Useless trivia knowledge

[TheEarl]

It's so sad - I can't remember anything to do with my course, yet I can answer all of these questions straight off.

Name the 2nd Fuhrer of Nazi Germany?
How long did the 100 years war last?
Who was the first ruling queen of England?
How long was the shortest war ever fought?
Which continent in the world has the smallest number of UN-recognised countries?

Interested to see if anyone (apart from me obviously) knows the answers.

The Earl

 

[rgraham666]

1. Karl Döenitz

2. 112 years as I recall.

3. Bloody Mary, I believe.

4. Don't know.

5. Australia.

Isn't trivia by it's nature useless.

 

[wildsweetone]

I'm hopeless with trivia, but hmm

2. 100 years

3. Mary Tudor (one of Henry's daughters)

 

[R. Richard]

Name the 2nd Fuhrer of Nazi Germany.
rgraham's answer of Karl Döenitz is correct.

How long did the 100 years war last?
It dependes upon exactly how you define the start and end. The normal starting point is 1337 when Phillip of France declared the fiefs of Edward III forfeit. The normal ending point is the capture of Bordeaux by the French in 1453.

Who was the first ruling queen of England?
rgraham's answer of Bloody Mary is correct, although she made her rep burning protestants at the stake.

How long was the shortest war ever fought?
Britain versus Zanzibar. The British began to shell Zanzibar at 9AM and Zanzibar surrendered at 9:45AM.

Which continent in the world has the smallest number of UN-recognised countries?
rgraham's answer of Australia is incorrect. Australia has 1 UN recognized country. Antarctica has zero UN recognized countries.

If you do not have a cigar to give me, a few 5 votes on my submissions will do.

 

[Guest]

Which continent in the world has the smallest number of UN-recognised countries?
rgraham's answer of Australia is incorrect. Australia has 1 UN recognized country. Antarctica has zero UN recognized countries.

If you do not have a cigar to give me, a few 5 votes on my submissions will do. [/B]

Tecnichly zero is not a number, therefore Australia is correct.

 

[R. Richard]

From the Houghton-Mifflin web dictionary.

ze·ro

NOUN:
pl. ze·ros or ze·roes
1. The numerical symbol 0; a cipher.
2. Mathematics
The identity element for addition.
A cardinal number indicating the absence of any or all units
under consideration.
An ordinal number indicating an initial point or origin.
An argument at which the value of a function vanishes.

Zero is a number. Zero is an integer. Zero is not a 'natural number' (the set of positive integers).

I have a degree in mathematics.

 

[TheEarl]

Name the 2nd Fuhrer of Nazi Germany.
rgraham's answer of Karl Döenitz is correct.

How long did the 100 years war last?
It dependes upon exactly how you define the start and end. The normal starting point is 1337 when Phillip of France declared the fiefs of Edward III forfeit. The normal ending point is the capture of Bordeaux by the French in 1453.

Who was the first ruling queen of England?
rgraham's answer of Bloody Mary is correct, although she made her rep burning protestants at the stake.

How long was the shortest war ever fought?
Britain versus Zanzibar. The British began to shell Zanzibar at 9AM and Zanzibar surrendered at 9:45AM.

Which continent in the world has the smallest number of UN-recognised countries?
rgraham's answer of Australia is incorrect. Australia has 1 UN recognized country. Antarctica has zero UN recognized countries.

If you do not have a cigar to give me, a few 5 votes on my submissions will do.

R.Richard gets a virtual cigar! Although I would like to point out that Australia is not a continent. Australasia is a continent and that contains Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, American Samoa and lots of others. The second smallest continent in terms of number of countries would be N.America.

I always find the Zanzibar war fascinating. The island had been argued over by Germany and Britain for years and the British had just gained supremacy. Then the Sultan died and the new German-supported Sultan declared himself independent. Britain declared war and the Sultan mobilised a small army and re-commissioned a small copper cannon that was last used in the 1600s. 38 minutes of shelling later...

The Earl

 

[SensualCealy]

You guys are soooo smart, it makes me quiver!
C

 

[rgraham666]

Didn't do that well, did I?

Oh well, if I knew everything I would be God and then I certainly wouldn't be hanging around this silly planet now, would I?

 

[cantdog]

Christ, it's a nice planet-- especially the women.

And the whiskies.


cantdog

 

[rgraham666]

Christ, it's a nice planet-- especially the women.

