Wine Labels

The design and wording on U.S. wine labels is overseen by the American Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, an agency that also oversees government work to reduce the criminal use of firearms.

Prohibition President

During Prohibition, President Warren Harding hosted liquor parties, and the Senate Library had a secret bar behind one of its walls. But not all were corrupt. Rep. Thomas Blanton tried to have the Washington Post prosecuted for printing George Washington's recipe for beer.

Cent

Governor Morris, assistant to Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris, suggested in 1782 that the "cent" be the name of America's smallest coin. At the time, Morris recommended that the cent be equal to 1/1440 of a dollar and that the lowest silver coin contain 100 of these units. The suggestion was ignored, but the name was kept.

The 10 Percent

Brown University's "Digest of Addiction Theory and Application" reported in 2000 that 10 percent of America's heaviest beer drinkers are responsible for drinking 43 percent of all beer consumed nationally.

Butter Battle

Citing "The Butter Battle Book" by Dr. Seuss as one of the most influential anti-arms-race books of the 1980s, experts point out that the rhyming and rhythmic challenge to Ronald Reagan's policies remained for six months on the New York Times Best Sellers list - for adults.

The Golliwogs

Not every pop band gets its name right the first time. For instance, Chicago got its start as Big Thing, and the Beach Boys were originally billed as Carl and the Passions. Polka Tulk eventually changed its name to the better-known Black Sabbath. Creedence Clearwater Revival started out as The Golliwogs.

Debt

The English word "debt" comes from the old French "dette" and was spelled without the letter "b" until the thirteenth century in which scholars inserted the letter in order to make it appear that the word had come directly from the Latin "debita" or "owed."

Consumption

In England, about 65 percent of all beer is consumed in pubs and other public places. But in the United States, only 26 percent of beer consumption takes place outside the home.

Presidential Nicknames

Many U.S. presidents have had popular nicknames. For instance, George Washington was often referred to as the Sword of the Revolution, and John Adams is known to historians as Old Sink or Swim. Other presidential monikers are as follows: Old Granny (W.H. Harrison), Purse (Franklin Pierce), Sir Veto (Andrew Johnson), His Fraudulency (Rutherford B. Hayes), and Coiner of Weasel Words (Woodrow Wilson).

Prairie Dogs

Prairie dogs have a single sharp note to signal, "hawk overhead," and repeated calling by a group as a "coyote alert." The small mammals also use a mix of long notes and barks to tell others that there is a "human approaching." But the communication between prairie dogs isn't all about danger. For instance, Arizona scientists recorded a special call used by the communicative creatures that signaled when cows were in the vicinity. In another case, the prairie dogs created a new call to describe a wooden object that scientists dragged across the desert near the colony.

Fertility Rate

Statisticians report that in order to maintain the world's current population, women must produce an average of 2.1 children apiece. The fertility rate in the U.S. is 2.06 children per woman. That compares to a rate of 1.91 in the United Kingdom, 1.21 in Japan, 1.41 in Germany and 1.39 in Italy.

Honorary Citizens

The United States has had only six honorary citizens in its history: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill received honorary citizenship in 1963; Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg (1981); Pennsylvania founders William Penn and his wife, Hannah (1984); Mother Teresa (1996); and the French supporter of the American Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette (2002).

Lottery Pick

The odds of predicting the correct order of six balls chosen out of 50 in a lottery game are 15,890,700 to one. So most would think Maureen Wilcox would be ecstatic for having correctly picked the winning numbers twice in January 1998. But she wasn't. That's because Wilcox correctly picked the winning numbers for a Rhode Island draw, but she had picked them in the Massachusetts lottery. Later, when she picked the winning numbers for the Massachusetts lottery, it just so happened that she had done so with a Rhode Island ticket. End result: no winnings for Wilcox.

Miss Manners

Judith Martin, better known as Miss Manners, didn't always see proper behavior as a boon to society: "We are all born charming, fresh and spontaneous, and must be civilized before we are fit to participate in society."

Chipmunk Food

Chipmunks communicate with each other about food by urinating, and their system is so developed that they can easily identify the difference between spots where there is food and places where all the stored food has already been eaten.

Colosseum

Rome's Colosseum, which could hold 40,000 to 50,000 spectators, was often the site of gladiator and mock naval battles. But contrary to popular belief, Christians weren't thrown to the lions in the Colosseum. That kind of show was saved for the Circus Maximus, which could accommodate much larger crowds of between 250,000 and 350,000 spectators.

General Sherman

The General Sherman Tree, one of the world's largest plants, is a giant sequoia that measures 272 feet tall and more than 100 feet in circumference. It is at least 2,700 years old.

