{"id":36874,"date":"2025-12-11T12:04:38","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=36874"},"modified":"2025-12-11T12:04:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:04:38","slug":"todays-atlantic-trivia-questions-and-answers-week-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=36874","title":{"rendered":"Today’s Atlantic Trivia Questions and Answers, Week 11"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n<\/p>\n

Updated with new questions at 3:50 p.m. ET on December 10, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been waiting to build that dream place of yours, there in the spot you picked out a few years back, between the pons and the frontal lobe. Maybe you want to crib some designs from your friend Steve\u2019s place; it\u2019s got space for the first 115 digits of pi and <\/em>the names of all 266 popes. But is now really the time for a new memory palace? Look at all the palaces sitting empty now, built by the folks who turned over their thinking to AI in the end.<\/p>\n

All the more reason to start thinking and memorizing and building\u2014your opulent mnemonic can be the pride of the neighborhood. Herewith: your first raw materials.<\/p>\n

Find 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, December 10, 2025<\/h4>\n
    \n
  1. What expression <\/strong>defined as \u201conline content deliberately designed to elicit anger\u201d did the Oxford University Press choose as its 2025 word of the year?
    \u2014 From Amogh Dimri\u2019s <\/em>\u201c[REDACTED] Is a Brilliant Word of the Year\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. The protective coat that gradually develops on metal and prevents rusting is known by what<\/strong> word<\/strong> also used for the sheen that wooden furniture acquires over time?
    \u2014 From Tyler Austin Harper\u2019s <\/em>\u201cThe Most Impractical Tool in My Kitchen\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. What controversial practice <\/strong>shunned by many in Spain over animal-cruelty concerns has been adopted as a symbol by the country\u2019s traditionalist far right?
    \u2014 From Bego\u00f1a G\u00f3mez Urzaiz\u2019s <\/em>\u201cBy the Horns\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    And by the way, did you know that the word-of-the-year trend has its roots in Germany? A language society there kicked off the gimmick in 1971 with the selection of aufm\u00fcpfig<\/em>, which, as I\u2019m sure you\u2019re aware, means \u201crebellious\u201d\u2014a reference to 1960s counterculture.<\/p>\n

    American English joined the party in 1990, when the American Dialect Society picked bushlips <\/em>for \u201cinsincere political rhetoric\u201d; see George H. W.\u2019s \u201cRead my lips: No new taxes.\u201d Despite that snarky start, all of the selections that followed were sober-minded and decorous \u2026 not! <\/em>(That\u2019s 1992.)<\/p>\n

    See you tomorrow!<\/p>\n

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

      \n
    1. Rage bait<\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>The critics have come out in force, complaining that the choice is too meme-y or beneath the dignity of Oxford, but Amogh writes that the word is a great one, because\u2014like cancel <\/em>or ghosting <\/em>or selfie <\/em>before it\u2014it usefully fills a niche. Read more.<\/li>\n
    2. Patina. <\/strong>The coating is crucial to proper carbon-steel-knife care, Tyler writes in an ode to his fussy blades. Knives of carbon steel are not nearly as low-maintenance as more accessible stainless-steel options, he says, but that\u2019s exactly the point. Read more.<\/li>\n
    3. Bullfighting. <\/strong>In an essay accompanied by some stunning photos, G\u00f3mez Urzaiz follows a bullfighter who is definitionally untraditional, for one big reason: She is a woman. Read more.<\/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 fact\u2014send it my way at [email\u00a0protected]<\/span>.<\/p>\n

      Tuesday, December 9, 2025<\/h4>\n
        \n
      1. What 2025 sequel<\/strong> directed by Danny Boyle is set a little under three decades after the first film\u2014which takes place precisely four weeks after a zombie apocalypse?
        \u2014 From David Sims\u2019s <\/em>\u201cThe 10 Best Movies of 2025\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
      2. A popular Filipino condiment developed amid World War II shortages replaces the tomato in ketchup with what fruit <\/strong>plentiful in the tropics?
        \u2014 From Yasmin Tayag\u2019s <\/em>\u201cCan Jollibee Beat American Fast Food at Its Own Game?\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
      3. The writer Irving Kristol quipped that \u201ca liberal who has been mugged by reality\u201d is the best definition of what political label <\/strong>applicable to him (and to his son, Bill)?
        \u2014 From David Brooks\u2019s <\/em>\u201cThe [REDACTED] Were Right\u201d <\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        And by the way, did you know that the Philippines\u2014then a U.S. territory\u2014was also attacked in the Japanese operation that targeted Pearl Harbor? Because of the Philippines\u2019 location across the International Date Line, the date there was December 8, 1941, rather than Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s December 7. Franklin D. Roosevelt\u2019s speech more accurately would have mentioned dates <\/em>\u201cwhich will live in infamy.\u201d<\/p>\n

