“
There were moments - when Jeopardy came on, in the car during radio trivia challenges, or for practically any question I couldn't answer in any subject - that Rogerson simply amazed me. I started to seek out facts, just to stump him, but it never worked. He was that sharp.
"In physics," I sprung on him as we sat in the Taco Bell drive-through, "what does the capital letter W stand for?"
"Energy," he said, handing me my burrito.
Sitting in front of my parents' house as he kissed me goodnight: "Which two planets are almost identical in size?"
"Duh," he said, smoothing my hair back, "Venus and Earth."
"Rogerson," I asked him sweetly as we sat watching a video in the pool house, "where would I find the pelagic zone?"
"In the open sea," he said. "Now shut up and eat your Junior Mints.
”
”
Sarah Dessen (Dreamland)
“
A lot of fans are basically fans of fandom itself. It's all about them. They have mastered the Star Wars or Star Trek universes or whatever, but their objects of veneration are useful mainly as a backdrop to their own devotion. Anyone who would camp out in a tent on the sidewalk for weeks in order to be first in line for a movie is more into camping on the sidewalk than movies. Extreme fandom may serve as a security blanket for the socially inept, who use its extreme structure as a substitute for social skills. If you are Luke Skywalker and she is Princess Leia, you already know what to say to each other, which is so much safer than having to ad lib it. Your fannish obsession is your beard. If you know absolutely all the trivia about your cubbyhole of pop culture, it saves you from having to know anything about anything else. That's why it's excruciatingly boring to talk to such people: They're always asking you questions they know the answer to.
”
”
Roger Ebert (A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length: More Movies That Suck)
“
You wanna grow up to be a trivia question?" she asked, challenging me. "Or do you wanna make a difference in the world?
”
”
Dan Gutman (The Kid Who Became President (Kid President, #2))
“
What’s new?” is an interesting and broadening eternal question, but one which, if pursued exclusively, results only in an endless parade of trivia and fashion, the silt of tomorrow. I would like, instead, to be concerned with the question “What is best?,” a question which cuts deeply rather than broadly, a question whose answers tend to move the silt downstream.
”
”
Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)
“
What is in mind is a sort of Chautauqua...that's the only name I can think of for it...like the traveling tent-show Chautauquas that used to move across America, this America, the one that we are now in, an old-time series of popular talks intended to edify and entertain, improve the mind and bring culture and enlightenment to the ears and thoughts of the hearer. The Chautauquas were pushed aside by faster-paced radio, movies and TV, and it seems to me the change was not entirely an improvement. Perhaps because of these changes the stream of national consciousness moves faster now, and is broader, but it seems to run less deep. The old channels cannot contain it and in its search for new ones there seems to be growing havoc and destruction along its banks. In this Chautauqua I would like not to cut any new channels of consciousness but simply dig deeper into old ones that have become silted in with the debris of thoughts grown stale and platitudes too often repeated. "What's new?" is an interesting and broadening eternal question, but one which, if pursued exclusively, results only in an endless parade of trivia and fashion, the silt of tomorrow. I would like, instead, to be concerned with the question "What is best?," a question which cuts deeply rather than broadly, a question whose answers tend to move the silt downstream. There are eras of human history in which the channels of thought have been too deeply cut and no change was possible, and nothing new ever happened, and "best" was a matter of dogma, but that is not the situation now. Now the stream of our common consciousness seems to be obliterating its own banks, losing its central direction and purpose, flooding the lowlands, disconnecting and isolating the highlands and to no particular purpose other than the wasteful fulfillment of its own internal momentum. Some channel deepening seems called for.
”
”
Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (Phaedrus, #1))
“
Today we have badminton set up, as well as a hike around the grounds, and trivia questions in the evening. Any questions?"
"When did we sign up for the senior citizen cruise?" Christian ridiculed.
”
”
Rachel Van Dyken (Compromising Kessen (Vandenbrook, #1))
“
Although listening is often more fun, reading improves comprehension and recall. Whereas listening promotes intuitive thinking, reading activates more analytical processing. It’s true in English and Chinese—people display better logical reasoning when the same trivia questions, riddles, and puzzles are written rather than spoken. With print, you naturally slow down at the start of a paragraph to process the core idea and use paragraph breaks and headers to chunk information.
”
”
Adam M. Grant (Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things)
“
Over the past couple of months, Chantel had become a pro at leading book discussions and inventing fun games and trivia questions that all related to that particular month's book selection. Although, last month's theme, dystopian and the book selection "Matched" by Allie Condie, had the retirement home director a little concerned when everyone wanted to stop taking their medications. Not... a good... thing!
”
”
JoJo Sutis (Chantel's Choice (The Turn-Around Series #1))
“
Harry and J.K. Rowling share a birthday. The 31st of July.
”
”
Jordan Samarias (The Ultimate Harry Potter Trivia Book: Hundreds and hundreds of Harry Potter questions based on the novels, catering to both the casual reader and the die-hard fanatic.)
“
What’s new?” is an interesting and broadening eternal question, but one which, if pursued exclusively, results only in an endless parade of trivia and fashion, the silt of tomorrow.
”
”
Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)
“
I tried to bend over and touch my toes this morning,” I tell the girls. “I tipped over, hit my head on the desk, and then had to call for Nana to get up. I’m literally the size of an Oompa Loompa.”
“You’re the most beautiful Oompa Loompa in the world,” Hope declares.
“Because she’s not orange.”
“Oompa Loompas were orange?” I try to conjure up a mental picture of them but can only recall their white overalls.
