• A person who installs electrical wiring is an electrician. Someone who fixes roofs is a roofer. So how come the person who works on water pipes is a plumber? The word plumber comes from the Latin word “plumbum,” which means “lead.” Historically, water pipes were made from lead, so it made sense for a person who installed and repaired them to be called a plumber. The chemical symbol for the element lead is Pb — also from plumbum.

• Roller canaries (also called German rollers or Harz rollers, for the Harz mountains of Germany) have the unique distinction of singing with their beaks closed. This produces a lower, less shrill pitch that’s more pleasing to the ear, which is why rollers are considered the finest singers in the canary world. They learn to sing by imitating other birds.

• Occupying just 0.2 square miles, Vatican City, an enclave within Rome, is the world’s smallest independent country by area. It’s also the only place in the world where the ATMs use Latin as the default language for conducting transactions.

1. Which word refers to the “heads” side of a coin?

A) Ingot

B) Obverse

C) Planchet

D) Reverse

2. What kind of creature builds and lives in a vespiary?

A) Hyena

B) Penguin

C) Seahorse

D) Wasp

3. Which element is named for the goddess of the moon?

A) Argon

B) Calcium

C) Nitrogen

D) Selenium

4. How would a medieval knight wear a gauntlet?

A) Around his waist

B) On his shoulder

C) Covering his wrist

D) Under his helmet

5. Nebraska’s Platte River takes its name from a French word meaning what?

A) Deep

B) Flat

C) Silver

D) Snake

6. In the Marvel universe, what is billionaire Tony Stark’s alternate identity?

A) Captain America

B) Iron Man

C) Spider-Man

D) Wolverine

Answers

1) The obverse is the proper name for the “heads” side of a coin.

2) From the Latin word vespa, meaning wasp, vespiary is a fancy name for a wasp’s nest.

3) Selenium is named for Selene, Greek goddess of the moon.

4) Medieval knights wore gauntlets to protect their wrists and hands.

5) Nebraska’s Platte River takes its name from the French word for “flat.”

6) Billionaire Tony Stark is Iron Man.

Email Leslie at triviabitsleslie@gmail.com.