OFFICE TRIVIA
This ubiquitous office supply was invented by 3M scientist Spencer Silver, who originally created a :low-tack" adhesive he considered a failure.
What are Post-it Notes?
An aggressively cozy, 3 foot tall pacifists who will happily ignore a global war if it interferes with his third lunch of the day, walks to a volcano to return jewelry. Takes three movies.
What is The Hobbit?
In financial markets and corporate accounting, this single letter is universally used as a shorthand abbreviation to represent the number 1,000.
What is K?
Derived from the Greek word chilioi (kilo)
"It’s literally just a giant radio tower. Frankly, the electrical pylon near my house has more character. Plus, you have to walk up too many stairs. Disappointing."
What is the Eiffel Tower?
In 1932, the Australian military officially deployed soldiers armed with machine guns to wage war against a massive population of these large, flightless birds. The birds won.
What is Emus?
This piece of office furniture was originally called a "writing table" before getting its modern name from the Latin word desca, meaning "table to write on".
What is desk?
Woman erases ex-boyfriend from her brain. He does the same. They meet again anyway.
What is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
In Roman numerals, this single letter represents the number 50.
What is L?
On the internet, it also means taking a loss, but historically, it just meant fifty.
"It was just a sea of raised arms and cameras. Awful."
What is The Mona Lisa.
In 1325, the Italian cities of Modena and Bologna literally went to war—resulting in thousands of casualties—all because soldiers snuck into a town square and stole this ordinary wooden household object.
What is Bucket?
This common break room appliance was invented by Percy Spencer in 1945 after a chocolate bar was melted in his pocket near a radar tube.
What is the microwave?
Farm boy finds out his dad is a wizard space villain. Kisses his sister. Awkward.
What is Star Wars.
In a legendary 2014 video game meme, players were famously prompted to press this single keyboard letter to "pay respects" at a funeral.
What is F?
This originated in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and completely escaped the gaming world. Now, people just type "F" in the chat whenever something mildly unfortunate happens.
"Let me say it was disgusting, overpriced, and smelled like a toilet."
What is Times Square NYC.
In 1820, a physician in New Jersey held a massive public demonstration to prove to a terrified, skeptical public that this common red fruit was not actually deadly or poisonous by eating an entire basket of them on the courthouse steps.
What is Tomato?
The QWERTY keyboard layout was designed in the 1870s for this device, specifically designed to slow typists down and prevent jamming.
What is typewriter? (specifically the Sholes & Glidden typewriter)
Banker goes to prison for something he didn't do. Makes a friend. Really commits to a new hobby.
What is The Shawshank Redemption?
If you are looking at a standard periodic table, this is the only letter in the English alphabet that does not appear in the name or symbol of any single element.
What is J?
"They refused to let us leave out the same gate we arrived through ... unless we took a camel!!! Really?!?!"
What is The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt?
King Henry VIII famously created an elite, highly coveted royal position called the "Groom of the Stool," whose literal, daily job requirement was to do this for the King.
What is Wipe his backside/assist him in the restroom?
The standard swivel chair with wheels is credited to this U.S. founding father, who modified a Windsor chair so he could turn while taking notes - reportedly while drafting the Declaration of Independence.
What is (who is?) Thomas Jefferson?
Two dreamers in LA fall in love, then careers happen. Roll credits on a sad piano.
What is La La Land?
In global navigation, aviation, and meteorology, this single letter represents the baseline starting point of 0∘ longitude and serves as the universal shorthand name for the world's primary time zone.
What is Z?
This comes from "Zulu Time" (or Zone 0), which is used globally to keep military operations, flight paths, and weather tracking perfectly synchronized regardless of local time zones.
"Of course, the architecture is nice, but the roof itself was yellow and not white as known from the television."
What is Sydney Opera House?
In 1904, the Olympic Marathon in St. Louis was pure chaos: the winner literally rode in a car for 11 miles, the runner-up was chased a mile off course by aggressive dogs, and another competitor survived after eating a handful of this lethal chemical pest poison for an "energy boost."
What is Rat Poison?