Carin purses her lips. “Were they supposed to be candies? Like orange slices? Or maybe candy corn?”
“They were squirrels,” Hope informs us.
“No way,” we both say at once.
“Yes way. I read it on the back of a Laffy Taffy when I was like ten. It was a trivia question and I’d just seen the movie. I was terrified of squirrels for years afterwards.”
“Shit. Learn something new every day.” I push my body upright, a task that takes a certain amount of upper body strength these days, and toddle over to inspect the crib.
“I don’t believe you,” Carin tells Hope. “The movie is about candy. It’s called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Since when are squirrels candies? I can buy into a bunny because, you know, the chocolate Easter bunnies, but not a squirrel.”
“Look it up, Careful. I’m right.”
“You’re ruining my childhood.” Carin turns to me. “Don’t do this to your daughter.”
“Raise her to believe Oompa Loompas are squirrels?”
“Yes
”
”
Elle Kennedy (The Goal (Off-Campus, #4))
“
I mean it, guys," I said. "Why don't you play Two Foot Trivia instead? It's just as fun and much safer."
"First of all, this is completely safe," Grayson replied. "Second, if we had both feet down, we'd just be asking each other trivia questions."
"Which would be lame," added Alex.
"But isn't that what you're doing right now?" I asked.
"No," Grayson said defensively. "Balancing on one foot makes it a sport.
”
”
James Ponti (Blue Moon (Dead City, #2))
“
They're trying to breed a nation of techno-peasants. Educated just enough to keep things going, but not enough to ask tough questions. They encourage any meme that downplays thoughtful analysis or encourages docility or self indulgence or uniformity. In what other society do people use "smart" and "wise" as insults? We tell people "don't get smart." Those who try, those who really like to learn, we call "nerds." Look at television or the press or the trivia that passes for political debate. When a candidate DOES try to talk about the issues, the newspapers talk about his sex life. Look at Saturday morning cartoon shows. Peasants, whether they're tilling fields or stuffing circuit boards, are easier to manipulate. Don't question; just believe. Turn off your computer and Trust the Force.
Or turn your computer on and treat it like the Oracle of Delphi.
That's right. They've made education superficial and specialized. Science classes for art majors? Forget it! And how many business or engineering students get a really good grounding in the humanities? When did universities become little more than white collar vocational schools?
”
”
Michael Flynn (In the Country of the Blind)
“
What’s new?” is an interesting and broadening eternal question, but one which, if pursued exclusively, results only in an endless parade of trivia and fashion, the silt of tomorrow. I would like, instead, to be concerned with the question “What is best?,
”
”
Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)
“
Two Dutch researchers did a study in which they had groups of students answer forty-two fairly demanding questions from the board game Trivial Pursuit. Half were asked to take five minutes beforehand to think about what it would mean to be a professor and write down everything that came to mind. Those students got 55.6 percent of the questions right. The other half of the students were asked to first sit and think about soccer hooligans. They ended up getting 42.6 percent of the Trivial Pursuit questions right. The “professor” group didn’t know more than the “soccer hooligan” group. They weren’t smarter or more focused or more serious. They were simply in a “smart” frame of mind, and, clearly, associating themselves with the idea of something smart, like a professor, made it a lot easier—in that stressful instant after a trivia question was asked—to blurt out the right answer.
”
”
Malcolm Gladwell (Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking)
“
Wyoming is the state which has the least population in the US, only 5,50,000
”
”
A.B. Moody (The Ultimate Geography Trivia: 220 Fun & Challenging Geography trivia questions for kids and adults. Test your Knowledge & learn interesting facts you should know!)
“
In 1973, the library even added a service called the Hoot Owl Telephonic Reference, which operated from nine P.M. until one A.M., long after the library was closed. Dialing H-O-O-T-O-W-L connected you to a librarian who could find the answer to almost any question. The Hoot Owl slogan was “Win Your Bet Without a Fight.” Apparently, in the late evening, people all over Los Angeles did a lot of betting on trivia such as the correct names of the Seven Dwarves. The service got a call every three minutes, adding up to about thirty-five thousand a year. Hoot Owl was a favorite target of conservative groups, who believed it catered to “hippies and other night people.” But the library persisted, and Hoot Owl operated every weeknight until the end of 1976.
”
”
Susan Orlean (The Library Book)
“
You know who they wanted to play Rick?" Aaron asked.
I shook my head. Why was I so tense? Didn't Aaron's question prove that we were just a couple of old-movie fans swapping Hollywood trivia gossip?
"Ronald Reagan," said Aaron.
"The worst president ever," I said.
"You weren't born yet," he said.
"What difference does that make?" I said.
”
”
Francine Prose (Goldengrove)
“
In this Chautauqua I would like not to cut any new channels of consciousness but simply dig deeper into old ones that have become silted in with the debris of thoughts grown stale and platitudes too often repeated. “What’s new?” is an interesting and broadening eternal question, but one which, if pursued exclusively, results only in an endless parade of trivia and fashion, the silt of tomorrow. I would like, instead, to be concerned with the question “What is best?,” a question which cuts deeply rather than broadly, a question whose answers tend to move the silt downstream. There are eras of human history in which the channels of thought have been too deeply cut and no change was possible, and nothing new ever happened, and “best” was a matter of dogma, but that is not the situation now. Now the stream of our common consciousness seems to be obliterating its own banks, losing its central direction and purpose, flooding the lowlands, disconnecting and isolating the highlands and to no particular purpose other than the wasteful fulfillment of its own internal momentum. Some channel deepening seems called for.
