General Knowledge Quiz #48

Montgomery, isn't it? Without looking it up. No effing idea about Montana though. - European.

Knowing something about California or Texas is more relevant than knowing anything about Kiribati or Nauru. Or even Liechtenstein or San Marino. It just is. Condescend all you want to. Regarding Europeans' and Americans' respective knowledge of geography, in my (extensive and relevant) experience, it's about the same. The average European is very poor at geography. The average American is very poor at geography. However there are smart and well-educated people in both places. In the case of both the educated and the ignorant, they will always do better at geography that is relevant and near to them. An American is more likely to know something about Mexico, Canada, or Florida. A European is more likely to know something about Austria, Denmark, or Tuscany. The United States and the European Union are very close in terms of size, population, and GDP and comparing US States to European countries is actually very appropriate.

When a European gets upset about someone not knowing something about "the rest of the world," almost inevitably what they actually mean is that this person doesn't know as much about Europe as they do. Because Europe is relevant and important to them. But they're just as unlikely to know what the capital of the Philippines is. And less likely to know the capital of Alabama.

I have a serious question: why is it so important for Americans to know the capital of Bangladesh? And don't just say "because otherwise you're ignorant." Everyone is ignorant of certain things (I bet a lot of the people who know every capital don't know how to fix a toilet or how to apply the rule against perpetuities). Ignorance is bad when it regards *something important to know.* The hard truth is that, despite Bangladesh's population, it does not affect world affairs the way other countries do. All countries and capitals are not created equal. Washington, London, Berlin, Paris, Beijing, Tokyo, Moscow, Riyadh...these are the capitals of major world players, and almost everyone knows them, because they are the most worth knowing. I read the news almost every day. I never read or hear anything about Dhaka. Never. Why does an American (or Brit or Brazilian or whoever) need to know it? Do you think memorizing capitals means you understand their cultures? It doesn't.

North Rhine-Westphalia is more populated than 48 US states. Cool. California is more populated than 38 European countries, and has a bigger economy than all of them except Germany. Meanwhile the state of Rhode Island is bigger than five different European countries. So by your own arguments the comparison is entirely appropriate. Not that your arguments are ever consistent when it comes to subjects such as this...

Dont quote me on it, but I see it as kwof and kwaf. Where the kwof tends (strongly) towards kwo-af. So close enough imo.

Apparently both pronounciations can be correct. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fSZNx9cAZa4

My Upper South US accent, for one.

In french "oi" makes a "wa" sound, so like dunkinggandalf2 said quaff and coif are homophones! :)

How about castration?

Let's remember how effectiveness of a birth control method is measured: as a percentage of sexually active couples using only that method, over the course of a year. And they all have an effectiveness as "perfectly used" (for example, when using condoms--the couple reports that the condom is always correctly fitted, it's used for every intercourse, etc.).

The withdrawal method is 78% effective in average, imperfect usage, and 96% effective when perfectly applied. For comparison, condoms are 82% effective on average, and 98% effective when perfectly used.

But it doesn't really matter for the quiz, because Catholic doctrine prohibits the withdrawal method as a form of contraception.