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U.S. General Knowledge #21

Can you answer these random questions with an American focus?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: May 12, 2017
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First submittedMay 11, 2017
Times taken18,196
Average score60.0%
Rating3.90
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Question
Answer
What is the main ingredient in Cheerios cereal?
Oats
What two companies sell the most AA batteries in the United States?
Duracell
Energizer
What comes between freshman and junior?
Sophomore
What is the most populous U.S. city north of Anchorage?
Fairbanks
What city is served by Dulles and Reagan airports?
Washington D.C.
What TV series featured futuristic technology such as replicators, disruptors, and transporters?
Star Trek
What name, starting with E, was the most popular name for American baby girls born
between 1996 and 2007?
Emily
What is the term for a western movie directed by an Italian director?
Spaghetti Western
What word means "appetizer" in French, but means "main course" in the United States?
Entrée
What was the last name of brothers Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan who
fought in the shootout at the O.K. Corral?
Earp
What much-loathed company is the largest seller of concert tickets in the United States?
Ticketmaster
What prestigious university is located in Evanston, Illinois?
Northwestern
What country did Ronald Reagan call "The Evil Empire"?
Soviet Union
In what New York neighborhood could you witness Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest?
Coney Island
What topping should never be put on a Chicago-style hot dog
(unless you are under the age of 17)?
Ketchup
What is the term for a publication, such as the National Enquirer, that publishes
salacious and often untrue "news"?
Tabloid
What was the last name of Hungarian-American actresses Eva, Magda, and Zsa Zsa?
Gabor
Name one of the two people to host "The Price is Right"?
Bob Barker /
Drew Carey
What does FAO Schwarz sell?
Toys
+3
Level 83
May 11, 2017
I don't think "tabloid" is a term unique to the US.
+1
Level 86
May 11, 2017
I would have said tabloids are british.
+3
Level ∞
May 11, 2017
But the National Enquirer is American.
+1
Level 70
Jan 5, 2023
A tabloid newspaper in the UK refers to the size of the newspaper, which is smaller than a broadsheet newspaper.

Generally the broadsheets are more quality papers like The Times and the tabloids have a bit more sensationalism about them.

+1
Level 88
May 12, 2017
Can 'tomato sauce' be an option for ketchup? No one really says ketchup in Australia.
+1
Level ∞
May 12, 2017
Okay
+7
Level 79
Sep 7, 2022
You shouldn't accept that. It's completely wrong within the context of a US general knowledge quiz. Tomato sauce is NOT ketchup in the US, it's a completely different thing. Tomato sauce comes in a can (like Hunt's) or a jar (like Barilla) and is put on pasta.
+2
Level 66
Jan 5, 2023
Tomato sauce and ketchup are similar, but not the same. The main difference is the proportion of vinegar. A tomato-based pasta sauce is a different thing again.
+2
Level 62
Aug 9, 2017
but this is a US general knowledge quiz. Saying that ketchup should never be put on a hot dog is common. In the US, tomato sauce would never refer to ketchup. It would almost always refer to marinara, or similar, sauce.
+3
Level 76
May 13, 2022
To be fair, you wouldn't put tomato sauce on a hot dog in the US either.
+3
Level 61
Aug 9, 2017
Also. This is incorrect. Ketchup is just fine- and I cannot figure out for the life of me when people got snobby about what goes best with a hot dog. It's effectively garbage. Put whatever you want on it.
+3
Level 67
Aug 9, 2017
The clue says "Chicago-style hot dog." I have lived in Chicago for five years, and I can tell you that every single time I request ketchup on my hot dog (which is whenever I order one), someone rolls their eyes or makes a comment. It is absolutely taboo to put ketchup on a hot dog in Chicago.
+3
Level 76
Aug 9, 2017
Yes, hot dogs are essentially garbage and incredibly unhealthy. However, it is a crime against nature to put ketchup on any hot dog, anywhere, not just in Chicago. No excuses for children either. Try asking for ketchup at Nathan's on Coney Island and see what happens.
+1
Level 70
Jun 14, 2022
I'll tell you what happens: they put ketchup on your hotdog. Now go have a casserole and insist that it's pizza if it makes you feel better.
+1
Level 60
Aug 30, 2017
Huh. I had no idea about that, thanks! Maybe you should make a quiz with an Aussie focus and see how well we Americans do on it...
+1
Level 77
Jul 26, 2018
Also please accept "Tomato ketchup", which surely is the full name, even in the colonies?
+2
Level 77
Jan 5, 2023
Nope. It’s just ketchup in the British American colonies. Tomato ketchup was invented in America in the early 1800s and became known as just ketchup due to its ubiquitous popularity. While the British had all kinds of fancy ketchups, they never really crossed the pond enough to compete. Plus, many British people thought tomatoes were poisonous because the plant looked like poisonous… nightshade? So they didn’t even have tomato ketchup for decades!
+2
Level 71
Jan 6, 2023
In the U.S., by common usage and legal definition, "ketchup" (or "catsup" or any other variation) is always made from tomatoes.

However, the name of the product on the label is usually "Tomato Ketchup", as it is on all the major brands in the U.S., like Heinz, Hunt's, Del Monte and French's. So "Tomato ketchup|catsup|catchup" should be accepted as answers.

It's not universal: Trader Joe's and Annie's organic brands are just labeled "ketchup".

