Bad Trivia Questions

[In_Steerage]

I know, I know... :rolleyes: don't take the trivia games too seriously. We're here to have fun and maybe win a keychain!

 

But I thought it would be good to start a thread on some of the more contested questions and answers that have popped up during the Trivia contests. Maybe RC will catch wind of this and clean up some of the questions. Or at least it gives the more serious players somewhere to vent their point of view on a question! :mad:

 

Feel free to add any Q & A's from your cruise experience as well as your point of view! ;)

 

Here's a few from our latest cruise:

 

Q: How many bits in a byte.

Cruiseline Answer: (I'm not going to give it away)

Discussion: It depends on the computer architecture. I'm aware of 3, 4, 8, 16 and even a 60 bit byte, the last coming from an old CDC mainframe circa 1970's.

 

Q: How many "properties" on a Monopoly Board

Cruiseline Answer: (involves counting all of the paper deeds in the gameset)

Discussion: It depends on your definition of "property". One could argue that railroads and utilities aren't a "buildable property" and wasn't what the author of the question was looking for.

 

Q: Who invented the bra?

Cruiseline Answer: Otto Titzling or Titzlinger

Discussion: It's an amusing urban legend, but not true.

 

A similar line of amusing Q&A's...

Q: Who invented the toilet?

Cruiseline Answer: John Crapper

Discussion: Another urban legend. Mr Crapper was in fact a plumber who invented a related part, the ballcock, but not the flush toilet.

 

Q: What is the name for C2H50H

Cruiseline Answer: Alcohol

Discussion: Specifically, it's ethanol, or ethyl alcohol. Alcohol is a generic description, as there are many types. For instance, wood alcohol or Methanol, and rubbing alcohol or Isopropyl.

 

All other questions and discussions are welcome! :)

Please vent here - don't harass the poor activities staff workers. They're only doing their job!

[PSCruiser]

Yes, its only a game.

However, on one TA, UK to US, we were getting a mix of UK and US questions. It seemed to us that the Brits were getting softballs, ex. the names of characters on popular UK TV shows, while we were getting extreme US trivia - what's the name of the little paper that comes out the top of a Hershey kiss? - the Plume. Never heard of that one, and I only live 90 miles from Hershey.

[Cigar King]

I've seen some people get really worked up about the correct answer for trivia. It doesn't seem worth it for something as trivial as a keychain. I feel sorry for the poor person running the contest.

[Tucker in Texas]

I know, I know... :rolleyes: don't take the trivia games too seriously. We're here to have fun and maybe win a keychain!

 

But I thought it would be good to start a thread on some of the more contested questions and answers that have popped up during the Trivia contests. Maybe RC will catch wind of this and clean up some of the questions. Or at least it gives the more serious players somewhere to vent their point of view on a question! :mad:

 

Feel free to add any Q & A's from your cruise experience as well as your point of view! ;)

 

Here's a few from our latest cruise:

 

Q: How many bits in a byte.

Cruiseline Answer: (I'm not going to give it away)

Discussion: It depends on the computer architecture. I'm aware of 3, 4, 8, 16 and even a 60 bit byte, the last coming from an old CDC mainframe circa 1970's.

 

Q: How many "properties" on a Monopoly Board

Cruiseline Answer: (involves counting all of the paper deeds in the gameset)

Discussion: It depends on your definition of "property". One could argue that railroads and utilities aren't a "buildable property" and wasn't what the author of the question was looking for.

 

Q: Who invented the bra?

Cruiseline Answer: Otto Titzling or Titzlinger

Discussion: It's an amusing urban legend, but not true.

 

A similar line of amusing Q&A's...

Q: Who invented the toilet?

Cruiseline Answer: John Crapper

Discussion: Another urban legend. Mr Crapper was in fact a plumber who invented a related part, the ballcock, but not the flush toilet.

 

Q: What is the name for C2H50H

Cruiseline Answer: Alcohol

Discussion: Specifically, it's ethanol, or ethyl alcohol. Alcohol is a generic description, as there are many types. For instance, wood alcohol or Methanol, and rubbing alcohol or Isopropyl.

 

All other questions and discussions are welcome! :)

Please vent here - don't harass the poor activities staff workers. They're only doing their job!

