The Gnome and Gnothing But the Gnome Quiz

Answer: gnomes live underground

Gnomes are described as being small in stature and living underground. They are often likened to dwarves and trolls. Gnomes live to be about 400 years old, have grey beards, are very hardworking and are said to have seven times the strength of a man. The female gnomes give birth only to twins.

Answer: treasure

Gnomes are said to hoard secret knowledge as well as hidden treasures. Mythologically speaking, there are several types of gnomes. These are Forest or Woodland gnomes, Garden gnomes, Dune gnomes, House gnomes, Farm gnomes and Siberian gnomes.

Answer: Germany

The first garden gnomes were made from clay in Thuringia, Germany in the 1800s. They were first introduced to England by Sir Charles Isham in the mid 1800s, when he brought 21 of them home from a visit to Germany and placed them around his gardens. I received my first gnome (called Heinzelmaennchen or Gartenzwerge in Germany) while visiting relatives in Munich in the late 1970s.

Many of my birthday cards as a child featured heinzelmaennchen having picnics and generally frolicking about. Gnomes are considered to be good luck charms, and are usually either loved or hated. I asked a co-worker if she liked garden gnomes and she replied that they scare her.

Answer: pointy hats

The cap is usually, but not always, red. Garden gnomes are usually dressed in bright-colored clothing, and often have tools of some sort. I have one gnome on a swing hanging from the branch of a tulip tree. The rest of my gnomes, including a couple of them playing chess on a toadstool, are in the garden with the flowers. Gnomes are usually made from clay, plaster, cement, plastic or resin.

Answer: True

Gnome-napping has been going on since the 80s in Australia and Europe, and seems to be on the rise in America. The gnome is taken on vacation with someone, and the gnome owner usually receives photos of the gnome enjoying his holiday. The gnome eventually returns home.

Others, however, such as the Gnome Liberation Front, are only interested in taking the gnomes so that they can be returned to the wild because they're tired of being in captivity (see also freethegnomes.com).

Answer: The Full Monty

Gerald is the former boss of Gaz and Dave, but they have all been laid off. They all attend a job club, but Gerald is the only one who is seriously looking for a job. After Gaz and Dave collect several people to put on a strip show with them, they ask Gerald to teach them how to dance, but he refuses. Gerald hasn't told his wife he lost his job, so he has a lot riding on this job interview. Gaz and Dave go to Gerald's house as he's leaving for the interview, and they follow him, with one of Gerald's gnomes.

Their antics with the gnome in a window cause Gerald to lose the job, and they end up breaking the gnome. They feel bad and glue it back together, and Gerald finally agrees to teach them how to dance, since he doesn't have anything else to do with his time.

Another instance of gnome-napping occurred in the movie "Amelie". The lead character stole one of her father's garden gnomes and sent it around the world with a stewardess friend.

Answer: underpants

Entitled "Gnomes (Underpants Gnomes)", the episode featured a group of underground gnomes with a three-part business plan involving underpants. Part one is stealing the underpants, and part three is making a profit. None of the gnomes know what the second part is, they just all assume that someone else knows.

Answer: True

The GNOME project was begun in 1997 with the goal of having a graphical user interface which made using Unix/Linux/GNU operating systems easy for the non-technical user. The first major GNOME (GNU Object Model Environment) release was in 1999. Applications which are part of the GNOME software include Abiword (word processor), The Gimp (image editor) and Gnumeric (spreadsheet). GNOME is open-source software, which means it's free.

Answer: Travelocity

The Travelocity campaign began as what appeared to be an ad by a guy named Bill who was looking for his missing garden gnome in December 2003. Various Travelocity ads have aired since, showing the Roaming Gnome travelling around the world. He has been pictured in a hot tub, stuck in a hotel room with two amorous people, insisting that there's no difference between electrical outlets in Europe and America, and driving a double-decker bus.

Answer: bankers

This nickname was used in 1964 during the Sterling crisis in Great Britain, to refer to the secrecy and financial speculations of Swiss bankers. The phrase was coined by Harold Wilson, Britain's Prime Minister at the time. Gnomes of Zurich is also the name of a Minneapolis-based band who released an album entitled "33rd Degree Burns" in 1997.