Tough Trivia Questions from the Earliest Days Quiz

Answer: Twenty-four

You may wonder why the question asked for the modern version, because the Greek alphabet is exactly the same today as it was over two thousand years ago - but before its standardization as the Euclidean alphabet adopted around the year 400 BCE, there were many variants. The E and O sounds in particular were fixed in the Euclidean version to be represented by two letters each, distinguishing the short and long sound: epsilon and eta for E, and omicron and omega for O. The other three vowels, however, did not receive this distinction.

Had Eucleides opted not to add the omega, we'd probably be talking about "alpha and psi" today for the famous quote, which just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Adopter's note - this quiz originally predated the multiple choice format, so all answers were fill the blank type. This question was a good example of one that worked in the format - it accepted both the numeric and textual input. All I had to do here was to add some extra information (that feature was also not required early on and most really old quizzes don't have any).

Answer: Volume

Careful - while you can of course express volume in cubic inches, this is an entirely different thing from just inches. Inches, feet, miles and their metric equivalents measure distance along a single dimension. For an area (two dimensions) you need squared units and for the volume (three dimensions) cubic ones. This can be extended into the theoretical four- and higher-dimensional spaces, so a hepteract (a 7-dimensional cube) would have its hypervolume measured in inches to the seventh power.

Adopter's note: The original actually also asked a "not" question - in fill the blank format. This was of course essentially impossible to guess right even though a large number of answers were added as acceptable over time and the question had one of the lowest ever correct rates at just 4 percent. The original author was, by the way, thinking of the fourth dimension, which is only correct if you think of it in the context of time (one of the accepted answers) - a spatial fourth dimension would indeed be measured in normal inches.

Answer: Horvendil

Horvendil certainly sounds like he could fit right in with the "Lord of the Rings" elves that were used as wrong answers here, doesn't he? In fact, however, Horvendil, in various spellings, is a legendary character in the Edda whose toe was made into a star by Thor. In the original 12th/13th century source for "Hamlet", this was also the name of Hamlet's father; the change to make the father's name the same as the son's was only made by Shakespeare himself. This is seen as a literary device to bring father and son closer together.

Adopter's note: The old question asked about the final version of the name, but since the author wanted this quiz to be tough, I decided to make it a bit harder. Hopefully you recognized the Tolkien names and were able to solve it by elimination.

Answer: Fifteen

The square described is the smallest non-trivial magic square (the 1x1 square is considered trivial and there is no 2x2 magic square). Its row, columns and diagonals must add up to 15 as the nine digits (which add up to 45) are distributed over three rows, so for the sums to be equal, they must each be a third of 45. Magic squares exist for all sizes except 2. Squares with an odd side (3x3, 5x5, 7x7) can be constructed very easily: Begin by writing 1 in the top middle cell, then move diagonally down and right, wrapping around when you hit edges, until you would have to overwrite a number. At this point, move one step straight down, again with wrap-around and continue. The middle number will wind up in the central square and the last one in the middle of the bottom row.

Adopter's note: The original question called for the smallest number that would yield a total of over 200 when squared. As multiple choice, that isn't a really fun question, so I looked for a more interesting question that would also yield 15 as an answer.

Answer: Casino Royale

In 1954, "Casino Royale" (CBS Broadcasting) starred Barry Nelson as Bond, predating the first cinematic adaptation by eight years. It was directed by William H. Brown and written by Tony Ellis and Charles Bennett. Its run time was 50 minutes.

Altogether, "Casino Royale", Fleming's first Bond novel, was adapted for the screen three times, first in 1967's comedy release starring David Niven as Bond and finally, in 2006, as a full-length feature film with Daniel Craig in the titular role. All the wrong answers were also cinematic releases from the Craig era. "Casino Royale" (1954) is the only made-for television Bond movie.

Adopter's note: This question was almost fine as is - I just had to choose some wrong answers and add a bit more info; it seems some information had already been added by the author or an editor in a revision after the quiz went online.

Answer: Tightropes

The word funambulist is based on the Latin funis (rope) and ambulare (walk). While acrobatic balance acts can be performed on other platforms - including roller coaster tracks if you ensure there's no train coming - the term is specifically used only for tightrope acts and does not include slacklining.

The ropes or wires used in tightrope acts are not spun the usual way but typically involve a core twisted in one direction within a mantle twisted in the opposite direction. Using a normal rope would endanger the performer as the wire would slightly unwind itself under the weight of the artist, which would be the equivalent of trying a high wire act on an uncontrolledly rolling bar of steel. Having the opposite-direction windings prevents this and ensures the wire keeps the same side up at all times.

Adopter's note: This was another question that is interesting trivia but does not work well in "fill the blank" format. Even though the answer list had grown to almost a dozen options over time to include various terms as well as allowing singular and plural forms, when I played the quiz, my answer "ropes" was not covered.

Answer: Mice

While the "mus" in the word suggests the involvement of music or muses, in this case this is a false friend. Rather, the etymology is from Greek "mus", meaning mouse. There is also the alternative term "murophobia" for this condition. A fear of music would be called melophobia, a fear of walls would fall under the more general condition of claustrophobia, and a fear of mucus (or slime in general) would be called myxophobia.

Adopter's note: This question worked well in the original format, so the challenge was to keep it somewhat tricky by having plausible alternate solutions.

Answer: Farewell

Please do not use "sayonara" in Japan unless you actually do not expect (or wish) to see the person you just talked to again. Unlike its casual use as an English loanword, the original Japanese word does imply it's a final parting, so it should best be translated as "farewell" and not a mere "goodbye".

The proper way to say goodbye in Japan depends on the situation and sometimes also on the social status - for example an employee wishing to say goodbye at the end of the work day would use very different phrases depending on whether they say it to a superior, an equal or a subordinate.

Adopter's note: I toyed with the idea of keeping the original version of the question, asking in which language "sayonara" does mean goodbye and making the answer American English, but I am not the Evil Twin and also, the answer would not be completely correct as there are also final goodbyes - and, in those, a Japanese sayonara would still be appropriate.

Answer: Lurcher

There are over 30 named dog crossbreeds - not actual breeds with standards, but the products of unions between two recognized breeds that combine positive traits of both parent breeds and many of them have quite funny names. Most commonly, the names are built from the names of the parent breeds - a chorkie is a chihuahua / Yorkshire terrier, a schnoodle is schnauzer / poodle and peekapoo is Pekingese / poodle. The lurcher is an exception here, not only in name but also in the fact that it does not exactly specify the parent breeds - while the combination of greyhound and collie is most common, generally any sighthound crossed with a herding dog or terrier can be called a lurcher. Lurchers make excellent hunting dogs, combining the speed of the sighthound with the intelligence and trainability of the herding breed.

Adopter's note: Pretty much the original question here - all it took was to add some info and seek out some funny crossbreed names as wrong answers.

Answer: Ruby

The term "ruby" originally applied to several varieties of deep red gems, but today is only used for red varieties of the mineral corundum, an aluminum oxide that has a Mohs hardness of 9. Some famous rubies, such as the Black Prince's ruby are actually spinels (magnesium/aluminum oxides with a hardness of 8), but a large and deeply colored red spinel of gem quality will rival a true ruby of the same characteristics in value. Fire opals can also be very precious while garnets are usually grouped among semi-precious stones. Both have hardness similar to quartz - strong enough to withstand daily use in jewelry but far from the durability of a true ruby.

Adopter's note: The original question just referenced value which is slightly doubtful due to the existence of some priceless red spinels, even though true rubies are usually considered second only to diamonds in prestige. The hardness mention makes it unique.