Real or Fake?
A television commercial was made in space.
Real. A cosmonaut named Vasily Tsibliyev made a commercial for a Russian dairy aboard the space station Mir in 1997. It was the first TV commercial filmed in space.
Astrology, the belief that the positions of stars and planets at birth influence personality and the future, is a...
The Walking Corpse Syndrome is a mental disorder in which a person believes they or some of their body parts are already dead. True or False?
True. Also called Cotard Delusion, it is a rare condition marked by the false belief that you or your body parts are dead, dying, or don’t exist. It usually occurs with severe depression and some psychotic disorders. It can accompany other mental illnesses and neurological conditions.
Some languages are harder to learn than others. True or false?
False. Linguists argue that language complexity varies based on the learner's native tongue and the languages they are comparing. For instance, a Swede may find Norwegian easier to learn than Polish due to the closeness of the languages.
(via "Language Myths", by Laurie Bauer & Peter Trudgill, 1998)
The name of which of these animals comes from an early French dialect word meaning “hairy cat”?
a) tarantula b) tiger c) caterpillar
c) catterpillar.
Caterpillar comes from joining the early French dialect words cate, meaning “cat,” and pelose, meaning “hairy.” The modern French word for “caterpillar” is chenille, which comes from the Latin for “little dog.
(via https://www.britannica.com/quiz/curious-origins-of-everyday-words-quiz)
A tiger’s stripe pattern is unique—no two tigers have the same pattern.
Real. Much like the human fingerprint, tiger stripes are unique to each individual. In many areas where tigers live, scientists have set up camera traps that snap photos of each side of the tiger. With this method, they can identify individuals and accurately count the population in these areas. (via worldwildlife.org)
Graphology, the determination of a person’s personality based on their handwriting is a...
Pseudoscience. Graphology critics sometimes note that the system does not account for changes in handwriting with age and disease.
(via https://www.britannica.com/topic/pseudoscience#ref392141)
In 1518, in a French town, hundreds of people danced uncontrollably for days and some reportedly died from exhaustion. True or False?
True. Called the Dancing Plague of 1518, some explanations for this range from mass hysteria to the consumption of mold.
(https://www.ranker.com/list/strange-medical-cases/thomas-west)
Learning 2 languages at the same time (bilingualism) causes language delays in young children. True or False?
False. There actually may be benefits from bilingual language learning, as children who are fluent in two languages have strengths in “metalinguistic skills” (the ability to think about language) and cognitive skills, such as attention.
via (https://therapyfocus.org.au/on-the-blog/language-development-myths/)
Which of these words comes from a beverage enjoyed by sailors?
a) drowsy b) groggy
b) groggy. People who are groggy might feel as though they had too much grog, an alcoholic beverage often associated with the high seas.
(via https://www.britannica.com/quiz/curious-origins-of-everyday-words-quiz)
Lightning never strikes the same place twice.
Fake. Lightning often strikes the same place repeatedly, especially if it's a tall, pointy, isolated object. The Empire State Building is hit an average of 23 times a year, for example.
(via National Weather Service - weather.gov)
Ethology, the study of animal behavior in natural conditions including animal communication, predation, defense, aggression, mating, etc., is a...
Science. Fields related to ethology include neuroethology, behavioral ecology, sociobiology, wildlife biology, evolutionary psychology, comparative psychology, neuroanatomy, neurobiology, and zoology.
(via https://www.masterclass.com/articles/guide-to-ethology-exploring-the-study-of-animal-behavior)
'Sirenomelia' is a birth defect that partially or completely fuses the legs together. The more popular name for this is a) Fused-Leg condition b) Mermaid Syndrome
Mermaid Syndrome. The exact cause of sirenomelia is still unknown in the medical world because most cases occur randomly for no reason. Due to this randomness, researchers believe a new mutation or environmental factors may play a role in the development of the disorder.
