The Quiz Thread

[El Zen]

Next destination: 

In The Bronx, you meet a man wearing the number 25. He tells you to travel to a mountain that was long his namesake, but is now called by its original name. The man tells you that he suffered a tragic destiny along with three colleagues. The mountain, he explains, is in one of two parts that are not attached to the rest. Where are we going? 

[sidcow]

Is a penguin bar just a wider flatter Bourbon covered in Chocolate? 

[mjmooney]

It's quite difficult to come up with questions that are still challenging in the era of Google. 

I quite like the the King William's College quiz that The Guardian publishes every Christmas. The kids are not only allowed to, but positively encouraged to use every available source, as it's an exercise in developing research skills. It's still fiendishly difficult. 

Edited May 10, 2021 by mjmooney

[bickster]

8 minutes ago, El Zen said:

Next destination: 

In The Bronx, you meet a man wearing the number 25. He tells you to travel to a mountain that was long his namesake, but is now called by its original name. The man tells you that he suffered a tragic destiny along with three colleagues. The mountain, he explains, is in one of two parts that are not attached to the rest. Where are we going? 

Sod knows but I just learned there was an American Sportsman called Al Kaline which amused me

[El Zen]

1 minute ago, bickster said:

Sod knows but I just learned there was an American Sportsman called Al Kaline which amused me

Quite famous, too.

[El Zen]

35 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

It's quite difficult to come up with questions that are still challenging in the era of Google. 

I quite like the the King William's College quiz that The Guardian publishes every Christmas. The kids are not only allowed to, but positively encouraged to use every available source, as its an exercise in developing research skills. It's still fiendishly difficult. 

It was actually in the same spirit that I first wrote these quizzes (and inspired by a longtime radio quiz in Norway): I love trivia and quizzes, and I love boring my students with trivia and quizzes, but they’re pointless if you can just google it in a fraction of a second. Instead, I wanted to use my love for trivia as a means to encourage research and logic among the kids in my classroom. 

[mjmooney]

28 minutes ago, El Zen said:

It was actually in the same spirit that I first wrote these quizzes (and inspired by a longtime radio quiz in Norway): I love trivia and quizzes, and I love boring my students with trivia and quizzes, but they’re pointless if you can just google it in a fraction of a second. Instead, I wanted to use my love for trivia as a means to encourage research and logic among the kids in my classroom. 

Can you access BBC Sounds? You'd like Round Britain Quiz (the 'Round Britain' bit simply refers to the fact that the teams represent different areas of the country). The questions are similar to cryptic crossword clues, not straightforward even for a native English speaker (but, like cryptic crosswords, the more you do them, the better you get at it). Knowing your command of English, I bet you'd be good at them. 

EDIT: In fact they are exactly like your 'globetrotter' questions. 

Edited May 10, 2021 by mjmooney

[Stevo985]

1 hour ago, El Zen said:

Next destination: 

In The Bronx, you meet a man wearing the number 25. He tells you to travel to a mountain that was long his namesake, but is now called by its original name. The man tells you that he suffered a tragic destiny along with three colleagues. The mountain, he explains, is in one of two parts that are not attached to the rest. Where are we going? 

Alaska (specifically Mt Denali)

Edited May 10, 2021 by Stevo985

[Paddywhack]

1 hour ago, sidcow said:

Is a penguin bar just a wider flatter Bourbon covered in Chocolate? 

I read this as a quiz question.

[sidcow]

13 minutes ago, Paddywhack said:

I read this as a quiz question.

That's the wrong answer.

You can only answer yes or no 

[tonyh29]

20 hours ago, bickster said:

I always imagined they were named after the French & European Dynasty and not the Yankee hooch, so borbon would be closer to the correct pronuciation anglicised

Are you saying they should be pronounced the American way?

Nothing should ever be pronounced the American way 

[tonyh29]

5 hours ago, mjmooney said:

Unpopular opinion: bourbons are overrated. Not so much chocolatey as just... brown. Meh. 

it's cause you are eating them wrong ...

Break them in half and then and then use your teeth to clean up the cream in the middle of both pieces  , then eat the biscuit

same applies to custard creams

 

[El Zen]

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

Alaska (specifically Mt Denali)

Absolutely right. The man you meet is the 25th president of the US, William McKinley, one or four presidents to be assasinated. The highest peak in the US, Denali, was named after him (Mt McKinley) until it was changed back to its Native American name under President Obama in 2015. Denali is of course in Alaska, one of two non-contigious states in the union. 
 

I might add another later, if there is any interest. 

Edited May 10, 2021 by El Zen

[bickster]

13 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

it's cause you are eating them wrong ...

Break them in half and then and then use your teeth to clean up the cream in the middle of both pieces  , then eat the biscuit

same applies to custard creams

 

Nah. Split in two, eat the half that came off cream free, clean up any remaining biscuit from the top of the cream then see how much of the remaining bottom biscuit you can eat or remove before  you eat the cream and then the last vestage of biscuit.

Alternatively just dunk the buggers in coffee

[tonyh29]

1 minute ago, bickster said:

Nah. Split in two, eat the half that came off cream free, clean up any remaining biscuit from the top of the cream then see how much of the remaining bottom biscuit you can eat or remove before  you eat the cream and then the last vestage of biscuit.

Alternatively just dunk the buggers in coffee

you get a cream free half  ....  

[mjmooney]

58 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Nothing should ever be pronounced the American way 

Unless you're an American. 

[El Zen]

On Denali, you meet a woman whose name has a rather celestial ring to it. She can tell you about a career devoted to great responsibility and crisis management, and even though she grew up in a dictatorship, she owes her current position very much to more democratic processes. She wants you to travel, not to where she grew up, but the city in which she was born. A city, she adds, that might pique your appetite. Where are we going now? 

Edited May 10, 2021 by El Zen

[mjmooney]

21 minutes ago, El Zen said:

On Denali, you meet a woman whose name has a rather celestial ring to it. She can tell you about a career devoted to great responsibility and crisis management, and even though she grew up in a dictatorship, she owes her current position very much to more democratic processes. She wants you to travel, not to where she grew up, but the city in which she was born. A city, she adds, that might pique your appetite. Where are we going now? 

Hamburg. 

[El Zen]

17 hours ago, mjmooney said:

Hamburg. 

Correct. The woman you meet is Angela Merkel, German chancelor since I wor a lad. She grew up in DDR, but is now the elected leader of a united Germany. Although she grew up in the East, she was actually born in Hamburg  -  she is, then, a Hamburger by birth. 

I'll add another soon. Answers in spoiler tags maybe? 

[El Zen]

Spoiler tag answers, please! 

In Hamburg, you meet a deceased artist in striped clothing. He tells you that many regard him as the greatest ever, but some people may argue that a younger compatriot is even greater. Your next journey goes to the artist's city, where the young men are playing by river's mouth dressed in Swedish colours and where you should be able to fill your lungs with high quality oxygen. Where are we going now?