Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discussed the creative ways companies are responding to the pandemic, such as Molina’s conversion of their filter production lines to make face masks. They also delved into presidential trivia, sharing interesting facts and insights about past presidents. Marcia shared her knowledge of Ulysses S. Grant’s nickname ‘Uncle Sam,’ while Bob highlighted Grover Cleveland’s unique first name and how he went by the name ‘Grover.’ They also discussed the origins of Chicago’s nickname ‘Windy City,’ and Marcia wondered what Andrew Jackson’s pet parrot might have said in private during the former President’s funeral in 1845.
Outline
Trivia, history, and COVID-19 innovation.
- Bob and Marcia Smith discuss Coronavirus quarantine trivia, including a historical figure connected to US presidents assassinated.
- Company Melita, founded by engineer Emilija, pivots from making vacuum cleaner filters to producing face masks during COVID-19 pandemic, leveraging their existing technology and materials.
- Bob Smith shares interesting trivia about Robert Todd Lincoln, son of President Abraham Lincoln, who was present at the assassination of two other presidents.
Famous books and their lesser-known facts.
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith a question about the Gutenberg Bible, and Marcia reveals a surprising fact about the book’s history.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss who the greatest coffee drinkers in the world are, with Marcia providing a surprising answer.
- Bob Smith discusses the history of cookbooks, including Fanny Farmer’s successful cookbook and the first White House cookbook.
- Bob Smith shares an interesting fact about Charles Darwin’s book “The Descent of Man,” which was published in 1871 without any physical evidence to support his theory of evolution.
US presidents and color blindness.
- Marcia and Bob discuss color blindness, with Marcia revealing that 70 out of every 1000 men have some form of color blindness, while only one woman in 1000 has it.
- Marcia and Bob discuss various presidents’ names and nicknames, including Teddy Roosevelt, John Quincy Adams, Ulysses S. Grant, and Gerald Ford.
Smallpox eradication and Copernicus’ book dedication.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the eradication of smallpox in 1980, with Marcia sharing interesting facts about its history and impact.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss Copernicus’s book “De revolutionibus orbium coelestium” and how it was dedicated to Pope Paul III, despite being controversial and later banned by the church.
- The book’s dedication was likely a strategic move by Copernicus to ensure its acceptance, but it took 300 years for it to be officially banned by the church.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the history of utensils, including forks and monkeys’ dietary needs.
States’ names, vowels, and Johnny Appleseed.
- Bob and Marcia discuss the origin of Chicago’s “Windy City” nickname.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the letter “Q” in state names, with Marcia pointing out that it’s the only letter not used in any US state name.
- Bob asks Marcia a question about states with two vowels in their abbreviations, and Marcia answers correctly that Iowa is the only state with this characteristic.
- Marcia and Bob discuss Andrew Jackson’s pet parrot swearing at his funeral.
Bob Smith 0:00
We all know the Bible created by Johann Gutenberg is the most famous book in the world. But what is the one thing most people don’t know about it? What
Marcia Smith 0:09
historical figure was connected to the first three US presidents to be assassinated?
Bob Smith 0:16
answers to those and other trivia questions coming out today on the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith?
Welcome to the off ramp a chance to slow down steer clear of crazy take a side road to sanity and get some perspective on life. Our perspective is the 11th week of the Coronavirus quarantine. We are laughing our masks off with with some funny trivia, in the Coronavirus time. I am so excited it’s time to take out the garbage What do I wear?
Marcia Smith 1:06
Put on a tie Bob put on a tie I
Bob Smith 1:08
hope the weather’s good tomorrow for my trip to Porto back yarda I’m getting tired of last living room my body has absorbed so much soap and disinfectant lately that when I pee it cleans the toilet
Marcia Smith 1:23
that’s funny. All right.
Bob Smith 1:25
Are you are you having any Cabin Fever from all this? Oh yeah, yeah. Even even getting out and doing things like we have done since Memorial Day is still a little Yeah, Kevin feverishly that
Marcia Smith 1:34
last week I have been doing things more things but I’m still cautious and restaurants and movie theaters. Although there is restaurants with patios. I’m Mike go to this coming week. You know, don’t you think? The world isn’t right yet? And either one why?