”
”
Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)
“
The old channels cannot contain it and in its search for new ones there seems to be growing havoc and destruction along its banks. In this Chautauqua I would like not to cut any new channels of consciousness but simply dig deeper into old ones that have become silted in with the debris of thoughts grown stale and platitudes too often repeated. "What’s new?" is an interesting and broadening eternal question, but one which, if pursued exclusively, results only in an endless parade of trivia and fashion, the silt of tomorrow
”
”
Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (Phaedrus, #1))
“
Priming is not, it should be said, like brainwashing. I can’t make you reveal deeply personal details about your childhood by priming you with words like “nap” and “bottle” and “teddy bear.” Nor can I program you to rob a bank for me. On the other hand, the effects of priming aren’t trivial. Two Dutch researchers did a study in which they had groups of students answer forty-two fairly demanding questions from the board game Trivial Pursuit. Half were asked to take five minutes beforehand to think about what it would mean to be a professor and write down everything that came to mind. Those students got 55.6 percent of the questions right. The other half of the students were asked to first sit and think about soccer hooligans. They ended up getting 42.6 percent of the Trivial Pursuit questions right. The “professor” group didn’t know more than the “soccer hooligan” group. They weren’t smarter or more focused or more serious. They were simply in a “smart” frame of mind, and, clearly, associating themselves with the idea of something smart, like a professor, made it a lot easier—in that stressful instant after a trivia question was asked—to blurt out the right answer. The difference between 55.6 and 42.6 percent, it should be pointed out, is enormous. That can be the difference between passing and failing.
”
”
Malcolm Gladwell (Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking)
“
N.E.W.T. Level Questions 281-300: What house at Hogwarts did Moaning Myrtle belong to? Which dragon did Viktor Krum face in the first task of the Tri-Wizard tournament? Luna Lovegood believes in the existence of which invisible creatures that fly in through someone’s ears and cause temporary confusion? What are the names of the three Peverell brothers from the tale of the Deathly Hallows? Name the Hogwarts school motto and its meaning in English? Who is Arnold? What’s the address of Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes? During Quidditch try-outs, who did Ron beat to become Gryffindor’s keeper? Who was the owner of the flying motorbike that Hagrid borrows to bring baby Harry to his aunt and uncle’s house? During the intense encounter with the troll in the female bathroom, what spell did Ron use to save Hermione? Which wizard, who is the head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry of Magic lost his son in 1995? When Harry, Ron and Hermione apparate away from Bill and Fleur’s wedding, where do they end up? Name the spell that freezes or petrifies the body of the victim? What piece did Hermione replace in the game of Giant Chess? What bridge did Fenrir Greyback and a small group of Death Eaters destroy in London? Who replaced Minerva McGonagall as the new Deputy Headmistress, and became the new Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts? Where do Bill and Fleur Weasley live? What epitaph did Harry carve onto Dobby’s grave using Malfoy’s old wand? The opal neckless is a cursed Dark Object, supposedly it has taken the lives of nineteen different muggles. But who did it curse instead after a failed attempt by Malfoy to assassinate Dumbledore? Who sends Harry his letter of expulsion from Hogwarts for violating the law by performing magic in front of a muggle? FIND THE ANSWERS ON THE NEXT PAGE! N.E.W.T. Level Answers 281-300 Ravenclaw. Myrtle attended Hogwarts from 1940-1943. Chinese Firebolt. Wrackspurts. Antioch, Cadmus and Ignotus. “Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus” and “Never tickle a sleeping dragon.” Arnold was Ginny’s purple Pygmy Puff, or tiny Puffskein, bred by Fred and George. Number 93, Diagon Alley. Cormac McLaggen. Sirius Black. “Wingardium Leviosa”. Amos Diggory. Tottenham Court Road in London. “Petrificus Totalus”. Rook on R8. The Millenium Bridge. Alecto Carrow. Shell Cottage, Tinworth, Cornwall. “HERE LIES DOBBY, A FREE ELF.” Katie Bell. Malfalda Hopkirk, the witch responsible for the Improper use of Magic Office.
”
”
Sebastian Carpenter (A Harry Potter Quiz for Muggles: Bonus Spells, Facts & Trivia (Wizard Training Handbook (Unofficial) 1))
“
I put my hand on his forearm, I don't know why I do this, and it's not exactly natural, although it's not unnatural, except that I really want to touch his skin. It's smooth and tan just a little bit and feels like summer, like something familiar and warm and good, like my skin did on the first days aboard 'Fishful Thinking' before it salted and burned and peeled.
'We broke up three years after that.'
I sit back in my chair and give a sly smile. Relationships are complex and sometimes you can't really explain them to an outside party.
'I can't believe I just told you that'
'YES! YOU! ARE! LIVING! YOUR! FULL! LIFE!'
A third time. I am not imagining it.
'There you are.'
This time my heart does skip a beat. I look down at his arm, and we are still touching, and he has made no attempt to retract his arm or retreat. All my surroundings, the red formica table top, the pink yogurt, the blue sky, the green vegetables in the market, they all come alive in vibrant technicolor as the sun peers from behind a cloud. I am living my full life.
'Honesty in all things,' Byron adds, lifting his cup of yogurt for a toast of sorts.
I pull my hand away from him and the instant my hand is back by his side, I miss the warmth of his arm, the warmth of him. Honesty in all things. I should put my hand back, that's where it wants to be, that's Lily's lesson to me. Be present in the moment, give spontaneous affection. I'm suddenly aware I haven't spoken in a bit.
