Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The Thursday Quiz LXXIV

The Thursday Quiz!

The Thursday Quiz is a twelve item is-it-or-isn't-it test of your knowledge, reasoning, stamina, and moxie!

Remember always the Fundamental Rules of the Thursday Quiz:


1. The Thursday Quiz is a POP quiz. No research, Googling, Wikiing, or use of reference books. Violators will never be able to look at themselves in the mirror again.

2. Don't get all stressed out about it! It's supposed to be fun!

World Languagess

This Thursday Quiz rated Extra Hard. Bring your best conjecturin'!

Part I

Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, English, and Arabric are the top five. Of each of the following languages, IS IT or ISN'T IT also among the 20 languages with the greatest number of native speakers?

1. German

2. Haitian Creole

3. Marathi (or Maharastrian), spoken in and around Mumbai, India

4. Portuguese

5. Tamil, spoken in Sri Lanka and the Tamil Nadu state of southern India

6. Telugu, spoken in and around Hyderabad, India


Part II

IS IT or ISN'T IT true?

7. Russian has more native speakers than Vietnamese.

8. Italian has more native speakers than Japanese.

9. Persian has more native speakers than French.

10. Polish has more native speakers than Serbo-Croatian.

11. Czech has more native speakers than Dutch.

12. Danish has more native speakers than Hebrew.

Submit your answers in the comments.

20 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Yani gavaru pa russki. Ich spreke keine deutsch. Merde merde merde. A l'hazard, alors ...

I
1. Is.
2. Is not.
3. Is not.
4. Is not.
5. Is.
6. Is.

II.
7. Isn't.
8. Isn't.
9. Isn't.
10. Is.
11. Is.
12. Is.

What a horrible spread of is/isn't. I'm sure I've gotten it all bollixed up.

Povus la naski de milionon da angiloj infest via kalsono.

PB said...

Is it a bad sign that there isn't a single answer I'm 100% confident in? Luck be a lady...

1. Is
2. Isn't
3. Is
4. Is
5. Isn't
6. Isn't
7. Is
8. Isn't
9. Isn't
10. Isn't
11. Is
12. Isn't

Elaine said...

Hmmm.
1. IS
2. isn't
3. IS
4. isn't
5. IS
6. IS

7. Isn't
8. Is
9. Isn't
10. Is
11. Isn't
12. Isn't
You are right, this IS hard. If I take Hindi (not Hindu) out of the mix, it leaves me guessing a LOT. Sigh.

Cartophiliac said...

1. is
2. isn't
3. is
4. is
5. isn't
6. is
7. is
8. isn't
9. isn't
10. is
11. isn't
12. isn't

The Calico Cat said...

1. is
2. isn't
3. is
4. is
5. isn't
6. isn't
7. is
8. is
9. isn't
10. is
11. is
12. is

For the "is's" that should be "Isn't's" I forgot the "n't."

100% guessing here...

Christine M. said...

Hmmm.

1. isn't
2. isn't
3. is
4. is
5. is
6. isn't
7. is
8. isn't
9. isn't
10. is
11. isn't
12. is

Anonymous said...

1 yes
2 no
3 yes
4 yes
5 yes
6 no

7 yes
8 no
9 no
10 yes
11 no
12 yes

d said...

1 n
2 n
3 y
4 n
5 n
6 y
7 n
8 y
9 n
10 y
11 n
12 n

there is no hope

Kritkrat said...

1 Is
2 Isn't
3 Is
4 Is
5 Is
6 Isn't

7 True
8 False
9 False
10 True
11 False
12 False

Anonymous said...

1 / is
2 / is not
3 / is
4 / is
5 / is
6 / is not
7 / true
8 / false
9 / true
10 / false
11 / true
12 / false

margaret said...

1. isn't
2. isn't
3. isn't
4. is
5. is
6. isn't

7. it is
8. hm, isn't?
9. oui
10. it isn't
11. it is
12. it is

hoping for my customary 0%!

Anonymous said...

1. is
2. isn't
3. is
4. is
5. is
6. is
7. is
8. isn't
9. isn't
10. isn't
11. is
12. isn't

Ben said...

Wow. This is definitely information that I don't use day-to-day. My guesses follow:

1. isn't
2. isn't
3. is
4. is
5. is
6. isn't

7. is
8. isn't
9. isn't
10. isn't
11. isn't
12. is

Anonymous said...

I am just excited to finally be able to get back here. It has been one harrowing week and I missed the Monday Quiz and all the other good stuff! Dangit!

Enough whining. I will play now.

1. Is
2. Isn't
3. Is
4. Is
5. Is
6. Isn't

7. Isn't
8. Isn't
9. Is
10. Isn't
11. Isn't
12. Is


I missed that.

DrSchnell said...

Lots of conjecturin' here, not much knowin',
1. Is not
2. is not
3. is
4. is
5. is not
6. is
7. is
8. is not
9. is not
10. is
11. is not
12. is

The Calico Cat said...

No answers - is everything o.k. over there in Oregon?

Michael5000 said...

Yes, thank you Calico. Sometimes timely Quiz grading must take a back seat to the rock and roll.

Now then:

1: Yes -- German has the 10th greatest number of native speakers. There are a lot of Germans!

2: No -- Creole is #75.

3: Yes -- Marathi is #16.

4: Yes -- Portuguese is #6. Brazil!

5: Yes -- Tamil is #19.

6: Yes -- Telugu is #15.

7: Yes, Russian has very roughly twice as many native speakers as Vietnamese.

8: No, Japanese is about double Italian.

9: No, French is about double Persian.

10: Yes, Polish is about double Serbo-Croatian. There's a lot of Poles, too!

11. No, Dutch is about double Czech. But when they do the double Dutch, that's them dancing.

12. No, Hebrew is about double Danish.

Michael5000 said...

So, the Two-Gold Curse strikes yet again, as The Calico Cat joins the parade of those who have taken back-to-back Gold Stars but not been able to make it a triple. Instead, it's Cartophiliac who scores 11/12 to bring home his whopping TENTH Gold Star.

Also with 11/12 is Kadonkadonk. Her traditional role in the Quiz has been to wonder what is wrong with people that they know all this stuff, but recently she has switched over into more of a kicking-butt kind of mode, taking Stars in three of the last five Quizzes. To date, though, random testing has cleared her of any allegations of illegal "smart pill" use.

Three people got 10/12. Elaine takes the Blue Star and Snowgirl takes one of the Greens; they become the 52nd and 53rd humans to have triumphed on Thursday!

Mrs.5000 takes the other Green, which marks a historic moment in the history of the Thursday Quiz. You see, for as long as there has been a Quiz Leaderboard -- since TQIII -- there has only been one name on top of it: the Legendary Rex Parker, reigning L&TM5K Blog Dork and the 42nd Greatest Crossword Puzzle Solver in the Universe. Now, with Mrs.5000 clutching her 25th Star, it's a tie.

Has Rex finally met his match? And what of the mysterious DrSchnell? See you next Thursday!

Nichim said...

Sadly it seems that my responses to this quiz did not go through! Not that I would have gotten any stars, I think, but I would have thrown into question the idea of "native speaker." Oh well, no soapbox for me this week.

The Calico Cat said...

Holy cow - those were complete guesses... :o)