Trivia Quiz 4 – answers

By Kay McMahon, 15 April 2010

1. What is an avatar?
   In Hindu mythology, the descent of a deity or released soul to Earth in bodily form.
2. What is a potoroo?
   A small marsupial native to Australia and Tasmania, also known as the rat kangaroo.
3. What is spermaceti?
   A white waxy substance produced by the sperm whale to aid buoyancy and used in the manufacture of candles, ointments etc. (Presumably not by the sperm whale.)
4. Of which country was Rev Canaan Banana once the President?
   Zimbabwe.
5. Who famously said, “Mr Watson, come here. I want you”?
   Alexander Graham Bell. These words were the first spoken by telephone, after Bell had accidentally spilt acid on himself.
6. In Iceland, the telephone directory is in alphabetical order of first names. Why?
   Most Icelanders don’t have surnames. Instead, they are called “…son” (“son of …”) or “…dóttir” (“daughter of …”) after their father. Magnús Magnússon, for example, really was the son of someone called Magnús; by Icelandic tradition Sally Magnusson (his daughter) would be known as Sally Magnúsdóttir.
7. What is a xylocarp?
   A hard, woody fruit.
8. What would you make out of bdellium: bullets, curtains or perfume?
   Perfume – bdellium is the name of a resin from certain types of tree.
9. If someone was chthonic, where would they live?
   The underworld.
10. Of which country is Bandar Seri Begawan the capital?
    Brunei (or, for a bonus point, Brunei Darussalam)
11. “And Smith must score!” For which team, against which team, in which year’s FA Cup Final?
    Brighton & Hove Albion, against Manchester United, in 1983. He didn’t.
12. What is the “bleeding edge”?
    It’s the new Oxford English Dictionary definition for something that’s just that bit more cutting than the “cutting edge”. Hmm….

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