Bob Smith 1:51
I know the world isn’t right because this morning I saw a neighbor talking to her cat. It was obvious she thought the cat understood her. I came into the house told the dog. We laughed a lot.
Marcia Smith 2:03
All right. All
Bob Smith 2:04
right. Let’s get to some trivia here. Okay. What do face masks coffee filters and vacuum cleaner filters have in common?
Marcia Smith 2:14
You can reconfigure every one of them for that other purpose. I don’t know. They’re all pretty much the same. Who makes coffee filters? I can’t see Mr. Coffee making face masks. Ah, well, how about somebody like Melitta, Melitta?
Bob Smith 2:28
Yes, they invented the coffee filter. They did Melitta Bentz. She was a German house. What was her first name? Yeah. So she invented the disposable coffee filter out of paper 100 some odd years ago and the company they found it became so successful they expanded into other areas including vacuum cleaner filters. Now they don’t make them out of the same stuff. But today because of that combination, her company is making face masks for the COVID 19 epidemic. They make the vacuum cleaner filters out of this same kind of PVG nonwoven super thin fiber, a melt blown extrusion, it’s what they use for the the medical masks. So engineers Emilija thought all those things we make for the coffee filters they could cover your face. Why don’t we convert one of our coffee filter making machines to use the same material we use for vacuum cleaner filters and now they started making masks. That
Marcia Smith 3:23
explains why you’re trying to tie a Hoover vacuum bag to your face.
Bob Smith 3:30
This is one of those success stories of innovation during this Coronavirus time. Melitta made 10 million masks in its first month in April 10 million masks this last April. Yeah. And the first million they gave to their workers and their retirees and the worker family and for them.
Marcia Smith 3:47
Isn’t that cool? Yes. I like that.
Bob Smith 3:49
And then if they get approved by basically what’s the FDA kind of authorities in Europe, they’ll start making them in Europe, they can make them in Germany now. Because of the prices of all of the PPE equipment, how high that’s gotten. They can make them cheaper than they make them in China, in Germany and Germany. Okay. Anyway, I thought that was a good story. Who
Marcia Smith 4:08
in history has a connection to the first three presidents to be assassinated?
Bob Smith 4:14
Oh, I know the answer to this. I think Robert Todd Lincoln, oh, well, you know, his dad died well, but he worked for the other two presidents who were killed in the 19th century. Let me see if I can think of them. Actually. McKinley was the last one he was killed in 1901 or two, but the other one was
Marcia Smith 4:36
Garfield. You get an extra piece of cheesecake for dinner.
Bob Smith 4:40
I do know something you don’t know about this. I bet. Okay. Robert Todd Lincoln was going to be with his mom and dad that night that Lincoln was killed really. He turned down an invitation from his mother to come to be our theater God. He was an Army officer at the time. You know, I thought he was a young boy. No, he was Army officer at the time and he served under J Federal grant he was a member of his staff at the time. And grant was Grant was also invited to be their wife didn’t like Mary. So they
Marcia Smith 5:10
didn’t go Oh, no spousal rivalry.
Bob Smith 5:13
It’s just like today, you know, your couples don’t like each other didn’t the book
Marcia Smith 5:17
on Grant say she thought that Mary Lincoln was hottie a little too fancy pants?
Bob Smith 5:24
Well, she was she was very, yeah, Lincoln was the absolute
Marcia Smith 5:27
opposite. She was the drama
Bob Smith 5:28
queen. Yeah. Mary, and then you know, later of course, we find out she was mentally ill. So yeah, well, that would do it. But the three presidents again, were Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. That’s right. Okay. And he Robert Todd Lincoln. He was haunted by that for his whole life. And that’s one reason he didn’t want to be around presidents. He was worried about being a curse. He didn’t know. I mean, I would I would run from Him. That’s for sure. He was a brilliant businessman. years later, he became a tycoon. So
Marcia Smith 5:58
anyway, yeah. Majan, knowing three presidents that had all been assassinated. And he was
Bob Smith 6:03
there when two of them were killed. Yeah, that’s dear gosh. All right. I’ve got a question for you. And we’ve talked about this particular book a long time ago, but I found out something I didn’t even know. We all know that the Bible created by Johann Gutenberg is the most famous book in the world. Because in Europe anyway, it was the first done with movable type. But what is the one thing most people don’t know about? The Gutenberg Bible?