Gershwin

The line "Who could ask for anything more?" was a popular one with the Gershwin Brothers, who used it in three of their songs: "I Got Rhythm," "I'm About to Be a Mother" and "Nice Work If You Can Get It."

Drunk Driving

Legal experts point to the case of Stuart MacNamara as possibly the worst-ever drunk-driving offense. MacNamara of Swansea, South Wales, was caught driving in 2001 with double the legal level of alcohol in his blood. He had just run a red light while making a call on his cell phone. Even worse, MacNamara only had one arm, and it was the one holding the phone.

National Song

Francis Scott Key, a lawyer, wrote the "Star-Spangled Banner" after being detained by the British in 1814. Shortly after his release, Key distributed the lyrics throughout Baltimore. But the song didn't become the national anthem until Herbert Hoover officially proclaimed it the nation's song on March 3, 1931.

Hobo Convention

The town of Britt, Iowa, has become known nationally for its annual Hobo Convention, which features carnivals, a talent show, servings of mulligan stew and a hobo parade.

Counting Stars

On a clear night and with an unobstructed view of the night sky, the careful observer should be able to count roughly 2,500 different stars without the use of a telescope or any other magnification device.

PAM

The letters PAM, as in the cooking spray, stand for Product of Arthur Meyerhoff. Along with his partner, Leon Rubin, Meyerhoff first marketed the product on local Chicago TV cooking shows.

Fertility

A study of 3,000 women by the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna found that those born in the months of June, July or August were, on average, less fertile than those born in other months.

Earmuffs

Chester Greenwood, inventor of the earmuffs, is celebrated each year in Farmington, Maine. The Chester Greenwood Day includes old-time vaudeville shows, invention displays and a parade.

Kilt

The kilt, often believed to have originated in Scotland, actually came from Egypt's Old Kingdom (2700 - 2200 B.C.E.). The kilt was also worn on the island of Crete from 2500 to 1100 B.C.E. and in Persia during the sixth century B.C.E. Historians say the kilt most likely came to Scotland with the Romans.

Running Times

At age 10, the average boy doesn't run much faster than the average girl. The girl completes a 50-yard dash in 8.9 seconds while 10-year-old-males run the same distance in 8.6 seconds. But by age 17, the difference is larger with females running the same distance in 8.2 seconds while males complete the 50-yard dash in an average of 6.7 seconds.

Liberty

The Statue of Liberty sits in New York Harbor, but it is within Jersey City's waters, making it a part of New Jersey, not of New York. But New York gained control of Bedloe Island and the statue in an 1834 compact with the state of New Jersey.

Nation's Father

President John Tyler, more than George Washington, probably should have been known as the Father of Our Country. After all, Tyler had 15 children, more than any other U.S. President.

Jogging

When running, the average jogger's heel comes in contact with the ground about 1,500 times per mile or 10,000 times per hour. As a result, running for one hour adds up, resulting in the runner contacting the ground with 4.5 million cumulative foot-pounds of force.

Squirrel Slippers

The original Cinderella wore "pantoufles en vair" or slippers made of white squirrel fur. But when Charles Perrault retold the story in his 1697 book, "Stories or Tales from Times Past, with Morals," he wrote that she wore "pantoufles en verre" or glass slippers. The mistake stuck.

Snake Bites

More than 8,000 people are bitten by poisonous snakes each year in the U.S. The bites are rarely fatal, however. On average fewer than 10 snake-bite victims actually die.

Darwin's Frogs

Male Darwin's frogs swallow the eggs laid by the female. The eggs grow in the male's vocal pouch before hopping out of his mouth once they have fully developed.

OPEC

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) formed in 1960 to unify member countries' petroleum policies and prices. The founding members were Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Ed Sullivan

When Ed Sullivan booked The Beatles to appear on his variety television show, he hadn't heard them perform, but he had seen the screaming crowd waiting to greet them at Heathrow Airport.

Bulgogi Burger

McDonald's franchises in Korea offer a specialty pork Bulgogi Burger. In Japan, customers can order a Teriyaki McBurger. Switzerland is home to the Swiss Vegi Mac.

Pigeon Eggs

Female pigeons cannot lay eggs if alone. They must be able to see another pigeon in order for their ovaries to function. If there are no other pigeons, a mirror will work just as well.

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) first formed in 1949 during the Soviet blockade of Berlin. The organization's original members include Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Sumerian Elvis

A university project to translate all of Elvis's songs into the ancient Sumerian language ran into trouble with the song "Blue Suede Shoes" as the Sumerians had no shoes, let alone any that were blue or suede. The problem was finally solved with the new title "Sandals of Sky Blue Leather."

