January 26 Trivia

Team Doorhinges has another strong showing this week, finishing third out of ten teams. We answered 16 of the first 17 questions correctly…though two other teams did at least as well. Joel and Will broke away from Charles’ birthday celebration, but we’ve lost Kevin to soccer. This week he missed no Disney questions.

COLOR: How many colors are in a rainbow? Joel was pretty sure it was SEVEN. Three points.

SPORTS: The world’s largest one day sporting event is held in Indiana. What is it? Hoping it wasn’t the Super Bowl, I said the INDIANAPOLIS 500. Five points.

GEOGRAPHY: The US and Canada share the world’s largest body of fresh water. What is it? I knew: LAKE SUPERIOS. One point.

MOVIES: What world-famous movie was set in Georgia in the 1860’s? My third straight answer: GONE WITH THE WIND. Five points.

NATURE: A RED SNAPPER is what kind of animal? After a discussion, Joel answered a FISH. One point.

GAMES: In Scrabble, how many points are given as a bonus for using all seven letters? Joel jotted down ten…or twenty…or FIFTY. I confirmed the correct answer. Three points.

AMERICA: Erin spoke it like G. W. Bush. Which state capital is nicknamed the “Mile High City?” Both Joel and I knew: DENVER. Five points.

FAMOUS PEOPLE: Which actress played a leading role in The Stepmom, Dead Men Walking, and Rocky Horror? Will and Joel looked to me. I didn’t remember the name of the Jennifer Lopez movie where Jane Fonda played the Monster in Law, and had never heard of her being in Rocky Horror. I would never have thought of SUSAN SARANDON. A one point miss.

COFFEE: “Land of a Thousand Hills” is the nickname for what African Country? Joel immediately knew: RWANDA.

HALFTIME: Name the state of these capital cities: Lansing, Helena, Harrisburg, Dover, and Frankfurt. Joel immediately answered: Michigan, Montana, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Kentucky. We were just one point behind three teams with perfect scores: Bama, the Puritans, and My Couch Pulls Out. Will and Joel were beginning to pay more attention to their ongoing paper football game than the trivia. One time I had to remind them to turn in an answer.

LITERATURE: Which American author wrote Tender Is the Night, The Last Tycoon, and The Great Gatsby? Joel knew: F. SCOTT FITZGERALD. Six points.

GEORGIA: In Warm Springs, what US President built the “Little White House”? I knew: FDR. Four points.

SCIENCE: What does an ornithologist study? I knew: BIRDS. Two points.

HISTORY: Who led the Spanish army to victory over the Aztecs? Joel wasn't sure. I doodled “Bolivar” and Joel said no. Next I wrote “CORTEZ” and Joel said yes. Four points.

POETRY (Erin’s favorite category): How many lines are in each verse of a limerick? Joel almost answered four, but at the last second Will talked him into the right answer: FIVE. Two points. I busied myself writing a limerick. Another team turned one in first, using the same first line as me. A third team’s limerick was more like a haiku. Mine garnered scattered chuckles…

There once was a girl named Erin

Whose trivia was far from over-bearin’

Some questions are hard…

…one was about the Bard.

By the end of the night I’m usually swearin’

I was surprised that neither Erin nor Joel knew Shakespeare’s nickname. Perhaps I should’ve mentioned her red cowboy boots, or turned in the Pelican limerick (a favorite of Joel’s dad)…

An amazing bird is the pelican.

His bill and hold more than his belly can.

Food for a week he can hold in his beak

but I’m damned if I know how the hell he can!

When Erin mentioned a funny answer: “An octopus doesn’t have a heart”, it gave me a chance to add in my joke: “Well, the octopus that just broke up with ME sure didn’t have a heart!” Joel was the only one to laugh. Good kid.

OUTER SPACE: Which planet is closest in size to our moon? We discussed it a little, after making sure Will and Joel knew the question was moon, not earth. We guessed correctly: MERCURY. Six Points. Two teams were still perfect: Bama and My Couch.

ANIMALS: How many hearts does an octopus have? As soon as Erin asked the question, I looked at Joel and blurted out: “You should know…you dissected one!” I thought of another joke, but stayed quiet while the boys thought. Joel thought five, but Will answered THREE. Had Kevin been there, we might’ve felt strongly enough to wager six points. Instead we wagered two. In the end, it didn’t matter.

1990’s: In the TV show “Clarissa Explains It All”, what term of endearment does Clarissa’s dad Michael, an architect, call his daughter? We had no idea. SPORT was the answer. A four point miss. Fortunately, no other team knew, either.

FAMOUS PEOPLE: According to the book “Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness” how many nose jobs did Michael have? I guessed five. It was six. A six point miss. Going into the final question, we were two points behind the two leading teams.

FINAL: Name the five most widely spoken languages…based on how many countries that have declared that language its official language. During our discussion, Joel went with two of my suggestions: Afrikaans and Arabic. He had to leave out French, which worried Will. We got four of five correct, adding twelve points to our total. In order: ENGLISH, FRENCH, ARABIC, SPANISH, and PORTUGESE. Our 72 points placed us third. Bama won again.

Between questions Erin featured music from Georgia artists; James Brown, Otis Redding, Usher, the Black Crowes, Outcast, Elton John, Kanye West, Stevie Wonder, Montreal, John Mayer, the B-52’s, the Allman Brothers, and others. But no REM. Probably before her time.