STRANGE BUT TRUE

By Samantha Weaver

• It was 20th-century American author and actress Cornelia Otis Skinner who made the following sage observation: One learns in life to keep silent and draw one's own confusions.

• If you grew up during a certain era in the United States, you are probably familiar with the board game Parcheesi. If you have a particularly good memory, you may recall that the game's subtitle is The Royal Game of India. You may not realize, though, that the game is so-called because royalty in India used to play a life-size version of the game in gardens specially designed for the pursuit. Centuries ago, rajas would dress members of their harems in brightly colored costumes and use them as game pieces.

• Everyone knows that a sophomore is someone in his or her second year of high school or college. Most people don't realize, though, that the word is derived from the Greek words sophos, which means wise and moros, which means stupid.

• It's not unusual for music critics and the artists they critique to butt heads, but they usually do it in print, not in person. In 1978, though, the staff of Rolling Stone magazine and the band the Eagles went head-to-head in a softball match. The writers ended up losing to the rock stars.

• The creator of the ubiquitous smiley face earned a grand total of $45 for his creative effort.

• Having trouble with your teenager? It's a worldwide problem, it seems - though not always for the same reasons. In 2004, a 13-year-old boy in India ran away from home, declared that he was a Hindu holy man and founded a monastery. His parents arranged for him to be kidnapped and brought back home.

Thought for the day: Life is not a spectacle or a feast; it is a predicament. - George Santayana