Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The Celebrated Wednesday Quiz

It's:


The new weekly game of knowledge, intuition, inductive reasoning, and willingness to risk public embarrassment in a friendly and moderately supportive environment!!

Once more, into the breach! Answers come out on Friday! Or sometime!

1. Originally an Italian banker, he took part in early exploratory expeditions to South America in the service of Spain and Portugal and wrote (or had ghost-written) accounts or their discoveries. Today, he is famous only for his name. Who are we talking about?

2. Igor Stravinsky dismissed his music as "the same concerto 400 times." What Baroque composer is probably 18th Century Italy's most famous redhead?

3. Charlotte Brontë wrote a few other books aside from Jane Eyre. Her second most famous might be one about an English woman named Lucy Snow who works as a teacher in a fictional city that bears a remarkable resemblance to Brussels. What is the name of the fictional city, which is also the title the novel?

4. Where is this?



5. Louis Pasteur was among the first to suspect their existance, after all that work with his microscope failed to turn up a cause for rabies. What are they?

6. Where's this?



7. The Koran calls her سورة مريم, and Greek manuscripts say that she was a παρθένος. Who are we talking about?

8. What's this?  I mean, the bit in the green circle.



9. The element with atomic number 23 isn't found in its pure form in nature, but it was isolated and named in 1831. It's often used in steel alloys. What's it called, again?

10. Who wrote The Age of Louis XIV, Essay on the Customs and the Spirit of the Nations, Zadig, Micromégas, and, oh yeah, Candide?


Give it the old college try!  Or, if you didn't go to an old college, flaunt your independent book larnin'!  Answers in the comments, of course.  

16 comments:

Christine M. said...

1. Amerigo Vespucci
2. Vivialdi
3. Villette
4. The Vatican
5. viruses
6. Venezuela
7. dunno
8. viola
9. vanadium?
10. Voltaire

lamanyana said...

1. Vespucci (not the name he's famous for)
2. Vivaldi
3. no idea.. probably not "Vesuvius", though.
4. The Vatican?
5. Viruses
6. Venezuela
7. The Virgin Mary
8. a Viola
9. Vanadium
10. Voltaire

Elaine said...

1. Vespucci
2. Vivaldi
3.
4. Vatican City
5. Viruses
6. Venezuela
7. Virgin Mary?
8. VIOLA!
9.
10. Voltaire

Haven't slept but a few hours for two nights--so that's my excuse for not knowing more answers...
Vivisectionists! Violets! Vice Squad! Viands and Victuals! Vervain! (Sid VICIOUS) Voting booth! Vanity Fair! Ma Vlast! Can I get extra credit?

Dug said...

1. Vespucci
2. Vivaldi
3. Villeneuve
4. Vatican City
5. Viruses
6. Venezuela
7. Valerie Plame
8. Viola
9. Vulcan
10. Voltaire

Michael5000 said...

ooh, "ma Vlast" is good....

Elizabeth said...

Well, I didn't have a clue until I hit the viola (not that I make it a practice to hit violas) so now that I know the letter o' the week, I can make at least reasonable guesses on the first bits.

1. Vespucci, Amerigo.
2. Vivaldi? Though I would disagree.
3. Very little chance I've ever read this.
4. Venice.
5. Viruses.
6. Venezuela. Probably not, but I can't think of any other V-countries off the top of my head.
7. Virgin Mary, The.
8. Viola.
9. Viridium.
10. Voltaire.

I went to Vassar, obviously.

Aviatrix said...

Ooh! Ooh! The quiz! I'll remember to look for the secret letter this time.

