Are You a Genius? V Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party, occurring on the night of December 16, 1773, was a seminal event in the history of the United States. On that night, several dozen citizens of Boston made their way down to Griffith's Wharf where three English tea boats, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver, were docked.

The entire cargo of each ship was emptied into Boston Harbor as the evening proceeded in a surprising act of rebellion against what they viewed as unfair taxation. The American Revolution would soon after commence...

Answer: Lapiths

The story of the Centaurs and the Lapiths is told in 'The Centauromachy'. The Lapiths and Centaurs had a common origin, but went to war when the Centaurs made off with the Lapith women...a war won by the Lapiths. Beautiful examples of this battle can be found along the Metopes of the Parthenon (most of which are in the British Museum).

Answer: Prolix

It's pretty clear that the verbiage in that sentence was excessive, it really meanders everywhere doesn't it? Certainly then, the sentence could be accused of being 'prolix', which means 'excessively wordy'. As for mesmerizing, meaning 'interesting', heavens no! Pulchritudinous, meaning 'beautiful'...goodness gracious, I should say not! And 'laconic', which means 'in few words'...surely you jest!

Answer: Sardine

The word 'pelagic' means 'in the open sea', where among the selected fish only the sardine flourish. The other three fish are found in fresh water, typically in rivers or lakes. What they all have in common...delicious!

Answer: Fusilli

Fusilli are corkscrew shaped, sometimes with a single strand and sometimes two strands intertwined. Spaghetti and linguine, well heck...everyone knows what they are! Capellini is another name for 'angel hair' (capelli d'Angelo) pasta, a very thin version of spaghetti. What they have in common, you guessed it...also delicious!

Answer: Charles Dickens

This quote, which continues, "it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known" was made immortal by the pen of Charles Dickens. It was said in the book 'A Tale of Two Cities' by the character Sydney Carton, who sacrifices himself for Charles Darnay.

Answer: Willy Loman

Willy Loman is, of course, the main character from Arthur Miller's play 'Death of a Salesman', a pretty pathetic individual. Walter Mitty is a Thurber character who fantasizes about a more exciting life. Dorian Gray is from the pages of Oscar Wilde, a man who gives up his soul for eternal youth. Fitzgerald's Gatsby is just a creepy, self-absorbed millionaire...

Answer: Catherine the Great

The Winter Palace of Catherine the Great was built in the mid 1760s, and housed her enormous art collection which totaled approximately 4,000 paintings at her death. After the original building was damaged by fire, a new one was constructed under the supervision of German architect Leo von Klenze and opened under Czar Nicholas I.

The Hermitage now contains one of the world's most important art collections.

Answer: Russia

Really now, could there have been another choice? The Russia Federation measures a total of nearly 6.6 million sq. miles (about 17 million sq. kilometers) with the second largest being Kazakhstan at 1.05 million sq. miles (about 2.7 sq. kilometers). No competition, really...all of the other former Soviet Socialist Republics combined are not even a third as big as Russia, which is still the largest country in the world by area.

Answer: There is no Southern pole star

The southern sky unfortunately is not endowed with a pole star of comparative position and brightness to Polaris. The closest visible star to the south pole is called Sigma Octantus, which lies within the constellation Octans (The Octant). It is nowhere near as close to the pole, or as bright as Polaris. Thank you for attempting this quiz...if you enjoyed it, there are others just like it (and other 'dangerous' general mixes by yours truly!)