Here’s an unimportant question for you: What is a single word for the intersection of three roads? The answer: trivium. Now, pluralize the word in the Latin way, and you’ll have another bit of non-useful information: trivia. Although trivia began as a geographical term, it came to denote the inconsequential information people exchange when bumping into each other at a trivium—bits of gossip or news that keep conversation short, cordial and interesting. In other situations, these trivialities became evidence of mental virtuosity, scraps extracted on demand from the vast store of data people carry around with them. Because some people seem to possess more facts than others—and readier access to them—a mental sport was born in This story is from Kinfolk Issue Thirty-six Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 37 Wasted Journey What could you teach a caveman? Arts & Culture Issue 27 Akram Khan On the uneasy dance between knowledge and information. Arts & Culture City Guide The Standard, High Line Setting a high standard in the Lower West Side. Arts & Culture Food Issue 46 At Work With: Deb Perelman The little blog that could: An interview with Smitten Kitchen’s unflappable founder. Arts & Culture Issue 46 Word: Wintering When to withdraw from the world. Arts & Culture Issue 46 Brock Colyar An interview with a professional partygoer.
Arts & Culture Food Issue 46 At Work With: Deb Perelman The little blog that could: An interview with Smitten Kitchen’s unflappable founder.