MANDY FLYNN: Trivia knowledge is nothing to sneeze at

Every once in a while you come across a bit of information so fascinating that you cannot wait to share it with anyone and everyone you see.

But what if the fascinating fact doesn’t particularly fit into everyday conversation? Do you blurt it out and risk peculiar looks from family, friends, colleagues, and strangers? Or do you cleverly and as inconspicuously as possible turn the conversation in such a way that you can insert your new-found knowledge?

“Do you need help unloading the dishwasher?”

“No, but did you know two of the seven dwarfs in Snow White were almost named Flabby and Strutty?”

Unfortunately, I’m rather blurty.

But it’s true. In pre-production of the classic “Snow White,” Walt Disney and his peeps came up with a long list of potential names for the seven dwarfs. The list, circa 1934, of those not picked is, for lack of a better word, awesome.

Silly, Sappy, Scrappy, Snappy, Gloomy, Blabby, Gabby, Flabby, Crabby, Cranky, Lazy, Dizzy, Dumpy, Dirty, Snurfles, Deafy, Soulful, Helpful, Awful, Weepy, Slutty (yes, Slutty), Neurtsy, Hotsy, Hungry, Chesty, Baldy, Burpy … this list goes on, 50 or so total. Easy to see why some didn’t make the list. Slutty? Chesty? Weren’t all of the dwarfs men? Deafy, that’s just mean. And what does Neurtsy even mean? Was he to be the neurotic dwarf?

It’s unfortunate some of these didn’t make it. Instead we got Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Happy, Sleepy, Grumpy and Sneezy. Sneezy. He’s my kinda guy right about now.

I cannot quit sneezing. A cold? Maybe. Allergies? I’m not sure. I’ve never been one who could tell the difference.

My head is stopped up. Could be either. My nose is running. Could be either. My throat hurts a little. Could be either.

“What color is your, you know?” I was asked.

“What color is my what?” I asked back.

“You know,” she said, pointing to her nose and then it dawned on me. She was asking what color was my nasal excretion. I won’t gross you out with the “s” or “b” word. That wouldn’t be polite.

To be quite honest, I wasn’t sure. So, the next time I blew my nose, I checked.

Was it clear, signifying allergies? Or was it more yellow, signifying a cold? Maybe I should take a picture and put it out to the Internet world to decide like they did that dang dress that took the internet by storm last week. I saw baby blue and brown, by the way.

Nasal excretions aside, I am sneezing — a lot — which leads me to believe it’s the curse of the allergy I’m experiencing. There was pollen on my car the other day. Perhaps that should have been my first clue. Which leads me to another fun fact that is quite easier to slide into everyday conversation, especially this time of year:

A single ragweed plant can generate a million grains of pollen a day. And scientists have collected samples of ragweed pollen 400 miles out at sea and 2 miles high in the air.

Moral to this story: You can’t get away from pollen.

Since we’re talking about fun facts, try throwing these in the next time you’re talking about seasonal allergies or someone has asked if they can help unload the dishwasher:

— A sneeze can throw water droplets six feet into the air at speeds of up to 100 mph.

— One sneeze can propel 100,000 bacteria into the air.

— Tibetan Buddhists believe a sneeze can provide a moment of clear consciousness when people are opened to greater understanding.

— Iguanas sneeze more than any other animal.

— And the longest sneezing bout ever recorded was by 2-year-old Donna Griffiths of Worcestershire, who sneezed an estimated 1 million times over 978 days. At first, she sneezed every minute. Toward the end, she slowed down to once every five minutes.

Moral to that story: I shouldn’t complain about my little allergy.

Still, it’s kind of nice to have something in common with one of the Seven Dwarfs. Cute little Sneezy.

Now Dirty, Chesty, or Burpy? Not so much.

Blurty. That’s more like it.

Email columnist Mandy Flynn at [email protected].