Deadly Sins

The seven deadly sins set forth by scholastic theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas are anger, covetousness, envy, gluttony, lust, pride and sloth. The seven virtues are faith, hope, love, prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.

Olive Oil

Although much of the world's olive oil is bottled in Italy, more of it actually comes from Spain than from any other country. Italy ranks second in the world for olive oil production, followed by the country of Greece.

Foreign-born

In the 20th century, two U.S. Supreme Court justices were foreign-born. Justice David J. Brewer (1889-1910) was born in what is now Turkey to missionary parents, and Justice Felix Frankfurter (1939-1962) came to the United States from Vienna, Austria, at the age of 12.

Harvard

Harvard University was named for a young Puritan minister, John Harvard. But Harvard didn't found Harvard. The minister died two years after the school had been started, leaving half his estate and his collection of 400 books to the university. The General Court of Massachusetts renamed the school in honor of Harvard's donation.

U.S. Coins

The phrase "In God We Trust" was first put on U.S. coins by Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase in 1864. Chase intended for the new motto to serve as a morale-booster for soldiers in the Civil War.

Alcohol

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the following cities spend more per household on alcohol than anywhere else in the country: Miami; Anchorage; San Diego; Seattle; Boston; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Baltimore; Milwaukee; and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy, a condition that causes sufferers to fall asleep at any moment and usually without advance warning, affects two out of every 10,000 people in America. In Japan, however, 16 out of every 10,000 people are narcoleptic.

Kemo Sabe

When Tonto referred to the Lone Ranger as "Kemo Sabe," the title was intended to mean "faithful friend." In the Apache tongue, however, it actually means "white shirt," and the Navajo version translates as "soggy shrub."

Pyrex

By the time that Corning introduced Pyrex glass to the world, the company had already boiled and fried more than nine tons of potatoes in order to make sure the revolutionary new cookware really worked as promised.

Day Care

Weekly day care for children is most expensive in the cities of Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.; Anchorage, Alaska; Manchester, N.H.; and Washington, D.C. Day care is least expensive in Ogden, Utah; Mobile, Ala.; Jackson, Miss.; Huntington, W. Va.; and Columbia, S.C.

Cinderella

The story of Cinderella has been made into more movies than has any other tale, resulting in at least 60 film productions throughout the world. The first movie about Cinderella was made in 1898.

Dead Sea

The Dead Sea, which is seven to eight times saltier than any ocean, isn't actually dead. The inland body of water hosts brine shrimp as well as at least a few salt-tolerant microorganisms.

Jouhikko

A rare instrument known as the jouhikko was revived for the musical version of "The Lord of the Rings" in 2006. The instrument has three horsehair strings over a sound box. It is bowed with one hand like a violin while the performer's other hand lifts the strings rather than pressing them against frets as is the case with other stringed instruments. Musicians who can actually play the jouhikko describe its sound as "very liquid."

Turkey Drop

In Arkansas, the town of Yellville holds an annual Turkey Drop in which live turkeys are dropped out of a low-flying plane in hopes that they will slowly descend into the streets. Unfortunately, many of the birds are killed or injured each year. But the town of Yellville's plans to protect the birds by using frozen turkeys attached to parachutes one year turned into an even larger disaster as one destroyed the roof of a car and another smashed through a front porch.

Sphinx

In Egypt, a sphinx generally has a man's head and a lion's body. But in ancient Greece, the sphinx more commonly had the head and chest of a woman, the body of a lion and wings.

Pompeii

Residents of ancient Pompeii weren't killed by lava when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E. Instead, an estimated 2,000 people were killed by fumes from the volcano and then covered by about 20 feet of ash.

Happy Birthday

Published in 1893 as "Good Morning to All," the tune, written by sisters Mildred and Patty Hill, went on to become the most-sung song in America. Over time, of course, the name and the lyrics changed. Today we know it as "Happy Birthday."

Frisbee

A Frisbee thrown perfectly should spin at a rate of six revolutions per second. Researchers also conclude that successful Frisbee flight depends on the front being 10 degrees higher than the back when the Frisbee is thrown,

Rock 'n' Roll

An American musical giant once declared of rock 'n' roll, "It's phony and false, written and played for the most part by cretinous goons." Who said it? Frank Sinatra, and he was talking about Elvis Presley. Just a few years later, Sinatra paid Presley to sing on a TV special.

Perry Mason

Erle Stanley Gardner, known for his creation of Perry Mason, also worked as a lawyer. Gardner was known for defending poor Chinese and Mexicans as a California lawyer. He also founded the Court of Last Resort in the 1940s in order to help people who had been unjustly imprisoned.

