Below are six ten trivia questions. If you’d like to participate, you can either reply to this e-mail or submit your answers via Google Forms by using the button below. You can find our rules and guidelines by following this link.
1) The title of a 2022 film (scheduled for wide release on January 20, 2023) starring Rooney Mara and Claire Foy based upon real-life events at an ultraconservative Mennonite community in Bolivia shares WHAT word with the title of a 1989 film starring John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, and the voice of Bruce Willis?
2) NAME the band formed in southern France in 1978 that is generally credited with popularizing the genre of music known as rumba flamenca around the world. The group is most famous for songs such as “Bamboléo” and their cover of “Volaré”; in addition, their cover of “Hotel California” was featured in The Big Lebowski (1997) and their cover of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” was featured in Toy Story 3 (2010).
3) “The chief business of the American people is business” is a quote by WHAT famously taciturn U.S. president, who defeated John Davis and Robert La Follette in his sole presidential election?
4) In mathematics, WHAT one-word name is given to the function that takes as its input a real number and gives as its output the greatest integer less than or equal to that number? The function is typically denoted with brackets; for example, so [2.4] equals 2 and [-2.4] equals -3.
5) WHAT name is given to (typically alcoholic) drinks served before a meal in order to stimulate one’s hunger? Vermouth, champagne, and gin are common examples.
6) It may sound like the type of seam yielded by cutting down a tree, but in sewing, WHAT word describes the type of seam made by placing one edge inside a folded edge of fabric, then stitching the fold down? For example, denim jeans are typically made with this seam.
7) MUZJIK (28), QUEAZY (27), and EXEQUY (25) are some of the highest-value six-letter words in the game of Scrabble, but if you have to play a word that has an “R” in it, you can play FROWZY (24) or WHAT other, more common six-letter word also worth 24 points?
8) Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing are the four sections of WHAT standardized test, the internet-based version of which is scored on a scale of 0 to 120? The test is taken by over two million people annually and is accepted by some 19,000 colleges and other institutions.
9) In The Hunger Games novels (and films), President Snow is the primary antagonist. WHAT is President Snow’s first name? He shares it with the title of a Shakespeare play.
10) Each of the answers to the questions in this newsletter alludes to a member of a certain set. NAME a film in the James Bond franchise that could be the answer to this question in order to continue this newsletter’s theme. (There is more than one correct answer.)
Trivia Newsletter CXIV Recap
[Due to recent travel and a few bouts of illness, this recap is shorter than our typical recaps.]
1) In 1992, George H.W. Bush attacked a certain television family by saying that his goal was to “make American families a lot more like the Waltons” and a lot less like that certain other family. NAME the television character who responded days later by saying “Hey, we're just like the Waltons. We're praying for an end to the Depression, too.”
This is BART SIMPSON.
In 1990, well before the above events, Barbara Bush said in an interview with People that The Simpsons was “the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.” The writers sent Barbara a letter “from Marge Simpson” in response:
Improbably, at least to me, Barbara Bush responded to this fictional character, as revealed by Al Jean in 2018:
2) NAME the nation that today has two official currencies: the United States dollar and, at the recent urging of its president Nayib Bukele, the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
This is EL SALVADOR.
Bitcoin is an exciting if volatile technology that may yet change the way we live and do business, according to its proponents. A few days ago, El Salvador’s entrant in the Miss Universe competition dressed as a Bitcoin:
3) In a colloquial sense, you can add WHAT letter to something you can see at 30 Lincoln Center Plaza in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in order to get something you can see a few miles away at 123–01 Roosevelt Avenue in Queens?
The first address is the Metropolitan Opera House, and the second is Citi Stadium, where the New York Mets play. Thus, you add an “S” to The Met (what the former is often called) to get The Mets. The Mets’ colors are blue and orange in order to honor New York City’s history of National League baseball, and specifically WHAT TWO now-defunct teams? The answer’s at the end of this newsletter.1
4) NAME the frozen-yogurt brand that launched in Arkansas in 1981 and that has more than 250 locations today; it claims to sell the country’s best yogurt.
This is TCBY, which stands for “The Country’s Best Yogurt.” TCBY, which does not have the country’s best yogurt, is owned by “Mrs. Fields' Original Cookies Inc.” Gosh, that “Inc.” really defeats the folksiness of the company’s name, doesn’t it?
5) NAME the Brazilian soccer player, the recipient of five consecutive FIFA World Player of the Year Awards from 2006 to 2010, who in 2019 became the all-time leader in goals scored in World Cup matches.
This is MARTA. She now plays for the Orlando Pride in the NWSL. This article, I thought, contained some interesting insight into Marta’s role as a symbol for Brazil’s marginalized LGBTQ+ community.
6) The answers to the first five questions in this newsletter all share a connection. NAME the American pop-rock band with a one-word name that closely relates to this newsletter’s connection; the band is one of the most successful artists in the history of what is now known as the Billboard Adult Pop Airplay chart.
The answer here was TRAIN, most famous for songs such as “Drops of Jupiter” and “Hey, Soul Sister.” Each question alluded to a U.S. city’s rapid transit system:
Question #1: Bart Simpson (San Francisco has the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, usually called BART)
Question #2: El Salvador (Chicago has the “L” or “El,” depending on whom you ask)
Question #3: The question alluded to the Met and the Mets; both are short for “Metropolitan,” and Washington, D.C.’s system is the Washington Metro
Question #4: TCBY was used to clue you into Boston’s rail system, usually called “the T”
Question #5: MARTA is the name of Atlanta’s rail system (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority).
The title, “Line Items,” was intended to get you to think about transit “lines” and the things that might be on them—specifically, trains.
Question #6 Leaderboard
The Question #6 leaderboard can be viewed at this link. (I again expect a couple days of delay here. We’ll be back on track before Thursday.)
The BROOKLYN DODGERS (moved to California in 1957, now known as the Los Angeles Dodgers) and the NEW YORK GIANTS (moved to California in 1957, now known as the San Francisco Giants).