"The 33rd Annual Xmas Quiz"

[gh]

this from Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle. I'll serialize his latest here:

<<So perhaps your Christmas is over now, or has not yet begun, and perhaps you're not having Christmas at all, and you want a quiet something to tide you over on this day when America seems to stop business as usual. For your listening and dancing pleasure, therefore, a Christmas quiz.

Of course, you could read this column with your trusty Google by your side, but it might be more fun to see if your actual brain can provide the answers. Or you can do it with friends and see how that hive-mind thing is working out. But however you want to do it is fine. It's yours now.


1. Victorian people who wanted to make something accurate down to the finest details were said to "get it right down to every jot and tittle." What are a jot and a tittle?


(note, he annually has a third column in which he prints the corrections to his answers, of which there are always a few)

[Daisy]

The smallest bones in our body?

[Marlow]

OOOO, OOOO . . . uh . . . never mind . . . sigh . . .

[jeremyp]

A jot is the horizontal mark on the letter "t", and a tittle is the dot above an "i" or a "j".

[gh]

that's what I thought, but not quite right

<<1. A tittle is the dot over an "i." A jot is the smallest mark in calligraphy, which includes the dot over the letters "j" and "i" and the period. The phrase comes from an English translation of the Bible.>>

[gh]

2. What was Whoopi Goldberg's original name?

[cullman]

Caryn Johnson.

[jeremyp]

2. What was Whoopi Goldberg's original name?

Caryn Elaine Johnson

[gh]

<<2. Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in New York City.>>

[gh]

3. What is Mexico's full name?

[jeremyp]

3. What is Mexico's full name?

The United States Of Mexico?

[gh]

not exactly

[jeremyp]

The United Cartels of Mexico?

[gh]

<<3. The full name of the country of Mexico is Estados Unidos Mexicanos.>>

[gh]

4. Benghazi, Libya, has been much in the news lately. If you fly east from Benghazi, what is the first country you hit? (Hint: It's not Egypt). If you fly due west from Benghazi, what is the first country you hit? How about due north? Due south?

[Conor Dary]

I guess:

East: Tunisia
West: Morocco
North: The Med
South: Mali

[Pego]

What a tricky question! "Not Egypt" threw me off so I looked it up.

[dukehjsteve]

Good question ! I was stumped by the "east", and my guesses on the other 3 were wrong ! ( All this after I got my atlas out )

[j-a-m]

4. Benghazi, Libya, has been much in the news lately. If you fly east from Benghazi, what is the first country you hit? (Hint: It's not Egypt). If you fly due west from Benghazi, what is the first country you hit? How about due north? Due south?

East: Tricky, would've said Egypt, but with the hint I guess you fly all across the Mediterrean, maybe to Israel
West: probably Tunisia?
North: Italy
South: maybe Chad?

[jeremyp]

East: Israel
South: Chad
West: Tunisia
North: Albania? or Greece. Awful close.

[gh]

<<4. Due east of Benghazi, Libya, is Israel. (Because of a bump in the Mediterranean coastline, Benghazi is substantially north of Cairo. Heck, it's north of Jerusalem.) Due west of Benghazi is Tunisia. Due north is Greece. Due south is Chad.>>

[gh]

5. What language was Oscar Wilde's "Salome" written in?

[tandfman]

Gaelic?

[Conor Dary]

I'd say French.

[gh]

<<5. "Salome" was written in French. Wilde translated it into English later.>>

[gh]

6. Define these aristocratic terms: (a) Baron of Beef, (b) Vickers Viscount, (c) Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, (d) Marquess of Queensberry Rules, (e) Duke of Earl.

(McGato..... these coming up to snuff?)

[mcgato]

(McGato..... these coming up to snuff?)

Been busy most of today, so only catching up now. Conor is scooping me on the other thread. These are more interesting than last year. So far.

Keep them coming. Oh, and I have no idea about the answers to the most recent one.

[lonewolf]

a. a cut of beef
b. an airplane
c.no idea
d.boxing rules
e. dunno

[mcgato]

Wait, wasn't Duke of Earl a song by some woo-wop group?

[cullman]

Duke Of Earl was sung by Gene Chandler

[gh]

<<6. (a) A baron of beef is a joint of beef consisting of the two sirloins joined at the backbone; also called a double sirloin.

<<(b) The Vickers Viscount is the first turboprop airliner, first flown commercially in 1953. (

<<(d) The Marquess of Queensberry Rules are a code of generally accepted rules in the sport of boxing. They were named so because John Douglas, ninth Marquess of Queensberry, publicly endorsed the code, although they were written by a sportsman named John Graham Chambers in 1867.

<<(e) The "Duke of Earl" is a No. 1 record from 1962, by Gene Chandler originally but covered by many.>>

still waiting for The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion (which was a cypher to me).

[gh]

clue: I'll be shocked if anyone but an Englishman/woman gets that last bit.

[Daisy]

clue: I'll be shocked if anyone but an Englishman/woman gets that last bit.

I grew up in England and have no clue.

[Conor Dary]

A guess. A saddle for a horse? Or something equestrian....or something to do with girdles...

Who knows...

[Daisy]

I'll guess it's a new wing added onto an older estate house. Or a type of folly? A tea house in London?