(via Readers Digest, https://www.rd.com/list/unsolved-medical-mysteries-still-stump-doctors/)
In English, double negatives such as "I don't know nothing": a) Are always incorrect
b) Can be used for emphasis in some dialects
c) Make a sentence positive in all cases
b) Can be used for emphasis in some dialects
Although not traditionally accepted by "standard English", double negatives are used often in dialects like African American Vernacular English (AAVE) or Southern American English.
(via https://yoodli.ai/blog/double-negatives-what-to-know-plus-examples)
Which of these words can be traced back to an Arabic word for “dice”?
a) random b ) hazard
b) hazard. Hazard came to English from the medieval French hasard, which can be traced back to the Arabic al-zahr, meaning “the die.”
(via https://www.britannica.com/quiz/curious-origins-of-everyday-words-quiz)
Sushi was originally invented as a method of preserving fish.
Phrenology, the belief that you can read a person’s character and mental state by the overall shape of the skull, is a...
Pseudoscience. Phrenology was a popular pseudomedicine in the late 19th century.
(via https://library.csun.edu/sca/peek-stacks/pseudoscience)
There is a blood disorder that is partially responsible for the origin of the "vampire myth". True or false?
True. "Porphyria" (also called the "vampire disease") is a blood disorder that causes the body to produce less heme — a critical component of hemoglobin; some of its symptoms are: sensitivity to sunlight and receding gums (which causes teeth to be longer, like fangs). Back in the day, some physicians even recommended that these patients drink blood to compensate for the defect in their red blood cells.
(Queen's University, https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/stories/vampire-myths-originated-real-blood-disorder)
During the Middle English period (around 1150 to the late 1400s), many words were borrowed from which two languages?
a) Celtic & Old Norse b) Latin & French
b) Latin & French. After the Norman Conquest (1066), the ruling elite in England (in church as well as state) were French speakers.
(via Oxford English Dictionary, https://www.oed.com/discover/middle-english-an-overview/)
"Hypocrite" comes from the ancient Greek word for which profession?
a) lawyer b) politician c) actor
c) actor. In ancient Greece, 'hypocrite' was a term for any person who was wearing a figurative mask and pretending to be someone or something they were not while performing on stage.
(via Merriam Webster Dictionary & Britannica.com, https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/hypocrite-meaning-origin
https://www.britannica.com/quiz/curious-origins-of-everyday-words-quiz)
Humans have 5 senses.
Fake. Because there is some overlap between different senses, different methods of neurological classification can yield as many as 21 senses, including proprioception (body position), equilibrioception (balance), and thermoception (temperature), etc.
(via sensorytrust.org)
Forensic Entomology, the use of insects to help solve crimes, is a...
Science. Forensic entomology is the study of insects/arthropods in criminal investigation. By studying the insect population and the developing larval stages, forensic scientists can estimate the postmortem index, any change in position of the corpse as well as the cause of death.
(via National Library of Medicine, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3296382/)
This neurological condition causes an individual to stop producing vocal sounds of their native language. What is it called? a) the Language Switch Syndrome b) The Foreign Accent Syndrome
b) The Foreign Accent Syndrome. It's a rare and complex speech disorder characterized by the sudden emergence of a foreign accent, typically following neurological events such as strokes, traumatic brain injuries, or neurodegenerative diseases.
(via National Library of Medicine https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39612128/)
The study of language variation how way people use language in different social situations is called:
a) Sociolinguistics b) Semantics c) Phonetics
a) Sociolinguistics.
Sociolinguistics studies how language varies depending on different social factors like environment, socio-economic indices, age, education, occupation, etc.
(via https://www.thoughtco.com/sociolinguistics-definition-1692110)
Which of these numbers is part of the original meaning of the word ‘December’?
a) 12 b) 10 c) 8
b) 10. In the ancient Roman calendar December was the tenth, and final, month of the year.
via Merriam Webster Dictionary (https://www.merriam-webster.com/games/where-from)