Marcia Smith 6:35
Well, let’s see.
Bob Smith 6:39
I know you’re thinking of a smart aleck answer. So.
Marcia Smith 6:44
I’m not that kind of girl. All right, I’ll just say I don’t know since you’ve ruined my process of thinking, Oh,
Bob Smith 6:51
I didn’t ruin your process out question. Again. You think about it. We all know that the Bible created by Johann Gutenberg is the most famous book in the world, the Gutenberg Bible. But what is the one thing most people don’t know about it? One thing most people don’t know about it. Gutenberg
Marcia Smith 7:08
found it in, you know, in a hotel room, it
Bob Smith 7:12
was a Gideon Bible. No, no, no, he actually didn’t publish it. He didn’t publish that Bible. Because he went into debt to do all the work of getting it ready to be published to the translation, the text, the artwork, he went into debt to do all that. And he was sued for the money. Oh, and he lost the lawsuit and was forced to hand over his tools and his presses to other people. So other printers actually published Johann Gutenberg Bible.
Marcia Smith 7:39
Wow. No, I didn’t know that. I always thought Gutenberg did it. There were
Bob Smith 7:43
300 copies printed and they were 1300 pages each. There were 42 lines of Latin to each page and all this beautiful illustration.
Marcia Smith 7:52
It was all in Latin. Yeah. No wonder they only had to print 300 G’s. Okay, who are the greatest coffee drinkers in the world? Who are the greatest coffee drinker who drinks the most coffee? You and me?
Bob Smith 8:10
And by what standard? Are they considered the greatest coffee?
Marcia Smith 8:13
So what is the most like
Bob Smith 8:15
nationality? Drinks? Yes. Coffee. I’ll bet it’s the Italians. You think so?
Marcia Smith 8:19
Are the French I would I guess the French but no, it is Switzerland. The Swiss? Really? Yeah. They drink approximately 23.1 pounds of coffee each a year. Wow. That’s that’s a lot of coffee like
Bob Smith 8:34
that Swiss chocolate. I thought it was gonna be hot chocolate that they were the kings and queens. Yeah, I had no idea. So the Swiss drink more coffee better person than any other nationality. Yeah. Wow. And it’s in pounds, huh? Yeah. Okay, I’ve got another book question. Yes. And this is about ingesting things. So it’s a cookbook, okay. Yes. What did the publisher of one of the most famous cookbooks of the 19th century refused to do? What did the publisher refused to do? I don’t know. Tell you this was an 1896. Yeah. Okay. It refused to take the risk to publish the book, all forgots and the publisher was Little Brown and Company, which is a big name and publishing today. They said that women would not buy yet another collection of recipes. But Fanny farmer who was the author of this book, which was a big, big, huge seller, she had to pay to print the first 3000 copies and at 96 She paid for the first Yeah. Oh, 3000 copies. Oh, then after then it took off and it’s like, Oh, you’re right. I guess so. They published she really milked Oh, I hope she got a lot of money for it.
Marcia Smith 9:41
Yes. Wow.
Bob Smith 9:42
Luckily, her Boston cooking school cookbook was a huge success became one of the most popular cookbooks have its time and it was a goldmine for Little Brown and Company through the years they sold millions of copies and dozens of editions.
Marcia Smith 9:54
So there were cookbook Oh, yeah. up to then. Oh, yeah,
Bob Smith 9:58
there was even a White House. cookbook in the 19th century,
Marcia Smith 10:01
Fanny farmer had you know we had that book, do we? Yeah, well, we did where I got it at some old, you know, antique place. We don’t have it anymore. I gave it away.
Bob Smith 10:11
It’s old food. Why would you? I’ve got another one about a book that was written years and years ago, Charles Darwin. Alright. The Descent of Man was his first big book. Okay. What’s so unusual about that theory of evolution?