1. Vespucci - I never knew he even came out here. Unless he's Venezua... no, I'm not changing everything now.
2. Verdi - Redhead, huh? He's the only Italian V-name musician that comes to mind, so he can henna his hair if I'm wrong.
3. Verdunne - it's a lot harder to guess fictional cities. I keep putting down real ones.
4. Vatican City - hey by doing them backwards I gave myself a hint in number six. Definitely not Vanuatu. Could be Venice, but I'm sticking with Vatican City. Looks ceremonial, and besides #2 is Italian.
5. viruses - or virii if people like that better, which I kind of do, 'cause of all the dots.
6. Venezuela - not going to be the Virgin Islands cause why would you have TWO virgins, not Pope-y enough for Vatican city. Damn, there's a horse. Would Venezuela have a horse? Vanuatu isn't going to have a horse. Conquistadores had horses. It's kinda jungley and mountainy. Upper Volta a) doesn't exist anymore and b) starts with a U. I don't think there's a regular Volta. Yeah, I'm sticking with Venezuela.
7. virgin - yay, math class for the Greek letters and biology class for parthenogenesis.
8. viola - Bigger than a violin, smaller than a van, and more reversible than a vasectomy.
9. Vanadium - I can count that high on my fingers, plus it starts with V.
10. Voltaire - I should read it some day. I should also clean the bathroom.

This one's HARD! I hardly knew any, but I just kept guessing things with V. I still want points, though, please.

Jennifer said...

1. Amerigo Vespucci
2. Vivaldi
3. Villette
4. Vatican City?
5. viruses
6. Venezuela?
7. A religious V? I dunno, Virgin Mary???
8. Is that a viola? I don't usually get to see an adult-sized one.
9. I vill feel like an idiot when I see the answer to this one, probably. Vanadium?
10. Voltaire

Ben said...

1. Could he be who Venezuela is named after? If so, my answer would be Venezuela or some variation on that.
2. Vivaldi? I have no idea what color his hair was.
3. Vrussels
4. Vatican City? Is that St. Peter's?
5. Vitamins?
6.
7. No idea
8. I know this one! It's a viola!
9.
10.

Not a very good effort this week, I'm afraid.

cecil said...

1 Bulgari
2 Rossini
3 Brugelles
4 Vatican City
5 Bacteria
6 Bangladesh
7 Eve
8 viola
9 molybdenum
10 Voltaire

Nichim said...

1. Amerigo Vespucci
2. Vivaldi
3. ?
4. the Vatican
5. viruses (virii?)
6. ??
7. The Virgin Mary
8. a Viola
9. viridium (or something like that)
10. Voltaire

Nichim said...

For explorer types with famous names, I prefer Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. Maybe you can get him into a quiz one of these days?

UnwiseOwl said...

1. Vespucci?
2. Surely Vivaldi
3. Vilette, I haven't read it, yet.
4. The Vatican, I'd recognise that anywhere.
5. Viruses?
6. Venzuela
7. Whoa...Maybe Mary?
8. It's a viola!
9. Vanadium?
10. Voltaire!

mrs.5000 said...

1 Amerigo Vespucci
2 Vivaldi
3 Villette
4 St. Peter's! the Vatican
5 viruses
6 Vietnam
7 the Virgin Mary
8 a viola
9 vanadium
10 Voltaire
I did go to an old college, but the only answer I learned there was #4, which was good for about a lecture and a half in History of Architecture Part 1.

Mm mud said...

This might as well be an all Italian quiz!!
1. Amerigo Vespucci - World history class in India taught us that the Americas were named after this Italian
2. Vivaldi - Italian
3. Venetia? Vichy? Verona?
4. Vatican
5. Viri (I've always thought that was the correct plural form)
6. Venezuela
7. Is that pregnant in Greek?
8. Viola
9. Vanadium
10. Voltaire although I really want to say GB Shaw for Candida

Michael5000 said...

1. Amerigo Vespucci
2. Vivaldi
3. Villette
4. the Vatican
5. viruses
6. Venezuela
7. the Virgin Mary
8. Voila! a viola!
9. Vanadium
10. Voltaire

Special shout out to Jennifer, who probably feels like an idiot when she sees that she correctly identified Vanadium, and to the Unwise Owl: both of 'em nailed it.

Aviatrix wins 7 and a half points for Hufflepuff.