Question 1

The word 'clue' comes from a very old English word 'clew,' meaning a ball of yarn. Which ancient myth gave us this connection between yarn and finding your way to an answer?

Accepted Answer

Theseus using a thread to escape the Minotaur's labyrinth. Theseus unspooled a ball of thread through the Minotaur's labyrinth so he could find his way back out — and that image of a guiding thread became the English word 'clue,' meaning anything that leads you to a solution.

Question 2

Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14th — but the romantic associations have almost nothing to do with the actual Saint Valentine. Which writer is most credited with inventing the idea that February 14th was the day birds chose their mates?

Accepted Answer

Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer's 1382 poem 'Parliament of Fowls' is the earliest known text linking St. Valentine's Day to romantic love and the pairing of birds — essentially inventing the holiday's romantic meaning centuries before Hallmark.

Question 3

Your heart and your gut are sometimes called the body's 'two brains.' What connects them — a nerve so important that cutting it can cause dramatic changes in mood and digestion?

Accepted Answer

The vagus nerve. The vagus nerve runs from the brainstem all the way down to the gut, carrying signals in both directions — which is why stress upsets your stomach and why gut health is now linked to mental wellbeing.

Question 4

Steven Spielberg directed 'Jaws' in 1975 — but he almost didn't finish it. What nickname did the crew give to the constantly malfunctioning mechanical shark on set?

Accepted Answer

Bruce. The crew nicknamed the mechanical shark 'Bruce' after Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer. The shark broke down so constantly that Spielberg was forced to show it less — which accidentally made the film far scarier, proving that what you don't see is often more frightening than what you do.

Question 5

English has more words than almost any other language. Roughly how many words does the full Oxford English Dictionary currently contain?

Accepted Answer

Around 600,000. The full Oxford English Dictionary contains approximately 600,000 words — making English one of the most expansive vocabularies of any language, largely because it has absorbed words from Latin, French, Norse, and dozens of other languages throughout its history.

July 26, 2026 Trivia

1. The word 'clue' comes from a very old English word 'clew,' meaning a ball of yarn. Which ancient myth gave us this connection between yarn and finding your way to an answer?

2. Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14th — but the romantic associations have almost nothing to do with the actual Saint Valentine. Which writer is most credited with inventing the idea that February 14th was the day birds chose their mates?

3. Your heart and your gut are sometimes called the body's 'two brains.' What connects them — a nerve so important that cutting it can cause dramatic changes in mood and digestion?

4. Steven Spielberg directed 'Jaws' in 1975 — but he almost didn't finish it. What nickname did the crew give to the constantly malfunctioning mechanical shark on set?

5. English has more words than almost any other language. Roughly how many words does the full Oxford English Dictionary currently contain?