Bob and Marcia Smith discuss various trivia topics. Bob reveals that Buddy Holly played drums for other bands the night he died due to the absence of the regular drummer, Carl Bunch, who was hospitalized with frostbite. They also explore the 1930s craze of people swallowing goldfish, with Joseph de Lebros of Clark University holding the record at 89. They list songs by famous musicians that were hits when they died, such as Buddy Holly’s “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.” They explain the origins of words like “sneeze” and “algorithm,” and discuss the first US aircraft carrier, the General Washington Park Custis, used in the Civil War. They also touch on the bilingual sign language of Martha’s Vineyard and the geography of landlocked states.
Outline
Buddy Holly’s Last Performance and the Winter Dance Party Tour
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the famous musician who filled in on drums for all the bands playing the night Buddy Holly died.
- Marcia Smith guesses Ringo and Eric Clapton, but Bob reveals the answer is Buddy Holly himself.
- Bob explains that Buddy Holly played drums for Richie Valens, JP Richardson (the Big Bopper), and Dion and the Belmonts due to the absence of the regular drummer, Carl Bunch.
- The tour was a disaster due to severe winter weather, leading to frostbite for Carl Bunch and other band members.
- Buddy Holly took turns playing drums with the other bands, and he chartered a plane to North Dakota, which crashed, leading to his death.
The Goldfish Swallowing Craze of the 1930s
- Marcia Smith asks Bob Smith about a popular craze in the 1930s where people swallowed something.
- Bob Smith guesses goldfish, and Marcia confirms it.
- Marcia Smith explains that the trend began with a dorm room bet at Harvard, involving a student named Lothrop Withington Jr.
- The craze spread to college campuses across the country, with contests to see how many goldfish could be swallowed.
- The trend was eventually stopped by the Animal Rescue League and a Massachusetts state senator who filed a bill to protect goldfish from cruel consumption.
Musicians Who Died with Popular Songs
- Bob Smith lists famous musicians who died with popular songs on the charts.
- Buddy Holly’s hit “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” was on the charts when he died.
- Hank Williams died with “I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive” as his latest release.
- Chuck Willis died with “Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes” and “What Am I Living For?” on the charts.
- Eddie Cochran’s “Three Steps to Heaven” was a hit when he died, as was Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle” when he died.
- Elvis Presley’s current hit was “Way Down” when he died, and John Lennon’s “Just Like Starting Over” was climbing the charts when he died.
Made-Up Words and Their Origins
- Marcia Smith asks Bob Smith about words that have something in common.
- Bob Smith guesses they are all made-up words, and Marcia confirms it.
- Marcia Smith explains that words like “sneeze,” “algorithm,” “sachet,” “varsity,” “tornado,” and “Sherry” are made up words derived from spelling errors or mispronounced names.
- Examples include “sneeze” from the Old English word “finsian,” “algorithm” from a mistranslation of a Persian mathematician’s name, and “varsity” from “university.”
- “Tornado” is a combination of Spanish words “tranada” (thunder) and “tornar” (to turn).
First US Aircraft Carrier and Medieval Art
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the first aircraft carrier used by the US military.
- Marcia Smith guesses the 1930s or 1920s, but Bob reveals it was 1861.
- Bob explains that the General Washington Park Custis, a converted coal barge, was used by the Union Army balloon Corps during the Civil War.
- Marcia Smith asks about the unsettling man-babies in medieval European paintings.
- Bob Smith explains that these depictions were influenced by the theological concept of “homunculus,” which portrayed Jesus as a fully formed adult from birth.
Flattest State in the US and Chocolate Bars
- Marcia Smith asks Bob Smith about the flattest state in the US.
- Bob Smith reveals that Kansas is the seventh flattest state, but the flattest state is Florida.
- Marcia Smith lists various chocolate bars and their brands, including Milky Way, Snickers, Heath, Mars, Baby Ruth, and Payday.
- Bob Smith correctly identifies the brands for each chocolate bar.
Geography Questions and Drawing Rooms
- Bob Smith asks Marcia Smith about the northernmost and southernmost points of the US.
- Marcia Smith guesses Point Barrow, Alaska, for the northernmost point, and Bob confirms it.
- Bob Smith explains that the northernmost point of the lower 48 states is Northwest Angle, Minnesota.
- Marcia Smith guesses Key West, Florida, for the southernmost point, and Bob confirms it.
