Question: Where does the word “dibs” come from? For example, one might say, “I got dibs on that!” (Asked by a curious and faithful column reader.)

It’s the start of another curious season of the Curiosity Corner. This will be the 37th year — maybe I’ll make it through another one if I’m lucky. As my regular readers know, I kick off each season by airing some of my curious observations or pet peeves — some old and some new. Have a littl…

Question: A lot of people have pacemakers. What, exactly, do they do? (Asked by a curious reader with coronary concern.)

Question: If trees and shrubs don’t have any leaves after they shed them, how the heck do they have energy to regenerate without chlorophyll? They don’t store fat, or the equivalent, that they can draw on when needed, do they? (Asked by Bettie Rose Horne, of Greenwood)

Last week’s Corner was a trivia quiz on money, and you probably knew some of the answers. Let’s test your gray matter again this week, with a quiz that might take some guessing. See how close you can come to the populations of the following:

Let’s have a quiz. I’ve been lenient on giving you one lately. How about a trivia quiz on a popular subject … money! Particularly, paper bills. Most of us can tell who is on the front of each bill. How about the backside?

Question: I have a question regarding fireflies, or lightning bugs. Are the males the ones who light up or are those the females? Or do they both light up? (Asked by a nocturnal column reader.)

Question: Where did the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant come from? (Asked by Myrtle Boyd, of Ninety Six.)

In one of my Curious Postscripts from a previous column, I had a quote by Ronald Reagan: “I wonder at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.” Since then, I’ve been doing some more reading, and discovered that Ronald Reagan had …

Question: Is there really a Tooth Fairy? (Asked by a youngun’ who just had a tooth pulled.)

QUESTION: Why do we say a “pair” of pants?

Question: Who invented the computer? Asked by a curios geek.

Before getting into this week’s Corner, I want to take the time to thank those that have a hand in getting them to you. I send each edition of Curiosity Corner to Lander University’s Office of University Relations and Publications, where Megan Price sees that they are distributed to the vari…

Question: We read a lot about domestic violence in the newspaper these days –with charges of first, second and third degrees. What are the differences in these degrees? (Asked by a concerned column reader.)

While cleaning out my files the other day, I ran across an old Curiosity Corner.

Okay, it’s time for a pop quiz! Let’s see how you do. (Answers below; don’t peek!)

Question: What is the difference between pilsner and lager beer? Also, please tell us the difference between a college and university. Thank you. (Asked by a curious person.)

Question: There was a warning about eating tuna and some other fish because of mercury. Where does this mercury come from? Is someone polluting the oceans? (Asked by a curious mermaid.)

Question: Someone told me that Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb. Is this true? (Asked by a curious, incredulous column reader.)

Question: I jokingly called my grandson a “dodo” the other day and he asked “what is that?” Please enlighten him—and me! (Asked by a curious grandpa.)

Question: I used a garden hose to siphon water from the ditch on one side of the road to the other, and got to wondering how siphons work. I found one theory that involves gravity acting on one side more than the other. Another involves atmospheric pressure. I wondered if those have been tes…

It’s been a slow day in science — no major breakthroughs — so I’ve been doing some reading. Trying to keep well-informed, I read a book on American statistics. I wanted to share a few with you:

Question: Where do names come from? (Asked by a curious and bashful grade schooler.)

Question: Why are some people right-handed and some left-handed? (Asked by a curious “lefty.”)