I’m a “Numbers Guy.”
Forty is not just the age at which your body turns against you and starts deteriorating. The number itself holds mystical powers. Read and Learn:
- 40 Winks – Synonymous with regenerative Sleep. 40 is the number of winks Dr. William Kitchiner suggests taking for a perfect nap in his 1821 guide.
- 40 Whacks – The number of cuts axe swinging Lizzy Borden gave her mother in the celebrated classic poem: “Lizzy Borden took an axe, gave her mother 40 whacks…” Historians now believe she gave another 40 whacks to her father but in the name of “poetic license,” the number was increased to 41 to maintain the A-A-B-B rhyme scheme of the poem; “When she saw what she had done, gave her father 41!”).
- 40 in the Bible generally symbolizes a period of testing, trial and then, finally, triumph. Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness (See “The 40 Day Fasting Wilderness Diet” in bookstores now).
- F-o-r-t-y is the only number in English whose letters appear in alphabetical order.
- Minus 40 degrees, or “40 below,” is the only temperature that is the same in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.
- There are 40 spaces on a Monopoly game board, yet if someone has hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place it is a mathematical certainty I will land on one of them and go bankrupt.
That’s all I have on 40 and don’t get me started on 69!