- Bob Smith explains that the southernmost point of all US territories is Rose Atoll in American Samoa.
- Marcia Smith asks about the original purpose of the escalator, and Bob Smith explains it was originally an amusement park ride at Coney Island.
Common City Names and Landlocked States
- Bob Smith lists the most common names for cities in the US, starting with Franklin (named for Ben Franklin) and Clinton (named for DeWitt Clinton).
- Other common names include Fairview, Madison, George (for George Washington), Manchester, Marion, Salem, Chester, and Arlington.
- Marcia Smith asks about the number of landlocked states in the US, and Bob Smith explains there are 17 singly landlocked states, 12 doubly landlocked states, and one triply landlocked state (Nebraska).
- Bob Smith explains that Nebraska is triply landlocked, requiring crossing Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas to reach the Gulf of Mexico.
Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language and Quotes
- Marcia Smith shares a fact about Martha’s Vineyard, where almost all people were bilingual in English and sign language.
- Bob Smith is surprised to learn that the island developed its own dialect of sign language due to a large deaf population.
- Marcia Smith quotes Chief Seattle, “We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”
- Bob Smith quotes Albert Einstein, “We still do not know 1,000th of 1% of what nature has revealed to us.”
- Marcia Smith quotes Jean Jacques Rousseau, “Plant and your spouse plants with you, weed and you weed alone.”
Bob Smith 0:00
What famous musician filled in on drums for all the bands playing the night Buddy Holly died?
Marcia Smith 0:06
In the 1930s there was a very popular craze of people swallowing something. What was it?
Bob Smith 0:13
Answers to those and other mysteries coming up in this episode of the off ramp withBob and Macia Smith.
Bob Smith 0:19
Welcome to the Off Ramp, a chance to slow down, steer clear of crazy and take a side road to sanity with little known facts about well known people, places and things.
Marcia Smith 0:46
Sure, if you say so.
Bob Smith 0:48
All right, Marcia, February 1959 that was singer buddy Holly’s last performance. But a little known fact is, the backup band for the four headliners that night didn’t have a drummer. Okay? What famous musician filled in on drums the night Buddy Holly died?
Marcia Smith 1:04
Is he famous today?
Bob Smith 1:05
Yes.
Marcia Smith 1:06
A drummer, well, I’ll say probably wasn’t. Ringo, he was in England. Eric Clapton?
Bob Smith 1:11
No, this person wasn’t known as a drummer, but he was a famous musician.
Bob Smith 1:15
Yeah. Okay, tell Marcia the answer.
Bob Smith 1:19
Believe it or not, it was Buddy Holly.
Marcia Smith 1:21
Oh, Well, that answers my next question, did he live? I guess, not.
Bob Smith 1:26
No he did not. He played drums for Richie Valens, JP Richardson, the Big Bopper, and Dion and the Belmont the night of his last performance before he died in a plane crash.
Marcia Smith 1:37
I had records by every one of those people.
Bob Smith 1:39
Did you?
Marcia Smith 1:40
Yeah.
Bob Smith 1:40
Well, they were all big groups.
Marcia Smith 1:42
Yeah.
Bob Smith 1:42
So why did he play drums? Any idea?
Marcia Smith 1:45
I think I’ll say the drummer got sick.
Bob Smith 1:49
That’s exactly right. The winter Dance Party tour in the Upper Midwest was built to showcase Holly plus four other singers. So he provided the backup band. He had broken up with the Crickets, so he recruited Tommy Allsup, Waylon, Jennings and a drummer, Carl Bunch, as the backing band. But that night, Carl Bunch wasn’t there, and the reason was that tour was a disaster from a scheduling standpoint. They were zigzagging all over the Midwest in one of the worst winter storms ever. Hegot frostbite.
Marcia Smith 2:17
Oh, really.
Bob Smith 2:18
Got terrible frostbite because
Marcia Smith 2:19
He couldn’t play.
Bob Smith 2:20
The tour bus was unheated.
Marcia Smith 2:22
Oh, my Lord.
Bob Smith 2:23
The drummer, Carl Bunch, was hospitalized for severe frostbite to his feet.The band’s unheated bus had broken down in sub zero weather near Ironwood, Michigan.
Marcia Smith 2:32
That’s cold up there.
Bob Smith 2:34
And he remained hospitalized there. And then the tour went on.
Marcia Smith 2:37
Yeah.