 

I think I mentioned this elsewhere but we had a dust up over "avocado."

 

Question: What fruit has the most calories?

Answer on the sheet: Avocado

 

Many argued avocado is a vegetable but Webster's says fruit.

 

Question: What vegetable has the most calories?

Answer on his sheet: Avocado.

 

Pick a pony and ride it!

 

Ironically, the first question on the last day of progressive trivia was "What is the main ingredient of guacamole? The whole room cracked up and the poor host couldn't understand what was so funny.

 

Another one that comes up regularly:

 

Question: What is the name of the horse in Jingle Bells

Answer(s): Bob Tail or Bob depending on the host's answer sheet. They will usually accept both.

True answer. The horse has no name

 

Question: What basketball player has had his number retired from three different teams?

 

Answer: Nolan Ryan????????? This was on a TA coming from Europe into Galveston. We convinced him to throw the question out.

 

Tucker in Texas

[negc]

We had one trivia contest that was touted as being "New England" themed and one of the questions was "how many miles of track are there in the New York subway system". Couldn't convince the host that New York isn't one of the New England states.:rolleyes:

[ahecht]

Q: How many bits in a byte.

Cruiseline Answer: (I'm not going to give it away)

Discussion: It depends on the computer architecture. I'm aware of 3, 4, 8, 16 and even a 60 bit byte, the last coming from an old CDC mainframe circa 1970's.

 

While the size of a byte was historically hardware dependent, an 8-bit byte is now ubiquitous, and is codified in the international standard IEC 80000-13.

[In_Steerage]

Here's another one...

 

Q: What year was the first Super Bowl?

Cruiseline Answer: 1967

Discussion: The '67 and '68 games were titled "AFL-NFL Championship Game". The '69 game was the first to be billed as the "Super Bowl".

[jbond]

Q: Who played the first James Bond?

Cruise line answer: Sean Connery

Discussion: in 1954 Barry Nelson was Bond in a CBS Mystery Theater showing of Casino Royale. On the big screen, it would be Bob Simmonds, Sean Connery's stunt double. He appears in the opening gun barrel sequence in Dr No, before Connery's appearance in the movie.

[w&k]

Not on RCCL, but still a bad answer...

 

Question: How many legs does a scorpion have?

 

Cruiseline Answer: 6.

 

Real Answer: 8 (4 pairs).

 

 

Scorpions are Arachnids (4 pairs of legs), not insects (3 pairs of legs).

 

We still won the ship on the stick despite the flawed answer. :)

 

Wendy

Edited January 26, 2014 by w&k

[tomatosauce]

Q: What is the tallest statue in the world?

A: Christ the Redeemer in Rio

Reality: There are lots of taller statues including the one at Batu Caves in KL that I visited on a RC shore excursion the day before.

[Host Jacquelyn]

Q: Who played the first James Bond?

Cruise line answer: Sean Connery

Discussion: in 1954 Barry Nelson was Bond in a CBS Mystery Theater showing of Casino Royale. On the big screen, it would be Bob Simmonds, Sean Connery's stunt double. He appears in the opening gun barrel sequence in Dr No, before Connery's appearance in the movie.

 

No coincidence, jbond, that you are posting that one!

[cruisegirl1]

Years ago went to “RCCL” trivia .

The question was how many “CRUISES” does it take to become a Diamond C&A member on RCCL.

 

This was BEFORE the conversion to points when you got credits (1-2-or 3 )for a cruise, depending on accommodation (one extra credit) or length ( one extra credit) for a minimum of 1 credit and a max of 3 credits per cruise. The staff did not know that all cruises were not created equal. They had the correct answer at 25 cruises (when it was 25 credits) . Some folks in the room were quick to point the difference, so it became a free question that everyone got right.

 

 

m

[Oh2B@C]

I play trivia for fun first and foremost. I could care less about the cheap crap they give out as prizes, and I always give it all away to friends I meet on board who say they will give the trinkets to their grandkids. But if you're going to play trivia, you might as well try to get the answers right... Having said that, it is more fun when the questions are interesting, challenging, have a variety of difficulty levels AND are not open to ambiguity. I never take it too seriously. But when the cruise staff ignore a passenger's request for a specification, or won't listen to the entire room telling him/her that their answer is wrong, I cannot help but get mildly peeved (and get over it soon after over a tiramisu or slice of pizza!).

