quizballs 136 - misnomer quiz - questions & answers
free not-so-obvious general knowledge quiz questions and answers - for pub quizzes, pub games, team games, learning and fun
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This is a Businessballs Quizballs free quiz. Quizballs provides free quiz questions and answers for trivia quizzes, team games, pub quizzes, general knowledge, learning and amusement. Use the quiz and questions and answers to suit your purposes, either as a stand-alone quiz, or to cut and paste to make your own quizzes. Quizballs accepts no liability for any arguments, lost bets, or otherwise unfortunate consequences arising from any errors contained in these quizzes although quite a lot of effort is made to ensure that questions are clear and answers are correct. Please notify us of any errors, or questions or answers requiring clarification. These quizzes are free to use in pub quizzes, trivia quizzes, organisational events and team-building, but are not to be sold or published, which includes not posting them on other websites, thank you. Below are the quiz answers. Here are the quiz questions without answers. Spelling note: Some UK-English and US-English spellings may vary, notably words ending in our/or, and ise/ize. Where appropriate please change the spellings to suit your local situation. |
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quizballs 136 - free 'misnomer' general knowledge quiz - questions and answers for trivia quizzes and pub quizzes
This is the Quizballs expanded version of what is commonly called the 'not-so-obvious quiz', or 'the easiest quiz in the world'.. We call it a misnomer quiz. A misnomer is a wrong name, from Old French, mesnommer (mes = wrongly, nommer = to name).
- From which country did French horns originate? Germany
- What mineral is an Alaskan diamond? Quartz
- The Portuguese Man o' War (a sea-dwelling jellyfish-like invertebrate) alludes to a warship design devised in which country? England (The Man o' War warship design was encouraged, and said to have been named, by Henry VIII of England. The main version was apparently designed by Sir John Hawkins, 1532-95. The Portuguese never had a warship called a Man o' War, and the Portuguese name for the jellyfish-like creature is Caravela Portuguesa, referring to an earlier Portuguese sailing ship design used for exploration in the 15-16th C.)
- In the story of Cinderella (the French medieval version, which gave us the modern Western version) what were Cinderella's slippers made from? Squirrel fur (vair, squirrel fur, in French, was misunderstood by Charles Perrault, writer of the modern version, to be verre, glass)
- What is the main ingredient of a mince pie? Fruit
- From what type of creature is Bombay duck made? Fish (specifically a Bummalo fish)
- What colour is orange blossom? White
- According to the Bible how many (of each) sheep, cows and goats were taken onto Noah's Ark? Seven (or Fourteen - according to Genesis 7:2 God told Noah to take seven of each 'clean' animal, i.e., edible to Jews, 'the male and the female' - hence the uncertainty about seven or fourteen)
- Where did Panama hats originate? Ecuador
- What type of animal inspired the creation of Bugs Bunny, Brer Rabbit, and the Easter Bunny? Hare
- Where did tulips come from originally - specifically what (past) capital city and country exported the first tulips? Constantinople, now Istanbul, Turkey (Constantinople was effectively formally renamed Istanbul by Turkey in 1930; prior to which Ankara replaced Constantinople as Turkey's capital, during the Turkish War of Independence, 1919-23.)
- What type of building is a picture palace? Cinema (or theatre for showing films)
- What is the main fruit ingredient of the traditional (orange) Jaffa Cake biscuit? Apricot (apricot pulp)
- What type of creature is a prairie dog? Rodent
- What meat is hamburger made from? Beef
- How many people were in the band The Thompson Twins? Three
- What type of alcoholic drink is barley wine? Beer
- What is lava bread? Seaweed
- What is the main ingredient of the dish Welsh Rabbit? Cheese (melted cheese on toast - also called Welsh Rarebit, a later Welsh distortion of the original 'rabbit' name, which was an ironic reference to cheese being a poor man's meat or rabbit)
- What colour is the black box on a plane? Orange
- In what continent did camels first evolve? North America
- In what country was Canadian Club whiskey first distilled? USA (Detroit, in 1858 by American Hiram Walker using the brand Walker's Club Whiskey - he subsequently moved the business to Ontario where it was renamed in 1889.)
- What nation invented the kilt? Ireland
- What are toy marbles made from? Glass
- What is kitchen tin foil made from? Aluminium (US-English: Aluminum)
- What is the traditional main ingredient of mock-turtle soup? Calve's head (or calf foot or brains)
- How long was the 100 Years War? 116 years
- Who is the nude bow-carrying statue in London's Piccadilly Circus? Anteros (not Eros - Anteros was Eros' younger brother, representing reflective or returned mature love, whereas Eros historically represents 'intimate love', and desire.)
- What is the lead in a lead pencil made from? Graphite (or Carbon - graphite is a form of carbon)
- Who first devised the central relativity principle within Einstein's Theory of Relativity? Galileo (Galileo Galilei, in 1632 - the central relativity principle is, basically and loosely, that physical laws are constant within any system moving in a straight line regardless of speed or direction, meaning that there is no 'absolute' motion or rest, which is completely against our own natural impressions of motion, time and space, etc)
- What is the foodstuff head cheese made from? Meat
- In what month is the Munich Oktoberfest beer festival held? September
- What type of insect is a velvet ant? Wasp
- Catgut (for old musical instrument strings and tennis rackets, etc) was usually made from the intestines of which animal? Sheep (or goat)
- What type of creature is a horned toad? Lizard
- What is the liquid inside a coconut? Coconut water (coconut milk, popularly thought to be the liquid inside a coconut, is made from the flesh of the coconut)
- What colour are white grapes? Green
- Where does a busboy or busgirl work? Restaurant (it's a US term - a busboy/busgirl clears and cleans dirty dishes, and assists with other basic restaurant/kitchen duties)
- In what country was the game Chinese Checkers (or Chinese Chequers) invented? Germany (in 1892, called Stern-Halma, a variation of earlier American game Halma. Stern (German for star) refers to the star-shaped board. Halma has a square board. The name Chinese Checkers is American however - so 'America' is worth half a point. The Chinese Checkers name was introduced by the Pressman company in 1928, a revision of its earlier name Hop Ching Checkers, but the game itself was devised in Germany.)
- Where were the first modern Olympic Games held? Much Wenlock (Shropshire, England - in 1850 and annually for a while afterwards, inspiring the Athens Olympiad of 1896 and the Olympic movement)
- What was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's (original) middle name? Wolfgang (actually Wolfgangus - Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart)
- What creatures are the Canary Islands named after? Dogs (probably a reference to monk seals once found around the islands, whose Latin translation is 'sea dogs')
- In which month is the October Revolution celebrated in Russia? November
- What sort of fruit is a Chinese gooseberry? Kiwifruit (originated in China but renamed kiwifruit by growers/exporters in New Zealand)
- What colour is a (male) purple finch? Red (female is mostly brown)
- What type of insect is a Spanish fly? Beetle
- Arabic numerals originated in which country? India
- What are sticks of blackboard chalk made from? Gypsum (Calcium Sulphate)
- What country invented baseball? England
- What thumb signal was given by Roman emperors to call for the death of a gladiatorial contestant? Thumb-up (signifying a drawn sword - thumb clenched in fist signified a sheathed sword and that the contestant be spared - there is no evidence of a thumbs-down signal in Roman times - it likely arose due to a misinterpretation of the Latin 'pollice verso', meaning turned thumb - see other interesting body language meanings.)
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