'Did you know that an octopus has three hearts?'
As soon as it comes out of my mouth, I realize I sound like that kid from 'Jerry McGuire.' 'Did you know the human head weighs eight pounds?' I hope my question comes off almost a fraction as endearing.
'No,' Byron says with a glint in his eye that reads as curiosity, at least I hope that it does, but even if it doesn't I'm too into the inertia of the trivia to stop it.
'It's true, one heart called the systemic heart that functions much like the left side of the human heart, distributing blood throughout the heart, then two smaller branchial heart with gills that act like the right side of our hearts to pump the blood back.'
'What made you think of that?'
I smile. It may be entirely inappropriate first date conversation, but at least it doesn't bore me in the telling. I look up at the winsome August sky, marred only by the contrails of a passing jet, and a vaguely dachshund shaped cloud above the horizon. I don't believe in fate. I don't believe in love at first site. I don't believe in angels. I don't believe in heaven and that our loved ones are looking down on us, but the sun is so warm and the breeze is so cool and the company is so perfect and the whole afternoon so intoxicating, ti's hard not to hear Lily's voice dancing in the gentle wind, 'one! month! is Long! Enough TO! BE! SAD!'
...
'I recently lost someone close to me....I don't know, I feel her here today with us, you, me, her, three hearts, like an octopus,' I shrug.
If I were him, I would run. What a ridiculously creepy thing to say. I would run and I would not stop until I was home in my bed with a gallon of ice cream deleting my profile from every dating site I belonged to. Maybe it's because it's not rehearsed, maybe it's because it's as weird a thing to say as it is genuine, maybe it's because this is finally the man for me.
Byron stands and offers me his hand, 'Let's take a walk and you can tell me about her.'
The gentle untying of a shoe lace.
It takes me a minute to decide if I can do this, and I decide that I can, and I throw our yogurt dishes away, and I put my hand in his, and it's soft and warm, and instead of awkward fumbling, our hands clasp together like magnets and metal, like we've been hand-in-hand all along, and we are touching again.
...
”
”
Steven Rowley (Lily and the Octopus)
“
Disney Question 16. Stag Party was the original name of what? A Top Gear
”
”
Charlotte Brown (Interactive Trivia Quiz Book)
“
What�s new?” is an interesting and broadening eternal question, but one which, if pursued exclusively, results only in an endless parade of trivia and fashion, the silt of tomorrow.
”
”
Anonymous
Evan Salveson (Game Night Trivia: 2000 Trivia Questions to Stump Your Friends)
“
Here is the first trivia quiz question on the Book of Common Prayer (BCP): who was the only layperson not of royal blood ever prayed for by name in the Prayer Book? Answer: Sir James Croft, Lord Deputy of Ireland, in the Dublin edition of 1551, and the fact that Sir James died in his bed three decades later, despite a risky career of double-dealing and his son’s execution for witchcraft, suggests that the prayers of the Irish faithful did him a bit of good. Second trivia question: who is St Enurchus? Answer: no one, because he is a misprint, and his original, the massively obscure St Evurtius, Bishop of Orleans, crept into the Prayer Book’s Calendar obliquely and entirely without authorization in 1604, almost certainly because his feast of 7 September happened to be the birthday of the lately deceased Queen Elizabeth I – it was some learned printer’s joke, and perhaps a little cock of the snook at the newly arrived King James I.
”
”
Diarmaid MacCulloch (All Things Made New: The Reformation and Its Legacy)
“
Seriously, which came first the chicken or the egg? The chicken,
”
”
Bill O'Neill (Trivia Madness Volume 3: 1000 Fun Trivia Questions (Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers))
“
Which day do fish hate? Fryday.
”
”
DL Digital Entertainment (Jokes, Riddles and Trivia for Kids Bundle: Over 1000 Different Jokes, Riddles, Brain Teasers and Trivia Questions for Smart Kids (Part 2))
“
What some may not know is that Lee Harvey Oswald wasn’t originally arrested for killing the president. He was first arrested for shooting and killing Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit. Oswald’s arrest came about on November 22, 1963, when a shoe store manager named John Brewer noticed him loitering suspiciously outside his store. Brewer noted that Oswald fit the description of the suspect in the shooting of Officer Tippit. When Oswald continued up the street and slipped inside the Texas Theater without paying for a ticket, Brewer called a theater worker, who alerted authorities. Fifteen Dallas police officers arrived at the scene. When they turned on the movie house lights, they found Lee Harvey Oswald sitting towards the back of the theater. The movie that had been airing at the time was War is Hell. When Lee Harvey Oswald was questioned by authorities about Tippit’s homicide, Captain J. W. Fritz recognized his name as one of the workers from the book depository who had been reported missing and was already being considered a suspect in JFK’s assassination. The day after he was formally arraigned for murdering Officer Tippit, he was also charged with assassinating John F. Kennedy. Today, the Texas Theater is a historical landmark that is commonly visited by tourists. It still airs movies and hosts special events. There’s also a bar and lounge. The Texas Theater was the first theater in Texas to have air conditioning. It was briefly owned by famous aviator and film producer, Howard Hughes. Texas’s Capitol
”
”
Bill O'Neill (The Great Book of Texas: The Crazy History of Texas with Amazing Random Facts & Trivia (A Trivia Nerds Guide to the History of the United States 1))
“
a group of frogs is called an army
”
”
DL Digital Entertainment (Trivia for Smart Kids: Over 300 Questions About Animals, Bugs, Nature, Space, Math, Movies and So Much More)
“
Oh, God, Ryle. What if she asks me questions about Jesus? I don’t go to church. I mean, I read the Bible when I was younger, but I don’t know answers to any Bible trivia questions.
