A Date with the Guild Trivia Quiz

Answer: The dried fruit (noun)

"'Date,' the day, comes from Latin 'dare,' 'to give.' It was always the first word in Roman letters, which began 'data (given) [at insert place here]'. From the noun came the verb meaning 'to mark with a particular day.' From this also came the meaning 'a romantic appointment at a set time.'

"Now, 'date' the dried fruit supposedly comes from the Greek word 'dactylos,' meaning 'finger.' Apparently dates look something like fingers. How uncreative!"

Answer: Obsidian hydration analysis

"Obsidian hydration analysis measures the rind formed over time as obsidian oxidizes. It is primarily a relative dating technique, useful for comparing ages of items retrieved from the same archaeological site. However, utilizing the known oxidation rate of obsidian allows for rough absolute dating.

The other three methods are all absolute dating methods that rely on radiation. The electron spin resonance method is distinctive in that the measurement does not alter the specimen analyzed allowing for repeat measurements."

Answer: A tree or piece of wood

"So you date trees?" quips Uglybird.

Musicmonkeyman explains: "Dendrochronology is a method of dating wood or trees by analyzing the growth rings. As most trees produce one growth ring per year it is a fairly simple matter to count the rings. This method can give precise results, accurate to a calendar year.
"The growth rings vary form year to year according to each year's growing conditions. Comparing the growth rings back through samples of overlapping ages it is possible to date timber samples back several thousand years. This method can be employed to date timber used in ancient buildings and artifacts, and thus the probable date of construction or manufacture."

Answer: Yes

"The dates stamped onto packages of food have various names in different places - best before, sell by, use by, for best results - but they are all there for the same reason. Food doesn't last forever. Some foods, like meat and dairy products, don't really last very long at all. The 'best before' date is there to give you an idea of when you should use the food, and to make shelf rotation in the store easier.

"There is a certain amount of leeway built into the system, though. Yogurt two days past its date may taste slightly more acidic than you are used to, but it will not make you sick, as long as it has been kept refrigerated. You would be taking no health risk eating most commercial yogurts for up to a week past the 'best before' date, though the quality is likely to take a sharp drop towards the end of that time.

"Of course, don't eat yogurt from a carton with odd bulges, or with an offensive odor or mold growing on it."

"Mmmm... odd bulges, offensive odors, mold... Still hungry?" asks Pu2.

Answer: The bridge of San Luis Rey collapsed (in the novel "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" by Thornton Wilder)

"Published in 1925, the Wilder novel examines the lives of five people who perish when the rope bridge of San Luis Rey (in Lima, Peru) collapses, sending them hurtling into the gorge below. The five victims are a noblewoman, the Marquesa de Montemayor, her servant girl Pepita, a tormented young man named Esteban, who has been driven to despair by the death of his twin brother, a five year-old boy named Jaime, who is the illegitimate son of the great actress La Perichole, and Jaime's guardian (and La Perichole's teacher and mentor) Uncle Pio.

"Each of the five victims had been at a crossroads in their lives at the time of the tragedy. Pepita, an orphaned ward of the convent of Santa Maria Rosa de las Rosas, had resigned herself to continue in the service of the difficult Marquesa, though she longed to return to the convent. The Marquesa, recognizing in Pepita the fortitude that she herself lacked, was forced to re-examine her own selfish and overbearing relationship with her daughter, whom she had driven away by the very intensity of her love. Esteban, having attempted suicide in his despair, was about to go to sea in an attempt to forget his pain over his brother's death. Uncle Pio was about to assume custody of little Jaime, whose mother La Perichole, had reluctantly agreed to have Pio raise the boy. Jaime, a sickly and epileptic child, was about to start life in the home of Pio, who wanted to train the boy to become a gentleman.

"The bridge of San Luis Rey did actually exist, having been built in the 13th century from native fibres. The fateful collapse of the bridge as described in Wilder's novel is fictional; the bridge did collapse, but not until 1890, by which time it had fallen into disuse. Wilder's fascinating short novel won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and remains as popular as ever. Hopefully, this question will move you to read (or reread) the work, after you may wish to play my quiz on the subject in the Literature category."

"Now that was a shameless personal plug!" mumbles Ing.

Answer: The Pirates of Penzance

"Young Frederick, our hero, was signed into indentured service as a young lad by his Nanny. Unfortunately she is 'hard of hearing', so instead of apprenticing him to a pilot, she signs him up as a pirate until he is 21. We come in when Fred is rejoicing, having reached his 21st year and thus being free to follow non-piratical pursuits (including the delectable young Mabel, upon whom he has just spied whilst she is paddling with her sisters). The Pirate King - an old softie who sees Fred as a son - has other ideas, and studies the fine print of the contract. Ha-ha! It says not 'until his 21st year' but 'until his 21st birthday', and the devastating 'paradox' is revealed. It seems Fred was born in leap year, on February 29, so 'reckoning by his natal day ' he's only '5 - and a little bit over'. Naturally there is a happy ending, with the pirates giving up pirating - at which they were never any good anyway - and Fred getting it on with Mabel, tra-la tra-la.

"And Kirsty MacNicholl was 'Mabel' in 'The Pirate Movie'! Oh how wonderfully it all ties together... I remember this piece of teenage shmultz for nothing so much as the exchange between Mabel and one of her sisters. Sister: Pirates are terrible, they go around raping and pillaging. Mabel: Ooh, I'd hate to be pillaged. Hey, it was funny when I was 12!"

Answer: Each day was given the name of a Catholic saint.

"The Revolutionary calendar could not have used Saints' days (as the current calendar to this day includes them and the daily news often mentions them) as the purpose was to dechristianize the calendar. The names of the days were from nature, the day had a numeric day up to ten, then you put the year which was dated from the first year of the revolution. The decade replaced the week, and therefore you had three ten day periods and only one rest day per ten day period. This calendar was doomed to fail as even the French people then would not give up their frequent days of rest!"

There was much laughter from the Guild at this point. Bruyere continues, "It was abolished on the first of January 1806. Someone tried to revive it during the 1870 Commune period. The painter Delacroix was born in this period and his birthday was listed as '7 Floréal de l'an VII', or April 26, 1798."

Answer: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson

"Though Jefferson had served as Adams' Vice President from 1797 to 1801, they were contentious political rivals for much of their careers, competing against each other for the presidency in 1796 and 1800. Toward the end of their lives, however, the two rivals carried on a friendly correspondence befitting the dignity and erudition of both founding fathers."

Answer: William Rehnquist - Chief Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court

"It's Rehnquist. He was born on October 1, 1924. Appointed by Nixon he served a long time and was a good judge. He passed away in the summer of 2005 and was a major loss to the court. All of the others had a birthday on September 11 (McNichol born in 1962, Marcos in 1917, and O' Henry in 1862). All worth a bit of attention - what a day to have a birthday, though?"

Answer: Icthyology

"Icthyology is the study of fish, which is the field that your date happens to be involved in. Mycology is the study of fungi, dactylology is the study of fingerprints. Lithology is the study of rock characteristics."

"So, are you saying this has happened to you?" asks Pu2-ke-qi-ri.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this wonderful dinner courtesy of the Quiz Makers Guild-- a delectable banquet of food and trivia!