Understatements Of The Century! Quiz

Answer: "Popular Mechanics" 1949

The full prediction is "Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons."

Answer: James Watson and Francis Crick, 1953

Rutherford was in charge of the experiments that described the atomic nucleus. Gallo claims to have discovered the AIDS virus (though French scientist Luc Montagnier has perhaps a better claim--he shared the Nobel Prize for the discovery of HIV). And Ash certainly discovered an interesting biological structure, but it ended up eating most of the cast. Crick and Watson posted their incredible understatement, regarding the discovery of the structure of DNA, in a letter to "Nature" magazine, and it changed the course of science.

Answer: Henry Morton Stanley

Stanley, upon coming upon one white man amid myriad black men, still didn't want to presume, thus this understated introduction. Challenger and Quatermain are fictional explorers (the creations of Doyle and Haggard, respectively) and Captain Cook is the European discoverer of the Hawaiian Islands.

Answer: Queen Victoria

This possibly-apocryphal statement by Queen Victoria may have been in response to a crude story by the Hon. Alexander Grantham Yorke, or perhaps to his imitation of her in a theatrical.

Answer: Mark Twain

In 1897, a reporter was dispatched to find out whether the news about Twain's death was true, and the writer responded with this classic understatement. There may have been some confusion because Twain's cousin was deathly ill at the time.

Answer: Kevin Spacey, winning an Academy Award

Kevin Spacey won for his performance in "American Beauty".

Answer: Sheriff in "Night of the Living Dead" (1968)

"All messed up" is a bit of an understatement, as the millions of zombies try to kill every human left on Earth.

Answer: Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 astronaut, 1970

Possibly the biggest understatement of all time, as one of the oxygen tanks in Apollo 13's service module had exploded, leaving the three astronauts (John Swigert and Fred Haise were the other two) to perform heroic repairs for three days in order to return to Earth safely.

Answer: "The Meaning of Life", 1983, in response to Death showing up at dinner

"The Meaning of Life" is, of course, by the irrepressible Monty Python's Flying Circus. Grim Reaper: Shut up, you American. You Americans, all you do is talk, and talk, and say "let me tell you something" and "I just wanna say." Well, you're dead now, so shut up.

Answer: "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", 1989

The Grail Knight, commenting on Donovan's choice of the wrong Grail, which led to his horrible death.