”
”
Colleen Hoover (It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1))
“
85. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea it will become what? Answer: It will become wet
”
”
Johnny Nelson (537 Hilarious Trivia Questions for Kids: Questions and Answer Book for kids: The Funny Fact and Easy Educational Questions Q&A Game for Kids (Engaging Jokes and Games))
“
That’s what I dislike most of all in people—cold irony. It’s a very cowardly attitude to mock or belittle everything, never be committed to anything, not feel tied to anything. Like an impotent man who can’t experience pleasure himself, but will do all he can to ruin it for others. Cold irony is Urizen’s basic weapon. The armaments of impotence. At the same time the ironists always have a world outlook that they proclaim triumphantly, though if one starts badgering and questioning them about the details, it turns out to consist of nothing but trivia and banalities.
”
”
Olga Tokarczuk (Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead)
“
On the day I started my self-examination I asked myself these questions: ‘Am I interested in people? Do ideas excite me? Am I knowledgeable enough about novels to write one?’ I’m sure there were other questions, but I forget them now.
My earliest memories involve being one among many other children, so I did not grow up with a self-centered view of myself, and because of my early jobs I knew a great deal about life. I had knocked about America as a lad, seen Europe in my college years and had been in the Pacific as an adult. But most important, I had always loved people, their histories, the prestigious things they did and said, and I especially relished their stories about themselves. I was so eager to collect information about everyone I met that I was practically a voyeur, and always it was their accounts that mattered, not mine, for I was a listener, not a talker. If the writing of fiction was the reporting of how human beings behaved, I was surely eligible, for I liked not only their stories, I liked them.
As for ideas on which to base my writing, I was interested in everything—I was a kind of intellectual vacuum cleaner that picked up not only the oddest collection of facts imaginable but also solid material on the basic concerns of life.”
—Chapter XI, “Intellectual Equipment”, page 297
”
”
James A. Michener (The World Is My Home (A Memoir, Volume 3))
“
A visiting Israeli prime minister, requiring maximum security, merits the third-largest motorcade in America. If the president’s is the longest, whose then is number two? I later posed this trivia question to several people who gave varying answers—the vice president, Chinese leaders, even rock stars—but never the right one. The pope. The morning of May 18, though, my only question was the one I put to myself. Was I really speeding through stoplights with sirens wailing in the elongated cavalcade of sedans conveying Netanyahu to his first visit to Obama’s White House?
”
”
Michael B. Oren (Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide)
“
i really, really like beating people.
Note: I am not saying I really, really like winning. Winning is a more abstract concept, and in a quiz bowl, winning usually meant having to come back in the next round and do it all over again. No, I liked beating people. I liked seeing the look on the other team's faces when I got a question they couldn't answer. I loved their geektastic disappointment when they realized they weren't good enough to rank up. I loved using trivia to make people doubt themselves.
”
”
Holly Black
Johanna Canning (Childrens Book For Ages 6-8 Yrs Old: Trivia And Strange Facts For Kids - Fun Facts For Kids - Kids Trivia - Trivia Questions For Children: 40 little-known fun & educational trivia questions for kids!)
“
Tonight she'll be with Jeremy, her lieutenant, but she wants to be with Roger. Except that, really, she doesn't. Does she? She can't remember being so confused. When she is with Roger it's all love, but at any distance- any at all, Jack- she finds that he depresses and even frightens her. Why? On top of him in the wild nights riding up and down his cock her axis, trying herself to stay rigid enough not to turn to cream taper-wax and fall away melting to the coverlet coming there's only room for Roger, Roger, oh love to the end of breath. But out of bed, walking talking, his bitterness, his darkness, run deeper than the War, the winter: he hates England so, hates "the System," gripes endlessly, says he'll emigrate when the War's over, stays inside his paper cynic's cave hating himself... and does she want to bring him out, really? Isn't it safer with Jeremy? She tried not to allow this question to often, but it's there. Three years with Jeremy. They might as well be married. Three years ought to count for something. Daily, small stitches and easings. She's worn old Beaver's bathrobes, brewed his tea and coffee, sought his eye across lorry-parks, day rooms and rainy mud fields when all the day's mean, dismal losses could be rescued in the one look- familiar, full of trust, in a season where the word is invoked for quaintness or a minor laugh. And to rip it all out? three years? for this erratic, self-centered- boy, really. Weepers, he supposed to be pas thirty, he's years older than she. He ought to've learned something, surely? A man of experience?
///
If the rockets don't get her there's still her lieutenant. Damned Beaver/Jeremy IS the War, he is every assertion the fucking War has ever made- that we are meant work and government, for austerity: and these shall take priority over love, dreams, the spirit, the sense and the second-class trivia that are found among the idle and mindless hours of the day... Damn them, they are wrong. They are insane. Jeremy will take her like the Angel itself, in his joyless weasel-worded come-along, and Roger will be forgotten, an amusing maniac, but with no place in the rationalized power-ritual that will be the coming peace. She will take her husband's orders, she will become a domestic bureaucrat, a junior partner, and remember Roger, if at all, as a mistake thank God she did not make...
