We don't need no capital letters1 Online Quiz | People

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Gloria Jean Watkins was an author, feminist, and social activist who was better known by her pseudonym, which contains no capital letters. By what name was she known?

Answer: bell hooks

Gloria Jean Watson chose her nom de plume from her grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks. She chose to use her grandmother's name since she admired her. She chose lowercase letters for the name so as not to be compared to her grandmother, and to prove the material in the books she writes is what is important, not the name.

Her writings center around race, capitalism, and gender, and how they interconnect. Her works include "Ain't I a Woman?: Black Women and Feminism" and "We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity".

2. Named one of the most influential women in technology, this social media scholar tended to use a name without any capital letters. She co-authored the book "Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media". Who was she?

Answer: danah boyd

Danah Michele Mattas, known as danah boyd, was a social media researcher who won many awards for her work. "Fast Company" named her one of the most influential women in technology, "Fortune" named her the smartest academic in the technology field, and in 2012 she was included in the Top 100 Global Thinkers by "Foreign Policy".

3. This woman, a cultural critic and filmmaker, and a coauthor with Jay-Z for his best-selling book "Decoded". What was her name?

Answer: dream hampton

dream hampton wrote her name in lowercase in honor of bell hooks. She has directed several works and music videos, including "Behind the Music: Notorious B.I.G." and "I Am Ali". Not only was dream hampton a coauthor of "Decoded", she was also the ghostwriter for Jay-Z in the making of the book "New York Times" best seller.

4. This Canadian poet was famous for his anti-conventional style. Works of his included "Awake in th red desert!" and "ths is erth, thees ar peopul". Who was the poet?

Answer: bill bissett

William Frederick Bissett, known better as bill bissett, was a noted Canadian poet well known for his unique orthography; evident in the titles of his works. He has written much in the world of poetry, including "Living with the vishyun", "Space travl", and "Hard 2 beleev".

5. The publisher and editor of "The Perl Review" chose not to use capital letters in his name. He has also written and cowritten several books about Perl, including one known as the "llama book". Who was it?

Answer: brian d foy

brian d foy has written much about the Perl programming language. He published and edited for "The Perl Review", an entire magazine about the Perl language. He was also the co-author of many books dedicated to Perl, including "Learning Perl", often known as the "llama book". Another, "Programming Perl" is also called "Camel Book".

6. "Tulips and Chimneys" and "is 5" are works of poetry written by someone who prefers to use lowercase letters in their name. Which of these authors is well known for having a name with no capitals?

Answer: e e cummings

e e cummings has won numerous awards for excellence in poetry, including the Bollingen Prize and Dial Award. Though he has been known as having his name written without capitalization or punctuation, it was not originally his choice. His publishers, as well as others, thought it was a good idea to match his name with his unorthodox writing style.

While cummings would himself sign his name in lowercase, he mostly used the conventional capitalization for his own name.

7. Even multi-Grammy Award winning singers sometimes write their name without capital letters. This singer, with her song "Constant Craving" on the album "Ingenue", is one such artist. Who is it?

Answer: k.d. lang

k.d. lang released her album "Ingenue" in 1992, which was nominated for five Grammy Awards (the song "Constant Craving" won one of these). Besides having a successful singing career, lang was an animal rights and gay rights activist.

8. This man was a historian and curator, and his last name contains no capital letters (well, actually, the lowercase double-f is simply an unusual British English way of writing a capital F, in this case). He wrote about armor and medieval arms. His name was Charles John, but what was his last name?

Answer: ffoulkes

Charles John ffoulkes wrote several books about medieval arms and armor, including "The Armourer and his Craft" and "The 'Darndanelles' Gun at the Tower". He became the Curator of the Royal Armouries in 1913, selected by his predecessor Harold Arthur Lee-Dillon.

9. In 1798, a title was created for the Peerage of Ireland. The title contains a lowercase double 'f'. What was the title from the County of Galway?

Answer: ffrench

The ffrench title for the Castle ffrench in the County of Galway was created in 1798 for Rose, Lady ffrench. Sir Charles ffrench was the first ffrench Baronet, of Castle ffrench in County Galway. Of course, the ff in this title is an unusual British English way used in some names to represent a capital F.

10. Sir Arthur Frederick Brownlow was the headmaster of Rugby School until he became the chairman of the BBC. His last name is yet another lowercase double 'f' name. What was it?

Answer: fforde

Arthur fforde went to school at Rugby School, and became headmaster in 1948. In 1957, he left that position to become the chairman of the BBC. He retired in 1964 due to ill-health. He also helped establish the Unit Trust. fforde has the lowercase double-f at the beginning of his name; this is an unusual British English way used to represent the capital F in proper names.

Source: Author salami_swami

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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We don't need no capital letters1 Quiz

Sometimes, people feel there is no use for capital letters in their name (like me and my quiz title) - be it their real name or a pseudonym. Here are ten.

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