US Bodies of Water
Aunts and Uncles in Literature
Military
Music Vocabulary
Astronomy
Circus
From the Book of Useless Information . . .
100
(Insert eye roll here) As part of "a longstanding practice" of following name changes when updated by official government sources, Google has changed the search for this body of water to the Gulf of America.
What is the Gulf of Mexico?
100
Though often exasperated by him, this aunt takes her guardianship of Tom Sawyer and his brother Sid very seriously.
Who is Aunt Polly?
100
Latin for "Always Faithful", this is the motto of the US Marine Corps.
What is Semper Fidelis?
100
To sing in this style is to do it without musical accompaniment.
What is a cappella?
100
This astronomical event, during which the moon blocks Earth’s sunlight can affect the flight patterns of certain birds.
What is an eclipse?
100
This is the person who typically introduces the acts throughout the performance.
Who is the Ringmaster?
100
The board for this game has 121 holes.
What is Chinese Checkers? (also called Sternhalma)
200
This is the longest river entirely within the United States, longer than the Mississippi by one mile.
What is the Missouri River?
200
After her parents die in India, Mary Lennox is sent to live with an uncle she's never met, Archibald Craven of Misslethwaite Manor, in this book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, written in 1911.
What is The Secret Garden?
200
Frank Thompson fought for the Union during the American Civil War despite having this unusually disqualifying characteristic
What is Frank Thompson was a woman?
200
Traced back to the Latin word for increase ("crescere"), this word describes a gradual raise in volume in a musical piece.
What is Crescendo?
200
About 2.8 billion miles from the Sun and named for the god of the sea, this planet is the only one you can’t see from Earth with the naked eye
What is Neptune?
200
A free ticket to the circus often has a small hole punched in it; named for this sharp-shooter who famously gave her young fans playing cards with bullet holes
Who is Annie Oakley?
200
Voodoo originated in this country.
What is Haiti?
300
a volcanic crater lake, cleverly named Crater Lake is located in this western state and is the deepest lake in the US.
What is Oregon?
300
This king in Shakespeare's Hamlet killed his own brother and married his brother's widow.
Who is Claudius?
300
This US General said "It is fatal to enter a war without the will to win it."
Who is Gen. Douglas MacArthur?
300
This is the lowest solo female voice type.
What is Contralto?
300
This is the only planet in our solar system not named after a god.
What is Earth?
300
This Motown group had a number one hit with the song Tears of a Clown.
Who are Smokey Robinson and the Miracles?
300
Feliformia is a sub-order of carnivorous mammals that have cat-like characteristics. Caniformia has characteristics similar to these.
What are dogs?
400
The Susquehanna River, located in the Mid-Atlantic, empties into this body of water that holds up to 18 trillion gallons of water.
What is Chesapeake Bay?
400
In this play by Joseph Kesserling, two spinster aunts Abby and Martha Brewster, have taken to murdering lonely old men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine.
What is Arsenic and Old Lace?
400
This branch of the US military was created on November 10, 1775, disbanded in 1783 and then resurrected in 1798.
What is the Marines?
400
These are a family of musical instruments with a reed or mouthpiece, such as the flute, clarinet, oboe and saxophone.
What are woodwinds?
400
Due to the way sunlight interacts with the fine dust particles in the atmosphere, sunsets on this planet appear blue.
What is Mars?
400
This French acrobat inspired the song "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze" along with inventing the eponymous one-piece article of clothing commonly worn by gymnasts.
Who is Jules Leotard?
400
The one hundred billionth one of these to be created and released was "periwinkle blue".
What are crayola crayons?
500
The lower half of this river, which originates in the Adirondack mountains is a tidal estuary. Its deeper than the body of water into which it flows, the New York Bay, on the way to the Atlantic.
What is the Hudson River?
500
In this book by Roald Dahl, our title character must live with his dreadful aunts, Spiker and Sponge, when his parents are eaten by a rhinoceros. They are eventually crushed by the titular piece of fruit.
What is James and the Giant Peach?
500
Eager to fight in the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt resigned as assistant secretary of the Navy to form this volunteer military group.
Who are the Rough Riders?
500
This device is used on the neck of a stringed instrument to raise the pitch of the strings, allowing the instrument to be played in a different key.
What is a capo?
500
These are the two planets in our solar system that have no natural satellites of their own. No moons for them . . .
What are mercury and venus?
(due to their proximity to the sun, any natural satellites would get sucked into the sun's gravity)
500
Performers of this circus act travel between 60 and 70 miles an hour when they’re expelled. The first person to do it was Rossa Matilda Richter in 1877.
What is the Human Cannonball?
500
This musical instrument is made up of 70 separate pieces of wood.
What is a violin?