Bob Smith 2:38
They had to leave this fella behind. And Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and Dion all took turns playing drums for the shows in Green Bay, Wisconsin and Clear Lake Iowa. But Buddy was the lone substitute in Clear Lake, except for the member of the Belmonts who sat in for Buddy when he sang. So he was going back and forth playing drums. It was his tour, and each band did two 30 minute sets, so Buddy Holly was doing a lot of drumming that night. When the tour limped into Clear Lake, Iowa, things were so bad, he decided, I’m going to take a plane to the next place. So he chartered a small plane to fly to North Dakota. And that’s when it all ended. After that, drummer Carl Bunch heard about the plane crash on the radio from his hospital bed.
Marcia Smith 3:16
Really, oh my god.
Bob Smith 3:18
But here’s an interesting fact, Buddy Holly was a star at the time of his death, but he wasn’t as visually recognizable as he became later. He became more famous in death than he was in life. The local DJ, Bob Hale, when he went back to interview the guys after the show, said, Who’s this guy with the glasses playing drums? And one of them replied, Well, my name is Mr. Holly, Mr. Hale. That was Bob Hale’s introduction to Buddy Holly. So the answer to the question, What famous musician filled in on drums for three acts at the surf ballroom the night Buddy Holly died — was none other than Buddy Holly.
Marcia Smith 3:55
Okay, Bob, in the 1930s – you remember that?
Bob Smith 3:58
No, I don’t. I’m not that old!
Marcia Smith 4:00
There was a very popular craze. People everywhere were swallowing what?
Bob Smith 4:06
I think I know the answer to this. It was, it was big on college campuses, they were swallowing goldfish.
Marcia Smith 4:11
That is correct, sir, that’s right, and you got the location. It began like so many bad ideas, with a dorm room bet right after boasting to his friends that he had once consumed a live fish. Check this name Harvard freshman, Lothrop Withington, Jr.
Bob Smith 4:29
Oh, my goodness!
Marcia Smith 4:30
Was told to put his money where his mouth was and do it again for $10. He did so on March 3 with at least one reporter present, and the event was picked up by Life magazine, and that kicked off a craze across the country at college campuses everywhere. They had contests everywhere to see how many you could swallow.
Bob Smith 4:50
Oh my gosh.
Marcia Smith 4:51
How was that for your digestive system?
Bob Smith 4:53
That’s got to be terrible.
Marcia Smith 4:55
The most consumed you’ll want to know was by Joseph de lebros. Do of Clark University. He is said to have bested them all by swallowing 89 innocent Goldies in one session.
Bob Smith 5:08
Oh, dear God
Marcia Smith 5:09
The trend began to die down after the Animal Rescue League stopped in and Massachusetts State Senator Carl craft, K, R, A, P, F, craft Crap.
Bob Smith 5:21
Crap-fuh. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 5:23
Let’s just say a Massachusetts senator
Bob Smith 5:25
with an unusual and unfortunate name
Marcia Smith 5:28
filed a bill to preserve the fish from cruel and wanton consumption. So he got, he saved the goldfish.
Bob Smith 5:36
Oh, my goodness.
Marcia Smith 5:37
All right, those college kids. Okay, Bob.
Bob Smith 5:40
I’ve got another music question, Marcia.
Marcia Smith 5:42
Okay.
Bob Smith 5:43
Songs that were popular by famous musicians when they died.
Marcia Smith 5:46
Okay
Bob Smith 5:47
Now we just mentioned Buddy Holly. He had a hit on the charts at the time. It Doesn’t Matter, Anymore.
Marcia Smith 5:53
Yeah. And it didn’t.
Bob Smith 5:54
No it didn’t. In 1953, Hank Williams died in the back seat of his Cadillac. His latest release was, I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive,
Marcia Smith 6:02
Really?
Bob Smith 6:03
Yeah.
Marcia Smith 6:03
There’s some prophetic songs there.
Bob Smith 6:06
Rock and roller Chuck Willis died in surgery while his two sided hit, Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes and What Am I Living For?
Marcia Smith 6:13
Wow.
Bob Smith 6:13
was on the charts.
Marcia Smith 6:14
Wow.
Bob Smith 6:15
Eddie Cochran, you remember him?
Marcia Smith 6:17
Yes, my brothers, listened to him.
Bob Smith 6:19
Three Steps to Heaven was on the charts when he was killed in a taxi in London. Jim Croce died, when Time in a Bottle was a hit. When Elvis died, his current hit was Way Down. Way Down, all right? And when John Lennon died December 8, 1980 his single, Just Like Starting Over, was climbing the charts.
