Monday, August 25, 2008

Fun Monday


This week's hostesses are the lovely ladies at MamaDrama. Their request? To share those quirky little tidbits that are stuck in our brain from school.


Okey dokey. I have two this week. One is actually from school and the other is a tidbit that I picked up in my reading during grade school.


Mary Todd Lincoln is often portrayed as a bitter, nagging, psychotic woman. I'm not saying she wasn't. I'm just saying that before events, being what they were, shaped her she had a lovely, biting, sarcastic sense of humor. Need proof? From Love is Eternal by Irving Stone comes this anecdote.


When Abraham Lincoln was courting Mary Todd he confided in her that he had wanted to dance with her in the worst way all evening. Once the dance was concluded, she assured him that he had achieved his goal.


It still makes me smile - and it made Abe laugh.


My other tidbit is mathematical. I learned this when I was memorizing my times tables. The digits in any correct answer of the "9 times" table will add up to 9. For example: 1x9=9. 3x9=27 and 2+7=9. 9x9=81 and 8+1=9. 11x9=99. 9+9=18 and 1+8=9. This holds true through 12x9, which is as far as I was required to learn by heart. It's just a simple way of double-checking your answer.

25 comments:

Jeanna said...

You lost me on the digits, but interesting about Mary Todd. Whhat a whhit.

SwampAngel65 said...

Love the history trivia! So often I forget that people back then actually had sense of humors!

The number thing is cool. I think my friend at dungareesablaze will like that one.

Gattina said...

I prefer the story than the numbers ! I always hated maths !

Anonymous said...

I didn't know that 9 thing! How weird is that!!!!

Anonymous said...

That's how I learned to multiply by 9's!

Jan said...

Fun post, I knew the math one, only it's been buried for some time.

Woodlandmama said...

Lincoln was to tall to dance with, and anyway he wouldn't take off his stupid hat. Very un-aerodynamic of him. I new the math thing, it's the only way I can remember.

Anonymous said...

I think I would have liked Mary Todd.

And the 9's - how simple is that? I've never thought about it before.

Beckie said...

I didn't learn the nine thing until my daughter was in school - pretty cool, huh?

Anonymous said...

Dude!! Doncha just wanna be friends with Mary Todd! Cool story!

Oh, and I still use that 9 trick. Does that totally make me lame?

ChrisB said...

I had forgotten about the '9' thing until you reminded me. Not that need to worry these days LOL

storyteller said...

I didn’t know that about Mary Todd Lincoln, but I did think of sharing the ‘math’ info myself … and if I’d not been running late, I might have. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who remembers such trivia. Thanks for dropping by mine at Small Reflections this morning.
Hugs and blessings,

kitten said...

never learned my 9's that way. Very cool though. I always used my fingers. Hold up all you fingers. say 9*2, hold 2nd finger down on your left hand. You have a 1 on one side and 8 on the other= 18.

IamwhoIam said...

I knew the 9 thing but math was my strong suit in school. and the Mary Todd fact was intresting and it too made me smile.

TxGambit said...

History trivia is fun! It is my fave (as you saw on my blog.... Texas History!)

I found that you can do the 9 times on your fingers at least to 9x10... I don't think I can explain it but basically you hold both hands up... If you are doing 3x9, then count on your fingers. 1, 2, 3... put that third one down. How many fingers you have in front is the first number of the answer (2) and then what is left after is the second (7).... Make sense?

Pamela said...

hey.. I remember the nine thingy. Must be because we in the same uh.. generation.

cute story about Mary Todd.

(being the wife of a politician would make anyone bitter, nagging, and psychotic.)

Sauntering Soul said...

Now why didn't my math teacher tell us that little secret? That would have helped me out so much in life. And txgambit, that is so cool! I never knew that trick either.

Unknown said...

Too funny!

And you reminded me of two math things
8 times 8 fell on the floor, picked it up and it was 64

9x1=09
9x2=18
9x3=27
9x4=36
9x5=45
9x6=54
9x7=63
9x8=72
9x9=81
9x10=90

See, you could write out the problems, then just write 0-9 and come back up with 0-9 as the answers and it all works out perfectly. :)

Faye said...

So that was Mary Todd Lincoln's attraction for Lincoln--same wry humor. I try not to have to multiply by nine, but in case i do, you've given me a security blanket!

Anonymous said...

I vaguely remember that! I had to reach for it...

Now if pi were just as easy. Lol.

I hope you'll stop by for Pet Peeve Tuesday!

Alison said...

I remember that about the 9's!!!

I think I read that about Mrs. Lincloln before!!

Anonymous said...

I love tip-bits about people so that was great and I do my nine times tables by using my fingers

Jill said...

lisas chaos took my answer. 9x2 18 9x3 27 they go up and come down on either side. and i tried kitten's thing and it totally worked. keeping that in the back of my head for my own kid.

Anonymous said...

I've always thought Mary Todd deserved her insanity. I mean that woman dealt with EVERYTHING! Poor thing.

Anonymous said...

I love the mathmatical shortcut! Definitely showing it to my children:)!!

 
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