Why 40?

BY KIM ATIENZA


Life begins at 40? The number 40 has a lot of significance to people, things, and events around us, even from as far back as the biblical times.

Forty seems to be short hand for a long time in religion.

Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness being tempted by the devil.

The great flood lasted 40 days and 40 nights.

The Jewish people wandered the desert for 40 years.

Forty is the only number in the English language which has its letters in alphabetical order.

Minus 40 degrees, or 40 below, is the only temperature that is the same in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.

When the bubonic plague gripped Europe during the Middle Ages, ships would be isolated in harbors for 40 days before passengers could go ashore. The word quarantine originates from the Venetian dialect form of the Italian quaranta giorni, meaning 40 days.

A typical pregnancy actually lasts 40 weeks. That’s 9 months more or less.

Ali Baba clashed with 40 thieves in the “Arabian Nights” tale.

The Bible was written by about 40 men over a period of about 1,600 years.

Sixty, they say, is the new 40.

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TRIVIA PA MORE (Various Sources): Heard of a bird that can sing like a cat? It’s called the catbird, a gray song bird that can be found in North America. The sound it makes when it sings can compare with that of a cat meowing. 

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Send your questions on anything and everything to Kuya Kim through my Twitter account @kuyakim_atienza using #AlaminKayKuyaKim.