7/10 Had a stupid mistake with Lillehammer; had no idea about the ad; and got lost with the battle, because around here it is known exclusively as the battle of Poitiers. Does anyone know why can it be referred to by two places 100+ kms apart? Truly curious.
About the battle: it was on the road between Poitiers and Tours. The Arabs call it "the road of martyrs", because it was literally on the Roman road. The Arabs were coming from Poitiers, and wanted to raid Tours.
The world calls it battle of Poitiers, because it was (slightly) closer. The English (and all of those who've been taught history by them) call it battle of Tours.
That's because there's another battle of Poitiers in the 100-years war, which the English won, so it's a sort of disambiguation.
Thanks for the info. Reading this I might have mixed up the battle in the quiz with the one during the 100 year war. This needs some history brush-up on my part. Thanks again.
The name of the battle wasn’t as important to me as remembering that (1) Charles Martel was an ancestor of Charlemagne and (2) Martel defeated an army of Muslims headed north out of Spain.
You're right, but also wrong: non-Anglosaxon Europeans call it battle of Poitiers, but the British had their own battle of Poitiers, so they call this one battle of Tours. Since this site follows mostly US naming - which is in turn derived by the British one, then "Tours" makes sense.
Also, the Franks were actually blocking the way to Tours, not to Poitiers.
Well... it's translated to "the hammer" in several languages, as it means that.
As the original tradition is in Latin, it's slightly disputed whether the meaning is "little Mars" (as in "good at war") or actually "the hammer", as in "the hammer of God" (see Judah Maccabee from the Bible).
7/10. A Hammer really ought to be thrown during the hammer throw. numbeer 9 was a complete guess, but I said Nike as it sounded like something you would just do. Pretty much gave up by question 10 and
9/10 today, an improvement on yesterday's performance, but this has been a bumpy stretch, it's been a week since my last 10.
Didnt know the Apple advert; hunch told me it was between the two tech companies but I guessed the wrong way. Almost made a couple of other mistakes too. For Q10, I know there was a battle around the same location during the Hundred Years' War, so I wasn't certain on that one but this time fortune favoured me; more embarrassingly, I almost got MC Hammer mixed up with Sir Mixalot 😂
Again, missed Q10, no idea. And I mean NO IDEA. Searching the recesses of my brain and still I can't even recall learning about some dude named Charles Martel.
Yeah I'd never heard of the guy myself, and I was trying to decide whether he sounded more likely to be French or English. I'd be lying if I said I was confident with my choice haha
9/10 with, as usual, a complete whiff on Q10. I never knew Thor named his hammer, ever. That was an absolute guess. I just picked Mjolnir because it sounded Norse.
Funnily enough, they're all Norse terms haha: The Bifrost is the rainbow bridge leading to Asgard, Heimdall is the god who watches over it, and Yggdrasil is the world tree that connects the Nine Realms :)
You have heard of Thor but not of Mjölnir? That is surprising! More than say, you had heard of King Arthur but not Excalibur, or Merlin. Or heard of Sherlock but not Watson. Almost as surprising as if you heard of dinosaurs but not of T.Rex or if you heard of Harry Potter but not that he is a wizard.
The question about the ad is niggling. Was it only shown in one country? Was it more than 40 years ago? Seems like the most obscure question I've ever seen in this series.
The world calls it battle of Poitiers, because it was (slightly) closer. The English (and all of those who've been taught history by them) call it battle of Tours.
That's because there's another battle of Poitiers in the 100-years war, which the English won, so it's a sort of disambiguation.
You're right, but also wrong: non-Anglosaxon Europeans call it battle of Poitiers, but the British had their own battle of Poitiers, so they call this one battle of Tours. Since this site follows mostly US naming - which is in turn derived by the British one, then "Tours" makes sense.
Also, the Franks were actually blocking the way to Tours, not to Poitiers.
Missed the last two.
As the original tradition is in Latin, it's slightly disputed whether the meaning is "little Mars" (as in "good at war") or actually "the hammer", as in "the hammer of God" (see Judah Maccabee from the Bible).
Didnt know the Apple advert; hunch told me it was between the two tech companies but I guessed the wrong way. Almost made a couple of other mistakes too. For Q10, I know there was a battle around the same location during the Hundred Years' War, so I wasn't certain on that one but this time fortune favoured me; more embarrassingly, I almost got MC Hammer mixed up with Sir Mixalot 😂
All in all, a good solid quiz!
Lucked out on Q6