General Knowledge Quiz #185

Answer these random trivia questions.
Quiz by Quizmaster
Rate:
Last updated: March 6, 2018
You have not attempted this quiz yet.
First submittedJanuary 19, 2018
Times taken42,457
Average score65.0%
Rating4.10
4:00
Enter answer here
0
 / 20 guessed
The quiz is paused. You have remaining.
Scoring
You scored / = %
This beats or equals % of test takers also scored 100%
The average score is
Your high score is
Your fastest time is
Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...
Question
Answer
Where were paper, the printing press, the compass, and gunpowder first invented?
China
What does the French word "musée" mean in English?
Museum
What tusked animal has a name starting with W?
Walrus or Warthog
What type of animal can "whinny"?
Horse
The words zeitgeist and poltergeist come to us from German. What does "Geist" mean in German?
Ghost
What was the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1453–1922?
Constantinople
What are chipotles and poblanos?
Types of Pepper
In hip hop lingo, what is scrilla?
Money
What does the Greek word "polis" mean?
City
What is a "djinn" better known as?
Genie
Where would you find the neocortex?
the Brain
What city is home to the world's tallest arch?
St. Louis
What country on the African mainland is geographically closest to North America?
Morocco
What do you call something that has a pH of less than 7?
an Acid
Where would you find NSW, VIC, and QLD?
Australia
What substance can be given an "octane rating"?
Gasoline
According to Occam's Razor, which solution is usually correct?
the Simplest
What is a knoll?
a Small Hill
What is 111 + 10 * 5?
161
What island, starting with the letter B, is the only island in the world to be shared by three different countries?
Borneo
+12
Level 85
Jan 19, 2018
Cape Verde looks hundreds of miles closer than Morocco.
+3
Level 75
Jan 19, 2018
Absolutely. I could not fathom how it was not the answer.
+5
Level 77
Jan 19, 2018
I messed around on Google maps and while the difference is surprisingly not that much (only a difference of about 100 miles or so), I kept getting Cape Verde as closer to Maine, which was (also surprisingly) the nearest point. Curvature really screws up my mental image of the map.
+12
Level ∞
Jan 19, 2018
Tweaked the question
+4
Level 88
Jan 20, 2018
It says "African mainland"
+23
Level ∞
Jan 20, 2018
That was the tweak :)
+7
Level 72
Jan 19, 2018
Warthog has tusks too.
+2
Level ∞
Jan 19, 2018
That will work now
+8
Level 82
Jan 19, 2018
woolly mammoth as well
+3
Level 67
Jan 22, 2018
Now you're just grasping at straws
+3
Level 73
Apr 26, 2018
I tried woolly mammoth and it wouldn't take it and I got really frustrated,
+6
Level 81
May 2, 2018
When you hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras. Or, not unicorns.
+4
Level 76
May 2, 2018
Well, I mean, woolly mammoths were real. It'd be more like "Think horses, not Dinohippus."
+2
Level 17
Sep 14, 2019
mammoth starts with 'm'. Wooly is just an adjective. Mammoth is not a 'w' animal
+1
Level 79
Sep 22, 2020
I guessed that too!
+4
Level 72
Mar 14, 2022
@servo5 - A Wooly Mammoth is a species of the taxonomic genus of mammoth. Like a Blue Whale is a species of taxonomic clade of whales. A Wooly Mammoth is a specific type of animal, not just an adjective describing how mammoths look. There were plenty of other types of mammoths as well. Anyway, seeing as how the wooly mammoth was prized by early humans for their enormous tusks, I think it is not just a valid answer, but perhaps the most obvious. This could have been avoided by wording the question to suggest an extant animal.
+1
Level 74
May 2, 2018
All I could think of was white rhino... And that's the only question I didn't get.
+2
Level 76
Jan 19, 2018
I feel pretty bad that I tried "Final" for the Occam's Razor question...
+1
Level 68
Feb 12, 2018
o.o
+1
Level 80
Mar 5, 2023
based
+4
Level 83
Jan 20, 2018
Please could you accept "chilli" in addition to "pepper"? In British English "peppers" are bell/sweet peppers, and hot peppers are just referred to as "chillies".
+1
Level ∞
Jan 20, 2018
Okay
+1
Level 17
Sep 14, 2019
The quizmaster is much nicer than I am. A chili is a pepper. but peppers aren't necessarily "chilis". They aren't synonymous.
+1
Level 72
Mar 6, 2018
For the NSW- question it accepts Aus as the right answer. I guess it's a mix up with the allowed type-ins.
+5
Level ∞
Mar 6, 2018
Since the states are abbreviated I also accept the country abbreviation.
+2
Level 55
Jun 18, 2018
If Aus is accepted, would Can be accepted for Canada and Ita for Italy? It's Australia, not Aus.
+1
Level 17
Sep 14, 2019
Countries are abbreviated all the time. So yes it could be AUS instead of Austrailia. Also this quiz is timed?
+4
Level 59
Apr 27, 2018
I absolutely do not understand how sums are so different nowadays.

