# Aphabetic Pairs -- interesting facts **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [April 6, 2017, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877 "2017-04-06T12:40:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/41 "2017-04-11T12:01:14Z")
BM- Billy Martin, who was hired and fired 5 times as manager of the Yankees, was actually Alfred Manuel Martin. His Italian grandmother called him “Bellissimo” (the handsomest), which family and friends shortened to “Billy.” ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/42 "2017-04-11T15:46:15Z")
BN = Bobo Newsom Bobo Newsom was a baseball pitcher who played for 9 different teams in four decades, losing more games than he won. He was usually his team’s best pitcher,but for horribly bad teams. Four different stints with the hapless Washington Senators in the 30s and 40s. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/43 "2017-04-11T17:48:45Z")
BO - Barack Obama, first president of the U.S. to be born in Hawaii, and the third from Illinois (the other two were Lincoln and Grant). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/44 "2017-04-11T20:50:21Z")
BP- Boris Pasternak was the first author to decline a Nobel Prize for Literature. He did so because he was a patriotic Russian, and feared Soviet authorities might not allowed him to return home if he left the country to accept his Prize. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/45 "2017-04-11T21:46:09Z")
BQ = Be Quiet in keyboard speak. Variants include: · CQTMS Chuckle Quietly To Myself · LOQ Laugh Out Quietly · LQI Laughing Quietly Inside · LQTM Laughing Quietly To Myself · LQTY Laughing Quietly To Yourself · LTMQ Laughing To Myself Quietly · OBQ Oh, Be Quiet · PBQ Please Be Quiet · QNO Quiet Night Out · SHH Be quiet, shut up · SHUSH Shut up, be quiet · SQTM Smiling Quietly To Myself ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/46 "2017-04-12T04:38:43Z")
BR - British Rail, which operated rail services in Great Britain between 1948 (when they were nationalised) and the 1990s (when they were re-privatised). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/47 "2017-04-12T07:55:02Z")
BS - The term “bullshit” had been used as early as 1915 in American slang. The earliest attestation mentioned by the _Concise Oxford English Dictionary_ is in fact T. S. Eliot, who between 1910 and 1916 wrote an early poem to which he gave the title “The Triumph of Bullshit”, written in the form of a ballade. The word bullshit does not appear in the text of the poem, and Eliot himself never published the poem. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/48 "2017-04-12T11:08:56Z")
BT = Boss Tweed Boss Tweed thought he was rich enough to take over New York. He wound up being convicted of 204 corruption charges, and imprisoned. After release, New York sued him for embezzled funds, and he fled bail, working as a common seaman on a Spanish ship, where he was recognized from Thomas Nast’s political cartoons, and brought back to New York where he died in jail. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/49 "2017-04-12T13:34:53Z")
BU - Boston University Among its alumni and current or past faculty, Boston University counts eight Nobel Laureates, 23 Pulitzer Prize winners, 10 Rhodes Scholars, six Marshall Scholars, 48 Sloan Fellows, nine Academy Award winners, and several Emmy and Tony Award winners. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/50 "2017-04-13T00:07:14Z")
BV = Blue Velvet The song Blue Velvet was first recorded ty Tony Bennett in 1951, then covered by The Clovers, The Statues, and finally by BV (Bobby Vinton), the most successfull rendition, which held the Number One Hit Parade spot for three weeks in 1963. Then again, by Lana del Rey in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/51 "2017-04-13T00:14:32Z")
BW = Booker T. Washington, author and leader of the African-American community, 1890-1915, was the first African-American to be invited to dinner at the White House, under Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. It was fairly controversial, to say the least. ---
**Author:** ![FallingLeaves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/54ee81/32.png) [@FallingLeaves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallingLeaves)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/52 "2017-04-13T02:34:45Z")
Deleted ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/53 "2017-04-13T03:22:21Z")
BX = Baritone Xylophone A small quantity of Baritone Xylophohes has been produced by Sonor of Germany, to provide an instrument with a lower pitch than the standard range. Usually made by special order. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/54 "2017-04-13T12:44:56Z")
BY = Brigham Young, second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, who had a total of 55 wives, was mentioned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in _A Study in Scarlet_ and Mark Twain in _Roughing It_. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/55 "2017-04-13T19:01:37Z")
BZ- Babe Zaharias (nee Mildred Didrikson), first woman in Golf Hall KFC Fame ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/56 "2017-04-13T19:24:40Z")
CA = Charles Atlas Angelo Sicioiano immigrated from Italy, and formed Charles Atlas, the iconic home body-building program, touted in magazine ads by the 97-pound weakling who built his muscular body after being humiliated by a bully kicking sand in his face at a beach. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/57 "2017-04-13T20:59:00Z")
CB = Combat Boots, which your mother wears. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/58 "2017-04-14T07:01:38Z")
CC - Colon Classification, a system used to classify library materials devised by S. R. Ranganathan. It is mainly used by libraries in India, but its concept of faceted classification has been influential on other classification schemes. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/59 "2017-04-14T15:51:57Z")
CD = Central Dogma The central dogma of molecular biology is an explanation of the flow of genetic information within a biological system. It was first stated by Francis Crick in 1958. It states that once ‘information’ has passed into protein it cannot get out again. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877/60 "2017-04-14T15:59:47Z")
CE = Clint Eastwood, actor/director/restaurant owner. He owns the Mission Ranch Hotel and Restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aphabetic-pairs-interesting-facts/783877.md?page=4)