An End-of-Summer Trivia Quiz

A Special Vacation Post

The Happy Wanderer has wandered to Minnesota to enjoy the gorgeous weather, lake life, and time with family, hence this short post. We’ll return to regular-length posts next week.

During the Covid lockdown, I ran a Zoom trivia quiz night for families in our international school community. Because Zoom is at best a Lenten and dispiriting substitute for in-person quiz nights in pubs, only about two dozen people participated, so I suspect it is safe to recycle part of the quiz for this post. The questions are kid-friendly, so you can play this quiz at your end-of-summer gatherings with family and friends. And remember the rules as set forth by my friend Clive, quiz master extraordinaire: No Googling! And if you find a different answer online later, it doesn’t matter, because the correct answer for the purpose of resolving disputes is the one that appears in this post.

Have fun, everybody!

Round 1: True or False

1. There are different sizes of infinity.

2. During the 1860s, a Hapsburg or close relative of a Hapsburg ruled at least one country on every continent except Antarctica.

3. Most people know that the name for a group of lions is a pride and the name for a group of crows is a murder. True or false: The name for a group of porcupines is a prickle.

4. To yeet means to totally freak out.

5. The poems of the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam were saved from destruction because when the KGB arrived to arrest him, his wife, Nadezhda, hid his manuscripts under her dress.

6. Oil derricks get their name from a guy named Derek, who was a famous hangman in seventeenth-century England.

7. Tsar Peter the Great was the first person to refer to dogs as “man’s best friend.”

8. Workers deliberately built the Leaning Tower of Pisa to be crooked as revenge for low pay and poor working conditions.

9. Ranch dressing was invented on a ranch.

10. The website We Rate Dogs gave its first-ever highest rating of 10/10 for a sweet old golden retriever named Smiley, “who dedicated his life to making others smile.”

Round 2: Miscellaneous

1. There are ten breeds of dog that have the genetic condition of achondroplasia, or dwarfism. The dachshund is probably the most famous of these. What are the other dwarf breeds?

2. What does the abbreviation PEMDAS stand for, and when do you use it?

3. This famous literary character falls to his death at Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland and is later resurrected by the author because of public outcry, including from his own mother. Who was it?

4. Four of the following are creatures from world mythology, and one is made up (well, technically they’re all made up, but you know what I mean). Which of the following is made up: Basilisk, Chupacabra, Highlywyle, Manticore, Wyvern?

5. The number of human beings alive in the world today is what percentage of the total number of human beings who have ever lived and are now dead? A. 7, B. 37, C. 67, D. 97, or E. 107.

6. Which of these types of animal was the first to evolve? A. Amphibians, B. Crocodiles, C. Dinosaurs, D. Sharks, or E. Turtles.

7. Name all the Weasley siblings from Harry Potter in order from oldest to youngest.

8. Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson books, the Kane Chronicles, and several other popular series, has made a career of writing kids’ adventure books based on world mythologies. Which of the following mythologies has he NOT written a series of books about? A. Celtic, B. Egyptian, C. Greek, D. Norse, E. Roman.

9. In the TV show Seinfeld, episode 71, a nonfat frozen yogurt shop opens up in the neighborhood. This yogurt is so delicious that soon lines are forming around the block and people are clamoring for more of the nonfat treat. What is the secret ingredient that makes this yogurt so addictive?

10. What do baby humpback whales eat? What do baby orcas eat?

Answers

Don’t peek! Please enjoy this photo from (where else?) a recent hike. When you’re ready, scroll down to see the answers.

Bonus trivia: The Aletsch glacier is the largest glacier in the Alps. (There are larger glaciers in Norway and Iceland, but the Aletsch is the largest non-Arctic glacier in Europe.) Sadly, like all glaciers, it is melting away. Its highest point in modern times occurred in the mid-1800s; you can see a dark line in the right half of the photo that marks how far the glacier has receded since then.

True or False

1. T; my husband is a mathematician and showed me the proof of this fact on one of our first dates—which I thought was extremely cool. Yes, we are nerds.

2. T; Mexico was ruled by Maximillian von Hapsburg; Portugal under Carlos I of the House of Braganza had colonies in East Timor, Mozambique, and Angola; there were Austro-Hungarian concessions in China; and the mother of Pedro II of Brazil was a Hapsburg. (Note: You may be wondering what happened to Australia. East Timor is part of the continent of Oceania, which includes Australia.)

3. T

4. F; it means to throw something.

5. F; she saved his poems by memorizing them.

6. T, amazingly.

7. F; it was Frederick the Great who said this.

8. F

9. T; in fact it was invented at a ranch named Hidden Valley Ranch!

10. F; Smiley was awarded the first-ever highest rating of 15/10.

Miscellaneous

My dog says, “Hey! What about me?” Ok, ok. A little-known dwarf breed, with one unique member, is the Slovakian village dog.

1. Basset hound, corgi, dandie dinmont terrier, English bulldog, French bulldog, pug, Scottish terrier, Skye terrier, west highland white terrier.

2. Parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction; PEMDAS is used as a mnemonic for the order of operations when solving an equation.

3. Sherlock Holmes. Not to name-drop, but the man who suggested this way to kill off Holmes was the grandfather of someone I know.

4. Highlywyle is made up.

5. A; here is a fascinating podcast about this question.

6. D

7. Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny.

8. A

9. Fat.

10. Their mothers’ milk, duh! Bonus trivia: Humpback whales eat so much krill that their milk is faintly pink and, in the words of this podcast, “it tastes like fish-flavored butter.” I highly recommend downloading “The Humpback and the Killer” so you can play it in the car as you’re driving Down the Shore or Up North to the Lake.

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How did you do, readers? And do you have any trivia you’d like to challenge us with? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

The Tidbit

This video offers a lovely and relaxing few minutes for kids and adults alike. No ladybugs were harmed in the making of this video!