111 + 10 = 121

121 x 5 = 605

There are no parentheses to indicate another route.

If you want the answer you give you have to use parentheses

111 + (10 * 5) = 111 + 50 = 161

Who ever came up with bodmas, or whatever, is just a plain lazy sod who can't be arsed to write full 'sentence' sums and irritating bugger for inflicting it on the world because they must be punishing teachers to have to teach it. I understood sums then and absolutely don't understand the sequences people now try to use to explain them now.

+20
Level 67
May 2, 2018
It's really not that hard. They teach it to 12-year-olds. It's most efficient than your way.
+26
Level 40
May 2, 2018
This has honestly got to be a troll comment. The order of operations is not a new concept.
+9
Level 65
May 2, 2018
I'm 42 years old, and I learned the order of operations in the second or third grade. It really is not a new concept.
+1
Level 63
May 22, 2018
I learned it in pre-school. Wait, I learned it when Mom was in pre-school and I was in her womb.
+15
Level 52
Jul 8, 2021
why was your mother pregnant in preschool
+3
Level 70
May 4, 2018
When I was in school, the Southern Ocean wasn't a thing. It is now. I've learned it. I've moved on.

Order of operations are hardly a new concept. They're especially important in programming languages. Learn it. Move on.

+6
Level 43
Oct 16, 2018
The order of operations has been the correct way to solve mathematical equations since the 1600s. Parentheses are only needed if you want your equation to NOT follow Multiply/Divide first then Add/Subtract.
+4
Level 72
Mar 14, 2022
Unless you are the oldest person on the internet, I assure you that the order of mathematical operations predates the start of your education.
+1
Level 17
Mar 17, 2022
Man would have to be around 400 years old for that
+1
Level 75
May 2, 2018
Occam's Razor says the simplest answer is preferred. "Correct" is a common misconception.
+2
Level 64
May 2, 2018
For the question about Occams razor, I think "the one with least assumptions" or just "least assumptions" should be accepted. I understand why you accept "simplest" (and you should probably keep doing that), but that is not how Occam phrased it.
+10
Level 76
May 2, 2018
Sounds like one has use Occam's Razor to get the right solution on this question.
+1
Level 76
Apr 13, 2022
Excellent comment.
+1
Level 26
May 2, 2018
Wooly Mammoth is a tusked animal that starts with W!
+1
Level 89
Aug 11, 2018
It IS?
+2
Level 17
Sep 14, 2019
Mammoth starts with "m" not "w". Wooly is just an adjective.
+3
Level 78
May 2, 2018
The german word "Geist" means "ghost" or "spirit". In the case of "Zeitgeist" it definitely means the latter ("spirit of the time").
+1
Level 58
Mar 14, 2022
That's correct, but spirit was accepted for me. "ghost" is also a correct translation and most likely easier to remember because of the similarity.
+2
Level 77
May 2, 2018
Britain?
+1
Level 74
May 2, 2018
Ireland?
+5
Level 89
Aug 11, 2018
Burkina Faso?
+1
Level 61
May 3, 2018
I think a djinn is more like a demon or evil spirit
+2
Level 17
Sep 14, 2019
No. It's a genie. Let's keep it simple people.
+2
Level 58
Mar 14, 2022
I think "genie" is just the english translation for the arabic word "djinn".

Maybe the question should be: "What is the english word for djinn?"

+1
Level 43
May 3, 2018
Couldn't think of the correct term for Occam's Razor.. tried 'easiest'.. 'obvious'..
+2
Level 79
Sep 22, 2020
Yeah, could 'easiest' be accepted? (though I did get 'simplest')
+1
Level 10
May 6, 2018
Isn’t the island of Great Britain shared by three countries?
+1
Level 28
May 7, 2018
You're technically not wrong, although they are not countries in the most common sense of the word, i.e., fully independent, autonomous nations.
+1
Level 70
Oct 30, 2018
True, but Great Britain doesn‘t start with a B. There is no "Britain",but there is a "Great Britain" with England, Scotland and Wales and a "Little Britain", nowadays known as Brittany or Bretagne
+1
Level 68
Oct 28, 2020
It also contains "countries", not countries.
+1
Level 71
Jun 18, 2018
Question no. 3 could also be woolly mammoth or wild boar. (I tried these way before I thought of walrus.)
+2
Level 17
Sep 14, 2019
Why do people have a problem with this? Mammoth starts with 'm'. Boar starts with 'b'. The "wooly" and "wild" are adjectives. Those aren't "w" animals people
+2
Level 68
Oct 28, 2020
Apparently, some people think "dog" starts with "W" when it's white.
+1
Level 58
Mar 14, 2022
Or maybe a White Elephant? A Wet Narwhal? A Water Deer?

(the last one may possibly be a legit candidate, since "water" is not a characteristic like "woolly" or "wild"...)

+3
Level 72
Mar 14, 2022
As I mentioned above, "Wooly Mammoth" is a species of animal. There is no species called White Elephant; however, does Asian Elephant start with A or with E? It's a great example, since a Wooly Mammoth is a species of Mammoth just as an Asian Elephant is a species of Elephant.
+1
Level 93
Oct 31, 2018
if you are just after a curved arch shape, then the tallest arch answer is correct (630ft). But the Gate of the Orient "pants building" in Suzhou is way higher and is mostly arch. Total height is 990ft, not sure about the gap underneath.
+2
Level 93
Oct 31, 2018
And shipton's arch also in China is 1500ft high, although not in a city, but is part of gorge like landform.
+3
Level 17
Sep 14, 2019
So one is not a true arch and the other isn't in a city. So St. Louis it is then!
+2
Level 43
Dec 12, 2019
I can't be the only one who tried Woolly Mammoth
+1
Level 65
Feb 9, 2020
Woolly Mammoth should totally be accepted. It may be an adjective, but it's the official name of the species.
+1
Level 56
Feb 22, 2021
i believe new guinea is also owned by three different countries. Papua, Indonesia, Brunei
+1
Level 52
Jul 8, 2021
brunei is on the island of borneo

borneo has some of malaysia, some of indonesia and all of brunei

new guinea has most of papua new guinea and some of indonesia

+1
Level 64
Sep 4, 2021
Most Oxford dictionaries define a knoll as a small hill or *mound*. Should be accepted as an answer
+1
Level 21
Mar 7, 2022
Isn't Britain an island shared by 3 countries??
+1
Level 60
Mar 15, 2022
The island is called "Great Britain," not "Britain."
+2
Level 69
Mar 14, 2022
Just a small tweak: while NSW is always written as all capitals being an initialism, Vic and Qld are written thus as abbreviations. They aren't all caps.
+1
Level 71
Aug 16, 2023
I don't believe that's true. I live in Victoria and I've always seen the abbreviation capitalised, such as in my address. I'm not sure about Queensland but I think it's the same.
+1
Level 75
Apr 18, 2022
There isn't anything wrong with the question because you can easily tell what it's referring to, but because I have a personal beef with Gateway Arch "National Park", I'm going to pick this nit:

It's only the largest man-made arch in the world. There is at least one natural arch that well surpasses it, and possibly more depending on how you're measuring.

+1
Level 80
Mar 5, 2023
I want to know more about this personal beef
+2
Level 81
Oct 23, 2023
As a hip-hop fan, I have never heard of the word “scrilla” in my lifetime. “Benjamins” makes some sense, but I’ve never heard of that even once.
+1
Level 75
Nov 14, 2023
Easiest as a type in for Occam's Razor?