Bob Smith 6:40
That one. I remember. These are all ironic titles for people when they died.
Marcia Smith 6:43
The Irony there, yes, and that was a good song Starting Over.
Bob Smith 6:47
Yeah.
Marcia Smith 6:48
All right, Bob, what do all these words have in common? Okay? You ready?
Bob Smith 6:53
Yeah.
Marcia Smith 6:54
Algorithm, sneeze, tornado, culprit, sachet, varsity and Sherry, like the wine Sherry, what do they all have in common?
Bob Smith 7:04
Yeah, they have something in common. Is it in the root words or something like that?
Marcia Smith 7:09
Not necessarily.
Bob Smith 7:10
It’s not mathematics, because Sherry doesn’t have anything with math, like algorithm, right?
Marcia Smith 7:15
No.
Bob Smith 7:16
Were they adopted by a certain type of people or a certain type of time or as the result of a certain event?
Marcia Smith 7:22
No, they are all made up words.
Bob Smith 7:25
What do you mean?
Marcia Smith 7:26
They are all made up words. They’re all made up words. They all come from spelling errors or mispronounced names and re said in a different way. But they’re not words that derived from something examples, how about sneeze, the old English word finsian means to snort. But as writing and penmanship changed, it caused confusion between the letter S and the letter F. Fenzian became snezian and the origins of sneeze.
Bob Smith 7:54
Okay.
Marcia Smith 7:54
An algorithm is a mathematical process
Bob Smith 7:57
Yeah.
Marcia Smith 7:58
But the word algorithm is a mistranslation of a Persian mathematician’s name.
Bob Smith 8:03
Oh, okay.
Marcia Smith 8:04
Sashay chassis is a French ballet term meaning to move across the floor, jump and bring your feet together. That’s C, H, A, S, S, E.
Bob Smith 8:13
Okay
Marcia Smith 8:14
But English ears heard it and wrote down sachet, meaning a sassy dance like walk instead of French chaise. Varsity comes from university. It’s a shortening and misspelling based on an archaic pronunciation.
Bob Smith 8:32
Really?
Marcia Smith 8:33
Yeah.
Bob Smith 8:33
I’ll be darned.
Marcia Smith 8:34
Tornado.
Bob Smith 8:34
How’s that one?
Marcia Smith 8:36
A tornado is a flurry of winds blowing so loudly that people couldn’t hear the correct word. The etymology of tornado is unclear, but it’s close enough to the Spanish words tranada, meaning thunder. And tornar, meaning to turn a combination of the two created tornado.
Bob Smith 8:57
So like turning thunder?
Marcia Smith 8:58
Yeah.
Bob Smith 8:58
I’ll be darned, that’s interesting. I could see that. Okay
Marcia Smith 9:01
Okay, I’m glad you can
Bob Smith 9:02
All right, when was the first aircraft carrier used by the US military? The first aircraft carrier? What would be the date?
Marcia Smith 9:09
Can I have a decade? Can I use a decade instead?
Bob Smith 9:13
Yes, go ahead.
Marcia Smith 9:13
I’ll say …
Bob Smith 9:19
Let me repeat the question, since everybody’s forgotten it by now, when was the first aircraft carrier used by the US military?
Marcia Smith 9:26
1930s
Bob Smith 9:27
No,
Marcia Smith 9:28
1920s
Bob Smith 9:29
That’s when I thought. But it was 1861.
Marcia Smith 9:31
Oh, Lord.
Bob Smith 9:32
Okay, this goes back to our balloonist. We talked about, who sent the telegraph message down to Abraham Lincoln. Well, the General Washington Park. Custis was a converted 120 foot coal barge, and it was used by the Union Army balloon Corps during the Civil War as a balloon launching platform, a mobile one to spy on the Confederate defenses.
Marcia Smith 9:52
Okay
Bob Smith 9:53
So the coal barge was fitted out with gas generating apparatus developed by Thaddeus Constantine low our favorite guy, right? And then it moved from place to place, from battle to battle, using rivers. So it was, technically, it was the first aircraft carrier.
Marcia Smith 10:07
Okay
Bob Smith 10:08
I thought that’s pretty interesting.
Marcia Smith 10:09
Yeah, technically.
Bob Smith 10:10
Okay, technically, Oh, I like that. Technically. Here’s an illustration of it.
