Trivia has been defined as obscure facts about arcane topics to which most people never pay attention or have forgotten or probably never knew in the first place.
Pioneering anthropological linguist Dr. Edward Sapir in the early years of the 20th century opined that although the word “trivia” was originally used in the ancient world to describe the intersection of three roads, in more modern times trivia more appropriately referred to the contents of the three fundamentals of classical basic education: Grammar, logic and rhetoric.
Trading questions and recalling answers for entertainment among friends in casual social settings has been going on for years, but one of the first formalized systems for trivia debuted on the 1940s radio program “Take It Or Leave It.”
By 1955, when about half of all American households owned television sets, quiz shows had become one of the most popular forms of the game show genre. CBS-TV’s “The $64,000 Question” stage set featured an isolation booth and partially revealed category boards, which were designed to allow viewers at home to feel as if they were part of the real-time broadcast experience by encouraging them to test their own knowledge skills against the selected competitors. Big money winners on the show who demonstrated unexpected expertise in atypical subjects, such as psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers, whose special knowledge of boxing earned her the second awarded $64,000 grand prize, became instantly recognizable celebrities. Four years later, however, widespread allegations and admissions of cheating by multiple quiz shows ended their appeal.
The term “trivia” to describe sessions of questions and answers about popular culture was first used by Ivy League undergraduates Ed Goodgold and Dan Carlinsky in their column published in the Feb. 5, 1965, edition of their college daily newspaper the Columbia Spectator. It’s been estimated that today some 40 million people in the U.S. at least once monthly play in organized trivia contests.
Today is National Trivia Day, so to help you celebrate the holiday, here are some of our favorite questions and answers to try:
1. What is philematology?
2. What two Connecticut towns were the primary art colonies of the early 20th-century American Impressionists?
3. In what key do most American car horns beep?
4. The White House has 132 rooms. How many of these are bathrooms?
5. In what Liverpool, England, bar were the Beatles the house band before they became famous?
6. An official NFL goalpost consists of two uprights and a crossbar. How wide is the regulation crossbar?
7. Name the current U.S. poet laureate appointed by the Librarian of Congress?.
8. How many sides does a snow crystal have?
9. Name the Central Asian countries colloquially known as “the Stans.”
10. Name in descending order the eight most common allergenic foods according to the FDA.
11. The $10,000 bill is the largest denomination of U.S. currency ever in public circulation. Who appears on it?
12. Through how many and which states does the Snake River flow?
13. What is the strongest standard five-card poker hand?
14. Charles Perrault’s fairy tale “Sleeping Beauty” suffered from periods of excessive sleepiness and altered behavior. These are symptoms associated with which neurologic disorder?
15. Blanche DuBois, Sebastian Venable, Alma Winemiller and Rev. Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon are names of characters in plays written by which Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics’ winning American playwright?
16. In what country and when was the board game “Parcheesi” invented?
17. Who sent Henry Morton Stanley to Africa in search for British explorer Dr. David Livingstone?
18. What did Ray Tomlinson invent in late 1971?
19. “Waltzing Matilda” is the unofficial anthem of Australia. Who’s Matilda?
20. The American Kennel Club determines the eligibility of dog breeds for competitions. How many breeds does it currently recognize?
21. Which celebrity chef was accepted at the New England Conservatory for Music but instead matriculated at Johnson & Wales University?
22. Which mosquitoes are the only ones to transmit human malaria?
23. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in 2012 what proportion of the U.S. population over the age of 25 had earned a bachelor’s degree?
24. Which Colorado town’s buildings were used as the model for Disneyland’s Main Street U.S.A.?
25. How do microwave ovens heat food?
26. What is the difference in appearance between male and female members of the same species called?
27. Who was the first native born American to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church?
28. Lt. William Bligh, captain of HMS Bounty, was acquitted at court-martial of responsibility for the loss of his ship. With what rank did he retire?
29. What is Quechua?
30. Ne is the symbol for what chemical element?
31. “The Nutcracker” is the most frequently performed ballet of the modern era. When and by whom was it first performed in the U.S.?
32. The search engine name Google is a misspelling of “googol”. What is googol?
33. What was the story of Woody Guthrie’s 1940 song “This Land is Your Land”?
34. On the Mohs Hardness Scale, which gemstone is the highest-rated mineral?
35. According to the World Wildlife Fund, in 2013 which five animal species were closest to extinction?
36. Who invented ice cream?
37. What is sciophobia?
38. Words that are read and spelled the same forward and backward, like “mom” for example, are called what?
39. What country do anthropologists consider to be “the cradle of voodoo”?
40. What are the parts of robots that convert stored energy into movement called?
41. What was the name of the Jewish paramilitary organization with which Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the sex therapist, once trained as a sniper?
42. Foxwoods Resort Casino is the second largest casino in the U.S. Where is it located?
43. For which Confederate cavalry general was John Singleton Mosby, “the Gray Ghost,” a scout in 1862?
44. Which are three most widely spoken languages in the world?
45. The painting style known as surrealism was made famous by what 20th-century artist?
46. What are the ductless glands which release their secretions directly into the bloodstream called?
47. According to Edmunds.com, how many body types of cars are there?
48. Who was the author of the Monroe Doctrine?
49. Mobiles, which are kinetic structures based on the principle of equilibrium, were first created by which American sculptor?
50. Reginald Kenneth Dwight became known as which British singer-songwriter?
1. The science of kissing
2. Cos Cob and Old Lyme
3. the key of F
5. The Cavern Club
6. 18 feet, 6 inches
7. Natasha Trethewey
9. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan
10. Milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans
11. Salmon P. Chase, the sixth U.S. Chief Justice
12. Four. Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Wyoming
13. A royal flush, which is an ace, king, queen, jack and 10 all in the same suit
14. Kleine-Levin syndrome
15. Tennessee Williams
16. India, around 540 A.D.
17. James Gordon Bennett Jr., editor of the New York Herald
18. Internet-based email
19. Bush slang for itinerants’ worldly possessions bundled into a sack
21. Emeril Lagasse
22. Female anopheles
24. Fort Collins
25. By bombarding it with electromagnetic radiation
26. Sexual dimorphism
27. Elizabeth Seton
28. Vice-Admiral of the Blue, the seventh highest ranking officer in the British Royal Navy.
29. The indigenous people of the Central Andes and Machu Picchu
31. 1944 by the San Francisco Ballet
32. The number 10 raised to the power 100 or No. 1 followed by 100 zeros
33. The lyrics were a hymn in praise of America and common man’s experience in it
35. Leatherback turtle, magellanic penguin, pacific walrus, polar bear and tiger
36. Fourth-century Roman Emperor Nero
37. Fear of shadows
42. On the grounds of the Mashantucket Pequot Indian Reservation in Ledyard, Conn.
43. J.E.B. Stuart
44. Mandarin, English and Hindustani
45. Salvador Dali
46. Endocrine glands
47. 12: SUV, sedan, truck, minivan, convertible, coupe, wagon, luxury, hybrid/electric, crossover, hatchback and diesel
48. John Quincy Adams, who served as Secretary of State in the cabinet of fifth U.S. president James Monroe
49. Alexander Calder
50. Sir Elton Hercules John