And the whiskies.


cantdog

That's two of the reasons I stick around.

 

[TheEarl]

All right, since I really should be doing coursework, I think it's worth my effort putting five more up for consideration:

1) Who coined the phrase - "You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs" and what were they referring to?
2) Who described golf as "The best way to spoil a good walk."
3) What word translates to English as 'malicious joy' and what language does it come from?
4) Which US state has been under six flags in its history and what were they?
5) How many (recognised) languages are spoken in the British Isles (England, N.Ireland, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Shetland Islands)?

The Earl

 

[R. Richard]

All right, since I really should be doing coursework, I think it's worth my effort putting five more up for consideration:

1) Who coined the phrase - "You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs" and what were they referring to?
2) Who described golf as "The best way to spoil a good walk."
3) What word translates to English as 'malicious joy' and what language does it come from?
4) Which US state has been under six flags in its history and what were they?
5) How many (recognised) languages are spoken in the British Isles (England, N.Ireland, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Shetland Islands)?

The Earl

1) Walter Duranty made the comment. Mr. Duranty (no connection with Juimmy Durante, 'The Schnozzola.') was referring to the process of the Russian revolution. (I presume you used 'they' to refer to Mr. Duranty's multiple personalities, each one worse than the other.)
2) Winston Churchill. The quote was made before Winston began the manufacture of his eponymous filter cigarettes.
4) Texas.
5) At least hundreds, perhaps thousands. Perhaps you were referring to native languages?

 

[TheEarl]

1) Walter Duranty made the comment. Mr. Duranty (no connection with Juimmy Durante, 'The Schnozzola.') was referring to the process of the Russian revolution. (I presume you used 'they' to refer to Mr. Duranty's multiple personalities, each one worse than the other.)
2) Winston Churchill. The quote was made before Winston began the manufacture of his eponymous filter cigarettes.
4) Texas.
5) At least hundreds, perhaps thousands. Perhaps you were referring to native languages?

I was referring to native languages and am expecting someone to correct me when I miss one.

Number 1 is incorrect, although I won't reveal the answer in case anyone else wants to guess. Duranty did say it, but he wasn't the one who coined it.

Can you tell how much I really don't want to do my work?

The Earl

 

[Guest]

I knew the omelette quote: Stalin thought he was being witty re. the murder of his people (some 60 million). I find it one of the cruelest epigrams in history. - Pear

I was curious about the languages, so googled:

There are generally considered to be six indigenous spoken languages: English which is the language of the majority, Scots Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Manx Gaelic, Welsh and Cornish

Additional 2 forms of English are often recognised as regional languages: Scots and Ulster Scots

As well as the spoken languages there are two sign languages, widely used by the deaf and hard of hearing communities: British Sign Language (BSL), Irish Sign Language

Two creoles are recognised: Romani (Romany) spoken by Gypsies, Shelta (Sheldru) spoken by Travellers (Tinkers)

source

 

[cantdog]

It was Josef Dzugashvili, Stalin, referring to the purges in Ukraine.

(That's the eggs.)

And it was Mark Twain, Mister Clemens, who said "Golf is a good walk spoiled."

Texas. France, Spain, Mexico, Rep. of Texas, The Union, the Confederacy.

Union twice; France for less than half of the present state. Close?

 

[TheEarl]

1. The answer is Josef Stalin
2. I understood Winston Churchill to be origin of that quote, but I can't disprove cantdog. Can you disprove me?
3. The word is schadenfreude and is the only word in any language to describe the humour from laughing at someone else's misfotune. Curious, because that forms the basis of a lot of English humour.
4. Texas is correct - France, Spain, Mexico, Lone Star, Union, Confederacy.
5. I was going to say 5 - English, Irish, Scots, Welsh and Cornish, but Pear is (as always) correct in mentioning Manx.

Well I successfully avoided work today. How about you people?

The Earl

 

[cantdog]

I thought the last speaker of Manx who learned it as a milk tongue died in the seventies.

"Recognized " is the key here, I suppose. It brings in an authority, but I don't know of any authorities who pronounce on such matters. I rather thaought Cornish was also more or less a dead language, in that everyone has to learn it; no one is a native speaker. Not an expert on the Celtic ones, though. Did six chapters in a Teach Yourself book for Scots Gaelic, enough to know 'chan eil," and 'Tha an cu dubh aig an dorus.'