Marcia Smith 10:15
Well show our listeners.
Bob Smith 10:16
Okay, right? Here it is. Can you see how that’s a flat like an aircraft carrier? And you see there’s people in some other little items, and then there’s a balloon above.
Marcia Smith 10:23
Yeah, I see that.
Bob Smith 10:24
Okay
Marcia Smith 10:25
Okay, Bob, we never discussed this, but when you’re in an art gallery, if you spend any time gazing at medieval European paintings, you tend to ask, what’s going on with those babies?
Bob Smith 10:37
Oh, they look odd. Sometimes, yes.
Marcia Smith 10:39
Many of them, far from the sweet, chubby cherubs we expect to see some of those resemble balding middle aged men, complete with wrinkled foreheads and dour expressions. What could possibly explain this artistic choice?
Bob Smith 10:54
Well, maybe they were sarcastic or kind of humorous depictions of famous people, and they put, you know, you see that once in a while now, with the President, you could tell who it’s supposed to be. It’s on a baby. Was it that kind of a thing?
Bob Smith 11:07
No
Marcia Smith 11:07
contraire, okay. Was religion? Oh, yes, the unsettling man baby of medieval art wasn’t a mistake or the result of a lack of skill. These depictions were intentional, shaped by artistic and religious ideas of the Middle Ages, which were roughly between the fifth and 13th centuries. So it’s a long time to get those weird baby paintings. Yeah. Chief among these ideas was the concept of, have you ever heard this word homunculus? How do you spell that? H, O, M, U, N, C, U, L, U, S.
Bob Smith 11:40
Homunculus. Homunculus, okay. No, never heard of that.
Marcia Smith 11:44
That’s Latin for little man. Next time I’m mad at you, Hey, ho monculus! Oh, which influenced how artists portrayed Jesus Christ as an infant. Oh, no kidding, in many medieval works, Baby Jesus appears with a full adult face, sometimes even showing signs of male pattern baldness. The idea was that Jesus was divine, fully formed and unchanged from birth, a notion referred to as the homuncular Jesus. Wow. My goodness, this theological concept seeped into broader portraits of children, because the majority of paintings were religious commissions. Oh, yeah, okay, and they demanded it.
Bob Smith 12:26
Wow. Who would have thought that? See how things corrupt art, current trends and things, it’s reflective in these things from the Middle Ages. Yeah, that’s fascinating,
Marcia Smith 12:36
yeah. And the artists, they lack artistic freedom because of the commissions,
Bob Smith 12:40
the customer is always right. I think what you’re saying, all right? Marcia, geography, what is the flattest state in the United
Marcia Smith 12:48
States? Oh, it’s got to be. We’ve been through this. I’m
Bob Smith 12:51
going to let you think about that as we take a break. I’ll be back with more, okay, on the off ramp in just a moment. Flattest state in the United States? No, no, no. Think about
Marcia Smith 13:03
it. I’m thinking when you come out of Iowa is that you drive through Nebraska.
Bob Smith 13:08
All right, we’re back. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith. We do this every week for the Cedarburg Public Library, Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Then we post it on podcast platforms, and it is heard all over the world. That is correct. All right. Marcia, the question you were pondering for a long time, okay, what is the flattest state in the United States? Would you like me to give you suggestions? Yes, Nebraska. Yeah, Kansas, yeah, Illinois or Florida?
Marcia Smith 13:34
That’s not Illinois or Florida. It’s Nebraska or what’s that other? Kansas? Kansas, I’ll say Nebraska. No, it’s, I’ll bet it’s Kansas. If
Bob Smith 13:45
you thought Kansas was flat You’re right. But Kansas is the seventh flattest state in the United States. The flattest state Illinois? No, the flattest state is actually down south. It’s Florida. 52% of that state’s 65,758 square miles is flat land. That’s the largest of any state in the
Marcia Smith 14:07
country. Its size is bigger than the other ones. You mentioned
Bob Smith 14:10
Illinois, that’s the next flattest state, really, followed by North Dakota, Louisiana, Minnesota and Delaware,
Marcia Smith 14:17
Minnesota. Yeah, I would think with all the craters and the lakes there would be more
Bob Smith 14:22
more flat. It’s flat, one of the flattest states. But the very flattest of all, from the standpoint of the total amount of acreage, is Florida. All
Marcia Smith 14:29
right, aka Bob, Okay, today’s category brands of chocolate bars.