 

I don't get upset with the cruise staff when it is an honest mistake. However, when they give you the evil eye and tell you in front of a room of people to "not take it too seriously" when all we're trying to do is help them out with the right answer, that bothers me (and get over it soon after over a glass of wine or mai tai!).

 

Another issue that raises contention is questions where the answer can change over time, but the cruise staff still has the old answer. Largest country in Africa (used to be Sudan but now Algeria, when Sudan split in two). Had this question last year: How many points do you get for finishing 3rd in an FI race. The card answer said 4, but the rules changed YEARS ago to 25-18-15 etc... That's mildly annoying (but I get over it soon after over a steak or lamb chop!)

 

Of course if you DARE ask the cruise staff if they mean old answer or new answer, they give you this blank stare, as it's the only thing they can do since they have no idea what you're talking about... My favorite cruise staffer is the one who will say "come see me after the quiz and if you can show me the answer is not right then I am sorry and I will change it for next time". All they can do really, but at least that's good customer service, and get over it soon after with a stroll on deck or slumping in a lounger!

 

Until the next BATTLE TO THE DEATH, er, I mean, quiz... ;)

[SnorkelAway]

Q: Who played the first James Bond?

Cruise line answer: Sean Connery

Discussion: in 1954 Barry Nelson was Bond in a CBS Mystery Theater showing of Casino Royale. On the big screen, it would be Bob Simmonds, Sean Connery's stunt double. He appears in the opening gun barrel sequence in Dr No, before Connery's appearance in the movie.

 

Yes - the way they do Bond trivia is a pet peeve of mine. The answers are usually based on the 23 film canon - and do not include the TV stuff or the first Casino Royale - but the cruise staffer doing the trivia usually does not know or understand the differences. I do not care about the prizes and just do it for the fun - but reserve the right to carry on about it, whining and moaning with the best of them.

[roysmith99]

We were cruising from Oslo to Hamburg and were the only English speaking people, who attended the trivia, in fact the only people. The staff member tried to cancel the competition until we objected. Not because we wanted the key ring, but because we wanted to pass some time.

 

He reluctantly agreed to ask us five questions and if we got four correct he would give us the prize. I was somewhat annoyed a I wanted the full 20 or so questions, but agreed.

 

We got the first three correct and then he asked "what is the official residence of the prime minister of the UK?" - he refused point blank to acknowledge that there are two official residences.

 

As it happened we got the last question correct, or at least to his satisfaction "who was the 42nd president of the USA?".

 

.

[jbond]

OK, I'm curious. Was the staff member American? If so, I would assume he only knew about Number 10. I doubt if too many would know about Chequers.

[yogimax]

Question.... What is the second most spoken language in the United States?

 

Cruiseline Answer... Polish

 

My real pet peeve... those who sail back to backs and come to the trivia the second week knowing all the answers. We just had this on Celebrity and the woman actually tried to conceal the fact that she had taken the same trivia test the week before. When called out by the staff person her response was, "My lanyard is getting old. I want a new one." This attitude ruins it for everyone who is being honest!

[Missus Makkem]

and my pet peeve is when the members of the activity staff cannot be bothered to ask different questions on following cruises speciallly when they know people are doing back to back.

And how many times does the same question come up during the same cruise when different staff do the Quizes.

[reedl]

Q: How many bits in a byte.

Cruiseline Answer: (I'm not going to give it away)

Discussion: It depends on the computer architecture. I'm aware of 3, 4, 8, 16 and even a 60 bit byte, the last coming from an old CDC mainframe circa 1970's.

Actually the byte is pretty much 8 bits. It was a word that was what was different. And I used the CDC Cyber in college in the early 80s with a 60 bit word.

 

But the question that bothered me was the whole POSH discussion. The word POSH is supposed to be an acronym for "Port Out Starboard Home". But it has been pretty much proven that it is a urban myth also.

[Coralc]

Q: What is the bridge called that connects San Francisco and Oakland?

 

Cruise Line Answer: The San Francisco-Oakland Bay AREA Bridge.

