What Was the Question Again? #2 Quiz

Answer: 42

Douglas Adams fans will recognize that question #2 is the title of the 3rd book in his "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series. The books started as a science fiction comedy for BBC radio in 1978.

On March 30, 1842, Dr. Crawford W. Long, American physician and pharmacist, used ether during an operation to remove a tumour from the neck of his patient, Mr. James M. Venable. Long County, Georgia, Emory University's Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, and The Crawford W. Long Museum in Jefferson, Georgia are named in his honour.

A few more facts about the number 42:
- it is the atomic number of molybdenum
- there are 42 laws in the game of cricket
- the age Elvis Presley died
- wolves and dogs have 42 teeth
- the movement number of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus
- Roman Emperor Caligula was assassinated in 42 A.D.

Answer: typewriter

Other words that can be typed using only the top row of keys include "pepperroot", "perpetuity", "proprietory", "repertoire", "repetitory", "protereotype", and "europe".

Sholes sold his patent (US 79,265) for $12,000 to Densmore and Yost, who, jointly with Remington & Sons of Ilion, New York, made the Sholes and Glidden Type-Writer; production of the first typewriter began on March 1, 1873. Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" is the first novel to be written on a typewriter.

Clarke's article, entitled "King Tut's Golden Typewriter" appeared in the Toronto Mail and Empire in c. 1922, soon after archaeologist Howard Carter announced the discovery of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

Answer: 1421

The book "1421" is subtitled "The Year China Discovered the World". Zheng He was a eunuch of the Ming Emperor Zhu Di, who charged Zheng He and his colleagues to sail the oceans of the world and establish relations with other civilizations.

Mehmed I (nicknamed "The Executioner") died on May 26 and was succeeded by his son Murad II. Mehmed I was the eventual victor of the Ottoman Interregnum ("Ottoman Triumvirate"), the civil war that broke out in Ottoman Empire in the 15th century; his victory was aided by his alliance with the Byzantium Empire. Mehmed's father, Beyazid I was defeated by the Mongol warlord Tamerlane in 1402.

During the St. Elizabeth flood (November 17 to 19), the coastal area near Dordrecht, The Netherlands, was flooded by an extremely high tide of the North Sea that killed about 10,000 people and affected 72 villages. November 17 is the name day of Hugary's St. Elisabeth.

Answer: worm

Worms are divided into many phyla, including: Acanthocephala (spiny-headed worms), Annelida (segmented worms), Nematoda (roundworms), and Platyhelminthes (flatworms). Many insect larvae (e.g. those of grubs and caterpillars) and some parasites (e.g. tapeworm) are also called worms.

Calvin's first-grade teacher Mrs. Wormwood was named after the nephew in C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters".

Wormholes are also known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge, an Einstein-Rosen-Podolsky bridge, and an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen bridge. The term "wormhole" is derived from the analogy of a worm eating through an apple.

Answer: SOB

"S.O.B." stands for "shortness of breath". If you see the term in medical reports, don't think that it is a personal remark on the patient.

"S.O.B." ("Standard Operational Bull***") stars Richard Mulligan and Julie Andrews, wife of Blake Edwards, and was William Holden's last role in a film. The film is based loosely on Blake's experience during the making of "Darling Lili" (1970). It was nominated for a Golden Globe and two Razzie Awards.

I avoided the other meaning of this acronym for obvious reasons, so I chose to use "sob story" instead.

Answer: Bartholomew

Bartholomew "Bart" Jo-Jo Simpson is voiced by Nancy Cartwright, who is also the voice for Chuckie Finster on "Rugrats" and Rufus the Naked Mole Rat in "Kim Possible".

St. Bartholomew is the patron saint of tanners and, along with St. Jude Thaddeus, is reputed to have brought Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century A.D.; both saints are patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church. In Michelangelo's "Last Judgment", St. Bartholomew is depicted with a knife in his right hand and his flayed skin hanging over his left arm. Incidentally, the face on the skin is the artist's self-portrait.

The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre on August 24, 1572 broke out in Paris when a Catholic mob attacked French Protestants (Huguenots), killing several Huguenot leaders; the violence was to continue for several months (ending on September 17) and extended into other towns, including Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lyon, and Orleans. The Massacre was instigated by Catherine de Medici, queen-mother of Charles IX, and a critical point in the French Wars of Religion (which began in the mid-1500s and was only resolved with the Edict of Nantes on April 13, 1598 that granted rights to the Huguenots). Catherine hated the influence of Admiral Coligny (a Huguenot) on her son Charles IX to wage war against Spain; an attempted assassination on Coligny failed, and Catherine used the massacre to cover-up her involvement in the failed assassination and to remove all other Huguenot leaders. Sadly, Pope Gregory XIII regarded the Massacre as a victory: the bells of Rome pealed for a day, a special commemorative medal was struck, and a mural was commissioned (painted by Giorgio Vasari).