Oh, he feels a raving fit coming on- how the bloody hell can he survive without her? She is the British warm that protects his stooping shoulders, and the wintering sparrow he holds inside his hands. She is his deepest innocence in spaces of bough and hay before wishes were given a separate name to warn they might not come true, and his lithe Parisian daughter of joy, beneath the eternal mirror, forswearing perfumes, capeskins to the armpits, all that is too easy, for his impoverishment and more worthy love.
///
Jessica steps away from Roger to blow her nose. The sound is as familiar to him as a bird's song, ip-ip-ip-ip NGUNNGG as the hankerchief comes away..."Oh sooper dooper," she says, "think I'm catching a cold."
You're catching the War. It's infecting you and I don't know how to keep it away. Oh, Jess. Jessica. Don't leave me,,,,
”
”
Thomas Pynchon (Gravity’s Rainbow)
“
Tonight she'll be with Jeremy, her lieutenant, but she wants to be with Roger. Except that, really, she doesn't. Does she? She can't remember being so confused. When she is with Roger it's all love, but at any distance- any at all, Jack- she finds that he depresses and even frightens her. Why? On top of him in the wild nights riding up and down his cock her axis, trying herself to stay rigid enough not to turn to cream taper-wax and fall away melting to the coverlet coming there's only room for Roger, Roger, oh love to the end of breath. But out of bed, walking talking, his bitterness, his darkness, run deeper than the War, the winter: he hates England so, hates "the System," gripes endlessly, says he'll emigrate when the War's over, stays inside his paper cynic's cave hating himself... and does she want to bring him out, really? Isn't it safer with Jeremy? She tried not to allow this question to often, but it's there. Three years with Jeremy. They might as well be married. Three years ought to count for something. Daily, small stitches and easings. She's worn old Beaver's bathrobes, brewed his tea and coffee, sought his eye across lorry-parks, day rooms and rainy mud fields when all the day's mean, dismal losses could be rescued in the one look- familiar, full of trust, in a season where the word is invoked for quaintness or a minor laugh. And to rip it all out? three years? for this erratic, self-centered- boy, really. Weepers, he supposed to be past thirty, he's years older than she. He ought to've learned something, surely? A man of experience?
///
If the rockets don't get her there's still her lieutenant. Damned Beaver/Jeremy IS the War, he is every assertion the fucking War has ever made- that we are meant work and government, for austerity: and these shall take priority over love, dreams, the spirit, the senses and the second-class trivia that are found among the idle and mindless hours of the day... Damn them, they are wrong. They are insane. Jeremy will take her like the Angel itself, in his joyless weasel-worded come-along, and Roger will be forgotten, an amusing maniac, but with no place in the rationalized power-ritual that will be the coming peace. She will take her husband's orders, she will become a domestic bureaucrat, a junior partner, and remember Roger, if at all, as a mistake thank God she did not make...
Oh, he feels a raving fit coming on- how the bloody hell can he survive without her? She is the British warm that protects his stooping shoulders, and the wintering sparrow he holds inside his hands. She is his deepest innocence in spaces of bough and hay before wishes were given a separate name to warn they might not come true, and his lithe Parisian daughter of joy, beneath the eternal mirror, forswearing perfumes, capeskins to the armpits, all that is too easy, for his impoverishment and more worthy love.
///
Jessica steps away from Roger to blow her nose. The sound is as familiar to him as a bird's song, ip-ip-ip-ip NGUNNGG as the hankerchief comes away..."Oh sooper dooper," she says, "think I'm catching a cold."
You're catching the War. It's infecting you and I don't know how to keep it away. Oh, Jess. Jessica. Don't leave me....
”
”
Thomas Pynchon (Gravity’s Rainbow)
“
How many of the following trivia questions can you answer correctly? Answers are over the page:- Q1/ What is Janus the god of? Q2/ What is Isabel doing when Tom first sees her? Q3/ What does Isabel do to Tom’s map of Janus Island? Q4/ Apart from a baby and a dead man, what other two objects are in the dinghy that lands on Janus Island? Q5/ What is Lucy doing on the only occasion when Tom tells her off? Q6/ What nationality is Frank and what is his real name? Q7/ Why is Hannah’s father, Septimus, sent alone to Australia when he is just a small boy? Q8/ How often does the store boat visit Janus Island? Q9/ What does Tom’s father enclose in his final letter to his son? Q10/ When Hannah prays in church, whose statue does she sit by? Q11/ Lucy/ Grace goes missing on two occasions. In each instance, where is she eventually found and what is she doing?
”
”
Kathryn Cope (Study Guide for Book Clubs: The Light Between Oceans (Study Guides for Book Clubs))
“
But I am in the Correctional System now, subject to its clockwork whims and institutional hardness. I am no more than an unCorrectable error waiting to be Corrected while the proper forms are filled out and filed and forgotten, however long that may take. Parenthetically, it does seem to be taking quite a while. There is some small tidbit of arcane Constitutional Trivia rattling around in my poor withered brain that mumbles something about a speedy trial—and I have not even been arraigned. Surely this is somewhat irregular? But I am offered no company other than my guards, and they are not terribly chatty, and I have no opportunity to make the acquaintance of anyone else who might answer my polite questions about due process. So I am forced into the ludicrous position of trusting in the system—a system that I know far too well is far from trustworthy.
