Things You May Not Know About Dr Suess

10. The American Heritage Dictionary credits Dr. Seuss as the originator of the word nerd, which made its first appearance in his 1950 book, If I Ran the Zoo: "And then just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo And Bring Back an It-Kutch a Preep and a Proo a Nerkle a Nerd and a Seersucker, too!"

9. He was asked why he added the title “Dr.” to his pseudonym? He replied that his father had always wanted a doctor in the family.

8. He once drew cartoons on the vest of a distinguished naval officer, whom he caught sleeping.

7. At the 1985 Princeton University Commencement Exercises, where he was to accept an honorary degree, the graduates stood and recited the entire text of Green Eggs and Ham.

6. Publisher Bennett Cerf wagered $50 that Ted couldn’t write a book using 50 words or less. In response, Ted wrote Green Eggs and Ham, one of his most popular books. Ted often joked that Cerf never paid up.

5. The impact he has made for children's books was massive. He has been credited with killing off "Dick and Jane", the sterile heroes of older children's books, replacing them with clever rhymes, plot twists and rebellious heroes who do the unexpected. The Cat in the Hat was commissioned following publication in 1955 of an influential book, Why Johnny Can't Read, which said children were being held back by boring books. An article under the same name in Life magazine called for more imaginative illustration, and named Dr Seuss as a good example of what could be done. Now one in four American children receive Dr Seuss as their first book.

4. Horror movie icon Boris Karloff narrated the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

3. His trademark is verse written in anapestic tetrameter.

2. One of NASA’s deep space explorers, the Data Relay Solar Electric Utility Spacecraft (DRSEUS) is called the “Dr. Seuss”.

1. He crossed out Marvin K. Mooney from the title of his book Marvin K. Mooney, will you please go now! and wrote in Richard M. Nixon after the Watergate Scandal. Nixon resigned nine days later.


Thanks to the sister of ravaj for tweeting the original link. And thanks to Movietome for the trivia.