© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Any Questions #160

WAMC's Ian Pickus and resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Last week's challenge
Start with the word EXCLAMATION. Change one letter to an M (not the one that's there) and you can rearrange the result to spell the names of two countries that both begin with M. What are they?
Answer: If you change the N to an M, you can spell MEXICO and MALTA.

THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: PIRATES
On-air questions
: September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Created in 1995 by two men from Albany, Oregon, the invented holiday gained national fame after they wrote to humorist Dave Barry, who promoted the day in one of his columns. In honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, we'll have a quiz about pirates.
1. Often credited with introducing many stereotypical elements of pirate stories, such as maps with Xs on them and peg-leg pirates with parrots on their shoulders, what 1883 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson features the pirate Long John Silver?
2. Often mentioned in discussions about music piracy, the file-sharing service Napster was co-founded in 1999 by Sean Parker. Five years later, Parker became the first president of what social-networking site whose membership was initially limited to Harvard students?
3. Known as The Flying Dutchman, what shortstop played most of his career for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was one of the first five players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and is pictured on one of the rarest and most valuable baseball cards?
4. Mary Read and Anne Bonny, the only two women known to have been convicted of piracy in the early 18th century, both received a temporary stay of execution by "pleading the belly," a plea used by convicted women who were what?
5. "And we put down our white flag, and raised a red flag with a skull head on it and two crossed bones" is part of a 1687 entry from a pirate ship log book. This skull-and-bones flag design would later come to be known by what two-word name?

Extra credit
1. The title and second line of what nursery rhyme that originated as a coded message to recruit new crew members for pirate ships are references to Blackbeard's standard payment, made in both money and liquor?
2. Who directed the fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise (subtitled On Stranger Tides), which was released in 2011, eight years after another film he directed won Best Picture, the first musical to do so since 1969?

This week's challenge
Start with the phrase PIRATE SHIP. Rearrange these letters to spell a three-letter word for a thing a pen has, and a seven-letter word that you might see on certain pens. What are the words?

ANSWERS
On-air questions

1. Treasure Island
2. Facebook
3. Honus Wagner
4. Pregnant
5. Jolly Roger

Extra credit
1. Sing a Song of Sixpence
2. Rob Marshall
 

A lifelong resident of the Capital Region, Ian joined WAMC in late 2008 and became news director in 2013. He began working on Morning Edition and has produced The Capitol Connection, Congressional Corner, and several other WAMC programs. Ian can also be heard as the host of the WAMC News Podcast and on The Roundtable and various newscasts. Ian holds a BA in English and journalism and an MA in English, both from the University at Albany, where he has taught journalism since 2013.
Related Content
  • WAMC's Ian Pickus and resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel switch seats for a quick trivia battle.Last week's challengeStart with the word DAREDEVILS.…
  • WAMC's Ian Pickus and resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel celebrate the start of season four.Last week's challengeStart with the two-word name of the author…
  • WAMC's Ian Pickus and resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel welcome a special guest player to the show.Last week's challengeStart with the word QUARTET. Change…