Trivia

Trivia refers to bits of information, often of little importance.

Latin meaning and etymology

The trivia (singular trivium) are three lower Artes Liberales, i.e. grammar, logic, and rhetoric. These were the topics of basic education, foundational to the quadrivia of higher education, and hence the material of basic education and an important building block for all undergraduates.

The ancient Romans used the word trivia to describe where one road split or forked into two roads. Trivia was formed from tri (three) and via (road) – literally meaning "three roads", and in transferred use "a public place" and hence the meaning "commonplace."

The pertaining adjective is triviālis. The adjective trivial was adopted in Early Modern English, while the noun trivium only appears in learned usage from the 19th century, in reference to the Artes Liberales and the plural trivia in the sense of "trivialities, trifles" only in the 20th century.

The Latin adjective triviālis in Classical Latin besides its literal meaning could have the meaning "appropriate to the street corner, commonplace, vulgar." In late Latin, it could also simply mean "triple." In medieval Latin, it came to refer to the lower division of the Artes Liberales, namely grammar, rhetoric, and logic. (The other four Liberal Arts were the quadrivium, namely arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy, which were more challenging.) Hence, trivial in this sense would have meant "of interest only to an undergraduate."

Trivia (The Office)

"Trivia" is the eleventh episode of the eighth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 163rd episode overall. The episode originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 12, 2012. It was written by Steve Hely and was directed by executive producer B. J. Novak.

In this episode, Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) reveals that he is partaking in a trivia contest in Philadelphia and Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) tries to get the entire office involved. Meanwhile, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) journeys to Florida and meets with his boss, Robert California (James Spader), in order to explore other job opportunities.

After airing, the episode sparked a debate among fans, as well as critics, as to whether former leading actor Steve Carell had made an uncredited cameo as a member of an opposing trivia team. NBC later denied that Carell had made an appearance and stated that the situation was just a coincidence. "Trivia" received mostly positive reviews from critics, with many noting that the episode marked an improvement from the first part of the season. Despite this, several reviews were critical of the Dwight sub-plot. According to Nielsen Media Research, "Trivia" drew 5.87 million viewers and received a 2.9 rating/7% share in the 18–49 demographic, staying relatively even with the previous three episodes, "Christmas Wishes", "Gettysburg" and "Mrs. California". It ranked third in its timeslot and was the highest-rated NBC series of the night.

Trivia (gastropod)

Trivia is a genus of small sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Triviidae, the trivias.

These are known in Britain as "cowries". The shell of these species does superficially resemble the shell of a very small cowry, but Trivia species are not very closely related to true cowries.

Species

The genus Trivia has recently been split into many genera, including Cleotrivia, Niveria, Pusula, Triviella, Trivirostra etc., but this information is not yet shown completely in the species list below. There is currently no consensus about definition of the genera backed by a reliable phylogenetic scheme, for which reason all European species in the ERMS context are maintained under genus Trivia, around the type species Trivia arctica.

Species within the genus Trivia include, according to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS)