(CNN) When the guests around your Thanksgiving table are busy stuffing their bellies today here s one way to break the lull in conversation dazzle them with some tasty turkey trivia.
Here s 9 to get you started. We bet you they ll eat them up
1. A tradition is born TV dinners have Thanksgiving to thank. In 1953 someone at Swanson misjudged the number of frozen turkeys it would sell that Thanksgiving by 26 TONS Some industrious soul came up with a brilliant plan Why not slice up the meat and repackage with some trimmings on the side Thus the first TV dinner was born
2. Going shopping Not if you re a plumber. Black Friday is the busiest day of the year for them according to Roto Rooter the nation s largest plumbing service. After all someone has to clean up after household guests who overwhelm the system.
3. This land is my land There are four places in the United States named Turkey. Louisiana s Turkey Creek is the most populous with a whopping 435 residents. There s also Turkey Texas Turkey North Carolina and Turkey Creek Arizona. Oh let s not forget the two townships in Pennsylvania the creatively named Upper Turkeyfoot and Lower Turkeyfoot
4. Leaving a legacy When Abe Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday it was thanks to the tireless efforts of a magazine editor named Sarah Josepha Hale. Her other claim to fame She also wrote the nursery rhyme Mary Had a Little Lamb.
5. Gobble gobble Not so fast. Only male turkeys called toms gobble. Females called hens cackle.
6. Ben s bird If Ben Franklin had his way the turkey would be our national bird. An eagle he wrote in a letter to his daughter had bad moral character. A turkey on the other hand was a much more respectable bird.
7. Born in the U.S.A. Thanksgiving is not just an American holiday. Canadians celebrate it too. Except they do it the second Monday in October.
8. Don t blame the bird You stuffed yourself and now you re feeling sleepy very sleepy. But it ain t the tryptophan in the turkey. In fact chickens have more tryptophan. You re groggy because you overate. And digesting all that grub takes a lot of energy.
9. Talking turkey Why is it called a turkey Oh boy this will take some explainin . Back in the day the Europeans took a liking to the guinea fowls imported to the continent. Since the birds were imported by Turkish merchants the English called them turkeys. Later when the Spaniards came to America they found a bird that tasted like those guinea fowls. When they were sent to Europe the English called these birds turkeys as well.
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