Rational Thinking Trivia Quiz

Answer: Irrational

Why is it that only other people are irrational, while we are quite logical and present well-reasoned arguments?

Answer: Intergenerational

Intergenerational describes any activity that people of all ages can enjoy - like FunTrivia qizzes.

Answer: sequestration

When juries are sequestered, does that mean that the law has taken temporary possession of them? The word derives from the Latin sequester, which was the place - similar, I assume, to the modern bank vault - where items of property like jewellery, statues, the really good set of dishes, etc., whose ownership was in dispute, were held until the magistrates decided who got the loot. Sequester, in turn, derives from the verb sequestrare, which means 'to stand apart'.

Answer: Restoration

When the English had chafed quite long enough under Puritan rule in the seventeenth century, they were more than happy to see the restoration of the monarchy. Charles II, aka 'The Merry Monarch' was, no doubt, a great relief after the dour Oliver Cromwell and his restrictive reign.

The restoration of the monarchy also brought about a great flowering of English literature and saw the rise of such playwrights as Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Oliver Goldsmith. Of course, we're all familiar with art restoration projects like the cleaning of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and also the art of restoration in rescuing old houses from decay and returning them to their former state of livability.

Answer: Confederation

In 1864, 23 prominent politicians (collectively known as the Fathers of Confederation) from Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland met in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island to begin the process of forging a new country out of a loosely knit group of colonies and territories.

It took three years before the Constitution Act received the imprimatur of the British parliament as the British North America Act of 1867. The Act established Canada as a separate nation.

The initial confederation of Canada comprised only the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The Province of Manitoba was created in 1870 out of the vast territory of Rupert's Land, which was granted to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1672, and the North West Territory (which remains a territory rather than a province) was also defined in that year.

In 1871, British Columbia joined the confederation, followed by Prince Edward Island in 1873, Yukon territory in 1898, the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905, the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1949.

The territory of Nunavut was carved off from the North West Territories in 1999. Today, Canada is a confederation of ten provinces and three territories.

Answer: Fenestration

Fenestration properly refers to the arrangement of windows in a wall. The word is derived from fenestra, Latin for window. Defenestration is the word used for throwing something or someone out of a window. It was often a political act, as in the Defenestration of Prague in 1618, when a brouhaha between Roman Catholics and Protestants resulted in the Catholics being defenestrated from Prague castle, where they were holed up, by the Protestants.

The fact that the defenstrated Catholics all survived was termed divine intervention by them, but was generally held by the Protestants to be because they landed in a pile of manure! A famous victim of defenestration was Admiral de Coligny, a leading Huguenot, who was stabbed and defenstrated by French soldiers during the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572.

A nasty rumour circulated during the reign of King John (who was the subject of more than one nasty rumour) that the bad king had defenestrated his nephew Prince Arthur of Brittany (son of Geoffrey of Brittany), the righful heir to the throne of Richard the Lionheart, in Rouen.

It would seem that one would be wise to stay away from windows during arguments!

Answer: Orchestration

Orchestration also means, of course, the arrangement of music for performance. While orchestration in the sense of manipulation is negative, orchestration in the sense of musical arrangement is definitely positive.

Answer: Oration

Once upon a time, scholars spent years studying oration and rhetoric - methods of speaking and reasoning. History has produced some great orators - men and women who had the ability to stir others to action. Few modern orators have surpassed the great Sir Winston Churchill whose powers of oratory united the British people during World War II.

The root word is the Latin orare, meaning to plead. Other words derived from orare are oracle, adore, orison (which means prayer). All pre-Vatican II Roman Catholics grew up saying the 'Ave Maria' (Hail Mary) which asks "ora pro nobis", or "pray for us".

Answer: Aeration

Aeration is the process by which a liquid is charged with a gas in order to produce effervescence. Farmers and gardeners are familiar with the term, too, since they till (or aerate) the ground prior to planting to release the nitrogen in the soil.

Answer: Veneration

To hold someone in veneration is to respect them, even revere them. Prior to beatification and canonization of saints in the Roman Catholic Church, the candidates for sainthood are held in veneration. The root word is Venus, believe it or not, the adored Goddess of Love in the Roman Pantheon.