Sleuth Home - Message Boards - Message Board Game Room

Jan-4-2005 18:37

See if there is interest for this.

1. Each day I will post 10 questions, at random times of the day.
2. Each Quiz runs exactly 24 hours.
3. The first person that has all 10 questions right, wins. Or if no one has all questions right, the best one wins.
4. You can only post answers ONCE for the same quiz.
5. No cash involved. Just glory. :)

Aug-31-2006 19:01

hope i wasn't too late! i've never tried to answer before, but it was sure fun hunting!

Aug-31-2006 19:24

YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF HUH??

1. The Latin word 'pirata' originally derived from the Greek word 'peira', meaning 'attack, or attempt', and is a cognate of the English word peril. I'll give Rosamund and Ranier credit for Rome, though.

2. My sources indicated that the main difference between a pirate and a corsair was that a corsair was another term for a privateer. A privateer was basically a 'legal' pirate, because he had official sanction (usually called a letter of marque) from a state government to go after other countries' ships. However, I have consulted several other sources, and they have similar stories to both Rosamund and Jr, so I'll give credit to both of you, and also to Ranier. Good job, guys.

3. All of the pirates you guys mentioned did exist in real life, among thousands more. Very good all of you!!

4. While Jr's theory of 'Ole Roger' being used for a term for the devil, and later adapted to the pirate flag was mentioned in some of my sources, the one that I saw more was Ranier's. Sailors were scared of a pirate's black flag, but they were absolutely terrified of the 'Joli Rouge' or pretty red in French, because it meant that the pirates flying it would not be taking prisoners; they would only be slaughtering anyone they found. Eventually the name was corrupted to Jolly Roger, and came to signify any pirate's flag, but especially the black skull and crossbones that we're all familiar with. Credit to both of you. Well done.

5. False. There were actually quite a few female pirates, though the superstition about women on board ships was true. Therefore, most disguised themselves as men.

6. A buccaneer was a pirate from the 17th century HAILING primarily from England and the Netherlands. I'll give credit to Rosamund, Greyling, and Jr.

7. Khar ad Din was better known as Barbarossa. Well done, Ranier!!

8. This is false. Keelhauling and flogging were much more common punishments. We only think it was common because of the movies.

Aug-31-2006 19:38

the suspense is killing me! you'd think i'd have something better to do than just sit here, staring at the screen, hitting refresh. ha ha.

Aug-31-2006 19:40

9. All of the weapons you guys have named were used (Jr being the most prolific). One not mentioned was a kind of whip called a cat-o-nine-tails. Let's just say Missy's not wild about that one....

10. The stereotype of the pirate's parrot does indeed come from Treasure Island. If pirates had done this in real life, things would probably have been rather messy. (Yuck!!)

Bonus: While Anchors Aweigh does mention Davy Jones' Locker, the first line of the Marine Corps' Hymn, "From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli," refers directly to America's efforts to combat piracy in the First Barbary War. Good job, Justin.

Congratulations, Jroepel and Ranier!! You've tied each other with 9 out of 11. You two get to figure out who does the next quiz.

Now both of you get to swabbing that deck!! YYYAARRRR!!!!!!!!

Aug-31-2006 19:42

Ay ay, cap'n.

(Congrats Jr, and thanks Breitkat for the great quiz!)

Aug-31-2006 19:43

;-) You're very welcome, Ranier!! I'm glad you liked it.

Aug-31-2006 23:45

Ranier, you can have a crack at the quiz if you'd like.

Sep-1-2006 19:20

Okay everyone, here it is! My first crack at a quiz. I will apologize in advance for the spelling, as I am Canadian. Lol.
In honour of "that" time of year, here's a back to school quiz!

BACK TO SCHOOL BLITZ

1. Why are pencils painted yellow?

2. What is the proper name for the metal piece that holds the eraser onto the end of the pencil?

3. How many colours did Crayola crayons come in, when they were first introduced in 1903, and what colours were they?

4. Who developed the first “alphabet”, and what is the biggest distinction between this alphabet and the one we know now?

5. What culture was the first to introduce a formal school, separate from all religious procedures?

6. Name the two most common paper-making machines.

7. True or False: In some countries, “Teacher’s Day” is a national holiday?

8. What is the plural form of “curriculum”

9, The first school bus was powered by what?

10. Name two different mythological gods/goddesses of either Learning or Wisdom.

Good luck!

Sep-1-2006 19:50

1. ?
2. ferrule
3. 8 - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Brown, and Black
4. Egyptians - Hieroglyphics were pictures that represented syllables consisting of a single consonant followed by a single vowel.
5. ?
6. ?
7. True
8. curricula
9. A horse
10. Athena, Minerva

Sep-2-2006 00:19

1. 1890 when the L. & C. Hardtmuth Company of Austria-Hungary introduced their Koh-I-Noor brand, named after the famous diamond. It was intended to be the world's best and most expensive pencil, and at a time when most pencils were either painted in dark colours or not at all, the Koh-I-Noor was yellow. As well as simply being distinctive, the colour may have been inspired by the Austro-Hungarian flag; it was also suggestive of the Orient, at a time when the best-quality graphite came from Siberia. Other companies then copied the yellow colour so that their pencils would be associated with this high-quality brand, and chose brand names with explicit Oriental references, such as Mikado and Mongol
2. ferrule
3. 8 - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Brown, and Black
4. Egyptians - Hieroglyphics were pictures that represented syllables consisting of a single consonant followed by a single vowel.
5.
6 Islam put a lot of emphasis on knowledge and therefore had to develop a systematic way of teaching and spreading knowledge in purpose built structures. At first the mosque combined both religious performance and learning activities, by the tenth century, however, the Seljuks introduced the first school, or Madrassa as it was called in Arabic, a proper school built independently from the mosque. They were also the first to make the school or Madrassa system a public domain under the control of the caliph. The Nizamiyya madrasa is considered by consensus of scholars to be the earliest surviving school, built towards 1066 CE by Emir Nizam Al-Mulk.
6.Fourdrinier Machine & the first recorded paper machine was Gilpin's
7. True
8. curricula
9. A horse
10. Athena, Minerva