# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![Iceland\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@Iceland\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iceland_Blue)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/161 "2005-01-26T12:17:54Z")
> [@Kaitlyn](#): > > 1. My bra size is 34B. The number is the band size, and the letter refers to the cup size. How long in inches is the band on my bra? I demand to be allowed to perform a practical investigation to find this out 🙂 We get our English word noon from a Latin word referring to which time of the day? Which Drifters song reached the highest chart position in the UK?(not just trivia!) Where does a Jerusalem artichoke get its name from? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/162 "2005-01-26T13:20:40Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Ah! Obviously, it’s the word just before the colon, which is of course spelt “wrongly”!! 🙂 Yup. ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/163 "2005-01-26T14:32:13Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > The chair sits on the **Stone of Scone** , My god, I just got the joke in Pratchett’s **Fifth Elephant**. :smack: **noon** : from the ninth hour after sunrise? Of the others, I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/164 "2005-01-26T14:36:18Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Right idea, wrong port. Murmansk. Correct! ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/165 "2005-01-26T14:36:21Z")
> [@Kaitlyn](#): > > More like 50, but you got the important part. But then wouldn’t you be traveling west? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/166 "2005-01-26T14:43:21Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > What is the name of the Pope’s cathedral church in Rome? St. John’s Lateran. (Not St. Peter’s) ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/167 "2005-01-26T16:17:31Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#): > > But then wouldn’t you be traveling west? No, the canal cuts southeast across the country from the Caribbean to the Pacific. Here’s a [map](http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9711/18/panama.watershed/bigpanama.gif). ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/168 "2005-01-26T16:44:28Z")
> [@Nightwatch Trailer](#): > > No, the canal cuts southeast across the country from the Caribbean to the Pacific. Here’s a [map](http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9711/18/panama.watershed/bigpanama.gif). I see. Pretty sneaky, sis. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/169 "2005-01-26T17:32:35Z")
> [@Iceland\_Blue](#): > > We get our English word noon from a Latin word referring to which time of the day? Midnight ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/170 "2005-01-26T18:06:21Z")
Since nobody’s attempting the bra size question, the answer is 28 to 29 inches. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/171 "2005-01-26T18:15:14Z")
> [@Iceland\_Blue](#): > > Ok then… > > Why is the premier baseball event called the World Series? The first one was sponsored by Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the _New York World_ newspaper. > [@](#): > > Go north from Derry in Northern Ireland. What’s the first foreign country you come to? I’m going to have to say Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/172 "2005-01-26T20:54:29Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > St. John’s Lateran. (Not St. Peter’s) Correct ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/173 "2005-01-26T23:55:58Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > The first one was sponsored by Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the _New York World_ newspaper. [Nope](http://www.snopes.com/business/names/worldseries.asp), that’s an urban legend. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/174 "2005-01-27T00:27:32Z")
I came here to look for a brain teezer, but found none still open, so I’ll add this one recently learnt from the dope. Which weighs more a pound of gold or a pound of feathers? ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/175 "2005-01-27T01:57:30Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > I came here to look for a brain teezer, but found none still open, so I’ll add this one recently learnt from the dope. > > Which weighs more a pound of gold or a pound of feathers? Depends on where they’re located. The feathers would weigh more if on earth and the gold on the moon. However, if both are on earth, then they would weigh the same. Both one pound. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/176 "2005-01-27T02:36:10Z")
> [@Odinoneeye](#): > > Depends on where they’re located. The feathers would weigh more if on earth and the gold on the moon. Erm, what? IIRC the real answer is that gold is weighed in a different scale (avoirdupois) so a pound is indeed different for gold, but I can’t remember whether it’s more or less than a standard pound. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/177 "2005-01-27T02:38:34Z")
Here’s a clue: A (troy) ouce of gold weighs 480 grains. But an (avoirdupois) ounce of feathers weighs 437.5 grains. So, which is heavier, a pound of gold or a pound of feathers, then? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/178 "2005-01-27T02:38:57Z")
> [@Iceland\_Blue](#): > > Where does a Jerusalem artichoke get its name from? It’s uncertain, but possibly from the Italian word _girasole_, “sunflower”. Shakespeare and Cervantes both died on April 23, 1616. Approximately how much time elapsed between their deaths? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/179 "2005-01-27T03:03:37Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Shakespeare and Cervantes both died on April 23, 1616. Approximately how much time elapsed between their deaths? I suppose the possible trick here is whether 23 April 1616 actually fell on the same day in England and Spain. Spain implemented the Gregorian calendar reforms in 1582, whereby 10 days were excised from the calendar, with 4 October being followed immediately by 15 October. However, Great Britain did not implement the calendar reforms until 1752. So presumably the 23 April 1616 when Cervantes died in Spain occurred 10 days before the 23 April 1616 when Shakespeare died in England. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851/180 "2005-01-27T03:03:39Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > It’s uncertain, but possibly from the Italian word _girasole_, “sunflower”. > > Shakespeare and Cervantes both died on April 23, 1616. Approximately how much time elapsed between their deaths? WAG, one day because of the International Date Line. Here’s mine - Who starred as Dorothy in the first Wizard Of Oz? Who Starred as the Monster in the first Frankenstein? What year did the first Maltese Falcon come out? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trick-questions/285851.md?page=10)