Bob Smith 14:36
Oh, I like this. I know you do. I’ve eaten all of
Marcia Smith 14:39
them. Bob, yes, you have Okay, all right, so I’ll give you a clue, yes, and you have to tell me. Okay, what it is, okay. First clue, our galaxy, what is the candy bar? The
Bob Smith 14:50
Milky Way bar? That’s right. All right. Laughs a little. Laughs a little. What
Marcia Smith 14:55
is the candy bar? Chuckles. There are chuckles That’s funny. Chuckles, you’re right, that’s not a candy bar, though. No, it isn’t.
Bob Smith 15:03
Laughs a little, titters, chuckles, humorous, something humorous, something funny, funny bar, it’s a funny bar. No, I don’t know what is it? Snickers. Oh. Snickers, okay, laughs a little. I never thought of that. Yeah, the late
Marcia Smith 15:17
Mr. Ledger. The late Mr. Ledger, yeah. This is a well known actor, the late
Bob Smith 15:23
Mr. Ledger, Keith, okay, okay. Heath bars. Those were invented in Robinson, Illinois, where my sister used to live. Okay.
Marcia Smith 15:32
What’s the candy bar? The Red Planet, the Red Planet, Mars bar. That’s right, this one. I like young Bader, Ginsburg,
Bob Smith 15:41
Ruth, Baby Ruth, yeah.
Marcia Smith 15:45
Picture locations. What’s the candy bar?
Bob Smith 15:49
Picture location? Picture
Marcia Smith 15:50
baseball, pitcher, pitcher
Bob Smith 15:52
mount Yes. Bounce bars, Yes, last
Marcia Smith 15:54
one, yeah. Friday for many employees. Friday for many employees, yeah, what happens on Friday for many
Bob Smith 16:03
payday? Hey, I was pretty good with those. Yeah, you were okay. Let’s do those again. Oh, no, we don’t want to do them again. All right. Marcia, another geography question, actually, a series of them here. I’m not good at I know that’s why we’re doing okay, okay, let’s do northern most and southernmost points of the US. What’s the northernmost point of the 48 contiguous states? Now, of the 50 states, the northernmost point?
Marcia Smith 16:26
Maine, of the 50 states over the 50 that’d be Alaska,
Bob Smith 16:31
yeah. Point Barrow, Alaska. That’s the northernmost location, okay, the northernmost point of the lower 48 states is what you mentioned a state there. Maine, yes, that’s wrong. Sorry, the northernmost point of the lower 48 states is not Maine, it’s Northwest angle Minnesota. It’s that little portion of Minnesota. It’s like a little triangle, yeah, I’ll be darned. Okay, what’s the southernmost point of the contiguous 48 states?
Marcia Smith 17:00
Well,
Bob Smith 17:01
is it Florida? Florida? It’s ballast. Key, Florida. What’s the southernmost state of all the United States? Of all Hawaii? That’s right. But when you consider all the states and all the US territories, what’s the southernmost footprint of the United States?
Speaker 1 17:18
Puerto Rico? No, it’s the
Bob Smith 17:21
rose Atoll in American Samoa. It’s the only inhabited us land in the southern hemisphere, okay? And it’s actually one of the oldest populated areas. It was Polynesians were there in pre history. So it’s been a long time.
Marcia Smith 17:36
I find that on a map my girlfriend used to go there American Samoa, yeah, Bob, what exactly is a drawing room? You know, like in the old days, we had parlors and drawing rooms. We didn’t, but people did. I always
Bob Smith 17:49
thought it was like, you draw something, drawing a bath, maybe a drawing room, like a bathroom, yeah? Draw water, yeah,
Marcia Smith 17:54
okay, no, oh, it’s withdrawing. Oh, it’s a withdrawing room. Yeah, it’s actually an abbreviation for the word withdrawing room where men, men could retire for cigars and liquor after the big meal with the little ladies. Oh, the little ladies
Bob Smith 18:12
didn’t come to the front, go to the withdrawing drawing room.
Marcia Smith 18:17
They could not withdraw. Oh, that’s too bad, yeah,
Bob Smith 18:21
I had no idea. Yeah, me either drawing room. So so they were too busy back in the 19th century to say with drawing room, yeah, we don’t have time to say the full name. Go back to the drawing room. A bit of slang back in those days. All right, Marcia, what are the most common names for cities in the United States? Now you find these interesting? Oh, okay, good. That’s a good one. Okay, hint, number one is named for an American founding father. That’s the number one name.
