Totally Random Trivia: 2022

Chill Kessel wrote…

In my head I thought I had that one figured out. How I forgot about Italy is beyond me.

Ditto

Answers to Friday, July 22, 2022

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: Of all the countries in the world with more than 5 million people, six have names ending in “Y.” Name as many of those countries as you can for one point each. Zero total if you get any wrong.

Turkey (85 million), Germany (84 million), Italy (59 million), Hungary (10 million), Paraguay (7.4 million), Norway (5.4 million)

2. Katherine Applegate and her husband Michael Grant wrote 54 young adult novels between 1996 and 2001 under the pseudonym “K.A. Applegate.” They originally planned to call the series “The Changelings,” but later settled on what title instead?

“Animorphs”

3. The “7 Series” is the flagship car of what automobile manufacturer?

BMW

4. The final animated film Walt Disney personally oversaw was released in 1967. It was based on a collection of children’s stories, and added a kingly character voiced by Louis Prima. What movie was it?

“The Jungle Book”

5. Today is July 22. Happy 30th birthday to the fourth-most-followed Instagram user, after Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylie Jenner, and Lionel Messi. Name that Texas native and “Only Murders in the Building” star.

Selena Gomez

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 5 days ago by Zwak.

Answers to Monday, July 25, 2022
1. There are two movies in Brett Favre’s IMDb filmography. One is called “Reggie’s Prayer,” which nobody has ever seen. A lot of people have seen the one that came out in 1998, though. Name it!

“There’s Something About Mary”

2. Lakshmi Singh, Nina Totenberg, and Ailsa Chang are all journalists currently employed by what news outlet?

National Public Radio (NPR)

3. It started in World War I among French soldiers, where it was played with pencil and paper and called “L’Attaque.” The first commercial version was called “Salvo,” published in 1931. The most popular version today uses plastic, as produced by Milton Bradley starting in 1967, under what name?

“Battleship”

4. What river, which has also been known by a Portuguese adaptation of a local word “nzere,” meaning river, is the deepest river in the world, and is the only major river to cross the Equator twice?

Congo River
(also has been called the “Zaire River,” from the Kikongo “nzere”)

5. What Tex-Mex dish was invented by a man named Ignacio Anaya in 1940, and originally had an apostrophe in its name?

Nachos
(“Nacho” is short for “Ignacio”—they were originally called “Nacho’s Special”)

Answers to Tuesday, July 26, 2022
1. What company, best known for its extensive line of toy cars and trucks, takes its name from a Dakota word meaning “big”?

Tonka

2. What five-letter word describes the bottom portion of a boat that sits below the waterline, as well as the noxious water that often collects there?

Bilge

3. What is the title of the Broadway jukebox musical that celebrates Billy Joel’s song catalog?

“Movin’ Out”

4. As of 2017 data, Marlboro is the best-selling cigarette brand in the United States, by a long shot. Camel is number three. What brand comes second?

Newport

5. Shakespeare wrote three plays that begin with shipwrecks. Name one of them.

“The Tempest,” “Twelfth Night (or, What You Will),” “The Comedy of Errors”

Answers to Wednesday, July 27, 2022
1. There is a bee in a jar. The jar is on the scale. The bee is flying around, but there are no air holes in the lid, so eventually it dies and falls to the bottom of the jar. (Take better care of your pet insects!) When this happens, what is the impact on the number on the scale?

Stays the same
(the bee’s wings apply force to the ground as it flies)

2. Speakers of the most-spoken Native American language north of the U.S.-Mexico border call that language “Diné bizaad.” What do most non-speakers call it?

Navajo

3. Though it formally renounced its right to declare war in 1947, what country still commands the world’s ninth-largest military budget?

Japan

4. What story, first published in 1843, ends with the protagonist shouting, among other things, “I admit the deed! Tear up the planks!”

“The Tell-Tale Heart”

5. The majority of a dog’s sweat glands are located on what part of its body?

Paws

Slap Shot wrote…

1. Chef

3. FBI Agent

Those are somewhat guesses as I’ve not heard of any of these characters besides Monica and Dana including all 5 groupings.

With the exception of #4 I’ve heard of at least one in each question.  I looked up #4 answers and have never seen any of the shows that those characters are on.

Answers to Thursday, July 28, 2022
What job do they share?

