Emily's Trivia Quiz: Fun For a Girl and a Boy!

I love spring.  It's a beautiful season where everything is in full bloom, the birds come back and sing, pollen floats through the air at an unbelievable rate,  pools reopen, baseball players start rounding the bases again, and I have the tendency to skip out on things so I can just go outside.  But another fun spring is one of the best toys ever invented: THE SLINKY.  In the spirit of the best-marketed spring ever, here's trivia about Slinky, the toy that's fun for a boy and a girl.  What a sales pitch!

1. The inventor of Slinky, Richard James, came up with the idea when doing an experiment with tension springs while working for which branch of the military?
a. Army
b. Navy
c. Marines
d. Air Force

b. Navy

2. Mr. James' wife came up with Slinky's name by finding it in a dictionary of this language.
(I keep phrasing my questions like they're answers on Jeopardy!  I really have to stop watching that show.  Or not.)
a. German
b. Hebrew
c. Yiddish
d. Swedish

d. Swedish (it means stealthy, sleek and sinuous)

3. The only major change in the original slinky in over 50 years was...
a. To stop making it out of lead so it didn't poison children
b. Adding a Velcro safety strap to hold it together
c. Crimping the end wire to make it safer
d. In 1981 it was determined not to be fun for girls, but still fun for boys

c. They crimped the edge in 1973.  Can you imagine how dangerous it was before?

4. Which of the following things has Slinky been used for?
a. Pecan picking
b. Gutter protecting
c. Casino lighting
d. Bird repelling

All of the above.  Pecan picking in Texas, casino lighting at Harrah's in Vegas, and of course, determining what a wave looks like in Ms. Weiner's sixth grade science class at Pyle Middle School.

5. In which war was the Slinky used as a makeshift radio antenna?
a. Freemerican Victernity Made in China
b. World War II
c. The Korean War
d. The Vietnam War

d. The Vietnam War, they hung Slinkies in trees to get better radio signals.

6.  Which of the following movies featured Slinky?
a. Hairspray
b. Toy Story
c. Major League
d. Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls

c.  Slinky was in Hairspray, Toy Story (duh) and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.  As far as I know, it was not in Major League. 

7. In 1999, Slinky was honored by ___________.
a. Having a statue built in its honor in Hollidaysburg, PA
b. Getting a honorary Bachelor's degree from Lehigh University in Physics
c. Getting its number retired
d. Being put on a U.S. Postal Stamp

d. It was put on a stamp as part of the Celebrate the Century 1940s collection.

8. Mr. James' wife, Betty, ended up running the Slinky company because...
a. 'Ol Dick ran off with Suzie Q and started a hula hoop company
b. He died of heart disease at 47
c. He ran off to Bolivia to join an obscure religious group
d. He just couldn't take the springy-sproingyness anymore

c. He ran off to Bolivia to join an obscure religious group!  Awesome, I bet they all played with Slinkys all day and worshiped a crazy jungle man.

9. When first selling Slinky at Gimbel's Department Store in Philadelphia,  the James couple was nervous no one would buy their new fangled toy.  They gave a friend $1 to buy one, but they ended up selling out in...
a. A Day
b. A Week
c. 90 Seconds
d. 90 Minutes

d. 90 Minutes.

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Other random trivia:
- Slinkys were among the first toys to blast into space
- If wrapped end-to-end, Slinkys sold since 1945 would wrap around the world 126 times! (About 250 million Slinkys)

Comments

[Tori]

Wow Emily, those facts were actually quite interesting. (Not that your facts are normally boring, but like, I was particularly compelled today.)

An obscure religious group in Bolivia. Who'd have thunk it?

[Lauren]

I love that fat baby with the Slinky

[Tori]

Lauren, that baby is not fat. I mean, she's not exactly stealthy, sleek, and sinuous, but she's not enormous. And even if she was, she's too young to be having body image issues. So how about you STFU.

[Lauren]

FAT

[the mayor]

i had a bunch of those toys when i was little but they all ended up tangled and broken after a week.

[Phylan]

Everybody pretend I posted those slinky videos in YouTub.

[alexis,right?]

Where's that guy that allows us to not form our own opinions?

[Inactive account]

He's gone, right?

[justin]

birds.

birds ate his face.

[EmGusk]

i totally got that baby's pic from the family website, so let's hope mom and dad don't find our blog and see lauren dissing the child.

it's surprisingly hard to find pictures on the internet of people with slinkys. especially when you're trying to wrap birthday presents and do your hair at the same time. i've really lacked in time management skills after graduating.