Marcia Smith 18:46
No, Washington, no. Okay, hold on.
Bob Smith 18:50
Again. The most common name for cities in the United States. It’s the name of an American founding father.
Marcia Smith 18:56
Oh, founding father. That’s what I said. I know I was thinking of President. It’s not Washington, and he’s a president. And I did, I already say that
Bob Smith 19:04
this guy went and flew a kite. Franklin. Yeah, Ben Franklin. More US cities are named after Ben Franklin than any other person. Kidding, right? There are 32 Franklins, the largest of which is Franklin, Tennessee, south of Nashville. Population 80,000 What’s the second most common US city name? Okay, Lincoln? No, it’s not Lincoln. It’s Clinton, really not Bill Clinton. There are 30 cities with the name Clinton, and many were named for an early New York Governor, DeWitt Clinton. He played a big role in creating the Erie Canal and the American canal system. So he was very famous at the time. Okay, so Franklin’s the number one most common name, Clinton, number two, three and four are Fairview and Madison. Those are tied with 26 cities each. Madison, of course, named after James Madison. Yeah, and you named the president. Who is the fifth most common city name, George. George. George Washington. Yeah, 25 cities in us with Washington as the name, most of them named for him. His name is the fifth most common for cities, but there are hundreds of counties, townships, parks, lakes, streets, boulevards, roads and schools. There are more things in the US named for George Washington than anyone. Oh, okay. Total of things, okay. Do you want to know what number six through 10 are
Marcia Smith 20:22
if you want to share. Thank you.
Bob Smith 20:25
Six through 10 most common names for cities in the United States, Manchester, Marion, Salem, Chester and Arlington.
Marcia Smith 20:32
Okay, I wouldn’t have got any of those. Okay, Bob, you’ll find this interesting. Maybe,
Bob Smith 20:38
maybe it’ll be just as interesting to me as six through 10 were for you in the list of common cities.
Marcia Smith 20:44
What was the original purpose of the escalator? Bob
Bob Smith 20:48
the escalator? Yeah, those are the moving staircases. I assume it was a department store that wanted to make it easy for people to move from one floor to another in New York City or London,
Marcia Smith 20:59
indeed. But nay, the first working escalator was an amusement park ride.
Speaker 2 21:04
Oh No kidding. Yeah, it was just for fun. Yeah. Okay. Over
Marcia Smith 21:09
the course of two weeks in the fall of 1896 some 75,000 people stepped on to the curious contraption stationed on Coney Island’s old iron pier. Oh no kidding, yeah, that’s where it started. It was an inclined elevator to dazzle people, and it carried people on a conveyor belt platform with No Steps, 25 degrees to a height of seven feet off the ground.
Bob Smith 21:35
But it was a sensation. It was, I mean, it was the sensation of movement that made people like it didn’t have to go anywhere. It was like, Oh, this is fun, although
Marcia Smith 21:44
it lacked individual steps. The inclined elevator featured accompanying handrails and shallow platform grooves that allowed it to pass seamlessly through prong top landing, making it the first working escalator. Okay. Finally, someone thought, Hmm, that could be useful in another setting besides the Coney Island. Cha Ching, there’s an idea. Here’s a question, what state has only two escalators? What
Bob Smith 22:09
state only has two escalators? Yeah, I think it’s Las Vegas. No, oh. Where is it? Wyoming?
Marcia Smith 22:15
They only have two escalators? Yes. Escalator sets are located in separate banks in the city of Casper. Their scarcity across the cowboy state is likely explained by the state’s fire codes that prohibit unprotected openings between adjacent floors. So it’s a fire code thing. There’s only two.
