Question of the day

2b1ask1

Special case
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20,273
Ancient Greek time:

Prometheus gifted something to mankind, what was it, how did he come by it and for a bonus; what has fennel got to do with it?
 

CatmanV2

Member
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48,793
Ancient Greek time:

Prometheus gifted something to mankind, what was it, how did he come by it and for a bonus; what has fennel got to do with it?

<QI Klaxon at ready>
Fire and he stole it. No idea about the herbiage, I'm afraid. :(

C
 

2b1ask1

Special case
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20,273
Right on the question Chris, no bonus though; he hid the fire from Zeus when he stole it by hiding it in a hollow fennel stem... At least in one version of the myth.

Over to you then.
 

CatmanV2

Member
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48,793
Right on the question Chris, no bonus though; he hid the fire from Zeus when he stole it by hiding it in a hollow fennel stem... At least in one version of the myth.

Over to you then.

Well you live and learn :)

Benjamin Harrison had something installed in the Whitehouse. Both he and his wife were, however, to afraid to use it. What was it? Bonus: How did they address their fear?

C
 

zagatoes30

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20,945
A swear box? Being christians swearing was blasphemous and they solved the problem by voting for Trump who swears enough for everyone
 

2b1ask1

Special case
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20,273
You may be right with a box Andy but I suspect the one Chris is looking for had cables attached and went up and down?
 

JonW

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3,262
I think Harrison was the first president to have a Christmas tree in the White House, but I’m struggling to see how he or his wife would have been afraid of that.

Also, whilst a lift is a great bet, I think the answer might be electricity.
 

CatmanV2

Member
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48,793
I think Harrison was the first president to have a Christmas tree in the White House, but I’m struggling to see how he or his wife would have been afraid of that.

Also, whilst a lift is a great bet, I think the answer might be electricity.

I actually thought that Newton meant a light switch!

Jon, you are correct. They also paid an engineer each day to come and turn the lights on.....

Your question, sir!

C
 

JonW

Member
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3,262
I actually thought that Newton meant a light switch!

Jon, you are correct. They also paid an engineer each day to come and turn the lights on.....

Your question, sir!

C

Thanks C - if Newton did mean a light switch (which having read it again I can see he might) then maybe it should be his question?

Newton - do you want to pose a question or shall I?
 

JonW

Member
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3,262
Ok - Let’s stick with American political history....

Why does the Democratic Party in the US have a donkey as their animal symbol, and the Republican Party have an elephant?
 

MarkMas

Chief pedant
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8,934
Ok - Let's stick with American political history.... Why does the Democratic Party in the US have a donkey as their animal symbol, and the Republican Party have an elephant?

Because Democrats are a pain in the A55, and Republicans never forget that the NRA is paying for their re-election campaigns.
 

JonW

Member
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3,262
Is the donkey not a jacka55? and wasn't it used by a cartoonist?

This is getting close.

The origins of the Democratic donkey can be traced to the 1828 presidential campaign of Andrew Jackson. During that campaign, various opponents of Jackson called him a jacka$$. However, rather than rejecting the label, Jackson was amused by it and included an image of the animal in his campaign posters. Jackson was successful in that campaign and was America's first Democratic president. Almost fifty years later, in the mid 1870s, the influential political cartoonist Thomas Nast repeatedly used the donkey as a symbol for the entire Democratic Party.

Any ideas on the elephant?
 

JonW

Member
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3,262
Clearly very little interest in this question!

So, rather than flog a dead horse (or donkey or elephant!), I'll pass the baton to Zag / Andy...

The answer was:

The elephant's link to the Republican Party was also down to Thomas Nast, who's considered the father of the modern political cartoon. He first used it in an 1874 Harper's Weekly cartoon. Titled “The Third-Term Panic,†Nast's drawing mocked the New York Herald, which had been critical of President Ulysses Grant's rumored bid for a third term, and portrayed various interest groups as animals, including an elephant labeled “the Republican vote,†which was shown standing at the edge of a pit. Nast employed the elephant to represent Republicans in additional cartoons during the 1870s, and by 1880 other cartoonists were using the creature to symbolize the party.
 

MarkMas

Chief pedant
Messages
8,934
While we wait for Zag.....

Who is the only US President (as far as I know) to have personally executed a criminal?