Month of the Year: August Trivia Quiz

Answer: World War I

Barbara W. Tuchman wrote a popular history of the beginning of World War I from an academic perspective. Her effort resulted in her receipt of the Pulitzer for General Non-Fiction. While the scope of the book reaches both before and after, it centers on the events of August of 1914.

The book is of especial interest to those who wish to understand the decisions and errors which pitched the world into a long and costly war. In 1964, Nathan Kroll produced and directed a documentary based on "The Guns of August." Fritz Weaver narrated.

Answer: Burt Reynolds

"Dan August" ran on ABC 1970-1971 and on CBS 1973-1975. Episodes were also edited into several made-for-TV movies. Burt Reynolds played the lead opposite Norman Fell. The show was known for its many one-episode guest stars: Billy Dee Williams, Carolyn Jones, Dabney Coleman, David Soul, Diana Muldaur, Fernando Lamas, Fritz Weaver, Gary Busey, Harrison Ford, Jan-Michael Vincent, John Ritter, Larry Hagman, Martin Sheen, Mickey Rooney, Ricardo Montalbán, Richard Basehart, and Sal Mineo.

Answer: William Faulkner

Faulkner wrote "Light in August" in the Southern Gothic style but within the modernist literary genre. The setting is the interbellum of 1930s America. The story entwines the stories of a single pregnant white woman and a black man who passes for white. Scholars find a Christian allegory in this novel.

The typically Faulknerian theme of outcasts and misfits plays throughout. The work was unpopular with those groups portrayed as racist in it.

Answer: Italian, Portuguese, Spanish

"August" is also the Latin word for August. The Arabic word is "'aghustus," "elokuu" in Finnish, "août" in French, "Abuztua" in Basque, "Aukake" in Hawaiian, "Aogositra" in Malagasy, and "gusht" in Albanian. The Modern English "August" descends directly from the Latin "Augustus." This Latin borrowing displaced the Anglo-Saxon word "Weodmonað" which meant "weed month" ... fortunately.

Answer: 31

"Countdown" is a long story about the consequences of an event which instantly kills six billion people, leaving only teenagers to survive. Adults and small children are reduced to puddles of "black goo." Each of the twelve volumes tells of the aftermath in one month of 1999. Daniel Parker is the pen name of Daniel Ehrenhaft, who writes lots of children's and YA books.

Answer: the girl who was left behind

Taylor Swift wrote and performed "August" in 2020, along with songs called "Cardigan" and "Betty." The three songs tell the story of James, Betty and an unnamed female (who sings the song called "August.") James was in love with Betty but left her for a summer romance with the unnamed girl. "August" expresses the sadness and disappointment which results when James goes back to Betty at the end of the summer.

She concludes "But I can see us / Lost in the memory / August slipped away into a moment in time / 'Cause it was never mine."

Answer: post-WWII Okinawa

"The Teahouse of the August Moon" was a novel by John Patrick adapted to the stage by Vern Sneider. It became a motion picture and was then adapted as a Broadway musical in 1970. Written as a comedy, it touches upon sensitive issues of racism and gender. Following the defeat of Japan in World War II, an American army captain is assigned to Tobiki, a village on the island of Okinawa, as part of the occupation forces.

He sets out to "Americanize" the residents; he learns that sometimes one ought to take a "step backward in the right direction." [Your humble quiz author played the part of Sakini in a production of this play in Hakata, Japan, in 1970.]

Answer: John Updike

This poem may be best remembered for its last lines: "Some people leave / The local scene / And go to seaside / Bungalows / And take off nearly / All their clothes." Updike may be better known for his novels -- "Rabbit, Run" (1960), "Bech, a Book" (1970), "A Month of Sundays" (1975), and "In the Beauty of the Lilies" (1996) -- than his poetry.

He did, however, publish eight volumes of verse over his literary career.

Answer: peridot, spinel and sardonyx

Peridot is found in hardened lava and in meteorites. It is yellow-green, a variety of the mineral olivine. The Shrine of the Three Holy Kings in Cologne Cathedral is encrusted with 200 carats of peridot. The noun "peridot" derives from the Arabic "faridat" meaning a gem. There is a green "sand" beach on the Big Island of Hawai'i named Papakolea but popularly called Peridot Beach because it is made of volcanic peridot.

The noun "spinel" derives from the Latin "spina" meaning thorn. This is a reference to its crystalline nature. There are many colours of this gemstone. Spinel was confused with ruby for many centuries. What looks to be a huge ruby in Great Britain's Imperial State Crown is, in fact, a spinel.

The oldest August birthstone is sardonyx. It is a combination of two sorts of chalcedony called sard and onyx. Its colour is often displayed in bands. The stone is soft enough to be carved into cameos and intaglios. It was part of the breastplate worn by the High Priest described in the Old Testament (Exodus 28, 39).

Answer: Roman emperor Augustus Caesar

Only two months of the year were named by the Ancient Romans for historical people: July for Julius Caesar and August for Augustus Caesar (63 B.C.- A.D. 14). Augustus was Julius' grandnephew. "Augustus" was a Latin term meaning of high repute, venerable, respected, noble, impressive, and majestic. Now it is the home of a very lovely golf club.