No. 1045 - HOW SMART ARE YOU?

No. 1045

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

HOW SMART ARE YOU?

Back in my college days, I had a professor at Arkansas A&M College in Monticello, Arkansas (now part of the University of Arkansas System), by the name of Dr. W.C. Hobgood. He taught Zoology and helped prepare many students to enter medical school over his long and distinguished career. One of his trademarks is that he only gave five questions on his tests. You could give an incorrect answer to one question, and still make an “A” if you got the others right. However, one thing you could always count on is that there would be at least one “trick” question in the bunch.
If you will come along, I would like to invite you to take a little quiz that could be one indicator of how smart you are. I can promise you that there are no trick questions on this quiz. There are only nine questions on this quiz and they are straight questions with straight answers.
No. 1 – Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor participants know the score, or the leader, until the contest ends.
No. 2 – What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?
No. 3 – Of all vegetables, only two live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replaced every year. What are the two perennial vegetables?
No. 4 – What fruit has its seeds on the outside?
No. 5 – In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it has not been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?
No. 6 – Only three words in the Standard English language begin with the letters ‘dw’ and they are all common words. Name two of them.
No. 7 – There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?
No. 8 – Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.
No. 9 – Name 6 or more things beginning with the letter ‘S’ that you can wear on your feet.
Now, here are the answers. I believe you will agree, assuming you took the quiz, that it will be interesting to see how well you did. At this point I can tell you that I flunked.
Answer #1- the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends – Boxing. Answer #2 – The North American landmark that is constantly moving backward is Niagara Falls. The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute. Answer #3 – The only two vegetables that can live to produce for several growing seasons are asparagus and rhubarb. Answer #4 – The only fruit with the seeds on the outside is the strawberry. Answer #5 – The only way the whole pear could get inside the brandy bottle without the glass being cut is to place the bottle over the pear buds when they are small and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.
Answer #6 – The three English words beginning with dw: Dwarf, dwell, and dwindle. Answer #7 – There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar: period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation mark, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses. Answer #8 – The only fruit or vegetable never sold frozen, canned, processed cooked or in any other from except fresh is lettuce. Answer #9 – six of the things you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter “S” are shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings and stilts.
Well, did you pass? If you did you are smarter than I am. Blessings, Jim.
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(EDITOR’S NOTE: THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY – Begin your day on a positive note – 365 days for $12. This will benefit the Bookcase for Every Child project. Go to www.apositivemomentwithjim.com to subscribe.)