Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. I am an American. Worse yet, I am a Californian. In 1974, an Arab told me about the wonders of Beirut by comparing it to Perth, Australia. He succeeded in convincing me that I must someday visit Perth. What does the area around Perth have that the area around Beirut does not?
2. Just when I thought I might finally get to go to Australia, we discovered Terry Pratchett. So now, instead of going to Perth, Australia, I must take my family to England for the Terry Pratchett Discworld Convention. What Discworld continent bears an uncanny resemblance to Australia?
3. Thirty years have passed since I decided that I would some day visit Australia, and the nearest I have come to Australia is Tahiti. In Tahiti, I encountered an Australian and a New Zealander who were aghast that I was unable to distinguish their origin based on their accents. "We say six, but they say six," the New Zealander insisted. He became still more offended when I could detect no difference between the two "sixes". Is New Zealand part of Australia?
4. The music teacher came to my fourth grade class once a week. We would take out our songbooks and move our lips. Some of the girls would even sing. She taught me the first things I ever learned about Australia that didn't involve Kangaroos. I was mystified that the "merry king of the bush" was sitting in a tree, and I was an adult before I realized the song was about a bird rather than a marsupial. What song did she teach us?
5. All the songs we sang in elementary school were either religious (shocking, I know) or patriotic - with two exceptions. Both exceptions were songs about Australia! The songs contained words whose meanings no American child could possibly know. I distinctly remember the music teacher explaining some of the words in "Waltzing Matilda" to us. I just as distinctly remember not listening. So, I looked one of the words up. Just what woolly, non-marsupial animal is a jumbuck, anyway?
6. Repeated surveys, dutifully reported by American newspapers, document the average American's woeful lack of geographic knowledge. (Many Americans remain ignorant of their ignorance because the survey results are placed, with intent to deceive, on the front page - far from the sports and comics sections that we average American's frequent.) Let me proudly state, however, that I have had to look up (almost) none of the geographic information featured on this quiz. In school, I was taught basic Australian geography. Which of the following was not taught to me? (Hint: It's wrong.)
7. Word of mouth is an important source of geographical information for Americans. I have checked out some of the Australian geographical information I have heard and found some of it to be untrue. Which of the following geographic "facts" is untrue?
8. Many more Americans visit Hawaii than Australia. Which of the following is NOT a plausible reason for this?
9. Musicians/groups that I love have turned out, on close inspection, to be Australian. Which of the following performer(s) is/are Australian?
10. I will prove that it is possible to be American and still know something truly trivial about Australia. Which of the following can be derived from eucalyptus leaves?
Source: Author
uglybird
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
minch before going online.
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