Wednesday, February 9, 2011

You Never Forget Your First 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!!

We are proud to announce that participation in the Wednesday Quiz has been made a part of the curriculum for all students at the University of Kentucky!  This may cause delays in service due to a heavy server load, particularly just before the weekly deadline of noon CST.


Answers come out on Friday! 

1. He wrote 104, and the 104th is probably the most popular; no one much listens to the first seventy or so. Who are we talking about?

2. His other books included Something Happened, Good as Gold, God Knows, and Closing Time.

3. Of what artist is this a fairly typical work?

4. What fictional character is introduced in this passage?
She was dressed in rich materials - satins, and lace, and silks - all of white. Her shoes were white. And she had a long white veil dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white. Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands, and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table.... But, I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow. I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes. I saw that the dress had been put upon the rounded figure of a young woman, and that the figure upon which it now hung loose, had shrunk to skin and bone.

5. What's that word that means "the study of the theory or methodological principles of interpretation (as of the Bible, other texts, or any other form of communication)"?

6. Whose ship made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs?

7. What language is this?



8. Who famously described the life of man as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"?

9. On what island would you find these two flags flying?  In their respective countries, that is.



10. It's 3 parts Vodka, 1 part Galliano, and 6 parts orange juice.

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The tie-breaker: Write a complete and coherent sentence using only words beginning with this week's letter. Highest marks for the longest sentence.

This week, you may use your children as "a lifeline" for one question only!  But only if you have children.  Answers in the comments, as is the custom.  

20 comments:

Elaine said...

Holy Moley.

1. Mozart?
2. Mmmmm
3. Magritte
4. Miss...in _Great Expectations_ ...shoot. She only had one shoe on, too.
5. Mixology? ha ha
6. Mmmmm
7. Moravian
8. Malthus? (I'm choosing him over Mann, so it's probably Mann)
9. Malaysia
10. Murder? Mickey Finn?

Mighty sad.

Christine M. said...

1. Hayden (sp?)
2. Joseph Heller
3. David Hockney
4. Miss Havisham
5. dunno
6. Han Solo's
7. Hungarian
8. Hobbes
9. Hispanola
10. Harvey Wallbanger

Elaine said...

AAAAAhhhhrrrrgh!

I went back to bed and CLICK! It's not M!

1. Haydn
2. Heller. I've READ _God Knows_
3. Have no idea
4. HAVESHAM, Miss.
5. Hieratics? (no clue)
6. Han (Solo)
7. Hungarian
8. HOBBES
9. Haiti
10. Hot Toddy? (no clue)

Hapless Helene hired her helpful home handyman, happily.

Elizabeth said...

1. Haydn
2. Hmmmm...
3. Hockney
4. Havesham, Ms.
5. Heuristics
6. Han Solo
7. Hungarian!
8. Hobbes?
9. Hispaniola
10. Haymaker

Having happily hurtled home, Homer held Hattie's horse, hoping he heard her humming his Hindu highschool's hymn.

Ben said...

Well, I can make reasonable guesses on a few of these. Here goes...

1. Haydn?
2. Heller
3. Can't even come up with a valid guess.
4. See #3
5. Heuristics
6. Han Solo's
7. Hungarian
8. Hemingway
9. Hispaniola
10. Hangover

What I lack in knowledge, I make up in attendance!

Eavan said...

1. Handel?
2. ?
3. ?
4. Miss Havesham
5. Hagiography
6. Han Solo <3
7. Hungarian
8. Hobbes
9. ?
10. ?

He hoped his hurried homework hints had helped her handle her housework; her homework had heretofore hindered her.

mrs.5000 said...

1 Haydn
2 Joseph Heller
3 David Hockney
4 Miss Haversham. I might have it spelled wrong, since I listened to the book.
5 howthehellshouldiknowology
6 Horatio Hornblower's?
7 Hungarian
8 Hume?
9 Hispaniola
10 a Harvey Wallbanger
Happily, homely Henry Higgins had hitherto had highly helpful Himalayan hiking hiatuses: heading heavenward, his heart heaving hopefully, he had had his hellishly high hopes hurled hurtfully home; he had held his heavy head high.

mrs.5000 said...

Yeah, I was wondering about the whole "parsecs" thing.

Eavan said...

Re: No. 5. Ooooops. Don't judge, I was working with about .5 hours of sleep.

Aviatrix said...

