Wacky Wednesday Trivia Quiz

Answer: Odin

In English, the days of the week are named after mythological characters. Wednesday is from "Woden's day," where Woden was the Anglo-Saxon name for the Norse god Odin. "American Gods," by Neil Gaiman, blends elements of several different mythologies into a fantasy story set in modern times.

In it, Mr. Wednesday travels across America attempting to recruit various gods from traditional mythologies into a war against a new race of gods who represent manifestations of modern technology.

Answer: The Addams Family

"The Addams Family," created by Charles Addams, began as a cartoon appearing in "The New Yorker" in 1938, and was later adapted into other media, including a TV show that ran for two seasons from 1964-1966, about a creepy family with macabre interests and supernatural abilities.

The daughter was named Wednesday after the nursery rhyme that states, "Wednesday's child is full of woe." In the TV show, she was portrayed as very solemn and enjoyed such hobbies as raising spiders and having her Marie Antoinette doll guillotined.

Answer: Hump Day

In the US calendar, Wednesday is considered the fourth day of the week, hence, by this day, one has made it "over the hump" of the week. The US calendar actually differs from the standard recognised by the International Organization for Standardization, which regards Wednesday as the third day of the week.

However, as most people start work on a Monday, Wednesday is still the middle of their working week, so it makes little difference. I have come across a claim on several websites that a survey found that bosses are most likely to agree to requests from employees on Hump day.

However, I have not personally been able to verify this information, so perhaps it is best to take it with a grain of salt.

Answer: Mars

The Mariner program consisted of ten missions conducted from 1962 to 1973 using robotic probes designed to investigate Mars, Venus and Mercury. Mariner 4 was the first successful flyby of another planet and was the first mission to return close-up images of another planet.

The probe provided a great deal of information about conditions on the surface of Mars, and revealed it to be a dry, desolate world. Speculation about life on Mars, especially intelligent life, had been ongoing for centuries. This was largely put to rest by the probe's findings that showed that Mars was very cold, had little atmosphere, and no visible surface water.

Answer: Australia

On the day in question, which was during a 10-month drought, there was a heatwave, with temperatures reaching 43 ºC and winds reaching more than 100 kilometres per hour. The fires spread through two states in southern Australia, killing 75 people, and injuring 2,600 others, while destroying roughly 9,000 homes, killing over 300,000 livestock, and causing around $324 million in damage.

Answer: Mercury

Budha is mentioned in several Hindu texts that refer to him as the son of the moon god, Soma, and Taraka, who also happened to be the wife of the god of Jupiter. Budha's name is the origin of the word 'Budhavara' or Wednesday in the Hindu calendar. In ancient astronomical texts written in Sanskrit, Budha is the name of the planet Mercury.

In Greco-Roman traditions, Wednesday was also associated with the planet Mercury, which may have influenced Hindu astrology and astronomy since the time of Alexander the Great.

Answer: Thailand

In Thailand, each day of the week is assigned a specific colour, based on astrological associations. Thai people traditionally think it is lucky to wear the colour associated with a given day. Wednesday differs from other days, in that it is actually associated with two colours: green during the day, and grey at night. Each day is also associated with an unlucky colour that is usually avoided. On Wednesday, red is considered unlucky during the day, and orange-red during the night.

Answer: Spy Wednesday

Also known as "Holy Wednesday" and "Good Wednesday," it is alternatively called "Spy Wednesday" in remembrance of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, who acted as a spy among the apostles and notoriously ratted out his friend to the authorities in return for 30 pieces of silver. Many churches hold observances that involve the gradual extinguishing of candles on this day.

Answer: True

The German word for Wednesday is "Mittwoch," which literally means "mid-week." All the other days of the week have clear cognates with the English names, e.g., Sunday is Sonnentag, which combines the words for "sun" and "day." Several other languages refer to Wednesday as "mid-week," e.g., in Finnish it is referred to as keskiviikko (keski = mid, viikko = week).

Answer: Theodor Geisel

Theodor Seuss Geisel wrote more than 60 books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. In "Wacky Wednesday," the main character grows alarmed by all the crazy occurrences around him, even though his peers at school and his teacher think that nothing is amiss. Finally, he meets a patrolman who tells him that everything will go back to normal when all the wacky things are counted - there finally being 20 in all.