Bob Smith 22:36
Okay, that was good, all right. Marcia, another geography question, your favorite topic, how many land locked states are there in the United States? Do you want a definition of land locked Okay? Okay. Definition A land locked State is one that does not have direct access to an ocean, Gulf or sea, but there are some
Marcia Smith 22:55
exceptions to that, but not a great lake. So are we landlocked? No, we’re
Bob Smith 22:59
not, because there is a direct access to the ocean. Through the St Lawrence
Marcia Smith 23:03
Seaway, yeah, Lake Michigan and st that’s the big exception
Bob Smith 23:06
in the united states. States, in the center of the country, they have these great lakes, and you can take ships all the way to the
Marcia Smith 23:13
ocean. You’ve been to the St Lawrence Seaway when you were little, didn’t
Bob Smith 23:17
you? Yes, I was there when they opened it. Yeah, as a kid, we saw a sea I think we had a choice to see Nixon and Eisenhower or to see Queen Elizabeth. My dad thought I’m going to take us to see Queen Elizabeth. So we saw Queen Elizabeth. She was coming through, because that was an international affair. And so Britain sent the Queen and Prince Philip, yeah, and it was funny because my sister was there with us. Of course, she was just a little girl at the time. She was five or four years old, and we saw the Queen up on the top of the ship, and they were waving, just little silhouettes, you know. And there’s the Queen, and my sister kept saying, where I don’t see her. I don’t see her. And then later that day, we found out she was looking for a woman with a crown on her head and a great big gown, sure. Not a woman with a pocket book. She always had her pocket. Elizabeth had, you know? Oh, yeah, that’s cute. Okay, we’re back to the original question, Marshall, which you’re avoiding very, very strategically, am I? Thank you. Thank you. How many landlocked states are there in the United States?
Marcia Smith 24:12
Okay, I’ll just guess, just to move on, I’ll say 40. No, there’s 30. No. 2227,
Bob Smith 24:22
summers. Are singly landlocked. They’re separated from the ocean by just one other state, like Arizona. And some are double or triply landlocked, like Colorado, if you have to cross two or more states or even international borders to reach the ocean. Now let me ask you this, what’s the only Tripoli landlocked state you have to go through three states to get to the ocean, Oklahoma, Las Vegas, no. Las Vegas is not a state, even though you’d like to think it is no Nevada, no, but it starts with an N Nebraska. That’s it. The only Tripoli landlocked state. The quickest way to get to the ocean from Nebraska is going through Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. So. To reach the Gulf of Mexico.
Marcia Smith 25:01
That’s the quickest way. Interesting, yeah, okay, this will surprise you. Will it until about 100 years ago, almost all people in Martha’s Vineyard, a Tony resort island off the coast of Massachusetts, right? They were bilingual. Oh, really, they spoke English and what?
Bob Smith 25:22
What’s the percentage? Again, almost
Unknown Speaker 25:24
all people. Almost all
Marcia Smith 25:26
people. Okay, Martha’s Vineyard, okay, we’re bilingual. Okay, thank you. They spoke English and what, and Boston ease No,
Bob Smith 25:35
okay. They spoke English and the sea probably fishermen, so they were French, French, maybe were they No, okay, Nova Scotia people, no, from Nova Scotia, no, no, no, from England, no, from Scotland, No, all right, what? Sign Language?
Marcia Smith 25:54
Oh, for God’s sake, serious, they spoke English and sign language. The vineyard developed its own dialect of sign language when a deaf person arrived in 1692 between then and 1910 the relatively large genetically deaf population, holy cow and most other inhabitants, recognized and could use their own particular brand of sign language and the whole island. So there were
Bob Smith 26:22
so many deaf people on the island or people that were genetically related to them. Yeah, I never heard of that. I never did either. That is fascinating. So there were more genetically deaf people or related to deaf people on Martha’s Vineyard than anywhere else. And from 1699
Marcia Smith 26:38
1692 90 between them and 1910
Bob Smith 26:41
they developed sign language that unique to Martha’s Vineyard. Yeah, hey, you could do real estate deals with that. Yeah, wow. I never heard of that
Marcia Smith 26:50
either. Okay, quote for the day Chief Seattle, we don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children. Oh, I like that. That’s nice. Yeah, this is sweet. Albert Einstein, this is profound. We still do not know 1,000th of 1% of what nature has revealed to us.
Bob Smith 27:09
I’m sure that’s probably true. Yeah, we’ve seen it, but we don’t understand.
Marcia Smith 27:13
Yeah, okay, and Jean Jacques, Rousseau, Jacques, no, not Christo. Russo, oh, sorry. Like the artist plant and your spouse plants with you, weed and you weed alone.
Bob Smith 27:28
That’s true. Okay, that’s it for today. We hope you’ve enjoyed our fun, fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. I’m Bob Smith, I’m Marcia Smith. Join us again next week when we return with more little known facts about well known people, places and things here on
Marcia Smith 27:44
the off ramp.
Bob Smith 27:47
The off ramp is produced in association with the Cedarburg Public Library, Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Visit us on the web at the offramp. Dot show at.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