        It\u2019s not as though FDR didn\u2019t know this. Rather, he made the choice to decenter the Philippines in his address, worried that his stateside listeners would not think of the territory as sufficiently American. (For more of this history, I recommend Daniel Immerwahr\u2019s How to Hide an Empire<\/em>!)<\/p>\n

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

          \n
        1. 28 Years Later<\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>David writes that the follow-up to 2002\u2019s 28 Days Later <\/em>is proof that major studio releases can still push audiences in creative, exciting ways (and be a lot of fun too). It\u2019s No. 6 on his Top 10 list. Read more.<\/li>\n
        2. Banana. <\/strong>Yasmin reports that banana ketchup crops up a lot in recipes that attempt to re-create the fast-food chain Jollibee\u2019s punchy flavors, which in her estimation knock American fast food on its backside. That punch is at once a strength and a weakness for Jollibee in U.S. markets. Read more.<\/li>\n
        3. Neoconservative. <\/strong>It might behoove opponents of Donald Trump to look back to the neocons for some ideas on how to think and talk about their mission, Brooks argues. He writes that the \u201cmoral and spiritual tenor\u201d of the original neoconservatives \u201ccould be a tonic\u201d for a society in crisis. Read more.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Monday, December 8, 2025<\/h4>\n
            \n
          1. In the late 1990s, the opening of a Guggenheim Museum outpost designed by the architect Frank Gehry reinvigorated what city<\/strong> in northern Spain?
            \u2014 From Carolina A. Miranda\u2019s <\/em>\u201cFrank Gehry\u2019s Best Work Was Not His Flashiest\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
          2. The American biochemist Jennifer Doudna shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on the gene-editing tool known by what acronym<\/strong>?
            \u2014 From Nancy Walecki\u2019s <\/em>\u201cThe Rarest of All Diseases Are Becoming Treatable\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
          3. Football analysts coined what portmanteau <\/strong>combining a word for the outcome of a game with the word for an intricate Japanese art form to describe when a game ends in a tally never before recorded?
            \u2014 From Josh Levin\u2019s <\/em>\u201cNo NFL Game Has Ever Ended \u2026 36\u201323\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            And by the way, did you know that the highest score ever recorded in an NFL game is the Chicago Bears\u2019 December 1940 performance over the Redskins, in which they earned 73 points? Don\u2019t feel too bad for Washington\u2014they also set a scoring record! However, it\u2019s one matched many times before and since: zero points.<\/p>\n

            Remarkably, this was a championship game<\/em>, the Super Bowl equivalent of the era. And the score could have been even higher; by the end of the game, officials were asking the Bears not to kick for extra points, because too many footballs had been lost to the bleachers.<\/p>\n

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

              \n
            1. Bilbao. <\/strong>Miranda writes that if you really want to understand Gehry, who died last week at 96, you ought to look past his \u201ctitanium showpieces\u201d to his more intimate experiments, including the very quirky house he made for himself. Read more.<\/li>\n
            2. CRISPR. <\/strong>Nancy reports on the ways that CRISPR has advanced since, including its first use this year to fix mutations specific to a single patient\u2019s genes. Plans to streamline the process could attract enough investors to get similar therapies to patients en masse. Read more.<\/li>\n
            3. Scorigami. <\/strong>Scoring strategy makes some outcomes far likelier than others\u2014say, 36\u201322, which has happened 11 times, versus the never-before-seen 36\u201323. Elusive Scorigamis, Levin says, are a reminder that there are yet things left undone in sports, even when it feels like we might have seen everything. Read more.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              Updated with new questions at 3:50 p.m. ET on December 10, 2025. You\u2019ve been waiting to build that dream place of yours, there in the spot you picked out a few years back, between the pons and the frontal lobe. Maybe you want to crib some designs from your friend Steve\u2019s place; it\u2019s got space<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36875,"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-36874","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\/36874","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=36874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}