”
”
Jeff Lindsay (Dexter Is Dead (Dexter, #8))
Bill O'Neill (The Great Book of Pub Trivia: Hilarious Pub Quiz & Bar Trivia Questions (Trivia Quiz Books 1))
Bill O'Neill (The Great Book of Pub Trivia: Hilarious Pub Quiz & Bar Trivia Questions (Trivia Quiz Books 1))
“
Who found the material, who pursued the material and how, who bought the material, whose account is true or accurate: these might not seem consequential questions now. But they have definite implications on the other side of the film’s making and marketing, and in the wake of relationships that sustained, and relationships that broke, in the years after.
”
”
Glenn Kenny (Made Men: The Story of Goodfellas)
“
The way he says it, it doesn’t sound like a curiosity. More like a trivia question. “Nineteen,” I answer. He nods. “Remember me telling you I took her to the lagoon after Tilly got inside her head? That she was in pain and that I’d hoped the lagoon would help soothe her?” Of course I remember. It was the first time I realized Peter Pan had a heart. “Yes,” I answer. “I took her because she was worried.” “About what?” “About the baby in her womb. About you.
”
”
Nikki St. Crowe (The Dark One (Vicious Lost Boys, #2))
Johnny Nelson (537 Hilarious Trivia Questions for Kids: Questions and Answer Book for kids: The Funny Fact and Easy Educational Questions Q&A Game for Kids (Engaging Jokes and Games))
“
My Weird School Trivia Questions The
”
”
Dan Gutman (My Weird School Special: We're Red, Weird, and Blue! What Can We Do?)
“
He wasn’t being interrogated with trivia questions or being asked what, exactly, it was he planned to do with his life.
”
”
Amanda M. Fairbanks (The Lost Boys of Montauk: The True Story of the Wind Blown, Four Men Who Vanished at Sea, and the Survivors They Left Behind)
“
B) "The Way I Loved You
”
”
Jessica Mae Stewart (211 Fun Facts about Taylor Swift: Quizzes, Trivia, Quotes, Questions and More!)
“
The most important question of your life (when facing a knife) is: “Do I have to engage?” Stop and think about that. Asking that question when someone pulls a knife on you can— literally— save your life. Something else I talk about in this book is how often someone will pull a knife to scare you away. He’s showing you how serious he is. Now an interesting bit of trivia is overwhelmingly violence comes with instructions on how to avoid it. Surprise, surprise, unless you’re being a complete dick, odds are those instructions are legitimate. He’s offering you a deal: Change your behavior and he won’t hurt you. So if a guy is five feet away from you, pulls a knife, and says, “Get the fuck out of here”—take the deal!
”
”
Marc MacYoung (Knives, Knife Fighting, & Related Hassles: How to Survive a REAL Knife Fight)
“
In the 1974 classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig decries the conversational opener “What’s new?”—arguing that the question, “if pursued exclusively, results only in an endless parade of trivia and fashion, the silt of tomorrow.” He endorses an alternative as vastly superior: “What’s best?” But the reality is not so simple. Remembering that every “best” song and restaurant among your favorites began humbly as something merely “new” to you is a reminder that there may be yet-unknown bests still out there—and thus that the new is indeed worthy of at least some of our attention.
”
”
Brian Christian (Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions)
“
In total, seven owls were used to play Hedwig.
”
”
Jordan Samarias (The Ultimate Harry Potter Trivia Book: Hundreds and hundreds of Harry Potter questions based on the novels, catering to both the casual reader and the die-hard fanatic.)
“
J.K. Rowling took an online sorting hat test; she was placed in Hufflepuff.
”
”
Jordan Samarias (The Ultimate Harry Potter Trivia Book: Hundreds and hundreds of Harry Potter questions based on the novels, catering to both the casual reader and the die-hard fanatic.)
“
Rupert Grint made a rap video to audition for the role of Ron Weasley
”
”
Jordan Samarias (The Ultimate Harry Potter Trivia Book: Hundreds and hundreds of Harry Potter questions based on the novels, catering to both the casual reader and the die-hard fanatic.)
“
Both notorious pranksters, Sirius Black & Fred Weasley both died laughing.
”
”
Jordan Samarias (The Ultimate Harry Potter Trivia Book: Hundreds and hundreds of Harry Potter questions based on the novels, catering to both the casual reader and the die-hard fanatic.)
“
Thanks to a documentary series on Netflix, I knew that nachos were called nachos because of their inventor's name (Ignacio, nicknamed Nacho). Croissants originated in Australia, not France, a tricky question that knocked all the other teams down... except for Bennett. Thanks to a paper I'd written in college on the history of the celebrity chef, I knew that the first TV celebrity chef was Fanny Cradock in England, not Julia Child, which three of the other teams thought.
Not Bennett, of course. I wondered how he knew about Fanny. She wasn't exactly a household name. At least, not here. If I asked him, he'd probably expound upon a teenage trip to England, where he'd visited the former set.
The first food eaten in space? Applesauce. The first sushi restaurant in New York City? Nippon.
”
”
Amanda Elliot (Best Served Hot)
“
Left undistracted, her brain tended to fly off the rails and drive her insane with endless meandering rivers of thought, or constant badgering questions she needed to look up answers to. The trivia, the reading, the book club . . . they were simply weapons of self-defense.
