Funny You Should Ask . . .: Your Questions Answered by the QI Elves

by The QI Elves

In 19th-century America, it was taught that the ‘&’ symbol (meaning ‘and’) was the 27th letter after ‘Z’. When children recited the alphabet, they would finish with ‘X, Y, Z and per se and’, with ‘per se’ meaning ‘by itself’. This phrase was eventually shortened to ‘ampersand’, the symbol’s modern name.

Over 2,200 years ago, Qin Shi Huang became the first emperor of a unified China when he conquered the regions of Zhao, Yan, Wei, Han, Chu and Qi (no relation to us). But the enemy he wanted to defeat most of all was death. The emperor took all sorts of potions and concoctions, including mercury pills, in his attempt to live for ever. Unfortunately, the pills had the opposite effect and he died in 210 BC, probably from mercury poisoning. He was one of at least five emperors of the Tang dynasty to accidentally kill themselves while trying to achieve immortality.