Just FYI:: Greek sovereign land includes 6,000 islands and islets scattered in the Aegean and Ionian Seas, of which only 227 islands are inhabited. This is a truly unique phenomenon for the European continent.
I wonder. My guess would be that Greece has the greatest number of inhabited islands in Europe, but other countries may have more total islands. Norway seems like an obvious candidate.
Finland probably has the most islands in Europe. Sweden and Norway also have tens, if not hundreds of thousands of islands. All depends on what you call an island though, which is really not straightforward, but by any measure those three countries have many more than Greece.
The Åland Islands archipelago alone - an autonomous region of Finland, in the Baltic Sea - has around 6500 islands and islets, of which only 65 are inhabited. Finland has a crapload of islands.
I just looked up the area in Google Maps - incredible. at a zoomed-out level it looks like a few islands, zoom in a bit and more appear, zoom in closer and there are islands *everywhere*!
As of 2023, New York and California have the most Muslims.
Illinois has the highest percentages of Muslims at 3.7% trailed by New York at 3.6%.
Michigan ranks 5th by percentage and 6th in overall number.
Michigan does have the only Muslim-majority city in the United States – Hamtramck – which recently banned the gay pride flag from appearing on city property.
That seems surprising to me. I wonder if despite Michigan having such a large Middle Eastern population, many of those are non-Muslims (e.g. Lebanese Maronites, Assyrian refugees, etc.)
How would you reword the clue in under ten words? 70% of quiz takers got it correct. There is a comments section to state opinions, clarifications or grievances, or yes, promote propaganda, in which case I hope you check back and call them out on it. For the most part I have no problem with oversimplification. (Many of my own comments could use a good dose of it, including this one.)
Cyprus isn't a Greek island, though. Calling a Greek island implies that it is under control of the Greek government when it is not. You could say Eastern Mediterranean island or culturally Greek island.
Governments do not generally control food dishes, though they do, on occasion, control areas of land. Calling a Cyprus a "Greek island" does not necessarily mean it is part of the nation of Greece, but it is by no means unreasonable for the phrase to be interpreted in that way. At best, it would create an unnecessary ambiguity in the clue. Most likely, it would be positively misleading. Personally, given that clue, I would run through the admittedly short list of islands in Greece that I know, and when none of them worked, conclude that the answer is one of the many others I don't know.
If "Greek islands" includes Cyprus, how do you refer to just the islands that the are part of the nation of Greece? "The islands that are a part of the nation of Greece" seems rather a mouthful.
Obviously you'd just say islands of Greece, no need to overcomplicate. Because Greece is a country whereas Greek is both a demonym and an ethnic signifier so Greek can apply to things unaffiliated with the country but with the ethnic group, like Cyprus.
How about "the only country with a politically divided capital"? 8 words. I thoroughly agree with all who have taken issue with this question. To say that Cyprus is divided into Greek and Turkish factions is ridiculous. Before the invention of so called Northern Cyprus, Cyprus was a country that both Greece and Turkey were supposed to protect as one united island
Well, for one, you'll confuse Quizmaster, who mistakenly believes that Cyprus isn't in Asia.
Also, it doesn't really seem fair to put Cypriots trying to live legally in Cyprus on the same level as Turkey illegally occupying half that island in defiance of international law and colonizing it with people from Anatolia. I get that there's more to the History of the place, but, in a very short summary, that's what's happening there!
Half of the streets, bridges, and airports of France are named "Charles de Gaulle", so people often tend to call things by their former name. "Place Charles de Gaulle" in Paris remains more commonly referred to as "place de l'Etoile", even by people who wouldn't be born for decades when the name change was made.
I know people are petty on here (or rather just make finicky little points to show how bloody clever they are) but that was a two year argument! And I would bet that everyone involved got the answer right. Is there a Wikipedia article for “Outrageous Bore?”
@richiesyxx, there are many discussions in Jetpunk comment sections that span multiple years. That doesn't make them "petty", it simply reflects the way that people use this site.
They shouldn't really count as anything - least of all "sovereign". The main (and only) road to the west of the island, including Paphos, goes right through it, and if you didn't check on your GPS for fun, you'd never know it. Hilariously, the bases also use the Euro as their official currency - just wait until the Brexiters find out about that!
The question "What ethnic group has its homeland in northeast Spain and southwest France?" is ambiguous, Catalans fit the descriptions as well as Basques.
Basques and Catalans are totally different. Catalan is a Romance language related to Spanish, Galician, and French (among many others) while Basque is related to nothing. The Catalan community is on the Mediterranean coast around Barcelona and Andorra while the Basque community is on the Bay of Biscay. Culturally, linguistically, and ethnically the two groups are very different.
More to the point, is the Basque Country even "northeast" in Spain? I'll grant it's more east than west, but I'd definitely call that just "northern" Spain.
Google describes it as "Basque Country (Euskadi) is an autonomous community in northern Spain" (and Navarra (Navarre) is a geographically diverse region in northern Spain). Not sure which bit is northeast - the tiny enclaves in Aragon?
Cyprus is not divided by any ethnic functions, at least legally speaking. The south is the Republic of Cyprus, the other is the occupied part of that Republic by US's handy man in the ME, Turkey.
Just took this quiz again, and seriously - Trinidad is absolutely not "typically counted as part of North America"! This is seriously weird for anyone with a remote understanding of South America or the Caribbean, or indeed for anyone with a remote understanding of North America!
"What island country lies less than 20km from the coast of Venezuela?" would be a much better clue.
I agree on the count that it is weird for people who are knowledgeable about the topic, but it does seem to be the consensus. It's the standard on Wikipedia as well, for example, so I would not agree that it is a belief specific to QM.
On a similar note, it's just as strange to include Barbados as a Caribbean island country, but it's usually considered one (although it is contended by some sources).
Illinois has the highest percentages of Muslims at 3.7% trailed by New York at 3.6%.
Michigan ranks 5th by percentage and 6th in overall number.
Michigan does have the only Muslim-majority city in the United States – Hamtramck – which recently banned the gay pride flag from appearing on city property.
If "Greek islands" includes Cyprus, how do you refer to just the islands that the are part of the nation of Greece? "The islands that are a part of the nation of Greece" seems rather a mouthful.
Also, it doesn't really seem fair to put Cypriots trying to live legally in Cyprus on the same level as Turkey illegally occupying half that island in defiance of international law and colonizing it with people from Anatolia. I get that there's more to the History of the place, but, in a very short summary, that's what's happening there!
Roissy and Orly make a nice pair.
Google describes it as "Basque Country (Euskadi) is an autonomous community in northern Spain" (and Navarra (Navarre) is a geographically diverse region in northern Spain). Not sure which bit is northeast - the tiny enclaves in Aragon?
I would say Cataluña is in the North-East, and País Vasco is more (central) North
Please accept "Roissy" alone or "Roissy " before current answer of Paris's busiest airport. :)
Random question!
Trinidad and Tobago belongs to the Caribbean, thus, it's a North American country.
"What island country lies less than 20km from the coast of Venezuela?" would be a much better clue.
On a similar note, it's just as strange to include Barbados as a Caribbean island country, but it's usually considered one (although it is contended by some sources).