This quiz (a re-working of one I did 3 years ago) is made up of questions that have an obvious at first blush answer that is wrong, i.e., the sort of thing many people would blurt out without thinking. For each question you get 1 point the obvious wrong answer and another point for the correct answer. For example, the question “Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?” has an obvious wrong answer (Ulysses S. Grant) and a correct answer (Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia). If you guessed them both you would get 2 points, if you got just one you would still earn one point.
Google not and do your best. Answers after the jump. Please post scores at the end as well as any comments and critiques.
1. What is the name of this building?
2. Who is Boris Karloff playing here?
3. What is the world’s largest desert?
4. Which of the 50 states contains the easternmost point in the U.S.?
5. This scene from the classic 1941 film The Maltese Falcon contains the final line of dialogue. What was it?
6. Who was the first President to roll back a mandatory minimum sentence for drug crimes?
7. This 19th century photo shows a farmer in front of what building?
8. Yesterday was the 125th anniversary of the birth of Hollywood star Mary Pickford, the first actress of many to be called “America’s Sweetheart”. In what nation was she born?
ANSWERS (16 Points in the maximum possible score)
1. Obvious but wrong answer: Big Ben
Correct Answer: The Elizabeth Tower of the Palace of Westminster (full credit if you just said The Elizabeth Tower, half credit if you said Palace of Westminster)
2. Obvious but wrong answer: Frankenstein
Correct Answer: The Monster (or Dr. Frankenstein’s Monster)
3. Obvious but wrong answer: The Sahara
Correct Answer: Antarctica
4. Obvious but wrong answer: Maine
Correct answer: Alaska (The Aleutians extend across…)
5. Obvious but wrong answer: Bogart quoting The Bard “The stuff that dreams are made of”
Correct answer: Ward Bond responding “Huh?”
6. Obvious but wrong answer: Barack Obama
Correct answer: Richard Nixon (40 years before Obama eliminated the mandatory minimum for simply possession of crack cocaine, he rolled back marijuana penalties dramatically. Yes really.)
7. Obvious but wrong answer: The White House
Correct answer: The Executive Mansion (it was not called the White House until the 20th century)
8. Obvious but wrong answer: U.S.A.
Correct answer: Canada.