“BIG”ger Than Life
The biggest living land mammal on Earth
What is an African elephant? The blue whale is even larger than the elephant.
When nighttime temperatures drop below freezing, do this to your faucets.
What is dripping the water? The operative word is drip; you do not need a steady stream of water.
The money you pay for insurance
What is a premium? It’s derived from a Latin word meaning “reward” or “prize.” When you cash in on homeowners’ or auto insurance, it can feel like a prize rather than paying out of pocket.
In a multi-dog or multi-cat household, this Greek letter indicates the leader of the pack.
What is alpha? The term is also applied to a dominant, confident, or aggressive person.
This animal won the race in “The Tortoise and the Hare.”
What is the tortoise? The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race
Men who have two wives
What are bigamists? In 1862, the U.S. Congress passed the first anti-polygamy law, commonly referred to as the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act
If you don’t clean your dryer vent, you risk this
What is fire? In addition to cleaning your lint filter after each use, professionals recommend annual dryer maintenance, which includes cleaning the dryer vent.
Payment to support an ex-spouse
What is alimony? Unlike child support, which is typically granted, alimony is not always granted, even if the ex-spouse makes little or no money.
We learned in high school geometry that this letter represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.
What is pi? That ratio is constant: 3.14159, or more commonly, 3.14.
It laid the golden egg.
What is a goose? The fable is “The Goose and the Golden Egg.” It’s a story about greed.
The biggest (heaviest and longest) wall in the world
What is the Great Wall of China? What’s even more mind-boggling than its length, at 13,000-plus miles, is its age. Some phases of the Wall were built as early as the seventh century BC.
These come in café, ruffled, and shower.
What are curtains? The English word curtain comes from the Old French word cortine, meaning “tapestry” or “drape.”
The only one of the seven deadly sins dealing with money
What is greed? According to Britannica, “Greed is defined as the immoderate love or desire for riches and earthly possessions.”
This is the term for the final test before the release of a product or software program, and also a type of brainwave.
What is beta? Beta tests allow users to find bugs that developers have overlooked. Beta brainwaves are associated with a conscious, thinking state.
This person cried wolf.
Who is the boy? The fable is “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” We all know people who always think the sky is falling. It not only gets tiresome but also makes it impossible to discern when a real emergency exists.
The bigger between a solar system and a galaxy
What is a galaxy? Our solar system consists of the sun and the planets, moons, and smaller bodies that surround it. Our galaxy is the Milky Way, which consists of 200 to 400 billion stars. Billions of galaxies comprise the universe
Electrical panels used these before they had circuit breakers.
What are fuses? Fuses had to be replaced; you only have to flip the circuit breaker.
Payment to release kidnap victims
What is ransom? During the 1970s, ransoms peaked in the millions of dollars. The highest ransom on record is $134 million, paid for the release of a Hong Kong businessman’s son.
These essential fatty acids are found in polyunsaturated fats and are commonly found in the 6 and 3 forms of this letter.
What are omegas? Omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids are known as essential fatty acids because the body cannot produce them. Sources include organic eggs, pastured beef, wild-caught salmon, walnuts, and dark, leafy greens.
The ant worked all summer to store food, while this insect sang, danced, and played his violin instead of gathering his winter sustenance.
What is the grasshopper? The tale is “The Ant and the Grasshopper,” and the moral is to get work done before playing
Country where the biggest pyramid by volume is found
What is Mexico? The Great Pyramid of Cholula in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico, is the biggest by volume. The Great Pyramid of Giza, in Egypt, is the third-largest pyramid
This bathtub is named for its appendages.
What is a clawfoot? This Victorian-era tub design dates to 1700 Dutch furniture design. The tub became popular in the 1850s and is still in use today, more for its design features rather than for its functionality. Today’s bathtubs often include showers and/or whirlpool jets
A formal gift, often for research or education
What is a grant? Pharmaceutical companies partially fund drug research and development through grants. University professors fund some of their salaries through research grants, while students can finance part of their tuition through educational grants.
Sediment that flows downstream in a river can build up and move from its mouth into this other body of water, creating a wetland.
What is a delta? An example is the Mississippi Delta. As the sediment builds up, it can cause flooding.
These animals wanted a king.
What are frogs? “The Frogs Asking for a King” is a tale about a leaderless group of frogs who wanted a king, and the moral of the fable is that you should be careful about what you wish for.