William Harley

William Harley completed his first power-cycle in 1903 with the help of brothers Arthur and Walter Davidson. But the machine couldn't make it up Milwaukee's modest hills without help from its rider, so the boys started work, designing a larger engine. The rest is history.

Candy

Ogden Nash wrote the ditty, "Candy is dandy / But liquor is quicker," in 1931. He updated the piece in 1968: "Candy is dandy / But liquor is quicker. / Pot is not."

Herring

Most fans of herring know that a kipper is a split and smoked herring. A bloater is a whole smoked herring. A buckler is a hot smoked herring with the guts removed.

Barbie

Around three Barbie dolls are sold every second of every day. Barbie has had close to 50 pets, including 21 dogs, 14 horses, 3 ponies, 6 cats, a parrot, a chimp, a panda and a zebra.

Who's on First?

In Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" dialogue, there is no right fielder. Following are the players' names and their positions: Who (first base), What (second base), I Don't Know (third base), Why (left field), Because (center field), Tomorrow (pitcher), Today (catcher) and I Don't Give a Darn (shortstop).

Cigarettes

Around the world, about 15 billion cigarettes are sold every day, which amounts to about 10 million per minute. The World Health Organization estimates that cigarettes contribute to 10 percent of all deaths.

Directory

New Haven, Connecticut, was home to the country's first telephone directory. Published in 1878, the phone book had only about 50 names. The country's second such directory was published in San Francisco the same year with more than 170 listings.

King of Stamps

The most popular stamp ever issued by the U.S. Postal Service was the 1993 portrait of Elvis, which sold more than 124 million. The next bestselling celebrity commemorative is of Marilyn Monroe. It sold 46.3 million stamps, making it the sixth most popular of all U.S. stamps ever made. Bugs Bunny's commemorative stamp sold 45.3 million.

U.S.S. Chesapeake

When the "U.S.S. Chesapeake" was fighting a British ship off Boston Harbor in 1813, the captain's famous last words were, "Don't give up the ship!" The line has gone down in history, but the facts have been conveniently forgotten. That's because the crew did in fact give up the ship. They surrendered, and the "Chesapeake" was towed away.

Sonnets

Of William Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, the first 126 are addressed to a young male friend. Sonnets 127 to 152 are written to a "dark lady." The last two sonnets are adaptations of a Greek epigram and don't fit into either previous category.

Coney Island

In the heyday of Coney Island, sideshow stars included Indestructible Indio, Koko the Killer Clown, Zenobia the Bearded Lady, Ula the Painproof Rubber Girl and Helen Melon: "She needs four men to hug her and a boxcar to lug her."

Hitler's Watercolors

A bidder paid $80,000 in 1998 for two landscape watercolors and a line drawing by Adolf Hitler. The works, however, had been valued at almost $150,000.

Lewis Howard Latimer

Lewis Howard Latimer, the only African-American man working in Thomas Edison's lab, earned patents for an electric lamp in 1881 and a carbon light bulb filament in 1882.

Sinbad

Sinbad the Sailor, a character whose story is told in "The Thousand and One Nights," is widely believed by readers to be an Arabian. But the merchant had set sail from Basra, which is now known as Iraq, making Sinbad an Iraqi.

Jumping Flea

The name of the ukulele comes from the Hawaiian words "uku" (flea) and "lele" (jumping), but the instrument isn't Hawaiian. The instrument, which evolved from a small guitar called a machete, was called a cavanquinho when it was first brought to the islands by Portuguese sailors.

Oreo

The world's best-selling cookie, the Oreo, was first sold in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1912. Nabisco now makes and sells about 6 billion Oreos each year, which means that sales of the cookie account for about $1 in every $10 spent on groceries in the United States.

Gandhi

Mohandas Gandhi claimed that his technique of passive or peaceful resistance was inspired by the New Testament, the Bhagavad Gita and Leo Tolstoy's 1899 novel "Resurrection."

Talk Show

A recent British study found that watching a talk show each day raises a person's intelligence quotient or IQ by an average of five points. Drinking coffee adds another two points. Drinking orange juice and listening to classical music, however, produces no significant improvement.

Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway may have been a great writer, but editors hold that he wasn't much for spelling. For instance, Hemingway often included such words as "professessional" and "archiologist" in his finished manuscripts.

Postal System

The Continental Congress set up a postal system in 1775 and appointed Benjamin Franklin as postmaster general. But the U.S. government didn't start issuing stamps until 1847, 22 years after setting up a national dead letter department.