Isn't there another gang of Germanic language speakers on the Shetlands or Jersey or someplace, too?

 

[TheEarl]

Cornish is still spoken as a language in the sense that people put it down as their first tongue on the census. Same with Welsh, Scots and Irish. I can't comment at all on the Manx - complete lack of knowledge there.

The Earl

 

[cantdog]

Well, my comparative linguistics teacher said that Manx had died that week. I just believed him. That would have been '72 or '73, sometime during that school year.

Languages die, by that criterion, all the time. Welch and Irish are certainly living tongues, and certainly there were people who spoke little but Scots Gaelic in the 'forties. I always figured there were still native speakers of it. Who "recognizes" these things? Some committee in a university or some appointed body?


I'll look up the thing, but the web is notorious for being a bad place to authenticate a quotation. I have a lot of Twain here, and he takes up the subject of golf in A Tramp Abroad, I think, and in one of the short speeches or articles in the collections, too. It may be a day or so. I'd like to cite the work, if I can. I've only read Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples, but his book on oil painting as a pastime is on the shelf at the church. It might be in there, I suppose, since he talks about the various diversions open to a gentleman.

 

[R. Richard]

I am unsure of the categorization of Romani as a creole.

Since there is no country as a source for Romani, the language will have dialects. Normally there are seven recognized dialects of Romani. They are Yugoslav(Balkan), Czech, Finnish,Yugoslav(Sinte), UK(Welsh), Polish, Romanian.

It is my understanding (and this may be only legend/rumor) is that, when the Rom gather, it is possible for speakers of one dialect to communicate with one another, if only in the simplist terms. Can anyone verify/reject this idea? TIA.

 

[Guest]

RR, I learned long ago that the original Romani came from outside India (they were not necessarily Indian); the source makes the language Indo-Aryan. Here's something I found:

"The Linguistics section of the Centre de recherches tsiganes at the Universite Rene Descarte arrived at the following divisions in the Romani language:

Romany in its original sense, which is spoken by the majority of Roma around the world, is further divided into three groups of dialects. These dialects have the basic Romany vocabulary and, except for loan-words from contact languages for modern life (television, truck-driver, etc.), there's a high level of comprehension between them.

The Balkan-Carpathian-Baltic group has a very well-preserved phonology (system of phonetics), and is further divided into: the Old Balkan, or Arlijan, subgroup, the Carpathian subgroup, and the Baltic subgroup.

The Gurbet-Cerhan group is spoken exclusively in the Balkans.

The Kalderash-Lovar group which has gone through fairly considerable changes in the area of phonology, is the most geographically widespread, reaching from the Urals to California and Buenos Aires. This dialect, or group of dialects, has also been given the name Vlax Romany.

The Sinto-Manush dialects, are divided into Carpathian and Baltic subgroups and contain a large number of loan-words from Germanic languages. Even the morphology (system of word structure) of these dialects has undergone substantial changes, so that comprehension between speakers of these dialects and the preceeding ones is minimal.

Local dialects of other languages containing Romani words, are spoken by groups of Roma who lost their own language in efforts toward assimilation. The Spanish gitanos, for example, were persecuted in the 17th and 18th centuries and punished for using Romany, so that the Calo dialects have Romany words but Spanish grammar. Similar situations exist in Great Britain and some regions in Rumania. These dialects are completely incomprehensible for Roma of the other dialect groups." citation

 

[TheEarl]

I'll look up the thing, but the web is notorious for being a bad place to authenticate a quotation. I have a lot of Twain here, and he takes up the subject of golf in A Tramp Abroad, I think, and in one of the short speeches or articles in the collections, too. It may be a day or so. I'd like to cite the work, if I can. I've only read Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples, but his book on oil painting as a pastime is on the shelf at the church. It might be in there, I suppose, since he talks about the various diversions open to a gentleman.

Cantdog: Churchill was a noted wit and so it might not be something he wrote in a book. Might be something he said off the cuff which was recorded for posterity.

The Earl

 

[SensualCealy]

The only one I knew was #2 Samuel Clemens, It was in his latest book that I have actually read. Now he could have swiped it from Churchill but.... I did know it! lol

C

Ps keep them coming Earl, I like seeing how stupid I really am! lol

 

[SensualCealy]

Forgot to add, I have the book, ' Tramp Abroad' as well. Haven't read it yet, saving it for when Im old, dont tell the kids or they will open it now! C