Marcia Smith 10:26
Oh, the evolutionary theory that we come from monkeys.
Bob Smith 10:30
Yeah. 1871 There’s something unusual about it when it was published in 1871 as the Descent of Man. It was revolutionary. And thank you. Yeah, well, here’s the unusual thing about it. Not a single fossil had been found to support his idea about pre human life forms at that time. He just did Deuce Yeah, it later of course, they found fossils that proved the evolutionary trail. But he formulated that idea entirely without physical evidence. It was based almost completely on speculation so we guessed amazing
Marcia Smith 11:01
and he had a tail but you don’t know about
Bob Smith 11:05
he had a tail to tail.
Marcia Smith 11:09
Already Ah, well, this this concerns you a bit although you deny it all the time. This concerns
Bob Smith 11:14
me Marsh your thinking concerns me.
Marcia Smith 11:16
Okay, most what is the most common form of color blindness? What are the colors that are deficient? Green? Is one yellow. No.
Bob Smith 11:26
Okay. I’m saying that because tennis balls look bright green to me. And they look yellow to some people. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 11:31
well, some are green. And some are Yeah,
Bob Smith 11:34
that’s why I’m so confused. That originally they were what?
Marcia Smith 11:37
Green and then they started neon then they
Bob Smith 11:40
named orange. Okay, them so the other colors. The two biggest color branded? Red is red and green.
Marcia Smith 11:47
Yes, red and green Christmas. And of every 1000 men, men now the most common 70 of them have some form of color blindness. Wow. 70 of every 1000 Yeah, it’s pretty strong, whereas only one woman in 1000. So for whatever reason, and you’re always saying no, that’s not green. And you and I have those
Bob Smith 12:08
little Spats. We don’t have those. Know what you’re talking about? You’re
Marcia Smith 12:12
one of the 70 Bob. There you go. All
Bob Smith 12:15
right, presidents which president went skinny dipping in the Potomac River every morning. At
Marcia Smith 12:21
sounds like Teddy. It sounds like a Teddy Roosevelt. Yeah, but it wasn’t that obvious John Quincy Adams. Oh, I don’t know. Squat about him. Which
Bob Smith 12:29
President’s first name was Hiram? Oh, hi Remo
Marcia Smith 12:34
and he went by a second name. Right.
Bob Smith 12:36
Yes. Hi, Rama. There’s a History Channel show on him that’s running
Marcia Smith 12:45
right now. Oh, of course. It’s Ulysses Grant. He goes by Ulysses S. Grant, because that’s the way when he went into the army, they had it down on paper and they said you’re going to be
Bob Smith 12:59
Ulysses S. Grant. Yeah. The congressman who submitted his application to West Point changed at the Ulysses S. Grant
Marcia Smith 13:06
is in his close friends call him Sam because they nicknamed him Uncle Sam. At the Academy. Now there
Bob Smith 13:13
are stories, you know, it was Hiram Ulysses Grant would be hug. He didn’t want that on his footlocker at West Point, Hu Ge, you know, he didn’t think but I don’t think that had anything to do with it. He was
Marcia Smith 13:25
such an amazing man. You learned so much when you delve into the big books that were just done and grant or see the history channel based on the book and it’s what an amazing fellow I agree with
Bob Smith 13:38
you on Grant, especially I think the untold story most people don’t know about was how strong he was in reconstruction for black American rights. Oh, all the things he did to try to give them the vote and give them full citizenship and
Marcia Smith 13:51
just carried on where Lincoln would have Yeah, if he had
Bob Smith 13:54
lived fascinating. All right, one more question on a president anything I
Marcia Smith 13:59
possibly could know which president
Bob Smith 14:01
was adopted? You’ve been to his house presidential library. Reagan in Michigan. Oh, Ford. Gerald Ford. Yeah, that wasn’t his name originally. All right, and which presidents first name was Stephen or Stephen, but you don’t think of him that way. Ste pH en. When I tell you what, he went by your goal. Why didn’t he go with Stephen? Yeah.
