Things I Hate Trivia Quiz

Answer: claustrophobia

A phobia is an irrational fear. Some of the most common are claustrophobia, acrophobia (fear of heights), ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), and thanatophobia (fear of death). By the way, taurophobia is the fear of bulls; homichlophobia is the fear of fog; and lachanophobia is the fear of vegetables. For the whole fun list, check out www.phobialist.com. (Unless you suffer from logizomechanophobia, the fear of computers... in which case I guess you wouldn't be here).

Answer: alliteration

Flashback to high school English! Alliteration is when you use the same sound or letter in a series of words. For example, if you opened a store called Diane's Delightful Doughnuts, you would be using alliteration.
An allusion is a reference to a famous person or event in either literature or real life. For example, "I crossed my own personal Rubicon last year" makes reference to an event that (you hope) your reader is familiar with.
Simile and metaphor are two of the most commonly used, and confused, literary devices. While they're both comparisons, the big hint here is the word "like" - if this word is used, you can be sure it's a simile. An example of a simile is this statement that I make to my dogs a lot: "This place is like a zoo". A metaphor, on the other hand, does not employ the word "like"; "This place is a pigsty".

Answer: Fear of Flying

Although she's best known for this 1973 blockbuster novel, Erica Jong has written many things, including seven other novels. "Fear of Flying", the story of Isadora Wing and her desire to fly free, inspired many women and has sold over 12 million copies.
Erica Jong has lectured all over the world and her works have been international bestsellers. Besides novels, she has written six volumes of poetry and nonfiction works such as "Fear of Fifty: A Midlife Memoir" and "The Devil at Large", a study of Henry Miller. Among her many awards are the 1998 United Nations Award for Excellence in Literature and the Deauville Award for Literary Excellence in France.
By the way, the technical term for fear of flying is aviophobia (or aviatophobia).

Answer: Yuma, Arizona

The southern Arizona city of Yuma holds the title of being the sunniest place in the world, with an average of 4,055 hours of sunshine each year (out of a possible 4,456 hours). Ranked by "Money" magazine as one of the top places to live in the United States, Yuma is one of America's fastest growing cities (is it any wonder why?). On the opposite end of the scale, the city of Chuuk, in the East Caroline Islands, gets 0 sunny days per year! By the way, the top ten coldest cities in the US are all in (surprise) Alaska.

Answer: The Who

Actually, this record has been broken several times since then, but Guinness stopped listing them because of people losing their hearing. So the British rock band "The Who" officially holds the record for the loudest concert ever, clocking in at 120 decibels. To give you an idea of how loud this is, normal conversation is 60 decibels; a subway train is 100; and a jackhammer is 105. 120 is considered the "threshold of pain", with 160 being the level at which your eardrum will be punctured (ouch!) Studies have shown that, not surprisingly, rock concerts could cause permanent hearing damage to attendees (to say nothing of the musicians).

Answer: cherry blossom

Studies have shown that red is the color that provokes the most physiological responses. It causes a rise in heartbeat and blood pressure, along with restlessness and nervous tension (I knew there was a good reason why I don't like it). Blue and green, on the other hand, are known to be calming colors, and for this reason are often used in hospitals or other places where people may be nervous (you know the "green room"?)

Answer: Asylum

The film "Asylum" featured several different stories written by Robert Bloch, author of "Psycho". One of the stories is about a mad doctor who makes little killer robot dolls, but no clowns. The 1990 movie "It", based on the King novel, features Pennywise the Clown, who many horror fans consider one of the scariest movie monsters.

In "Killjoy", teenagers are terrorized by- guess what- a killer clown named Killjoy. In "Camp Blood", a group camping in the woods is terrorized by... do I really have to tell you? One of my favorite horror movies is 1988's "Clownhouse", which I think is an excellent example of psychological horror. Until the end of the movie, only one character, a little boy, sees the killer clown, making the others think he's imagining things. In case you were wondering (and I know you were), the clinical term for fear of clowns is coulrophobia.

Answer: Rene Descartes

French philosopher and mathmetician Rene Descartes was born in Touraine, France, in 1596. His most famous quote is "I think, therefore I am". In 1637 he published a treatise called "La géométrie", in which he introduced the coordinate system of geometry that bears his name (Cartesian system). Descartes is said to have invented analytic geometry, as he was the first to use algebraic equations to describe spatial relationships.
There's one thing about Descartes that I totally agree with: he didn't believe in getting out of bed before 11:00 AM. In 1649, he
accepted an invitation from Sweden's Queen Christina to join her court and become her private tutor. Unfortunately for Rene, the queen insisted on starting her lessons at the ungodly hour of 5:00 AM. Descartes died of pneumonia on February 11, 1650, which was believed to have been caused by his getting up early and walking through the cold. See, getting up early CAN kill you!

Answer: taxidermist

Hooray for Clarence Birdseye! While he cannot be said to have actually invented the concept of frozen food, he became famous for developing and commercializing a method for quick-freezing food in convenient packages. Clarence, born in 1886 in Brooklyn, New York, was a taxidermist by trade and obviously did the cooking in his family (I hope he washed his hands first). Clarence wished that he could serve fresh food to his family year-round, and decided to capitalize on an idea that he had witnessed in the Arctic.

