{"id":34571,"date":"2025-11-20T10:26:57","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T10:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=34571"},"modified":"2025-11-20T10:26:57","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T10:26:57","slug":"todays-atlantic-trivia-questions-and-answers-week-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=34571","title":{"rendered":"Today’s Atlantic Trivia Questions and Answers, Week 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n<\/p>\n

Updated with new questions at 3 p.m. ET on November 19, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n

If I have provided you with any factoids in the course of Atlantic<\/em> Trivia, I apologize, because a factoid, properly, is not<\/em> a small, interesting fact. A factoid is a piece of information that looks like a fact but is untrue. Norman Mailer popularized the term in 1973, very intentionally giving it the suffix -oid<\/em>. Is a humanoid not a creature whose appearance suggests humanity but whose nature belies it? Thus is it with factoid.<\/p>\n

So what of those fun, itty bits of info that are correct? In the 1990s, William Safire suggested factlet <\/em>for the small-but-true fact (and The Atlantic<\/em> in 2012 agreed), though minifact<\/em> is sometimes used. And for the statements somewhere in between interesting and untrue\u2014factini<\/em>, perhaps? Start with five parts fascinating to one part wrong; adjust to taste.<\/p>\n

Find <\/em>last week\u2019s questions here<\/em>, and to get <\/em>Atlantic Trivia in your inbox every day,<\/em> sign up for The <\/em>Atlantic Daily<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wednesday, November 19, 2025<\/h4>\n

Today\u2019s questions all come from The Atlantic<\/em>\u2019s 2025 gift guide.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. According to Jane Austen, \u201cIt is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of\u201d what<\/strong>?
    \u2014 From Dan Fallon\u2019s entry, <\/em>\u201cColorful Storage\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. From its beginnings to the 1950s, moviemaking was much riskier than it is today, thanks to what quality<\/strong> of nitrate-based film?
    \u2014 From Kaitlyn Tiffany\u2019s entry <\/em>\u201cThe World\u2019s Most Dangerous Film Festival\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. A guitar pedal\u2019s volume knob controls the ultimate loudness of the output. What other knob<\/strong> controls the strength of the signal as it enters <\/em>the device?
    \u2014 From Evan McMurry\u2019s entry <\/em>\u201cDIY Guitar Pedal\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
  4. The name of what Romantic English poet<\/strong> is now used in adjective form to describe any brooding, enigmatic type?
    \u2014 From Walt Hunter\u2019s entry, <\/em>\u201cThe Perfect Black T-Shirt\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
  5. In the musical Cabaret<\/em>, a character is given as a gift what fruit<\/strong>, which she assumes arrived from Hawaii (but actually came from California)?
    \u2014 From my own entry <\/em>\u201c[REDACTED] Perfection\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    And by the way, did you know that in some cultures, giving a loved one a gift of scissors or a knife is inauspicious, as it risks severing the relationship? I recently ran afoul of this when I sent kitchen shears to a friend raised in an Indian family; bless her for rectifying the situation by wiring me a dollar and thus turning the transaction into a purchase.<\/p>\n

    So if anyone buys the nail clippers that senior editor Alan Taylor recommends and suffers a schism with the recipient, let me know\u2014we\u2019ll add them to the bad-luck list.<\/p>\n

    Happy shopping!<\/p>\n

    Answers: <\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. A wife. <\/strong>Likewise, Dan writes, \u201canyone in possession of too many things must be in want of a storage solution.\u201d His favorite option is eye-catching enough to double as decor. Shop here.<\/li>\n
    2. Flammability. <\/strong>Kaitlyn is a fan of the annual film festival in Rochester, New York, that flirts with disaster by screening nitrate reels. Haven\u2019t you always thought that the frisson of mortal peril is what Meet Me in St. Louis<\/em> is missing? Shop here.<\/li>\n
    3. Gain. <\/strong>Building your own guitar pedal is more fun and much<\/em> more affordable than buying a nice one, writes Evan (who advises that the sweet spot for his selection\u2019s gain knob is at about 1 o\u2019clock). Shop here.<\/li>\n
    4. Lord Byron. <\/strong>A black T-shirt from the no-frills Japanese retailer Muji is possibly the world\u2019s quickest shortcut to a Byronic air, Walt writes, even when you\u2019re very un-Byronically slumped on a bench wolfing a taco. Shop here.<\/li>\n
    5. A pineapple. <\/strong>You, however, can send a friend a slice of actual aloha\u2014as I have done many, many times\u2014thanks to a farm that delivers its homegrown jewels from Maui to the rest of the States. Shop here.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      How did you do? Come back tomorrow for more questions, or click here for last week\u2019s. And if you think up a great question after reading an Atlantic<\/em> story\u2014or simply want to share a top-notch fact\u2014send it my way at [email\u00a0protected]<\/span>.<\/p>\n

