Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Although noted Finnish architect Eero Saarinen did design one of the most famous terminals at Idlewild/JFK airport, its home situs, Jamaica, Queens, is a decidedly poor place to find good gravlax or a movie about a kid whose mother is dying of tuberculosis. What non-Scandinavian ethnic group, which is decidedly more concerned with cricket than with ice hockey or speed skating, has flocked to Jamaica, Queens en masse in the last 20 or so years?
2. Though the Boro Park neighborhood in Brooklyn is inhabited to a great extent by persons of European descent who speak a Germanic-derived language and use an alphabet somewhat unusual to many native English-speakers, much of the Scandinavian diet would presumably be forbidden to these people, and a Lutheran Church would be the last place one would try to find them. Who are they?
3. Though Greenpoint, at the northern end of Brooklyn, is inhabited almost entirely by blond, blue-eyed Northern Europeans, the Greenpointers are noted for their high cheekbones, their love of such dishes as bigos, kielbasa and pierogies, and their use of a Slavic language which occasionally has slashes through the letter "L" but not through the letter "O". Who are these ubiquitous and successful non-descendants of the Vikings?
4. Another one of the rare non-Scandinavian parts of New York City is on the East Side of Manhattan, north of 96th Street. Often known as "el barrio", and distinguished by its numerous bodegas-- and its notorious lack of good skiing facilities-- this neighborhood is known for its often fast and happy music, rather than for mournful folk tunes in minor keys. Its inhabitants speak a common Romance language rather than an obscure Finno-Ugric one. What is the name of this neighborhood?
5. A gorgeous row of brownstones on W. 139th St. in the Harlem section of Manhattan was built by Non-Scandinavian architect Stanford White... and NOT by such Finnish masters as Eliel Saarinen or Alvar Aalto. Famous exponents of such non-Scandinavian art forms as "blues" and "ragtime" (such as W.C. Handy and Eubie Blake) lived there. What is the nickname of this famously non-Norwegian block?
6. This well-beloved park, which is surrounded by New York University, is famous not only for its felafel peddlers and "poor man's Arc De Triomphe", but also for its southwestern corner, where chess wizards abound. While many compelling chess games have taken place here, none of them(so far as I know) have ever been contested against Death. What is the name of this decidedly non-Bergmanesque piece of Greenwich Village?
7. Very few if any Scandinavians can be found residing on or near Hazen St. in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York, a remote spot near LaGuardia Airport. Although Hazen Street itself is-- somewhat like Helsinki-- rather orderly and quiet, even dull, and is, like many places in Scandinavia, on an island, it is not now and has never been under the jurisdiction of Denmark or Sweden. Where more specifically is Hazen Street located?
8. Thought by many to have been New York's greatest mayor, this pugnacious and notoriously incorruptible little man was in no way descended from the people of the Danelaw, but rather was of decidedly non-Nordic Italian-Jewish ancestry. He was famous for reading the funny papers (and NOT Karen Blixen books about farms at the foot of the Ngong Hills) on the radio. A wonderful statue of him can be found just north of Bleecker St., near NYU. Who was this much-beloved non-Swedish civil servant?
9. Although the organization housed in this gigantic building on New York's East Side has been derided by some as a collecting ground for finger-wagging, bleeding-heart, anti-capitalist hand-wringers (somewhat like certain Scandinavian countries), and in fact was presided over in its early days by the admittedly Swedish Dag Hammarskjold, its modern Secretary-Generals have not been from anywhere near Uppsala. What is this organization?
10. Although this famous beach does have a boardwalk on one side and a body of water on the other, to my knowledge no famous painting of it depicts a screaming figure against a sickly orange-red sky, and indeed Edvard Munch is not known ever to have visited the place. Indeed many of the people who stroll the Boardwalk now are from the decidedly un-Swedish city of Odessa, which is on the Black rather than the North Sea. What is the name of this beach?
Source: Author
coolupway
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
minch before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