Nuclear Security

During the Cold War, the U.S. spent an average of $3.7 billion per year on its nuclear arms program. The Department of Energy now spends more than $10 billion per year on "nuclear security."

Wright Crash

Orville Wright made the first sustained flight at Kitty Hawk, remaining in the air for 12 seconds. Orville also was involved in the first major aircraft accident. A few minutes into a 1908 flight, a split propeller downed Orville's plane. His passenger, Army lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, was killed. Orville survived with a broken leg and four fractured ribs.

Vocabulary

English contains more words than any of the world's other active languages. It has about 455,000 active words and 700,000 that are considered dead. The typical adult American knows about 20,000 word families, each containing an average of seven closely-related words.

Continent Crossing

American explorers Lewis and Clark come in third for the continent-crossing record book. Vasco de Balboa was the first non-native person to cross North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Second place goes to William Mackenzie, who crossed Canada and then went up to the Arctic at least a decade before Jefferson commissioned Lewis and Clark to make their journey.

SPF

SPF 15 rated sunscreen absorbs 93 percent of the sun's UV radiation. SPF 30 absorbs 97 percent. Water-resistant sun protection products must maintain their SPF level after the wearer has been in the water for 40 minutes. Waterproof products maintain their SPF level for up to 80 minutes in the water.

Bartlett's

"Bartlett's Familiar Quotations" quotes 2,200 people. Of these, only 164 are women. But experts claim this is a huge improvement. The first edition, released in 1855, quoted only four women.

Adulthood

Experts claim that until the creation of the printing press, adulthood was often equated with mastery of spoken language. This means that infancy ended at age 7 and adulthood started immediately after.

Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam, located near Las Vegas, sends most of its power to Arizona and Southern California. Only about 24 percent of the electricity generated at the dam goes to the state of Nevada, and Nevada Power, the company that supplies electricity for Las Vegas, purchases only 4 percent of its energy from Hoover Dam.

Tourists

The year 1989 was the first year in the history of the United States in which visitors to the country spent more money ($43 billion) than did American travelers outside U.S. borders ($42.6 billion).

Divorce

Dr. Michael Svarer's study of 7,000 Western marriages found that the most likely time for divorce is about two years into a marriage. The good news is that after 14 years together, only one in 100 couples seeks a split.

Sundials

Because ancient cultures used sundials to tell the time, many have wondered how they kept track of the hours after dark. The answer is that before the creation of mechanical clocks, many of these cultures used water clocks, similar in operation to sandglasses.

Prime Minister

Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world's first woman prime minister when she was appointed the prime minister of Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) in 1960. The first woman democratically elected as head of state was Vigdis Finnbogadottir, elected president of Iceland in 1980.

Ping Pong

Table tennis, invented by James Gibb in the late 1880s, originally was played with balls made from champagne corks and paddles constructed from cigar-box lids.

Atlas

Atlas doesn't hold the world on his shoulders. Instead, the Greek poet Hesiud writes that Zeus condemned the Titan to bear "the great pillar that holds apart the earth and the heaven, a load not easy to be borne."

Wilt Chamberlain

The Philadelphia Warriors Wilt Chamberlain was the first NBA player to score more than 3,000 points in a single season with 3,033 points in the 1960-1961 season. But Wilt the Stilt wasn't satisfied with his record. In the next season, Chamberlain topped the 4,000 point mark with a total of 4,029 points in the 1961-1962 season.

William Tell

Many remember the legend of William Tell, the great hero of Switzerland, who obeyed the command of a cruel governor and shot an apple off his son's head with his crossbow. Tell later shot the governor as well. His son's name was Walter.

Blood

The Red Cross reports the following as the most common reasons people give for not donating blood: I don't like needles; I'm afraid to give blood; I'm too busy; No one every asked me; I'm afraid I'll get AIDS; My blood isn't the right type; I don't have any blood to spare; I don't want to feel week afterward; and They won't want my blood.

Super Bowl

Football beats out politics every time. Take the 1996 presidential election, for instance. Nearly 43 million more people watched the Super Bowl than voted in that year's election.

Xmas

The X in Xmas wasn't put there by secular humanists. Instead, experts hold that the practice most likely was started by the Church in 16th-century religious publications. That's because the Greek letter "x" or "chi" is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ.

Towels

Studies find that half of all male hotel guests steal items from their rooms. But the experts claim that at least two-thirds of female guests do the same. The Holiday Inn chain alone reports that it loses more than 1,500 towels a day.

Shell Oil

Shell Oil got its start in the mid-1800s as a novelty shop run by Marcus Samuel. The London retailer found success selling boxes of seashells, many of which were imported. But the business really grew when Samuel found he could profitably export kerosene.