You are browsing the archive for america.

by John Nolan

US of Answers

December 3, 2012 in Quizzes

Here are the answers to the questions posed in the USA quiz post from the end of last week.

Well done to anyone who got all of them for you had a much tougher assignment than the teams in The King’s Head last week. On the night, each of the photos was shown on the big screen (as opposed to having a one-tenth share of an A4 page) and the year each of the musical tracks won its Grammy was also displayed as the song played.

Indeed, I was very lax in not including some extra information regarding question 5 in the sports picture round. It’s a photo of two NFL officials. What was I looking for, you probably wondered. What I actually asked in that case was: which of these officials is in charge?

Ok, with that out of the way, click on the more… to see the answers.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: , , , , , , , , No Comments »

by John Nolan

The USA quiz

November 29, 2012 in Quizzes

Apologies to all who were waiting on my report from the USA quiz I hosted in The King’s Head, Galway, on Monday night last.  I’ve been very busy at work this week, I’m afraid.  This work has born fruit with the launch yesterday of the Claremorris Community Radio iPhone app, which you can download for free on the Apple App Store.  It’ll come in handy on Thursday nights for After the Fact. 🙂

Right, so back to last Monday.  Firstly, I was delighted with the large crowd who turned up.  The main floor of the bar was full – indeed several late-arriving tables had to move upstairs and look down on the stage from the balcony.  As an aside, it’s a bit strange to have quiz-goers looking down on you as you ask the questions…

Most of the crowd were actual American citizens.  Indeed the winning team were a family on holiday from Detroit, Michigan.  Naturally, it shouldn’t be too surprising that people from the country on which the quiz was based would win but it was a close run thing.  I did try to introduce a little randomness to the questions (more on that in a minute) and also added some clues to the questions to aid the Irish people in the room.

I was subject to some light-hearted heckling throughout the night about my pronunciations.  I don’t think I was that bad but one table in particular seemed to have appointed themselves the pronunciation police.  Such examples of heinous error on my part included called the capital of Montana “Heleena” (as opposed to “Hellena”), calling Holyoke as “holly-yoke” (and not “hole-yoke”) and calling the explosive springs in Yellowstone “geezers” (they said it should have been “guy-zers”).  For the last one, I finally decided to test THEM out and asked for a show of hands for the correct form.  It finished about 60/40 for their version but that hardly made me such a language criminal, did it!?

The quiz featured two picture rounds (one about cowboys and one about US sport) and two audio rounds (‘Songs involving America’ and Grammy record of the year winners).  I’ve included one of each after the jump for you to try.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment »

by John Nolan

Next Monday night at The King’s Head

November 23, 2012 in Quizzes

Yes, I’m donning my quizmaster cape once again for a table quiz all about the good ol’ U. S. of A.

It’s taking place on Monday night next in The King’s Head in Galway.  Admission is just €20 for a team of four and all are welcome.

See ya then, y’all!

Tags: , , , , No Comments »

by John Nolan

Table Quizzin’ in the USA…nswers

February 21, 2011 in Culture, Quizzes

I’d like to thank Kevin Dillon for that great article on his experiences quizzing in Washington, DC.  Let’s hope his team have a good run in the upcoming eight-week tournament.  We’ll keep you up-to-date here on his progress.

While his post didn’t include a slew of questions, I think you’ll agree that they were quite hard.  No shame in missing them, at all.  For my own part, I only knew (i.e. guessed) the answer to one of them, #1.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: , , , , 1 Comment »

by John Nolan

Table Quizzin’ in the USA

February 18, 2011 in Culture

Here’s a guest blog from Kevin Dillon, an Irishman living in the USA, who emailed this week.

Last September I fled, for a while, from the harsh economic winds assailing Ireland, to Washington DC where I was quick to find the tradition of table quizzes (referred to as Trivia Night or Pub Quiz over here) alive and well in Irish pubs across the District.

However, there are some notable differences in quizzes on the American side of the pond. They tend to be shorter. Our regular haunt in James Hoban’s, DuPont Circle, on a Wednesday night is only 30 questions spread over four rounds with double points in the last two rounds. Insert American attention span joke here. The first two rounds cover general knowledge, the third round is music where you listen to a piece and answer the song and the band while the last round is film where a topic is chosen, such as Ridley Scott films, a quote read out and you have to answer what the movie is. I am quite enjoying this quiz although I would like an extra general knowledge round thrown in to lengthen it out just a bit.

This week’s quiz had some interesting general knowledge questions which we failed to get:

  1. What is the only country whose capital is an anagram of its former capital?
  2. Which band released the song Radio Active Man*? (Admittedly as young, hip professionals we should have got this)
  3. What Mr. Potato Head piece was removed in 1987?

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: , , , No Comments »

by John Nolan

US Presidents answers

January 20, 2009 in Quizzes

presidentofussealHere are the answers to the questions I posed in the US Presidents post.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: , , No Comments »

by John Nolan

US Presidents

January 20, 2009 in Quizzes

obama-posterIn honour of the day that’s in it, here’s a small quiz on the office of President of the United States of America.

No matter what you heard on QI, the official list of Presidents of the United States begins with George Washington, as he was the first president sworn into office following the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1789.

With that baseline fact declared, let’s begin.

  1. In percentage terms, how many Electoral College votes did George Washington receive when elected  in 1789?
  2. The playing of which song accompanies the President at almost every public appearance?
  3. The 2nd President, John Adams, and the 6th President, John Quincy Adams, were related. How?
  4. Quincy is one of only two presidents to remain in politics after their term. The other not only served in the Senate but is also one of only two presidents who have been impeached and is the most recent president who represented a party other than the Democrats or Republicans.  Name him.
  5. After Abraham Lincoln, one other president was assassinated in the 19th Century.  Who?
  6. Before John F. Kennedy, one other president was assassinated in the 20th Century.  Who?
  7. Who entered professional politics for the first time, becoming Governor of New Jersey, just two years before being elected president?
  8. How many times was Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president?
  9. Who is the most recent president to have served for a time without a Vice-President?
  10. Barack Obama’s is the 44th Presidency but how many men have actually been President?

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: , , No Comments »