On Sep 9, 2:29 pm, Guy Macon http://www.guymacon.com/ wrote:
Impressive performance. 20 right, 3 wrong, and two places where
*I* was wrong -- one a major blunder on my part, one poor wording.
You did far better than anyone else who has ever taken the quiz.
[02] What was New Mexico named after?
I give my answer with some trepidation, since it seems to lack the
irony inherent in the others, but as far as I can determine it was
named after (Old) Mexico, which ceded the New Mexico territory to the
USA in 1848.
Incorrect. New Mexico was named during the 1500s. The country
called Mexico came into being hundreds of years later in 1821.
I don't understand why the name New Mexico would be used before
there was an "old" Mexico. England came before New England, Spain
before New Spain (i.e. Mexico), France before New France (i.e.
Quebec), Guinea before New Guinea, Wales before New South Wales, etc.
How could there be a "new" Mexico without an older Mexico (not
necessarily the country now called Mexico) preceding it?
[04] In the story "1001 Arabian nights" what nationality was Aladdin?
Interesting - checking Richard Francis Burton's translation of
"Arabian Nights" (first published in the 1880s), I can find no
character named Aladdin. The closest match is Ala al-Din, son of Cairo
merchant Shams al-Din, but his story does not seem to involve genies
from magic lamps.
Incorrect. The Sir Richard Francis Burton translation is online he
http://mfx.dasburo.com/an/a_index_commented.html]
and the story told on night 29 is he
[http://mfx.dasburo.com/an/a_night_29.html].
The title is "Aladdin; Or, The Wonderful Lamp"
Not in my edition. Night 29 there, beginning on page 296 of Volume
1, finishes "The Tale of the Jewish Doctor" and starts "The Tale of
the Tailor." No Aladdin there, or anywhere, according to the index.
But that does not necessarily invalidate your question or answer; the
story might have been added later.
[16] Who is buried in Grant's tomb?
Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia.
Incorrect.
You sure about that? To mention just one source, the World Book
Encyclopedia (1988 edition) says "Grant died on July 23, 1885 ... His
body lies in a tomb in New York City ... Mrs. Grant died in 1902 and
was buried at his side." Have they been exhumed since then?
[18] What is another word for Thesaurus?
Snynonymy
I am going to assume that that second letter "n" was a typo.
and say you got it right. "Synonymy" is correct.
Yep, typo on my part.
Nobody has ever gotten this one right without looking at the
answers on my website or in one of my posts. I am curious;
did you know the answer before I posted it?
I did not know the term already, but since the answer already
appeared in the first post of this thread, I couldn't help but see it.
However, I would probably have found it with a little research.
[21] A man travels due south for one kilometer. He turns left
90 degrees and travels due east for one kilometer, at
which point he shoots a bear. He then turns left 90
degrees and travels due north for one kilometer, returning
to the exact spot he left from.
[21a] What color is the bear?
[21b] What direction is the wind blowing from at the
starting/ending point?
The man starts at the North Pole, from which all directions are
south. The bear is a white polar bear. The described itinerary is also
possible starting from a point very near the South Pole, but there are
no bears there.
Correct! (And very few get that second location, or incorrectly
miss the lack of bears there.)
Would you believe I remembered this from a Junior Scholastic or some
such magazine I read in 5th or 6th grade, nearly 50 years ago?