My Daily Bread Crumbs 04 Jan

Entry posted by sandrewn in Bread Crumbs 176 January 5, 2022

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January 4th 2022 - Holidays and Observances

(click on the day for details)

Christian feast day:
- Angela of Foligno^[260]
- Elizabeth Ann Seton^[261]
- Ferréol of Uzès^[262]
- Mavilus^[263]
- Pharaildis of Ghent^[264]
- Rigobert^[265]
- January 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
The eleventh of the Twelve Days of Christmas. (Western Christianity)^[266]
Independence Day (Myanmar), celebrates the independence of Myanmar from the United Kingdom in 1948.^[267]
Colonial Martyrs Repression Day (Angola)^[268]
Day of the Martyrs (Democratic Republic of the Congo)^[269]
Ogoni Day (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People)^[270]
Tokyo Dome Show: The annual Wrestle Kingdom event run by New Japan Pro-Wrestling^[271]
World Braille Day^[272]

Observances (click on the day or week for details)

World Hypnotism Day

Fun Observances

Trivia Day

Here is some trivia for you - January 4 is Trivia Day.

The day celebrates information of little value and the individuals who not only remember these bits and pieces of useless information but also enjoy sharing them with others.

Latin Term

The word trivia comes from the Latin term for the intersection of three paths. In the Middle Ages, the word came to refer to the subjects - rhetoric, grammar, and logic - studied by those who followed the Liberal Arts field.

Of Little Importance

The modern day usage of the word trivia to mean something of little importance can be traced back to the publishing of the book - Trivialities, Bits of Information of Little Consequence - by British author Logan Pearsall Smith in 1902.

Knowing and sharing trivia as a hobby and a pastime, however, did not become popular until the 1960s when the weekly newspaper of Columbia University, the Columbia Daily Spectator, published a trivia game on February 5, 1965. Soon, trivia became a popular game played at parties and at a competitive level.

Trivia Day is also sometimes known as National Trivia Day in the United States.

How to Celebrate?

Gather up some friends and play Trivial Pursuit.
Call friends and family and enlighten them with some trivia.
Even better, stop random people and start a conversation with “did you know...?” You may even make some friends.
Participate in a trivia night or spend the day filling your brains with more random trivia.

Did You Know…

…that the term factoid, which is now used as a synonym of trivia originally referred to a piece of unreliable information that is accepted as a fact because it is repeated very often?

***

My great-aunt looked confused when I told her that my daughter was 18 months old. “Oh,” she said. “I thought she was a year and a half.”

“But Aunt Marie," I said, “18 months and a year and a half are the same.”

She shrugged. “What do I know? I never had kids.”

***

During a high school visit to France, I stayed with a French family. One night, I was unsure what the meat on my dinner plate was, so I pointed to it and asked in my best 11th-grade French: “Qui est-ce?”

The family’s expressions told me I needed some tutoring.

Instead of asking “What is it?” as I had intended,

I’d asked “Who is it?”

***

My wife and I run a small restaurant where we often name our specials after our employees—dishes like "Chicken Mickey," after our dishwasher who gave us the recipe,

and "Rod's Ribs," after a waiter who had his personal style of barbecue.

One evening after rereading the menu, I broke with this tradition and changed the description of the special we had named after our chef. Despite her skills and excellent reputation, somehow I didn't think an entrée named