Question: Why are there 21 guns in that salute?

The Answer:

No, it's got nothing to do with any card game. And it's not because the person being honored has come of legal age. But it's curious that the number should be so specific and that we just accept it without ever questioning why.

The 21-gun salute originated as a British naval custom. The reason for any cannon shot being offered as a salute was that firing a round meant that the gun was disarmed for the considerable amount of time it took to reload. This period of disarmament, even more than the bang, was the real sign of respect. A person of great stature was given a multi-shot salute, but always an odd number because sailors thought even numbers brought bad luck. Heads of state got the maximum, 21 guns, because that's how many cannon were mounted on the side of a major ship of the line.

See ? Symmetry IS evil. Even the sailors think so.

Not only did they always use an odd number, they also only fired from one side of the ship !

ladada(loving my trivia mailer)dada