      Tuesday, November 18, 2025<\/h4>\n

      From the edition of The Atlantic<\/em> Daily by Isabel Fattal:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. The manufacturer Abbott once produced about 40 percent of the U.S. supply of a particular product. A 2022 recall by Abbott therefore contributed to nationwide shortages. What <\/strong>is the product?
        \u2014 From Nicholas Florko\u2019s <\/em>\u201cAmerica Has a [REDACTED] Problem\u2014Again\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
      2. A U.S. trial jury is smaller than a grand jury\u2014hence its also being known by what name<\/strong> containing French\u2019s opposite of grand<\/em>?
        \u2014 From Quinta Jurecic\u2019s <\/em>\u201cThe Trump Administration\u2019s Favorite Tool for Criminalizing Dissent\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
      3. What<\/strong> is the term for a paradoxical anecdote or riddle used by practitioners of Zen Buddhism to deepen their meditation?
        \u2014 From Julie Beck\u2019s <\/em>\u201cHow to Cheat at Conversation\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        And by the way, did you know that fewer humans have visited the bottom of the ocean than have gone to space? Depending on how you count, somewhere between 600 and 800 have slipped the surly bonds of Earth; only a few dozen have pulled those bonds as tight as they\u2019ll go by putting seven miles of Pacific Ocean over their head at the Mariana Trench\u2019s Challenger Deep.<\/p>\n

        Then there is Kathy Sullivan. She has been to both. Her trench trip was in 2020, and in 1984, she was the first woman to complete a spacewalk. She is now, rather charmingly, referred to as the world\u2019s \u201cmost vertical\u201d person.<\/p>\n

        Answers: <\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Baby formula. <\/strong>The supply-chain disaster prompted regulators to explore ways to make the vulnerable industry a little less so, but Nicholas writes that a new recall from a different manufacturer is a reminder of how easily formula making can crack. Read more.<\/li>\n
        2. Petit jury. <\/strong>Quinta reports that neither the grand juries empowered to indict nor the petit juries empowered to convict have been particularly convinced by the Trump administration\u2019s cases against the people it alleges are \u201cassaulting, resisting, or impeding\u201d federal officials. Read more.<\/li>\n
        3. Koan.<\/strong> \u201cHow do you cheat at a conversation?\u201d sounds as though it could be one, Julie muses, but it is in fact the value proposition of a new artificial-intelligence tool. Cluely promises to give users any answer they might need in a social interaction, but Julie says it only makes them worse. Read more.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Monday, November 17, 2025<\/h4>\n

          From the edition of The Atlantic<\/em> Daily by David A. Graham:<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. U.S. pennies are plated in copper but principally made of what other metal <\/strong>at the end of the alphabet?
            \u2014 From Caity Weaver\u2019s <\/em>\u201cPennies Are Trash Now\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
          2. What beverage<\/strong> is traditionally made of ground tencha <\/em>leaves, prepared with a whisk, and drunk from a ceramic bowl called a cha-wan<\/em>?
            \u2014 From Ellen Cushing\u2019s <\/em>\u201cThe [REDACTED] Problem\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
          3. Broken chains and shackles were originally intended to be held in the left hand of what American landmark<\/strong> before a new design replaced those items with a tablet?
            \u2014 From Clint Smith\u2019s <\/em>\u201cTell Students the Truth About American History\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            And by the way, did you know that for more than six decades the United States produced half-cent pieces? They were 100 percent copper and stamped with Lady Liberty, who sported a variety of hairdos over the years. The coin was almost the size of a modern quarter, which seems big until you consider that at the end of its run, the half-cent had a purchasing power of about 17 cents in today\u2019s money.<\/p>\n

            Still, in 1857 it was deemed insufficiently valuable to keep minting\u2014at 17 contemporary cents! Considering that the government is once again in the coin-discontinuing mood, the nickel and dime might want to watch out, too.<\/p>\n

            Answers: <\/strong><\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Zinc.<\/strong> Penny minting abruptly stopped last week. The coins will soon drop out of circulation, and their composition\u2014zinc is much less valuable than copper\u2014makes them unappealing to recycle. What this means, Caity writes, is that those 300 billion pennies floating around are now Americans\u2019 problem. Read more.<\/li>\n
            2. Matcha.<\/strong> This old-school Japanese preparation is a far piece from the energy drinks and sugary beverages that new companies are marketing as matcha. Ellen explores the ramifications of the collision between matcha\u2019s tradition and its current world-historic demand. Read more.<\/li>\n
            3. The Statue of Liberty.<\/strong> The gift from France, Clint writes, was meant not just to welcome immigrants but also to celebrate America\u2019s abolition of slavery; he wonders whether the change was intended to make the statue \u201cmore palatable\u201d to a wider audience. That instinct has never gone away, and it\u2019s the job of educators to resist it. Read more.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              Updated with new questions at 3 p.m. ET on November 19, 2025. If I have provided you with any factoids in the course of Atlantic Trivia, I apologize, because a factoid, properly, is not a small, interesting fact. A factoid is a piece of information that looks like a fact but is untrue. Norman Mailer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[994,1671,1226,831,14616,365],"class_list":{"0":"post-34571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-issues","8":"tag-answers","9":"tag-atlantic","10":"tag-questions","11":"tag-todays","12":"tag-trivia","13":"tag-week"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}