”
”
Abbi Waxman (The Bookish Life of Nina Hill)
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Transform metal into gold
”
”
Michael Fry (200 Harry Potter Trivia Questions - The Unofficial Wizard And Witch Training Guide With All The Facts (Unofficial Guide Book 3))
“
Answer Lockhart's Fan Mail
”
”
Michael Fry (200 Harry Potter Trivia Questions - The Unofficial Wizard And Witch Training Guide With All The Facts (Unofficial Guide Book 3))
“
The Man With Two Faces
”
”
Michael Fry (200 Harry Potter Trivia Questions - The Unofficial Wizard And Witch Training Guide With All The Facts (Unofficial Guide Book 3))
“
Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington
”
”
Michael Fry (200 Harry Potter Trivia Questions - The Unofficial Wizard And Witch Training Guide With All The Facts (Unofficial Guide Book 3))
“
Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team
”
”
Michael Fry (200 Harry Potter Trivia Questions - The Unofficial Wizard And Witch Training Guide With All The Facts (Unofficial Guide Book 3))
“
The London Underground
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”
Michael Fry (200 Harry Potter Trivia Questions - The Unofficial Wizard And Witch Training Guide With All The Facts (Unofficial Guide Book 3))
“
Ordinary Wizarding Level
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”
Michael Fry (200 Harry Potter Trivia Questions - The Unofficial Wizard And Witch Training Guide With All The Facts (Unofficial Guide Book 3))
“
Official Wizarding Level
”
”
Michael Fry (200 Harry Potter Trivia Questions - The Unofficial Wizard And Witch Training Guide With All The Facts (Unofficial Guide Book 3))
“
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live
”
”
Michael Fry (200 Harry Potter Trivia Questions - The Unofficial Wizard And Witch Training Guide With All The Facts (Unofficial Guide Book 3))
“
Alfred Hitchcock answered a question on a real murder case in such detail that Fadiman asked if he knew how the tide was running at the time. Especially appreciated were questions that stumped the experts on the trivia of their own lives. Adams could not name a passage from one of his poems. Novelist Rex Stout failed to identify a recipe for Lobster Newburg, forgetting that his detective Nero Wolfe had used it in the book Too Many Cooks. Elliott Roosevelt had no idea that certain quotations had appeared in his mother’s newspaper column the week before.
”
”
John Dunning (On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio)
“
This even became a running gag for nightclub comics: the question “What does Ozzie Nelson do for a living?” was prime trivia. For the record, he was a bandleader; because most of the action of Ozzie and Harriet was set on weekends when the boys were out of school, his occupation was never a factor. But the notion persisted as the times changed—here was a family from Neverland, far away from Real Life. Along with Father Knows Best and Leave It to Beaver, Ozzie and Harriet is most frequently cited as the epitome of sitcom fantasy.
”
”
John Dunning (On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio)
“
I was a font of useless information. The only thing that had ever rivaled my Chase obsession was my love of all things trivia. Trivial Pursuit games ended with me drinking the tears of my fellow players and leaving a trail of their bloodied hearts all over the board.
After my grandparents left the Amish in Pennsylvania and moved out to California, one of the first things they bought was a TV. When I lived with them decades later, they still had that same television. The only program they ever watched was Jeopardy!, and I remember sitting on their uncomfortable couch in between them as they missed so many questions. My guess was that my love for weird cultural minutiae came from them. Alex Trebek was kind of my hero.
So I tweeted out random facts. Which was better than having to hear Lexi say, “If you say one more thing about stoplight colors, I will slip arsenic into your orange juice.”
Twitter was a good outlet for my useless knowledge.
”
”
Sariah Wilson (#Starstruck (#Lovestruck, #1))
“
She spread her hand. “They are accepting, but you’re the only one who doesn’t think I’m odd.” He grinned. “Have you seen some of the people I work with? Wickmayer makes you answer trivia questions about spaceships before he’ll talk to you. Chang only eats green foods. Simon writes love poems about prime numbers. Or maybe to prime numbers. You’re one of the most normal people I know.” “I think that means you’re a magnet for odd people, not that I’m normal.
”
”
Lindsay Buroker (Star Kingdom Boxset (Star Kingdom, #1-3))
J.M. Paris (Kid Quiz! Trivia Questions for Big Fans of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends)
“
Himself Holding The Quidditch Cup
”
”
Michael Fry (200 Harry Potter Trivia Questions - The Unofficial Wizard And Witch Training Guide With All The Facts (Unofficial Guide Book 3))
“
Aquamarine Forget-me-not blue Turquoise
”
”
Michael Fry (200 Harry Potter Trivia Questions - The Unofficial Wizard And Witch Training Guide With All The Facts (Unofficial Guide Book 3))
“
Removes Parts Of Someone's Memory
”
”
Michael Fry (200 Harry Potter Trivia Questions - The Unofficial Wizard And Witch Training Guide With All The Facts (Unofficial Guide Book 3))
“
impotence. At the same time the ironists always have a world outlook that they proclaim triumphantly, though if one starts badgering and questioning them about the details, it turns out to consist of nothing but trivia and banalities.
”
”
Olga Tokarczuk (Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead)
“
She also told me about the night one of her astrophysics friends went to a bar trivia contest where the final question was "What does Kelvin measure?" The winning answer was "heat," but her friend explained that Kelvin measures temperature, not heat, since heat is energy and is measured in energy units like joules or ergs. The astronomer refused to back down, until the battle had to be settled with a chug-off. These astro people are hard-core.
”
”
Rob Sheffield (Turn Around Bright Eyes: The Rituals of Love & Karaoke)
“
San Francisco 49ers
”
”
FARARE WHIRS (Ultimate Football Trivia Challenge: 1,000 questions designed to test and expand your knowledge of American football)
“
11. Scooby Doo's real name is Scoobert - True or False? True.
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Arthur Joyce (Trivia Quiz: 100 True Or False Quiz Questions And Answers)