Answer: Yahoo

Jonathan Swift wrote "Gulliver's Travels" as a parody of the travel books popular during his time and as a satire of the political climate pervading in eighteenth century London. The book was assigned to him in 1713 by Alexander Pope, a fellow member of the Scriblerus Club, a group of writers, statesmen, and professionals. One of the club's major projects was the publishing of a fictional volume of memoirs of the club's fictional mascot, Martin Scriblerus, who reflected the sociopolitical and intellectual attitudes of the times. Soon after starting the book, Swift's employers, the high-ranking political ministers Robert Harley, the Earl of Oxford, and Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, fell from power, and their demise forced Swift to move to Ireland. The book was finally published in 1726, although Scriblerus was replaced by Lemuel Gulliver as the protagonist.

Yahoo! was created by David Filo and Jerry Yang and is an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle"; the creators have stated that they took the idea of the term from Swift's novel.

Answer: COD

The first two acronyms stand for "cause of death" and "cash on delivery", respectively.

The "Concise Oxford Dictionary" is now into its 11th edition (2004), with 1708 pages and 240,000 entries. The "Oxford English Dictionary", proper, was originally a project of the Philological Society in London. After its conception in 1858 and a succession of editors, the first portion of the dictionary was published in 1884 and was called "A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles; Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philological Society". This first fascicle contained 352 pages, covering words from "A" to "Ant", and had 4,000 copies sold at 12 shillings and 6 pence (or $3.25 US). The full first edition, in several volumes, was finally published in 1928; 1933 saw the re-issue of the entire dictionary to include supplements to the first edition, and the 13-volumed dictionary was formally renamed the "Oxford English Dictionary". Ironically, the first edition of the COD had to write sections "S" to "Z" because the OED had not reached that stage at the time.

Some interesting facts about the OED: J.R.R. Tolkien, author of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, was once an employee, researching etymologies in the "waggle-to-warlock" range; William Shakespeare and George Eliot (pen name of Mary Ann Evans) are the most-quoted male and female authors, respectively; and "Cursor Mundi" is the most-quoted work.

Answer: Jack

Jack B. Nimble, Little Jack Horner, Jill's Jack, Jack Spratt, Jack-a-Nory are all well-known characters; there're, of course, that Jack that built that house and that Jack (Sprat) with the pets (dog and pig).

The most popular tune of the jack-in-the-box is "Pop Goes the Weasel", which is based on a nursery rhyme of the same name from the 17th century England. It is generally believed that the rhyme is a portrayal of poor workers in the East End of London. In Cockney rhyming slang, "weasel" means "coat" and "pop" means "to pawn" or "to redeem" -- thus, the rhyme describes workers spending all their wages on staples and drink and having to pawn their "Sunday best" clothing to survive until their next paycheck.

The flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, popularly known as the Union Jack, may have derived its name from the term "jack", which is "a small flag flown at the bow of a ship"; the more proper term is the "Union Flag". The flag's pattern, dating from January 1, 1801, is the combination of the flags originally used by England, Scotland, and Ireland: England's St. George's flag (red cross on white background), Scotland's (white saltire -- X-shaped cross of heraldry -- on blue background, representing St. Andrew), and Ireland's (red saltire cross on white background, representing St. Patrick). Interestingly, until 1908, the Union Flag was considered a royal flag and not a national flag.

The expression "to know jack squat" (or simply "to know jack") means "to know nothing".

Answer: Ides of March

The early Roman calendar was organized to revolve around three important days: Kalends, Nones, and Ides; Kalends corresponded to the 1st of the month, Nones to the 7th of March, May, July, and October and the 5th in the other months, and Ides to the 15th of March, May, July, and October and the 13th in the other months. The other days of each month were referred to in relation to these three days (i.e. in terms of how many days it preceded one of these three). For example, March 14 would have been denoted as I Ides or one day before March 15.

"My Fair Lady" opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York City and ran for 2717 performances. It is based on the George Bernard Shaw play "Pygmalion", which was based on the story by Roman poet Ovid about a lonely scultor, Pygmalion, who falls in love with his ivory sculpture and whose prayers to Venus are answered when the statue comes to life. Cecil Beaton was the costume designer for both the play and the 1964 film version.

"The Ides of March" were first formed in Berwyn, Illinois under the name "Shy Lads". Their song "Vehicle" reached the #2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970. Before breaking up, the band released 4 albums.


I was a bit hesitant to make this second quiz because finding interesting tidbits that had something in common has proved very difficult. Thanks for taking it!