1. Monica Geller, Sookie St. James, and Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto.

Chef
(“Friends,” “Gilmore Girls,” “The Bear”)

2. Leo Spaceman, Miranda Bailey, and Michaela Quinn.

Doctor
(“30 Rock,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman”)

3. Dana Scully, Dale Cooper, and Alex Parrish.

FBI Agent
(“The X-Files,” “Twin Peaks,” “Quantico”)

4. Charlotte York, Joyce Summers, and Bette Porter.

Art gallery manager/owner
(“Sex and the City,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “The L Word”)

5. Jane Villanueva, Jessica Fletcher, and Arabella Essiedu.

Writers/novelists
(“Jane the Virgin,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “I May Destroy You”)

5.  Clara Bow

3.  Cocoa butter

Answers to Friday, July 29, 2022
1. Quit While You’re Ahead: There are six living languages that are considered “Celtic languages.” Name as many of them as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any wrong.

Breton, Cornish, Irish, Manx, Welsh, (Scottish) Gaelic (and NOT Scots; Scots is Germanic)

2. Two zodiac astrology signs are present in the month of July. Name both.

Cancer, Leo

3. Theobroma oil is an edible vegetable fat popular in the pharmaceutical and toiletry industries because its melting point is just below skin temperature. It is more commonly known by what delicious-sounding name?

Cocoa butter

4. What berry is known regionally as an “alligator pear” or “butter fruit”?

Avocado

5. Today is July 29. On this day in 1905, the star of “Mantrap,” “Wings,” and “Hoop-La” was born. Name that famous flapper, known as “The It Girl.”

Clara Bow

Questions for Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. “Jane” is the middle name of the woman who is, according to Billboard, the most successful female R&B artist of the past quarter century. Who is she?

2. In 2002, ESPN estimated that you are 40 percent more likely to become an NFL player if you are from—or are descended from—what Pacific island nation?

3. Which character from “The Office” was named after an economics professor from Dartmouth College?

4. What snack—roughly equivalent to a British digestive biscuit—gets its name from a 19th-century teetotaler who believed that a diet free of pleasure or stimulation was how God wanted people to eat?

5. Jim Carrey starred in two of the five top-grossing movies of 1995. They were both sequels, one in which he played the hero and one in which he played the villain. Name either of them.

Answers to Tuesday, August 2, 2022
1. “Jane” is the middle name of the woman who is, according to Billboard, the most successful female R&B artist of the past quarter century. Who is she?

Mary J. Blige

2. In 2002, ESPN estimated that you are 40 percent more likely to become an NFL player if you are from—or are descended from—what Pacific island nation?

Samoa

3. Which character from “The Office” was named after an economics professor from Dartmouth College?

Andy Bernard

4. What snack—roughly equivalent to a British digestive biscuit—gets its name from a 19th-century teetotaler who believed that a diet free of pleasure or stimulation was how God wanted people to eat?

Graham crackers

5. Jim Carrey starred in two of the five top-grossing movies of 1995. They were both sequels, one in which he played the hero and one in which he played the villain. Name either of them.

“Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls,” “Batman Forever”

2.  Grey Poupon

Questions for

Theme Thursday, August 4, 2022

State Demonyms: A demonym is what you call someone who comes from some place. For example, the demonym of “Minnesota” is “Minnesotan.” Here are five questions about the demonyms of other states.

Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. The official demonym of Nebraska is “Nebraskan.” But most Nebraskans identify with what unofficial demonym, which doubles as a college mascot?

2. There are only four states whose official demonyms are the same number of letters as the name of the state. Please name two of them.

3. Which New England state’s residents inexplicably call themselves “Nutmeggers”?

4. The official demonym is “BLANK residents,” but they also sometimes call themselves “Islanders.” Which state am I talking about?

5. Most state demonyms end with the letter “N.” Six end in “R.” And three end in “E.” Name two of those three “E” states.

Questions for Friday, August 5, 2022

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in Monday’s email.

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: On the RIAA’s list of the 100 best-selling albums of all time, there are five albums whose titles are, in total, a number (not something like “Led Zeppelin IV,” which contains, but isn’t entirely, a number). Name as many of those albums as you can for one point each. Zero total if you get any wrong.

2. On what TV show did Zooey Deschanel’s older sister Emily play a forensic anthropologist?

3. What breed of toy dogs, also known as “chrysanthemum dogs,” get their most common name from the Chinese for “lion son dog”?

4. Charles Edward Stuart was the grandson of King James VII of Scotland, which is why his popular nickname included what Scottish term, meaning “pretty” or “healthy”?

5. Today is August 5. On this day in 1960, Upper Volta gained independence from France. The country would later change its name to a bilingual phrase that loosely translates to “land of the upright people.” What is that name?