I refuse to believe that you didn't make that up, about U of K. I think it's a bad idea though, because if you make it mandatory, they're going to cheat.

1. Hadyn - second guess Handel. Wow! I know TWO H composers.
2. Hitler - his sequels to Mein Kampf
3. Hormu'z - yeah I know that's a straight by Gibraltar
4. Hannah, the freaky bride of death
5. Herpetology (all texts are really about snakes)
6. Han Solo - woo! Now I know the right letter!
7. Hungarian - I knew it without the letter!
8. Hemingway - i.e. I dunno.
9. Haiti - I know that's a country, but I don't know the name of the shared island and don't remember the flags, even though one was discussed here.
10. Harvey Wallbanger - I thought it was a rabbit for years.

But now to distinguish myself from all the other people with a score of three.

Here hallowed hero Hercules' hundred hairy heartless hebephrenic heathens, having hideously heavy hands, had handily heaved his herbaceous hibiscus hedges high, hijacking her hastate helicopter, hence hopefully hampering her hallucinatory half-hearted hirelings hesitantly handling handsome haltered hackney harness horses; however his Hindu horoscope had heralded heightened happiness, hence he had hightailed hither, hiring huge harlequin henchmen, haughtily haggling hefty hourly honorariums he had hardly hatched.

I voluntarily restricted myself to one semicolon, because otherwise we could have been here all night.

lamanyana said...

Hayden
Joseph Heller
David Hockney
Ms. Havisham
Hagiography
Han Solo
Hungarian
Hume?
Hispanola
Harvey Wallbanger

Hogwarts hidden, Harry heaved his head haughtily, hauling his (Hermione's?) horcruxes heavy-handedly (humbly half-hoping his hierophantic hubris held honor).

Anonymous said...

1. Haydn
2. Joseph Heller
3. Mrs5000?
4. Miss Havisham
5. Hermanatics?
6. Han Solo
7. Hungarian
8. Hobbes
9. Hispanolia
10.Heymaker

Ho; hilariously hypnotically high, here he hails, helping her handle hiding handsome Hal Holloway's holy headstone, humorously, however horrendous.

lamanyana said...

revising my sentence, because I've been doing so in my mind ever since I posted it anyway...

Hogwarts hidden, Harry heaved his head haughtily, hauling his (Hermione's?) horcruxes heavenward, humbly half-hoping his hierophantic hubris held honor; Hagrid's hungry hippogriff, however, heartily hoped he held herring.

Mm mud said...

Hmm...having arrived late in the game, I'll happily attempt the extra points with-

However, hapless Havisham had handily hidden her Haitian hideout, headily hatching hagiographic hungarian holograms!

Elaine said...

ANSWERS????????????

Elaine said...

SOMEone is getting pretty lax about posting the ANSWERS on the quiz page....

Michael5000 said...

Oh, did I not do answers?

1. Hadyn
2. Joseph Heller
3. David Hockney
4. Miss Havisham
5. Hermeneutics -- which I believe has the distinction of being the first L&TM5K Quiz answer of any day or era that no one got right. Which is OK, becuase no one really knows what that word means anyway. It is used in academic journals to signify that the writer is on to something that little old you could not even begin to comprehend.
6. Han Solo. "Han Solo <3" is also acceptable.
7. Hungarian
8. Thomas Hobbes, 17th Century political philosopher, originator of the concept of the social contract, and beloved cartoon tiger.
9. Hispanola is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
10. Harvey Wallbanger, which prior to constructing this quiz I had been under the impression was a brand of beer. We're all learning together here.

Michael5000 said...

And may I say, I am dazzled -- dazzled! -- by the aitchy sentences. Elaine's for priority and clarity; Elizabeth's for lucidity despite complexity; Eaven's for being remarkably close to a sentence that might actually get used in real life; Mrs.5000's for its mountaineering melodramatics; Aviatrix's for sheer stamina; lamanyana's for a coherent literary point of reference AND for continuing to gnaw on it after he could have let it go; Critical Bill's for psychodelia; and Mm's for weaving in the Quiz elements. You people are brilliant. And suggestible!

Michael5000 said...

Aviatrix's three points this week will be donated to the charity of her choice.

Elaine said...

Helene would have had more to say, but she was too busy with the handyman....

I think we are all in need of psychiatric attention, but that was truly a great quiz. It's always salutary to be confronted with one's own ingorance. (Of course, in my case it was a double dose, and I feel slightly less appreciative than the norm.)

But I love you 5000's anyway.