March 12, 2009 question

W didn't wiggle it's way into the alphabet until the Middle Ages, but J and U didn't declare their respective independence from I and V until after the Renaissance, when the enlightened finally acknowledged that J and U are letters too. Seriously, that's what they yelled at the protests and wrote on their picket signs: "J AND U ARE LETTERS TOO!!!" Very controversial. A few people knew one of those, no one knew both, but Elena did couple W with J, which, if you think about it, is twice as correct as U.

Moving away from the alphabet now (finally), here's today's challenge:

Name a word that has its letters arranged in reverse alphabetical order.

(Examples: if, red; also, I lied. The moving away from the alphabet is merely an optical illusion, since we're moving backwards . . . almost like a lexical moonwalk, if you will.)

March 11, 2009 question

The little letters are minuscule, and the big ones are majuscule (even though my spell checker wants to change it back to minuscule). Only multilingual wiz kids Elena and Konrad knew that nugget of trivial infinitesimality, for which they deserve infinite praise. Well, maybe just barely finite praise. No matter. They'll have a chance to extend the glory if they can get this one right:

What two letters of the English alphabet were last to be added to the Latin alphabet from which they came?

March 10, 2009 question

Aegilops, a type of grass, is the longest alphabetically ordered word in the English language, weighing in at 8 unwieldy letters. No one knew that (and why on earth would you . . . before now, of course) but Karen M (the M stands for 'Mazing) tossed out the still-impressive seven-letter word, billowy, edging out a handful of would-be six-letter winners. Holy hyphen, Batman. So congrats to Karen, and good luck to all of you on this alphabetical stumper:

The set of small or lowercase letters are properly known as the Minuscule Forms of the alphabet. What is the corresponding term for the capital or uppercase letters?

March 9, 2009 question

St. Paul and Minneapolis might be twin cities, but they had a real hard time agreeing on Daylight Saving Time. Only Kyle knew that, so he alone will receive the grand prize: immeasurable trivia glory. But I'll be surprised if anyone duplicates that solo effort with this question that is actually more of a contest.

Name a word that has its letters arranged in alphabetical order.
(Examples: ace, cent, and no words that begin with z; Longest word wins.)

March 6, 2009 question

It's cranky Friday.

Watchmen is coming out tonight, and it's got everybody talking, even me. Here's what I'm saying, "Not gonna see it. Ever. Thpbt!"

Daylight Saving Time begins this weekend. I will celebrate by holding my breath for an entire hour beginning at 2 AM on Sunday and ending at 3 AM that morning. After I'm done, I will thumb my nose at the entire universe in disgust.

Grrr. Here's today's question:

From May 9 to May 23 in 1965, what two adjacent cities suddenly became separated by an hour?

And here's who knew that the Sun is like a Vitamin D machine:

Larry
Heather M (the M stands for Maybe I Should Just Go Back To Bed)
Elena
Nancy K (the K stands for Kill Me. Kill Me Now.)
Konrad
Melinda
Maridee
Kyle
Karen H (the H stands for How Are You, Really?)
Steve J (the J stands for Jump, Jive, And Wail)
Karen M (the M stands for Maybe Just Wail)
Heidi

Yay for you all. Woo. Hoo.

March 5, 2009 question

If you play the tune in your head, you might come up with an educated guess of the time allotted in Final Jeopardy. But if you can search your memory for the sound of Alex Trebek's voice saying, "30 seconds," that might help even more. Here's who knew:

Charles
Cindy
Maridee
Nancy K (the K stands for Knot Really, But Credit Was Overdue)
Steve J (the J stands for Jeopardizing Trivia Safety)
Karen H (the H stands for How Ya Like Me Now, Trebek?)

Now it's on to today's news, which sees the . . . wait . . . it's warm outside! Forget the news. Let's just soak in the sun and enjoy a little free nutrition. Here's today's question:

Exposure to sunlight on the skin triggers the production of what vitamin (although the use of sunscreen reduces that production by 95%)?

March 4, 2009 question

Because I live and breathe those PHILadelphia PHILlies . . .

I stole that question from Jeopardy because I was so dumbfounded by it. Here's who wasn't:

Mathias
Steve T (the T stands for Trebek)
Heather M ( the M stands for M Words For $1000)
Robbie
Lydia
Karen M (the M stands for My Lunchmeat Has A First Name For $600)

Granted, Alex Trebek doesn't give you all day to answer. He only gives you . . . wait. How long does he give you? Let's see who knows, shall we? Here's the question:

How long are Jeopardy contestants given to answer the question (or question the answer, I suppose) in the Final Jeopardy round?