Special Sub-Topic: Hungarian Goulash Click Here To Play: Hungarian Goulash

All but one of these terms can be a synonym for "goulash." Which one does NOT mean "goulash"?

Flummery. Flummery is any of various puddings, most simply a kind of oat porridge. I hope this quiz of Hungarian tidbits whets your appetite for more.

Recipes vary, of course, but what constitutes a typical Hungarian goulash?

Beef, paprika, tomatoes, and onions, often served over noodles. I say good old American stew can’t have peas or basil and must have celery; some Hungarians cringe at tomatoes in their "gulyás." To each his own.

"Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" was written by Richard Wagner’s womanizing father-in-law who later in life took religious orders. What was his name?

Franz Liszt. Liszt, the "rock star" of his day, was a prolific composer and flamboyant performer who left women swooning and succumbed to the charms of a few. While still a boy, he studied with Czerny; he and Berlioz were friends. His illegitimate daughter, Cosima, was first Wagner’s mistress and then his wife. Bartok lived later. Thanks to player Cymruambyth for help in tweaking this a bit.

Paul von Jankó designed a whole-tone piano keyboard. What did it enable almost any pianist to do?

Reach more than an octave. Jankó was born in the Hungarian town of Tata. His keyboard had 264 keys arranged in 6 tiers, but has never gained the popularity Liszt supposedly predicted. Vintage keyboards are in museums around the world; electronic versions with 312 keys are available today.

Constipated? Hungarian pharmacist Max Kiss first marketed Ex-Lax in 1908. From where did he get the name for his product?

A Hungarian term for “parliamentary deadlock”. Doesn't a laxative BREAK a deadlock?? The original flavor was chocolate, followed by fig, which, oddly enough, proved unpopular. ;)

Hungarians Joseph A. Galamb and Eugene Farkas teamed together with C. Harold Wills to create which icon of American transportation?

Ford Model T. In 1908 the Model T made car ownership possible for the masses. Enter gridlock! The Erie Canal, opened in 1825, was engineered by home-grown Americans. The Boeing 707 was largely designed by American Maynard Pennell. The Wabash Cannonball exists only in American folk songs.

What invention did László Bíró, a newspaper editor tired of smudges, introduce at the 1931 Budapest International Fair?

Ballpoint pen. Biro, a Jew, fled Hungary, eventually settling in Argentina. Although his pen was an improvement on others’ ideas, his name was the one that stuck: ballpoint pens are still commonly called "biros" in Britain and Australia. Bíró sold his patent rights to Marcel Bich, who produced the ubiquitous Bic pen, sometimes called the Bic Biro.

Her very name breathes glamour. Who, in 1936, was Miss Hungary?

Zsa Zsa Gabor. She was born Sari Gabor. Some doubt she ever competed in that beauty contest; others say she forfeited the beauty crown when it was discovered she was underage. But, Dahlink, no one even knows her real birth date....

Which future billionaire defected from Hungary in 1946 to escape the Nazi occupation?

George Soros. Soros was born György Schwartz in Budapest. He emigrated to England in 1947 and in 1956 moved to New York City, where he made his billions on Wall St. and in other financial ventures. Today he uses his money to further global democracy, often to the consternation of conservatives.

Novelist James Michener wrote a non-fiction book about the grassroots Hungarian Revolution of 1956. What was its title?

The Bridge at Andau. Some 200,000 Hungarians, determined to escape Soviet communism, crossed the wooden bridge into Austria and then walked 5 miles to Andau. This quiz is dedicated to my friend, Tibor, whose parents carried him over that bridge to freedom.