over, trembling, convulsing, and writhing on the floor as well. It was not an unusual sight at all to see people rolling around the church floor laughing their heads off. Most undignified. Many of the mainstream churches heartily disapprove of such goings-on and believe it is a form of psychological hysteria or satanic possession. Gelotology is the study of laughter, and some psychologists have described this unrestrained laughter during charismatic church meetings as a form of release.

Answer: They don't have faces

The vast majority of Amish dolls are made with no hair or faces. They do however wear hats and bonnets. The reason behind the missing facial details is that the Amish believe they are conforming to the biblical commandment warning against graven images.

The Amish are a group of fundamentalist Christians who believe in living simply, dressing plainly, and avoiding as many technological conveniences as possible. They are of Swiss, German and Dutch descent from the original 200 settlers of this faith who immigrated to Pennsylvania early in the 18th century. Because of their practice of marrying within their own religion, the Amish are prone to several inherited genetic disorders.

However, the positive side to their society is that, because of their clean-living and eating lifestyle, they are considerably healthier in other areas than most other Americans.

This includes cancer percentages.

Answer: A toilet built over a pig sty

This is really interesting. Before the era of septic or sewerage systems in rural areas of China and India, each toilet was built over a pig sty. The poor unfortunate porkers below then got to feast over the contents that showered down upon them. It was an easy way to dispose of human waste, was considered to be ecologically sound, and didn't cost a thing apart from the odd grunt or two. Though still found in remote parts of China and India well into the 21st century, the practice is discouraged in China because of the associated health risk to humans who then eat the pigs. That's one heck of a vicious cycle.

Answer: Guillotine

This prototype was based on a design of an officer who worked at the Strasbourg Criminal Court. The invention of the guillotine came about following an appeal to the French National Assembly from Dr Joseph-Ignace Guillotin for a more humane method of disposing of criminals than the barbaric ones currently used.

It seems ironic that the good doctor, who was pleading for a more merciful way of executing criminals, should be forever after associated with its name. Even more peculiar was that a designer of harpsichords should manufacture the first model of this new instrument.

The French authorities were more than satisfied with the final result. You won't believe why. It was that the substitution of the sometimes very inefficient previous methods of executions, with the very efficient guillotine instead, was seen as providing equality to all citizens of the state.

Answer: Yes

How horrifying is that? You'll be pleased to know however that this tactic was soon made illegal - because too many injuries were occurring to the players. How surprising. As it is, water polo can be rife with injuries at the best of times. These include shoulder sprains, head injuries from elbows and the ball, underwater injuries which cannot be seen or penalised, bloody noses and battered faces.

The sport began in England and Scotland in the latter half of the 19th century and was one of the first team games introduced to the modern Olympics.

Other rather terrifying tactics that were originally included involved wrestling opposition players and holding their heads under water.

Answer: The distance of a fired cannon ball

Prior to the 17th century, seafaring nations often fought bitterly over which parts of the ocean they could claim as their own. The British and the Dutch, both leaders on the seven seas, were particularly at loggerheads over this. Efforts to solve this issue were attempted by the philosopher, writer and theologian Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) in his famous treatise "The Free Sea" (Mare Liberum) published in 1609.

This states that the sea belonged to all nations for their use in international trade. More arguments followed this over what distance from the land a nation could claim ownership of the ocean floor.

This was finally settled by one Cornelius Bynkershoek in his work "De Dominio Maris" (1602). This suggested restricting a nation's dominion over its sea ownership to the extent that a cannon ball could be fired from land to protect it. Thus the three-mile limit was born. Isn't it brilliant?

Answer: Bellowing

I think that's really funny. It reminds me of my next door neighbour. Other sounds giraffes are capable of making are snorts, bleats, hisses and moans. They also snore now and then. The most unusual thing about giraffe vocalisation is that they can communicate over long distances using infrasound. Finally, the male giraffe coughs when he's courting. "Ahem, dear - I'm here. Are you available?"

Answer: He was condemned by the Japanese as a coward

The poor man, that's terrible. Masabumi Hosono was born in 1870 and died in 1939. He had been working abroad investigating railroads for the Japanese government. On his return back to Japan, he made the unlucky choice of sailing on the Titanic as a second class passenger. He took the last place on lifeboat number 10. As it moved away, he could hear the despairing cries from those still on the great ship. He said he heard four loud explosions as the ship broke apart and described the aftermath as follows:

"After the ship sank, there came back again frightful shrills and cries of those drowning in the water. Our lifeboat too was filled with sobbing, weeping children and women worried about the safety of their husbands and fathers. And I, too, was as much depressed and miserable as they were, not knowing what would become of myself in the long run".

On his return to Japan, he soon found out. He was dismissed from his job, was mocked at and condemned as a coward by the newspapers, was ostracised by society, and Japanese schoolbooks used him as an example of what it was to be dishonourable. He eventually found another job with the government because he was considered to be a valuable and skilled worker, but for half a century after his death, his name was still considered to be shameful for the disgrace he had brought upon the Japanese people.

Quotes used in this question can be found on the following site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masabumi_Hosono