What’s the word for a website that allows anyone to add, delete, or revise content by using a web browser?
a wiki
In Irish folklore, a mischievous elf, often believed to have a treasure hoard, is named a …?
leprechaun
How far does the Spanish word barbecue date back?
1650s
Those killed in Pompeii didn’t die from the eruption of lava spilling over them; instead they were …?
Buried under volcanic ash that poured over the town.
What is the slang word for a person who lives or sleeps in a park or under a viaduct or bridge, as a derelict or poor person?
troll
Who wrote the 1897- Gothic novel Dracula?
Bram Stoker
Who was the first Roman emperor?
Augustus Caesar
What are the Dog Days?
The hottest period of summer
How far does evidence of written language date back?
4,000 years
In what century did June become a name in the United States?
In the early 20th century
Both alpacas and llamas are closely related to what?
camels
An animal having the highest rank in a dominance hierarchy is called a(n)…?
Alpha (male)
What do you call the infectious agent that replicates only within the cells of living hosts, mainly bacteria, plants, and animals?
virus
What’s the name of the Celtic language of the ancient Britons?
British
Who is the ancient Roman poet (65-8 BC), known for his odes, who insisted that poetry should offer both pleasure and instruction?
Horace
What do you call anything perceived or happening that is believed to portend a good or evil event or circumstance in the future?
An omen
What Roman statesman is responsible for the year as we know it having 365 days, and for the existence of a leap year every four years?
Julius Caesar
How is the ceremony of conferring degrees or granting diplomas at the end of the academic year called?
commencement
When did WWI begin?
28th July 1914
When is Labour Day held in the United States and Canada?
On the first Monday in September
How long had the Trojan War lasted?
10 years
What’s the idiom for ‘going viral online and suddenly dominating public interest and discourse?
Breaking the Internet
What’s the word for the ‘domination by a government of all political, social, and economic activities in a nation’?
totalitarianism
When did the Internet become widely accessible?
in the 1990s
What was the old-fashioned informal name, now considered taboo, for a Native American?
redskin
What word is used for someone showing no evidence of disease?
asymptomatic
What’s the role of the ‘shoestrings’ in a banana?
They circulate nutrients throughout the banana.
How do you call the act of harassing someone online by sending or posting mean messages, usually anonymously?
cyberbullying
According to the Hebrew Bible, Rosh Hashanah not only marks the new year—it also honours the creation date of Adam and Eve when?
Some 5,700 years ago
How are copies of books produced before 1501 from movable type called?
incunabula
Since when has ‘Hello’ been used as an everyday greeting?
The 1850s
Wikipedia is a massive, online encyclopedia operating in more than … languages.
300
What are fog, mist, and smoke?
aerosols
What does the Italian ‘mala aria’ mean?
bad air
What does BBC stand for?
British Broadcasting Corporation
Which 4 months take their names from their original numerical position in the calendar year?
September, October, November, and December
The expression ‘ab ovo’ meaning "from the beginning" translates literally from Latin to …?
from the egg
When was Julius Caesar assassinated?
In 44 BC
When is All Saints’ Day celebrated?
1st November
What are in Scandinavian folklore races of supernatural beings called, sometimes conceived as giants and sometimes as dwarfs, inhabiting caves or subterranean dwellings?
trolls
What infectious disease is characterized by recurring attacks of chills and fever and is caused by the bite of a mosquito?
malaria
What does LGBT stand for?
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender
How many people died in the World Trade center in 2001?
2750
When and where was COVID-19 discovered?
In Wuhan, China in December 2019
In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) promoted using elbow bumps instead of handshakes to slow the spread of…?
bird flu
How is the office of the US president in the White House named?
Oval Office
Which USA city has a rich jazz history?
New Orleans
What does SARS stand for?
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
What does WHO stands for?
World Health Organization (a United Nations agency based in Geneva, Switzerland)
How do you call the portion of the Internet that is hidden from conventional search engines, as by encryption; the aggregate of unindexed websites?
Dark or deep web
Veteran derives from the Latin veterānus meaning …?
Mature, experienced
How is a politician called, who appeals to the interests or prejudices of ordinary people?
a populist
Much of Karl Marx’ work, including Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto, was done with whom…?
Friedrich Engels
What animals have been historically associated with Satan?
dragons
What does draconian mean?
extremely cruel
What nationality had in the mid-1800s, the immigrant butchers in the USA who began selling sausages (thin and long, like the dog breed dachshund)?
German
What term usually suggests unscrupulous rule, or tyranny?
despotism
Whose wife did the Trojan prince Paris abduct?
Menelaus'
What does Center politics favour?
Moderate positions
When was Wikipedia founded?
2001
What’s the first book of the Bible?
Genesis
What economic and social system was envisioned by the nineteenth-century German scholar Karl Marx?
Communism
When is All Souls’ Day celebrated?
2nd November
What’s the word for an epidemic that has spread over a large area?
pandemic
What saint is famed for his legendary slaying of a dragon?
St.George
How many days does Christmastide last?
12
Whose son was Paris who had abducted Helen?
Priam's
How is any rigid airship or dirigible called?
Zeppelin
When did the elbow bump become prevalent?
During the early stages of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic
What is the origin of left and right in politics?
The seating positions in the 1789 French National Assembly, the parliament France formed after the French Revolution.
What celebration commemorated in September, marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year?
Rosh Hashanah
What word is defined as “the molten, fluid rock that issues from a volcano or volcanic vent”?
lava
Tofu comes from Chinese, by way of Japanese, meaning …?
Rotten bean
WWII began on 1st September 1939 with…?
The German invasion of Poland
What is the old name for autumn/fall?
Harvest
How far does the French word grill date back?
1660s
How long have humans been speaking?
For 50,000 - 150,000 years
Each year is divided into the four seasons based on what?
The two equinoxes and the two solstices
A person who is thunderstruck is…?
Overcome with consternation; confounded; astounded; completely taken aback
When was the first Thanksgiving held?
In 1621
Sir John Harington, godson to Queen Elizabeth I, devised the concept of what?
the flushing toilet
How are the carved pumpkins and gourds called?
Jack-o’-lanterns
What 2 seasons’ names are related to foliage/leaves?
Spring (spring of buds) and fall
What were the official Roman soothsayers called, whose job was not to tell the future so much as to determine if the Roman gods approved of a planned course of action?
augurs
How are the goddesses of the seasons, of cyclical death and rebirth, and sometimes of social order called?
Horae
When and where did the first Labor Day celebration take place?
In New York on September 5, 1882
What is another name for marijuana?
Hemp/cannabis/boo grass
In Judaism, if it is fit or allowed to be eaten or used, then it is …?
Kosher
How do you call the ‘temporary prevalence of a disease’?
epidemic
Who is the Roman counterpart to the Greek Hera?
Juno
How is a baby’s language called?
babble
What is the contraction of “how do you do” since 1632?
Howdy
In what economic system are the production and distribution of goods controlled substantially by the government rather than by private enterprise?
socialism
What site obtains and publishes secret and classified material in a way that protects its sources (often whistle-blowers, journalists, and activists)?
WikiLeaks
What does COVID-19 stand for?
Coronavirus disease. The number 19 refers to the year it was first detected: 2019.
How do you call a ghost or spirit supposed to manifest its presence by noises, knockings, etc.?
poltergeist
What is a grotesque malicious sprite or elf called?
goblin
The initials WC stand for…?
water closet
When was the Internet introduced?
In the 1960s
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