Marcia Smith 14:24
Okay. Well, who has a weird first name Stephen
Bob Smith 14:26
Grover Cleveland. Now we think of Grover as like a sesame street name these days, but
Marcia Smith 14:33
he didn’t like Steph barely didn’t like Stephanie went by Grover. Grover Cleveland, maybe had some gravitas back in the day, Cleveland.
Bob Smith 14:42
Time to take a break. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith and laugh your mask off trivia. We’re back with laugh your mask off Trivia This week on the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith.
Marcia Smith 14:57
We’re here a lot now about the WHO right The World Health Organization.
Bob Smith 15:02
Oh, yes. Uh huh.
Marcia Smith 15:03
What year did they formally declare smallpox was eradicated? What
Bob Smith 15:09
year did the World Health Organization say Smallpox is eradicated? Was that in our lifetime by any chance? Okay, so I’ll let’s say the 1962. Okay. What was it?
Marcia Smith 15:21
1980 really? And
Bob Smith 15:24
this is so crazy centuries for that to be eradicated been around,
Marcia Smith 15:28
wait for it. 12,000 years Holy Cow figured. And just in the 20th century between 300 and 500 million people died from
Bob Smith 15:40
smallpox. Yeah, three to 500 million people died in the 20th century until,
Marcia Smith 15:45
I believe it was an English doctor named Jenner. Yes. And he took out milkmaids blood who had had smallpox. And then that was the first thing that actually started helping people giving them a vaccine. That was the strongest vaccine. Yeah. And after that, the numbers kept going down and down and down. And it took until 1980. Man, they the who said it’s been eradicated.
Bob Smith 16:10
And we all know that that was around during the early parts of the United States because George Washington had his troops vaccinated. Valley Forge was
Marcia Smith 16:19
brilliant. But it’s still stuck around the world, in parts that didn’t have the vaccines until 1980. That is amazing. Just blew my mind that it was that had been around for 12,000 years. They figured it was started somewhere in southern Africa and from a rodent or something they figured and bit a human being. And so it began well, the disease was finally ended in Somalia. Wow.
Bob Smith 16:47
So it began in Africa and ended in Africa. Yeah, geez. Okay, this doesn’t go back that far. 12,000 years, this goes back to 1543. Fellow, Copernicus published his book, and he dedicated it to whom? On the revolution of the celestial spheres, who did he dedicate that book to?
Marcia Smith 17:08
For cat six? Now? Come on, like, why would I know who Copernicus? Okay, well, he
Bob Smith 17:13
dedicated this book to a certain person because he thought it might help it become accepted. He wanted to make sure everything was okay. Somebody
Marcia Smith 17:19
like this was a person of authority. Yeah, back in his day, when did Copernicus live? While 1543?
Bob Smith 17:24
Gosh, you were born, you were just kidding.
Marcia Smith 17:31
Saw that? I’ll just say somebody who was big rock star back in those days. Well,
Bob Smith 17:37
I guess you could say that he dedicated it to the Pope. Now, here’s the reason why, for 13 years, he had hesitated to publish his theories, which said that the earth moved around the sun and that meant the earth wasn’t the center of the universe. So when he finally decided to publish it, he dedicated it to the Pope, Pope Paul the third. Now, guess what? Because he had a good relationship with the church because he grew up in the church. He even served in the church. He was from Krakow, which later became Poland. Nothing bad happened. And then he died two years later. And then 73 years later, his theory the earth revolving around the sun became controversial. Oh, really? Yeah. So controversial, first by Protestants, then by Catholics, that the church in 1616 decided we’re going to ban this book, how many years? 300 years no more than 200 years, until 1835 Copernicus’s book was officially banned. I thought that was fascinating.
Marcia Smith 18:40
And the pope didn’t get cranky that he wrote a book dedicated to him that had this
Bob Smith 18:46
apparently at the time. No, yeah. I always heard that that book was banned, and I thought it was banned immediately. Yeah, but it was later Copernicus actually passed away being a revered scientists. Oh, he’s a wonderful man. 70 years later, that book sucks. Yeah, well, it
Marcia Smith 18:58
didn’t fit some signs.
Bob Smith 19:00
Somebody didn’t read the book.
