# Trivia Dominoes: Play Off the Last Bit of Trivia **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [February 4, 2010, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657 "2010-02-04T08:12:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2182
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43629 "2019-06-17T16:46:27Z")
The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is located in Kittery, Maine, while the Norfolk Naval Shipyard is located in Portsmouth, Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43630 "2019-06-17T17:00:58Z")
The SS _Jeremiah O’Brien_ is a World War II Liberty ship based in San Francisco and is a rare survivor of the nearly 7,000-ship armada that stormed Normandy on D-Day, 1944. Of the 2,710 Liberty ships built, only three, SS _Jeremiah O’Brien_, SS _John W. Brown_ (in Baltimore Harbor in Maryland), and SS _Hellas Liberty_ (in in Piraeus harbor, Greece) are currently operational. The SS _Jeremiah O’Brien_ is named for American Revolutionary War ship captain Jeremiah O’Brien (1744–1818). He is from Kittery, Maine. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2019, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43631 "2019-06-17T17:05:16Z")
The most likely origin is that the state of Maine was named by early explorers after the former province of Maine in France. Whatever the origin, the name was fixed for English settlers in 1665 when the English King’s Commissioners ordered that the “Province of Maine” be entered from then on in official records.The state legislature in 2001 adopted a resolution establishing Franco-American Day, which stated that the state was named after the former French province of Maine. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43632 "2019-06-17T17:11:05Z")
Maine has 3,166 islands. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2019, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43633 "2019-06-17T17:19:29Z")
Despite having five letters, “Maine” is the only state with a one syllable name. Both Iowa and Ohio, though having only four letters in their names, have three syllables, Utah has two syllables, and the two other five letter states (Texas and Idaho) have two and three syllables, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43634 "2019-06-17T17:26:43Z")
The USS Maine was a U.S. Navy ship that exploded and sank in Havana Harbor in 1898. Though the explosion was in all likelihood an accident, the press at the time blamed it on the Spanish, giving rise to the phrase “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!” and leading to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43635 "2019-06-17T17:42:29Z")
As noted by Annie, Maine is the only US state whose name contains just one syllable. There are six states with two syllables, 26 have three syllables, 13 have four syllables, and four states have five syllables. These four are California, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. > **[United States of Syllables](https://www.geographyrealm.com/united-states-syllables/)** > > A syllable is a unit of blended sounds considered to be the phonological building blocks of words. Listed here are the number of states by syllable. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43636 "2019-06-17T17:50:05Z")
No state has a “Q” in its name; New Jersey is the only state with a “J” in its name, and Arizona is the only state with a “Z” in its name. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43637 "2019-06-17T19:37:51Z")
Over this past weekend, relatives of baseball legend Babe Ruth held an auction of items related to him, at Yankee Stadium. [The top item in the auction was one of Ruth’s New York Yankees baseball jerseys from the late 1920s](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/06/17/babe-ruth-yankees-jersey-sells-million-record-price/?utm_term=.e1f6a4f1468f) – the jersey sold for $5.64 million dollars, making it the highest auction price ever paid for a piece of sports memorabilia. The previous record was also for a Ruth jersey, which sold for $4.4 million in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43638 "2019-06-17T20:02:41Z")
Ruth Etting was one of the most popular American singers during the 1920s and 30s, with hit songs that included “Love Me or Leave Me,” “Button Up Your Overcoat” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” Doris Day played Etting in the 1955 film _Love Me or Leave Me_. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43639 "2019-06-17T22:04:58Z")
A day on the planet Venus is longer than a year on that planet. The planet’s orbit around the Sun takes 225 Earth days, while it takes 243 Earth days to rotate once on its axis. Venus rotates in the opposite direction to most other planets. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43640 "2019-06-18T01:17:22Z")
Neptune is tilted so far on its axis that if there were a road around the sun, it would be rolling along. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43641 "2019-06-18T04:05:16Z")
The Fountain of Neptune, in Bologna’s Piazza del Nettuno, shows a bronze figure of Neptune extending his reach in a lordly gesture of stilling and controlling the waters. The trident logo of the Maserati car company ([image-1](https://tinyurl.com/y6hzo7mb)) is based on this Fountain of Neptune ([image-2](https://tinyurl.com/y6mmcvwc)). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43642 "2019-06-18T04:34:35Z")
Prince Ruprecht (Steve Martin), the younger idiot brother of Michael Caine’s character Prince Lawrence in the con-man comedy _Dirty Rotten Scoundrels_, sometimes brings a trident to the dinner table. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/SKDX-qJaJ08/maxresdefault.jpg "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) - Dinner With Ruprecht Scene (6/12) | Movieclips") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKDX-qJaJ08) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43643 "2019-06-18T05:36:02Z")
Comedian / musician Steve Martin has won four Grammy Awards, in three different categories. He won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album in two consecutive years (1977 and 1978), with his first two comedy albums, _Let’s Get Small_ and _A Wild and Crazy Guy_. Martin played banjo on Earl Scruggs’ recording of the song _Foggy Mountain Breakdown_, which won the Grammy for Best Country Performance in 2002, and his 2009 solo album _The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo_ won for Best Bluegrass Album. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43644 "2019-06-18T09:07:24Z")
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is one of five American orchestras commonly referred to as the “Big Five”, which are the five symphony orchestras that led the field in “musical excellence, calibre of musicianship, total contract weeks, weekly basic wages, recording guarantees, and paid vacations”. They are the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra. Sir Georg Solti, CSO’s music director from 1969 to 1991, won thirty-one Grammy Awards—more than any other recording artist. ---
**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:** [June 18, 2019, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43645 "2019-06-18T13:37:30Z")
Bruce Springsteen won an Oscar for his song “Philadelphia,” 20 Grammy Awards, and received a special Tony award for his Springsteen on Broadway one man show. All he needs is an Emmy to be an honorary EGOT member. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43646 "2019-06-18T13:50:24Z")
The Big 5 is an informal association of college athletic programs in Philadelphia. It is not a conference, but rather a group of NCAA Division I basketball schools who compete for the Philadelphia city championship. The Big 5 schools are Penn, La Salle, Saint Joseph’s, Temple, and Villanova. The Big 5 creed reads: “They say there’s no trophy for winning the Big Five. They must not be from Philadelphia.” ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43647 "2019-06-18T13:55:39Z")
[The Palestra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestra), often called the Cathedral of College Basketball,[2][3] is an historic arena and the home gym of the Penn Quakers men’s and women’s basketball teams, volleyball teams, wrestling team, and Philadelphia Big 5 basketball. The Palestra has been called “the most important building in the history of college basketball” and “changed the entire history of the sport for which it was built.” The name is from the ancient Greek term _palæstra_, a rectangular enclosure attached to a gymnasium where athletes would compete in various sports in front of an audience. ---
**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:** [June 18, 2019, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/43648 "2019-06-18T14:07:51Z")
> [@wikipedia](#): > > The (Quaker Oats) company has never had any ties with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). When the company was being built up, Quaker businessmen were known for their honesty (truth is often considered a Quaker testimony). The Straight Dope writes “According to the good folks at Quaker Oats, the Quaker Man was America’s first registered trademark for a breakfast cereal, his registration taking place on September 4th, 1877.” Members of the Religious Society of Friends have twice protested against Quaker Oats. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=2181) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=2183)