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Curiosity Corner

Curiosity Corner

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Curiosity Corner

By

Dr. Jerry D. Wilson,

Emeritus Professor of Physics

Lander University

 

Question: Dr. Wilson. Please explain the origin of the phrase “a crack shot.” Thanks. (Asked by a curious hunter.)

 

Reply: When you shoot a pistol or rifle, you get a “crack,” but the phrase implies an accurate shooter. It seems that a “crack” was an old Scottish term for loud boasts or brags. Later in England, it started to mean the subject of a person’s boast, or something that was first-class or excellent. Hence, a person who was superbly accurate with a pistol or a rifle was a “crack shot.”

 

Along those lines, I recall a very admirable or favorable person being referred to as a “cracker jack.”

 

That was a short one. How about a geography lesson? I had a previous column on the continents. We say there are seven, but in Europe, they count six. North and South America are just America. Here are a couple questions for you to ponder. See if you know the answers before looking at the data, which I found interesting.

 

1. What are the three largest continents in land size? The three smallest?
2. What are the most populous continents?

 

Continents in land area:

1. Asia: 17,139,445 (square miles)
2. Africa: 11,677,239
3. North America: 9,361,791
4. South America: 6,880,706
5. Antarctica: 5,500,000
6. Europe: 3,997,929
7. Australia: 2,967,909

 

Continents in population:

1. Asia: 4,679,660,580 (Over 4 billion)
2. Africa: 1,373,486,472 (Over 1 billion)
3. Europe: 747,747,396 (including all of Russia)
4. North America: 596,591,192
5. South America: 434,260,138
6. Australia: 30,648,859
7. Antarctica: No permanent residents but up to 4000 researchers and personnel in the summer and 1000 in the winter

 

In addition, there are more than 15 million people who don’t live on a continent. Almost all of these people live in the island countries of Oceania, a world region, but not considered a continent.

 

C.P.S. (Curious Postscript): “Wisdom—knowledge tempered and strengthened by experience.” -A. Goodman

 

Curious about something? Send your questions to Dr. Jerry D. Wilson, College of Science and Mathematics, Lander University, Greenwood, SC 29649, or email jerry@curiosity-corner.net. Selected questions will appear in the Curiosity Corner. For Curiosity Corner background, go to www.curiosity-corner.net.

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