Marcia Smith 19:01
I bet you up the pope figured no one would read the book. It didn’t bother him. Okay. Monkeys cannot survive very long. On what kind
Bob Smith 19:12
of food was probably numerous things I would imagine. Well, this is common fruit, bananas. They really can’t survive on bananas. Well,
Marcia Smith 19:21
it’s the diet of an average American. Really? Yeah kills them right off. Monkeys cannot survive on the diet of the average American and experiment performed at the University of Chicago shows that all the rhesus monkeys used in their study died after a two year testing period of a regular diet of American diet mashed potatoes, meat and stuff like that. Interesting
Bob Smith 19:46
peas. So maybe bananas are the important thing. I don’t know. But yeah, we know they have appeal. Okay, that’s stupid. Or this isn’t stupid. Let’s help so what eating utensil was once considered sacrilegious that spork still is your clothes. Your clothes really? Yeah. forks. Forks were once seen as offensive to God. Now let me explain this. Now this is when it was introduced in Italy in the 11th century. Before that time, people used to eat with their fingers, and they didn’t have a lot of utensils, obviously. Well, they may have a knife, but they didn’t have anything else. Okay, so the number of fingers used for eating distinguish the upper class from the lower class, so three fingers was considered good manners. If you use more than three that was like all your lower class. Oh, that’s funny. Anyway, for X date, all the way back to Oh, fourth millennium BC. They found them in Turkey, but it was likely they were only used as tools. And when the fork was introduced in Italy, in the 11th century, the church argued, God created humans with fingers so they could eat God’s food. Now, this didn’t stop the production of expensive forks made out of gold for wealthy families. But that was the that was the thinking
Marcia Smith 21:07
there sounds like the logic of our son.
Bob Smith 21:12
Can you imagine the parents? Can’t we get some forks much later? God gave you fingers to eat with and that’s what you’re going to do?
Marcia Smith 21:19
Well, here’s here’s some silliness. How did Chicago get the nickname Windy City?
Bob Smith 21:25
Most people think it’s the fact that it’s very windy winter, which it is very windy. It really is. There are some very windy corners downtown. I always thought that my understanding is it has to do with the World’s Fair in 1893 Is it? It was the year after Columbus, Columbus exposition they didn’t get it done in time for 1892, the 500th anniversary of Columbus. So they did it for 1893. And you let me tell you why it’s called the Wendy’s. Yeah, because there was a big competition over who was going to get the fare and the ones from Chicago, the people there who were lobbying for Chicago just wouldn’t stop talking. So they started saying, let’s hear from the people from the windy city again. Okay,
Marcia Smith 22:05
see, I didn’t know the backstory. Yeah. So I thought you were dead wrong. Oh, because the My answer was, it was coined by 19th century journalist, referring to the fact that the residents were wind bags and full of hot air. I didn’t say it didn’t say why. And now you explained it.
Bob Smith 22:27
That’s my understanding. It was because of that competition there.
Marcia Smith 22:30
Well, I’ll be darned. I think we’re both right on that.
Bob Smith 22:32
I just got a bulletin here. It says, from whom this is a bulletin from the shelter in place people says homeschooling is going well, two students were suspended for fighting and one teacher was fired for drinking on the job. Oh, this was a family. Okay. Just a funny little thing here. Okay. Okay. Did you think that when we changed our clocks recently for the new time that we’d be changing him from standard time to the Twilight Zone? Because that’s what it feels like, isn’t it? Where are you getting this stuff? Isn’t my material I gotta make I gotta get this material. I gotta use it. Stick
Marcia Smith 23:04
to the off ramp it okay, what you got? There’s only one letter in the whole alphabet. Robert. That doesn’t appear in any US state name. Oh, what is it? But is it down? Bom bom bom bom bom.
Bob Smith 23:22
Let’s see. Now it’s not X you think might be X but Texas has an x and
Marcia Smith 23:27
New Mexico, New Mexico, right? That’s two.
Bob Smith 23:29
There’s one letter. That’s okay. Don’t do this clock thing. Well,
Marcia Smith 23:34
we can’t give you four. I
Bob Smith 23:35
don’t know the answer to that.
