Quiz for people smarter than I

[jinian]

http://www.mindworkshop.com/cgi-bin/quiz
I guessed a lot (and fairly well).

33 questions right for 66%. Twelve points above average, whee!

Comments

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I got 41 correct, or 82%. But I dispute their account of the origins of "OK." It doesn't mesh with what I've seen elsewhere.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Yow. Go Rivka. The person who was gloating annoyingly elsewhere didn't get anywhere near that high. :)

I thought "OK" was still an unknown origin due to too many theories, so I picked one that looked familiar. The supposed right answer was kind of a weird one.

[jenett]

Oooh! Something handy for peoples with Medieval/Renaissance Studies degrees :)

I got a 70%

I disagree with their etymology of "Ok" too - and there's a couple of others I'm kicking myself over. But on the whole, very satisfying.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

History just doesn't stay in my head, I don't know why. Probably because I don't care about it at all.

Second-guessing myself turned out to be more harmful than helpful on that quiz, though it was both at different times.

[jenett]

I'm generally lousy with dates (I can usually pinpoint stuff that happened in the Classical/ Western European sort of history to the right century or two.

But the quiz happened to ask about the bits of history I'm particularly interested in, mostly, which helped quite a bit.

How I'm answering this quiz:

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Process of elimination... guess... guess... oh, I know that one! ... guess... no idea, I'll pick the story I like best... guess... well, duh, of course I know that one... guess...

Ooo! Egyptian history! I know this one! And I know the other answers, too. Yay Egyptian history! Yay jewelry making!

Dammit, I missed a question... d'oh, and it reset all the answers! Oh well, I'm off to go to the bank with Myles.

Incidentally, are you getting e-mail notification when people leave comments? I haven't had any for the last day or so, but I've been getting comments on posts. Nee!

Re: How I'm answering this quiz:

[jinian.livejournal.com]

There was a stretch of a good several questions in there where I said, "oh, okay, I guess I don't know any more of these..." but then there were more I knew. I'm mad about not reading carefully enough on one of them, too. Grump. :)

Yes, I am getting email notification. Are you getting one for this?

Re: How I'm answering this quiz:

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Nope. Bugger. Next, I'll check and make sure that I have the "send me email notifications" box is checked (though I'm virtually certain that I couldn't have unchecked it); verify that that email address is working (I'm pretty sure it is, I've recieved a couple of emails there meanwhile); then pass a message along to the ever-so-freaking-helpful LJ support people. Yee.

And now, off to read new friends entry stuff! Yee!

I did pretty well...

[(Anonymous)]

I got 76% correct, and I too dispute their ruling on "OK". Still, it's a fun kind of thing, and I enjoy those sorts of quizzes.

-- Misha (yes, I'm *that* Misha) :)

Re: I did pretty well...

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I did think it was an especially good quiz, and #14 pleased me greatly.
Hello, That Misha. You may consider yourself welcome in my journal.

Re: I did pretty well...

[rivka.livejournal.com]

*grin* Oooh, feel honored, Kylee. He's never commented in my journal.

a 32 here

[baxil.livejournal.com]

Second-guessing cost me about three points. *shrug* Only one of those, the first question, was one I'm kicking myself for, though. I should have known that.

I'm kind of surprised at how few people got the LSD question and the trinitrotoluene question correct. I thought those were common knowledge.

I'm also fairly surprised at how easy the questions that I had any knowledge about were ("lycanthropy" -- ha!), and how difficult the questions were where I was just guessing. The quiz author called it "not about trivia"; I disagree vehemently. It was a trivia quiz of the highest order.

[eub.livejournal.com]

Trivia quizzes that get their trivia wrong really chap my tits. For posterity,

LSD is not, as far as I know, found anywhere in nature. Ergot contains a variety of lysergic acid derivatives, but not lysergic acid diethylamide.

OK will remain "oll korrect" unless someone puts up a decent argument against Allan Walker Read. (Which some people have, but not for "och aye".)

The model for the Mona Lisa is disputed, as far as I know.

Spam is not an acronym for anything. According to Hormel via some newspaper (http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/01.29.98/dining1-9804.html),
The truth, according to Hormel historians, is that Spam is not an acronym at all. When the product was first put on the market, it was with the name Hormel Spiced Ham, and it soon had numerous competitors with similarly uncatchy names. On New Year's Eve 1937, a Hormel executive threw a party at which he offered a prize of $100 to the guest who could come up with the best name to set the luncheon meat apart from the others. It was the executive's brother, Phillip Daigneau, who came up with the most striking name simply by combining the words "spiced" and "ham."

There's an intriguing claim quoted in the OED, though:
1937 Squeal 1 July 1/2
In the last month Geo. A. Hormel & Co...launched the product Spam... The ‘think-up’ of the name [is] credited to Kenneth Daigneau, New York actor... Seems as if he had considered the word a good memorable trade-name for some time, had only waited for a product to attach it to.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Thank you.