# Trick Questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 21, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851 "2005-01-21T02:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/41 "2005-01-21T22:53:53Z")
You’re probably right. But either would work, maybe more so of my example because you’re pointing to the ‘coin’ while asking them to name it. In their head, they’re thinking the coins name must be ‘quarter’. I don’t know, I give up. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/42 "2005-01-21T23:33:48Z")
Bob’s Mom’s third child is named “Bob”. If I flip a coin 10 times, and each time it comes up heads, what are the odds that that just happened? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/43 "2005-01-21T23:34:00Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > This is a thread for those little pieces of trivia you run into which don’t quite conform to what you expect. If you know (or can find out) the right answer to a question, you get to pose the next one. The point, of course, is that the “obvious” answer is **wrong**. > > Two questions to start us off. Answer either correctly and pose the next question; that way we have two sequences going at once, in order to prevent “stalling” when nobody can come up with the answer to the one current question. > > 1. What animal were the Canary Islands named after? > > 2. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is located in a city whose name is part of the racetrack’s name. What city is it located in? Dogs, canaries were named after the islands. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/44 "2005-01-21T23:38:16Z")
> [@iampunha](#): > > He’s the bastard child of Paul Newman and Dick Clark. > > (No way am I doing an hour’s worth of research on Buffalo, NY) 7. What is the answer to the -gry riddle as it is originally posed? [Bonus points: what three -gry words does Cecil give?] I don’t know what others said but “gry” itself is a word as is “aggry”. So that means that there are at least four. After “hungry” and “angry” most people get stumped. [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=gry](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=gry) [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=aggry](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=aggry) ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/45 "2005-01-22T00:25:32Z")
> [@brianjedi](#): > > Duane Allman. > > My question: What sport has the University of Kentucky won the most national championships in? Cheerleading, right? Fifteen or so? ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/46 "2005-01-22T00:39:07Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > If I flip a coin 10 times, and each time it comes up heads, what are the odds that that just happened? 1. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/47 "2005-01-22T00:58:34Z")
Some of these are just trivia qs, not ones to which the answer is intrinsically counter-intuitive, which is what I think the OP was after. One for my fellow Brits: approximately how many kings have been crowned in England since the Norman Conquest? ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/48 "2005-01-22T01:25:04Z")
> [@Zhao Daoli](#): > > My favorite “trick” question is: who won the French and Indian war? The British. Tripler I’m still working on my trick question. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/49 "2005-01-22T02:24:42Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Confirmed. I believe it’s still debatable whether or not it’s true that Buffalo Creek (AKA Buffalo River) as a placename had its origins in a _voyageur_ describing it as a _beau (or bon) fleuve_. [This site](http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:wdDI5G8KEFwJ:ah.phpwebhosting.com/h/bflo/origin.html+buffalo+name+origin&hl=en&start=1) (only the cache seems to be available) has a lot of theories. They prefer the one that says the creek was named after an Indian named Buffalo. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/50 "2005-01-22T03:35:22Z")
> [@Jimmy Chitwood](#): > > Cheerleading, right? Fifteen or so? Yup, including 8 in a row (a streak broken in 2003, or else the count would be 10.) ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/51 "2005-01-22T03:42:14Z")
What’s in water that puts out fires? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/52 "2005-01-22T07:04:23Z")
> [@brianjedi](#): > > Yup, including 8 in a row (a streak broken in 2003, or else the count would be 10.) Cheerleading is a sport? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/53 "2005-01-22T07:27:49Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > One for my fellow Brits: approximately how many kings have been crowned in England since the Norman Conquest? I’m not sure whether this is supposed to be a trick question or not, but I’ll say approximately 35. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/54 "2005-01-22T08:10:31Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Cheerleading is a sport? 😕 No moreso than playing video games is a sport. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/55 "2005-01-22T14:28:46Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > By appearance or origin? I’m guessing Namor for the first and Apocalypse for the other. By appearance. It’s not Namor. Namor was not a mutant until Magneto met him and they retconned him in. Who is the first mutant to appear in Marvel comics? Who was the first mutant to appear in comics? And don’t forget, who invented the hydroplane? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/56 "2005-01-22T14:37:18Z")
“Who invented the hydroplane? Some Macedonian teenager coming down out of the hills racing his chariot on a rain-slick dirt road.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/57 "2005-01-22T15:20:31Z")
I dunno, horses don’t hydroplane so well. Fine, the aileron. That’s the flaps on the wings of airplanes. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/58 "2005-01-22T21:17:36Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > I’m not sure whether this is supposed to be a trick question or not, but I’ll say approximately 35. It is a sorta trick question, and 35 isn’t the answer. It isn’t even close. I’ll not post the ‘correct’ answer just yet, in case anyone else wants to have a stab. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/59 "2005-01-22T21:31:11Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > Some of these are just trivia qs, not ones to which the answer is intrinsically counter-intuitive, which is what I think the OP was after. > > One for my fellow Brits: approximately how many kings have been crowned in England since the Norman Conquest? I’m not British, and I suck at history, but being that this IS a trick question thread… WAS there a Norman Conquest? I’ve heard Norman Invasion, but I don’t think I’ve heard “conquest.” ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/60 "2005-01-22T23:07:37Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > It is a sorta trick question, and 35 isn’t the answer. It isn’t even close. I’ll not post the ‘correct’ answer just yet, in case anyone else wants to have a stab. I hope it’s not some silly argument that since the question asked _how many kings have been crowned,_ rather than _how many men have been crowned king_ there’s only been one - James I, who at the time of his coronation as King of England had already been crowned as King James VI of Scotland. In fact it might be two by that interpretation, since I think Charles II may also have been crowned separately in Scotland too. If that’s the argument, I don’t think it holds any water. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851.md?page=4)