Exciting! Trivia quizzes that you’ll want to tell others about. A collection of surprisingly little-known facts.

lawyer

The jungle gym was invented by Sebastian Hinton, who was a lawyer. His father was a mathematician, and it’s said that when Sebastian was a child, he played on a bamboo framework his father built, imagining it as coordinate axes. Inspired by this, he collaborated with educator Carleton Washburne and others to complete the jungle gym.

Ebisu

The Seven Lucky Gods are traditional deities of good fortune in Japan, and among them, Ebisu is the only one considered to be of Japanese origin. Ebisu is widely worshiped as the god of fishing, prosperous business, and a bountiful harvest. When people think of the Seven Lucky Gods, they often picture Japanese deities, but aside from Ebisu, the others actually originate from India and China.

crispy

In “shortcake,” the word “short” doesn’t mean “short”; it means “crumbly.” It’s said to come from “shortening,” a processed fat used in pastries and doughs. In the United States, a dessert with whipped cream and fruit sandwiched in a biscuit is called “shortcake.”

Imaginary tree

The tree depicted on the 1-yen coin is not a specific real tree; it is a designed “young tree” created for the coin. The design was by Masami Nakamura and was selected from submissions gathered nationwide. Since Nakamura has stated that there was no particular model for the young tree, the correct answer is that it is an “imaginary tree.”

crescent moon

Croissant means “crescent” in French. It is said to originate from 17th-century Austria, where crescent-shaped bread was made to commemorate a victory over the Ottoman Empire. Since the Ottoman Empire’s symbol was the crescent, people celebrated their victory by eating bread shaped like a crescent.

Mr. Pict

The emergency exit sign uses pictograms—simple icons that anyone can understand. The person depicted there is called “Pict-san.” The name was coined by writer Keiichi Utsumi, and there’s actually a unique book titled The Book of Pict-san as well.

adidas

PUMA was founded by Rudolf Dassler, while his brother Adolf Dassler founded adidas. They initially worked together as the Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory, but since their personalities didn’t mesh well, they eventually split and established their own brands. It’s impressive that both became so successful.