Some General Trivia Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tallahassee

Tallahassee is the capital city of Florida and is located in the northern part of the state in Leon County. Unlike Florida's coastal cities, it is situated in the panhandle region, among rolling hills, and is known for its canopy roads lined with live oaks draped in Spanish moss.

The city became Florida's capital in 1824 as a compromise between the state's two major population centres at the time, St. Augustine and Pensacola. The name 'Tallahassee' comes from the Muskogee language, meaning 'old fields' or 'old town'.

The city is home to two major universities: Florida State University (FSU) and Florida A&M University (FAMU), which give Tallahassee a college-town atmosphere.

Answer: French Republic

During the French Revolution, the new government wanted to break away from old traditions, including the regular calendar. In 1793, they created the French Republican Calendar. It started with Year I, marking the birth of the new republic. They renamed all the months based on nature, like Thermidor (heat) and Brumaire (fog) and even changed how time worked, dividing the day into 10 hours, using a decimal time system.

The calendar was designed to de-Christianise timekeeping and reflect rational Enlightenment ideals. It was used for about 12 years until Napoleon ended it in 1806, restoring the Gregorian calendar.

Answer: Microgravity causes fluid to shift toward the head, congesting nasal passages

The food tastes bland, because in microgravity, bodily fluids, including those in the sinuses, shift upward toward the head. This causes the astronauts to experience a condition similar to having a mild cold or stuffy nose. This dulls their sense of smell. Since a lot of what we perceive as taste is actually aroma, this congestion significantly reduces flavour perception for astronauts aboard the ISS.

This phenomenon is so noticeable that astronauts often crave spicier or more intensely flavoured foods in space to compensate for the blandness. They often add extra hot sauce or spices to compensate!

Answer: Braces

In British English, the word for what Americans call 'suspenders' (straps worn over the shoulders to hold up trousers) is 'braces'. Braces are usually buttoned to the waistband of trousers and are considered an accessory in British menswear. They've been part of British fashion since the early 19th century, popularised by London haberdasher Albert Thurston.

However, in the UK, 'suspenders' refers to something entirely different: a suspender belt, which is an undergarment used to hold up stockings. This item is called a garter belt in American English. So if you're in Britain and someone mentions suspenders, they're likely talking about lingerie, not trouser support.

Answer: Alfred Mosher Butts

The inventor of Scrabble was Alfred Mosher Butts, an American architect who created the game in 1938. Originally called Lexiko, he designed it to combine elements of chance and skill by blending crossword-style word formation with a point system based on letter frequency in English.

He meticulously analysed newspapers to determine how often each letter appeared, assigning higher point values to rarer letters like Q and Z. His goal was to create a game that was educational and entertaining.

Although Butts invented the game, it was James Brunot who helped refine and popularise it. In the early 1940s, Brunot acquired the rights, renamed it Scrabble, and began manufacturing it from his home. The game gained popularity in the 1950s after Macy's department store began stocking it.

Today, Scrabble is popular globally. It's been translated into dozens of languages and is played competitively around the world.

Answer: Argon

Argon is a colourless, odourless, and tasteless noble gas that makes up about 0.93% of Earth's atmosphere by volume, making it the third most abundant gas after nitrogen and oxygen. It was discovered in 1894 by Lord Rayleigh and Sir William Ramsay and was the first noble gas to be identified on Earth.

Its name comes from the Greek word argos, meaning 'lazy' or 'inactive'. Its stability comes from its full outer electron shell, which makes it highly unreactive under most conditions.

Because of this inertness, argon is widely used in industries that require non-reactive environments. It serves as a shielding gas in arc welding, preventing oxidation of hot metals, and is also used in the production of semiconductors and in the filling of incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs to prolong filament life.

It also plays a role in scientific research, particularly in potassium-argon dating, which helps determine the age of rocks and minerals by measuring the decay of radioactive potassium into argon-40.

Answer: Leroy Anderson

In 1950, Leroy Anderson composed 'The Typewriter', a light-hearted orchestral piece. It features an actual manual typewriter as a solo instrument. The typist performs precise 'click-clack-ding' rhythms in time with the orchestra, including the carriage return bell as a musical accent.

It's been used in comedy sketches and films and professional orchestras still perform it with a real vintage typewriter on stage. One of the most famous performances was by Jerry Lewis, the comedian. He used it in his 1963 film 'Who's Minding the Store?', where he pantomimes typing on an invisible typewriter in perfect sync with the orchestral sound effects. It's a masterclass in physical comedy and timing.

Answer: Sandy Island

The correct answer is Sandy Island. It appeared on maps between New Caledonia and Australia's east coast for more than a century, until in 2012 a team of Australian scientists aboard the R/V Southern Surveyor sailed right over its coordinates and discovered nothing but deep ocean!

The island had first been marked by 19th-century whalers, and somehow the cartographic error persisted into modern digital maps, including Google Earth and official nautical charts. After the 2012 expedition, global map databases quietly erased it. For a while, people joked it had sunk overnight or was 'the Bermuda Triangle's little cousin'. : )

Answer: Illinois

The state nicknamed 'The Prairie State' is Illinois. It reflects the state's historical landscape, which was once dominated by vast expanses of tallgrass prairie. Before widespread settlement and agriculture, much of Illinois was covered in native grasses like big bluestem and switchgrass, especially in the central region. The nickname dates back to at least the mid-19th century.

Illinois is also home to Chicago, known as 'The Windy City'. While many assume the nickname refers to the city's breezy weather due to its location on Lake Michigan, it actually originated in the late 1800s as a jab at the city's long-winded politicians and boastful civic leaders. The term became popular during Chicago's bid to host the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, when rival cities mocked its aggressive self-promotion.

Answer: Peccatiphobia

The fear of wrongdoing is known as peccatiphobia. It's derived from the Latin word peccatum, meaning 'sin', and the Greek phobos, meaning 'fear', and refers to an irrational or extreme fear of committing a moral wrong or sin.

Individuals with this phobia may experience intense anxiety over the possibility of violating ethical or religious codes, even in minor situations. It can be deeply rooted in personal beliefs, upbringing, or cultural expectations.

Peccatiphobia is distinct from general guilt or conscience, as it's a disproportionate, often paralysing dread that can interfere with daily life and decision-making. For some, it may manifest as obsessive self-monitoring or avoidance of situations where moral ambiguity exists.

Though it's not commonly diagnosed, it shares traits with other anxiety-related conditions and may benefit from therapy that addresses cognitive distortions and emotional regulation.