+2
Level 84
May 12, 2017
I didn't even think to try that for the girl's name. Just assumed that it was something off the wall like Estaphine or Embermyla or whatever the kids are being named these days.
+1
Level 74
May 9, 2021
If it was the most common name for a 12 year period, you've probably heard it.
+3
Level 76
May 13, 2022
You obviously haven't been paying attention to popular names. The most popular names for the past couple of decades have nearly all been extremely traditional names, to the point of even sounding kind of old-fashioned to my ear. For instance, the most popular girls' names in the US for the 2010s were Emma, Olivia, Sophia, Isabella, Ava, Mia, Abigail, Emily, and Charlotte. Only Madison at number 10 is of more recent, less traditional vintage.
+1
Level 84
May 12, 2017
Had to take a handful of guesses to get the girls "E name" but eventually got it. I was surprised it wasn't Erin...
+1
Level 75
May 17, 2017
20/20, and very happy to see my alma mater on a quiz!
+1
Level 74
Aug 9, 2017
A lot more people have hosted The Price is Right than just Barker and Carey. Bill Cullen hosted for almost a decade in the 50s and 60s, and there were three different nighttime hosts in the 70s and 80s.
+1
Level 59
Jan 5, 2023
That's correct! Dennis James hosted a nighttime show
+1
Level 81
Jan 8, 2023
The Bill Cullen version was a different show. Same name and similar concept, but not the same show. Dennis James hosted a nighttime syndicated version, he did sub in for Barker for 4 shows on the daytime version.
+3
Level 65
Aug 9, 2017
Tabloid is a term for the size/shape of a newspaper, not the type of journalism found in the National Enquirer, etc.

Bill Cullen was the original host of The Price is Right, plus Tom Kennedy did a night time version, as did Dennis James, and there was a short-lived version with Doug Davidson.

+4
Level 60
Aug 10, 2017
Tabloid is absolutely used to describe the type of journalism and not just the format.
+1
Level 63
Aug 9, 2017
is it too much to ask to accept "Russia" as well as Soviet Union?
+1
Level 76
Aug 9, 2017
Yes. Russia didn't exist when Reagan was president. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics did. Hence USSR but not Russia.
+1
Level 60
Aug 10, 2017
Russia did exist, but not as an independent country - instead it was the RSFSR
+1
Level 56
Aug 10, 2017
Russia has been around for over a thousand years. They re-established in 1991 when the USSR dissolved.
+3
Level 82
Aug 11, 2017
When Reagan was president the names Russia, USSR, and Soviet Union were all used interchangeably.
+1
Level 82
Feb 12, 2023
But inaccurately.
+3
Level 68
Aug 10, 2017
I believe that the actual company for the energizer is Everready. They also market AA batteries under other names as well.
+1
Level 60
Aug 30, 2017
The saddest word in this quiz is "did," from the last question.
+1
Level 95
Oct 29, 2018
Very soon this will have to be changed to does!
+1
Level ∞
Sep 4, 2022
Changed it back to "does". I suppose very few brands every really cease to exist. They just get passed around by private equity firms until there is no juice left to squeeze.
+1
Level 66
Aug 22, 2019
I had always thought energizer (bunny) was the american version of duracell. (Like how with cleaning products some are exactly the same including logo etc, but overseas are under a different name).

that is some major plagiarism then !! I looked up, the duracell bunny is from 71 and energizer from 89 (and yes, that was the year duracell's patent ran out, but still..!!)

all these years i had thought they were the same, because sentences with references to the duracell bunny (about outlasting others etc) were always translated with energizer bunny.

+1
Level 73
Oct 31, 2020
Doesn't FAO Schwarz still make toys? I just bought my son a Christmas present with that brand. I bought it at Target though, so maybe it's not its own thing anymore.
+1
Level 68
Nov 5, 2020
Stargate SG1 also has transporters, disruptors and replicators. It's also an awesome show. Could you add that as an acceptable answer? Thanks.
+1
Level 66
Jan 5, 2023
What do I google to learn the differences between oat/wheat/barley/rye etc? I just assumed the answer would be "flour", corn was my next guess.

Cheerios ingredients: whole grain oat, modified corn starch, corn starch, sugar, salt, trisodium phosphate, calcium carbonate, etc.

+1
Level 67
Jan 6, 2023
sounds healthy...
+2
Level 71
Jan 6, 2023
Oat, wheat, barley, rye and corn are different plants, some more closely related to each other. This is a little like asking how to tell the difference between apples, pears and plums.

Flour is what you get when you mill these grains finely (corn flour, oat flour, wheat flour, etc.) though in the U.S. if you just say "flour" you mean "wheat flour". Meal is less fine than flour.

+1
Level 67
Jan 5, 2023
Surely the main ingredient in Cheerios is sugar
+2
Level 71
Jan 6, 2023
Third. It has about the same amount of sugar (5% by weight) as Weetabix (4.2%), a UK brand advertised as "Low in sugar" which actually does have a sugar ingredient in the second (malted barley extract is a sugar syrup) and third positions on the ingredient label.

There are lots of sugary cereals for sale, but Cheerios isn't really one of them.

+1
Level 70
Jan 5, 2023
How many Brits answered 'Herbs and spices' for the 'What does FAO Schwartz sell' question?
+2
Level 73
Jan 8, 2023
I thought Ever Ready was the company that made Energizer batteries. Did the change the name of the company to Energizer?