 

Discussion: It is called the SF-OAK Bay Bridge. Staff refused to accept the answer without area in the name. Vociferous Californians have never seen it called the SF-OAK Bay Area Bridge in writing, or even in official documents. EDIT: And no one had SF-OAK Bay "Area" Bridge on their sheets. Quite a few had the actual correct answer. :-)

Edited January 27, 2014 by Coralc

[Candleonwater]

I totally agree! Our question was something along the lines of "what's the highest score you can get in figure skating"... now, DD has been a figure skater for a REALLY long time (just ask my checking account), so I asked what I thought was a simple question... "new system or old?" Keep in mind the new system was put into place in 2004... it replaced the old 6.0 system. Cruise Staffer said "New system"... turns out the answer was based on OLD system (6.0)... and the number of different excuses she gave me were just laughable. She actually started the next trivia game with this statement "just remember, no matter what, my answer is correct"

 

Oh well, on to the next trivia game.

 

But when the cruise staff ignore a passenger's request for a specification, or won't listen to the entire room telling him/her that their answer is wrong, I cannot help but get mildly peeved (and get over it soon after over a tiramisu or slice of pizza!).

 

I don't get upset with the cruise staff when it is an honest mistake. However, when they give you the evil eye and tell you in front of a room of people to "not take it too seriously" when all we're trying to do is help them out with the right answer, that bothers me (and get over it soon after over a glass of wine or mai tai!).

 

Of course if you DARE ask the cruise staff if they mean old answer or new answer, they give you this blank stare, as it's the only thing they can do since they have no idea what you're talking about... My favorite cruise staffer is the one who will say "come see me after the quiz and if you can show me the answer is not right then I am sorry and I will change it for next time". All they can do really, but at least that's good customer service, and get over it soon after with a stroll on deck or slumping in a lounger!

[Nabalab]

Sometimes the answers themselves are questionable. On Oasis back in November, I was participating in music trivia.

 

One of the songs played was "What a Wonderful World" by Sam Cooke. And that's what my team put on our sheet. However, the cruise staffer said the correct answer was "Don't Know Much" and any other answer would not be accepted. I know he was just reading it off a sheet, but still! So no team got that one right, d'oh!

[xxHadleyxx]

I really feel for the staff, newer ones often do not even really understand the questions they are reading out and truly probably do not know what the proper answer is to a clarification question.

 

I still find it annoying when questions are poorly worded, flat out incorrectly answered, etc

 

I also find it annoying when questions are repeated on the same cruise or even on back to back cruises when staff know there are repeaters who are coming back.

 

We refuse prizes (or give them to whoever came in second, or whoever just wants them) more often than not when we win, but we enjoy playing for fun and the fun is not there if we do not have new challenges or correct answers to work with.

 

And the worst I have seen? About 5 years ago, a cruise staff member from Britain (no language barrier) had made her own trivia to avoid repeats (that was nice of her) and asked how many planes were involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

 

She had the correct answer as 3!!!!:eek:

 

People started off trying to nicely explain that there were four, but she insisted only three (she apparently never heard of flight 93) and of course this is a topic that really hit a nerve and some people got quite angry. The poor cruise staff was nearly in tears, but on the other hand she made the quiz herself and then refused to listen to reason when people started off polite and should have known it would be a touchy topic.

[cruisegirl1]

Sometimes the answers themselves are questionable. On Oasis back in November, I was participating in music trivia.

 

One of the songs played was "What a Wonderful World" by Sam Cooke. And that's what my team put on our sheet. However, the cruise staffer said the correct answer was "Don't Know Much" and any other answer would not be accepted. I know he was just reading it off a sheet, but still! So no team got that one right, d'oh!

 

This question is often used. We also put the real answer in hopes that someone corrected the answer sheet, but are most always counted incorrect.

 

M

[mjldvlks]

Here's another one...

 

Q: What year was the first Super Bowl?

Cruiseline Answer: 1967

Discussion: The '67 and '68 games were titled "AFL-NFL Championship Game". The '69 game was the first to be billed as the "Super Bowl".

 

I'll give them a pass on this one. While "Super Bowl" may not have been the "official name" until the third game, it was being used informally even before the first game [Lamar Hunt was suposedly even using the name in the merger talks that resulted in the game being played in the first place] and was retractively applied to the first 2. Given the lack of specificity of the question, I have no problem with the answer.