Marcia Smith 23:36
How about a Z? Well, no, that’s in Arizona. Oh, that’s so every letter does have a place except the Q, which is also hard in. Scram.
Bob Smith 23:48
Now you think about that. You have 26 letters. You have 50 states. But there’s one letter that’s not when Quinton has a cute Yeah, but not the state. No Q. But every other letter of the alphabet is used. Every other letter in the English language is used in our state’s names but one fascinate It was fast. Okay, now I got one for you. I got one for you. All right. It’s along the same lines of the states. And I just read this yesterday. What state is the only state whose abbreviation is two vowels? Now just think of like, California is a C and N A New York is? What state has two vowels? It’s the only state that has two vowels as his abbreviation to state you used to live in hay. Yes. What? Iowa Iowa? Yeah, that’s right, Iowa. I got it. And it is. Edie is also the only state that has four vowels. Oh, it has three valves. I owe three goals. It has three what’s the other state that has three valves in
Marcia Smith 24:55
it? Oh, who keeps track of it?
Bob Smith 24:57
I’m asking you. I
Marcia Smith 24:58
don’t know you brought up the state. Well, yes. Okay, so
Bob Smith 25:01
Iowa has three vowels but who counts vowel? What other states?
Marcia Smith 25:04
I have no idea. Tell me how why?
Bob Smith 25:06
It’s only got four letters. It’s got three vowels. That’s that’s the question what state has four? Ohio? That’s right. And I’ve lived in both of them
Marcia Smith 25:14
so they’re okay. All right. Well, here’s a question about John Chapman. Do you know who he
Bob Smith 25:21
is? Oh, yes. Johnny Appleseed.
Marcia Smith 25:23
Very good. We we went on the Johnny Appleseed trail. Johnny
Bob Smith 25:26
Appleseed came through around Marietta, Ohio, that whole area there where my family settled in the 1780s. So yes, right. Yes.
Marcia Smith 25:33
So he planted Johnny Appleseed planted 1000s of apple trees across the United States. He didn’t really expect anyone to eat the fruit. Yeah, what do you think he expected people to do with those apples?
Bob Smith 25:50
feed livestock? Nope. What?
Marcia Smith 25:53
Make hard apple cider? Oh, no
Bob Smith 25:55
kidding. I guess that’s probably what apples were used for. It was,
Marcia Smith 25:59
yeah, a little hard apple cider. I still popular today.
Bob Smith 26:03
I seen statistics on the amount of liquor hard liquor people drank back then it’s amazing.
Marcia Smith 26:08
That’s because they lived back then. That’s true. That’s why we’re all boozing it up a little more than usual. Right now.
Bob Smith 26:14
Here’s the Presidential question. At President Andrew Jackson’s funeral, his pet parrot had to be removed. His pet parrot had to be removed. And Andrew Jackson’s funeral. Why did his parents have to be removed from his funeral?
Marcia Smith 26:32
He probably kept yelling out something obscene. Well,
Bob Smith 26:36
that’s exactly right. You know, parents will mimic you right? Yeah, you seen that? That’s one funny Frasier episode. Yeah, where the parrot or the bird repeats America trans fat, but
Marcia Smith 26:47
it’ll she’s yelling out, dammit. Yeah, well hits its
Bob Smith 26:51
parent. His parent was swearing during his funeral. During his funeral in 1845, his pet parrot began to speak obscenities and had to be removed. It became excited while the crowd was gathering and began to swear disturbing the mourners. That’s funny. The bird was promptly escorted out as people were both in awe and horrified by the words Yes. What
Marcia Smith 27:14
kind of language did Andy use in private?
Bob Smith 27:17
I think that’s apparently what was going on in private. Yes, I
Marcia Smith 27:19
think Polly knew. That’s all I got mister.
Bob Smith 27:25
Oh, it see if turned off your light, I guess. All right. Well, that’s it. We’re done for today. Thanks for joining us. I’m Bob Smith. I’m Marcia Smith. And you’ve been listening to laugh your mask off Trivia This week on the off ramp. The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio and the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