After noting that fish and meat that natives had preserved in barrels of frozen sea water stayed fresh, Clarence figured out that the secret to preserving the food was the rapid freezing in the extremely low temperatures that allowed food to stay fresh when cooked later.

In 1923, history was made when Clarence used flash-freezing to freeze food under high pressure and package it in waxed boxes. In 1929, he sold his patents for $22 million, and in 1930 the public was able to purchase vegetables, fruits, seafood, and meat under the tradename Birds Eye Frosted Foods.

Answer: the stock market crashed

On Monday, October 19, 1987, the worst stock market crash in history took place when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 508.32 and closed at a record-breaking low of 1,738.40 points. The 22.9 percent loss almost doubled the 12.82 percent loss of the 1929 crash. People who study these things believe that the 1987 was caused by a number of things, including the poor choices of portfolio insurance professionals and program trading. By the way, did you know there's a drink called a Black Monday? It's made with 1 ounce of dark rum, half an ounce of Black Sambuca, a teaspoon of cherry brandy, and half an ounce of lemon juice.

Answer: hot dogs

On Sunday, June 11, 1939, there was a picnic held with the typical American picnic fare of hot dogs, ham, turkey, cranberry jelly, salad, rolls, and strawberry shortcake. What was not typical was that the picnic was held at the Hyde Park residence of Franklin D. Roosevelt, thirty-second US President, and his wife Eleanor.

The guests were none other than King George VI of Great Britain and his wife, Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mum). Eleanor had planned the menu well in advance, and chose hot dogs because she wanted the visiting royalty to have a truly American dining experience.

However, as soon as the media got hold of the menu, which was featured on the front page of the "New York Times" (must have been a slow news day), the press had a field day.

The folksy and down-to-earth Mrs. Roosevelt was criticized for serving such plebian food to royalty. It was a reaction she had anticipated, as she had stated in her newspaper column, "My Day", several days before the picnic. However, Eleanor need not have worried; the King and Queen loved their first hot dogs, which were from Nathan's, the famous hot dog seller.

In fact, His Majesty enjoyed his "delightful hot-dog sandwich" so much that he asked for seconds. Aside from having good taste in food, Eleanor Roosevelt was an all-around awesome person. In 1905 she married Franklin, a distant cousin, being given away by her uncle Theodore Roosevelt, the current President. Eleanor was noted for her activity and enthusiasm, as well as her kind and generous nature and tireless devotion to causes she found important. She died in 1962, one of America's most beloved First Ladies.

Answer: 1275

Believe it or not, the substance we know as ether was discovered in 1275 by Spanish chemist Raymundus Lullius, who called it "sweet vitriol". It wasn't until about 1540, however, that Swiss physician Paracelsus discovered its hypnotic effects. In 1730 it was given the name "ether" by German scientist W.G. Frobenius, but still was not recognized for its anesthetic potential.

This would change in 1794 when the English physicians Richard Pearson and Thomas Beddoes came upon the idea to use it to make medical treatment less painful, and used it in the treatment of catarrhal fever, bladder calculus, and scurvy.

In 1842, ether was used for the first time as a surgical anesthetic by Dr. Crawford Long, when he used it to remove a tumor from a man's neck.

In 1846, Massachusetts physician Dr. William Morton began to experiment on himself and small animals using ether as an anesthesia. The first successful demonstration of ether anesthesia occurred at the Massachusetts General Hospital on October 16, 1846, when a Dr. Warren removed a congenital vascular malformation from a man's neck (after Morton had administered the ether).

The patient later commented, "I did not experience pain at any time, though I knew that the operation was proceeding." In 1847, Morton published the first article on the use of ether, titled "Remarks on the Proper Mode of Administering Sulphuric Ether by Inhalation." The first ether-assisted surgery is depicted in a painting by Robert Hinkley called, fittingly enough, "The First Operation with Ether". The painting, which would be fun to hang in your office if you're a dentist or doctor, was painted in 1893 in Paris, obviously some time after the actual event had occurred.

Answer: cigarette butts

Those disgusting little things known as cigarette butts constitute most of the world's litter. It is estimated that several trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide every year! Contrary to what some people believe, cigarette butts are NOT biodegradable, and may take decades to decompose, emitting toxic substances into the earth as they do so.

In addition, discarded cigarette butts have been known to start fires. For more information, check out www.cigarettelitter.org/index.asp?PageName=Home.

Answer: Pittsburgh Pirates

If you're a baseball nut, you would know this, as you would know that the team that won the first World Series no longer exists. The first World Series of baseball was held in 1903 between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Pilgrims. The Pilgrims won, four games to three.

The Pirates, of the National League, had a guy named Honus Wagner, who was a batting champion. (He's buried in Pittsburgh's Jefferson Memorial Park, if anyone's interested).

Answer: My Wife Ran Away With My Bloodhound

Believe it or not, all of these are actual song titles! I'm sorry, but I just can't appreciate a genre of music that produces such tunes as "My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink, And I Don't Love Jesus" and "You Done Tore Out My Heart And Stomped That Sucker Flat".
Before you think, "That miserable old Bullymom hates everything", there are many things that I love - especially laughing and learning, both of which I hope you did during this quiz!