Geography Quiz - Identify these countries.

[birdman]

Have a go at these, I'll put the answers up... some time.

I think 1 to 6 are easy (mind you, I know the answers!), but 7 is a stinker, while 8 is tricky, but you might get it straight away.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4
5 - 6 - 7 - 8

[Michael Frankis]

1 - ? Belgium, upside-down
2 -
3 - Denmark
4 -
5 - Croatia, rotated 90° anti-clockwise
6 - Mexico, upside-down
7 - Nepal, upside-down
8 - Turkey

Done without referring to an atlas

Michael

[Charles Harper]

Two might be Nicaragua and four maybe Borneo, inside-out, but you're giving me a headache, Birdman, at 6:30 a.m.

[birdman]

Michael, I'm impressed!!!

You got 7, which I nearly left out - and yes it's upside down.

In fact, 5-8 are spot on, as is 3, but number 1 is wrong.

Charles... GO BACK TO BED!!!

[Beverlybaynes]

1. England, alone -- withOUT Wales and Scotland.

[Beverlybaynes]

Uhhhh....maybe......

[Charles Harper]

OK, then FOUR is Nicaragua and TWO is Borneo, back-to-front... or Tasmania with a hangover..

[birdman]

Charles... nope, nope and nope!

Beverly, I can see where you're coming from, but...

...nope!

[Charles Harper]

It's no fair--Michael already got the ones I recognized, Mexico and Croatia. I've seen Two before somewhere-- isn't it in Central America? Wasn't it liberated by Simon Bolivar? Four, I'm sure, is a third world country, and may even be uninhabited...

[andythomas]

Is 4 Spain upside-down?

[Michael Frankis]

Yep, Andythomas is right with #4 - don't know how I failed to spot that one!

Michael

[birdman]

Leaves 1 and 2... and there's a B-I-I-I-I-G clue in 2

[andythomas]

2 South Africa upside-down. I thought that was a lake to start with.

[birdman]

Just number one to get...

[Charles Harper]

Brazil, of course.

[birdman]

Bingo!

[Charles Harper]

.. and I didn't check an atlas, my head just drooped to my right shoulder.

Kind of quiet tonight. While you're in quiz mode, how about giving me a hand finding some language riddles suitable for mixed audiences of non-English speakers? What I'm looking for are additions to a collection I have started which includes such as:

(1) How far can a bear walk into the woods? Answer: Half way-- after that he's walking OUT of the woods.

(2) A man has two coins totalling sixty cents, but one of them is not a 50-cent piece; what are the coins? Answer: a 10-cent piece and a 50-cent piece-- the OTHER one is a 50-cent piece!

(3) (a verbal conundrum) "A farmer has twenty-six (twenty sick)sheep and one dies; how many are left?" Answer: the opposite of whatever the student guesses, 25 or 19.

All play on the English language, but are not too erudite for beginning students. Any of that sort in your repertoire, B'man?

[birdman]

I'll have a think... but the first one that springs to mind...

How deep is the Pacific Ocean?

Merely a stone's throw.

[birdman]

Here's a good one,

You're driving a bus along a route.
You have twenty passengers.
At the first stop, 6 passengers get off and 4 get on.
At the second stop, 1 passenger gets off and 3 get on.
At the third stop 8 passengers get off and 2 get on, one with a dog.
At the fourth stop, no passengers get off, but 2 get on.
What's the name of the driver?

[Tannin]

Stan's mother has four children. Three of them are named "Quarter", "Nickel" and "Dime". What is the name of the other child?

[rile's]

stan

[rile's]

here is a good question

What is the name of that little peice of geography that looks like a lake that is in the middle of South Africa?
Using an Atlas is cheating.

[CJW]

Hi Charles,
Re: question 1.
I agree that if there bear only walks half way into the woods then the rest of the way he is walking out, but if he only walks half of the way in to the woods (and therefore only a quarter of the overall distance) he has as far again to walk before he is walking out.......confused meself now......

[Charles Harper]

I think somebody already did that with Achilles and a turtle.. Hey, there's a couple of good ones in there, thanks! Any more? I really use these things to teach with.

Tell us quick, will you, Rile? I've already exhausted my intellect. I know it's one of those 'homelands', but there are several, aren't there? Basutoland? Swaziland?

[birdman]

Actually, Charles, it's Lesotho, which I think used to be called Basutoland.

Interesting (?) Lesotho factoid - it is the country with the world's highest lowest point.

Anyone care to guess the country with the world's lowest highest point?

[Tannin]

Holland? (Or what ever you are supposed to call it now - European geography confuses me. Haven't got the hang of all the changes Napoleon made yet.)

No, it will be an island nation, probably somewhere in the Pacific. Some of the coral cays are only knee-high to a grasshopper.

[birdman]

Right theory... wrong ocean!

[alan_rymer]

A frog is 5 foot from a pond. How many hops to reach the pond?.
Its first hop is 2' 6", its second hop is 1' 3", each hop is half the distance of the previous hop?

[birdman]

Zeno's Paradox...

Also, to walk a mile, first you have to walk half a mile, then quarter of a mile etc. etc. etc.

[andythomas]

Could be the Indian Ocean. How about the Maldives?

[birdman]

That's the one!

[Tannin]

How much higher than wider is Switzerland, if any?

[StevieEvans]

BM.
Holland ?
S.
(oops. far too late & far too wrong!)

[andythomas]

I've just googled, and the highest point in Holland is 321 metres, which surprised me. So it hasn't even got the lowest high point in Europe, which might be Denmark with a high point of 171 metres.

[birdman]

Tannin... if you think about it, Mt Everest is only 5 or so miles high - Switz. is a lot wider than high!

:t:

[Michael Frankis]

Originally posted by birdman
Actually, Charles, it's Lesotho, which I think used to be called Basutoland.

Interesting (?) Lesotho factoid - it is the country with the world's highest lowest point.

Anyone care to guess the country with the world's lowest highest point?

The Maldive Islands, 6 feet or thereabouts.

There was a debate at the UN General Assembly a few years ago, discussing the possible effects of global warming, and various rich western nations wanted to quietly drop the debate. The Maldives Ambassador then famously put the question, "Is the United Nations going to stand by and do nothing when one of its member nations is wiped off the face of the Earth?"

Well, I guess the answer, sadly, is "yes".

Michael

[steve_nova]

Bangladesh?

[steve_nova]

hmmm, just checked on Google and found a site that states Bangladesh's highest point is over 1000 ft, though the country is predominantly flat and low, average 4ft above sea level.

I guess tha Maldives win by a tidal wave!

[Michael Frankis]

As far as I know the lowest state on a continent (as opposed to island nations like the Maldives) is Gambia

Michael

[Nancy]

Michael Frankis, are you a living Encyclopedia? You came up with four correct answers within one minute of Birdman posting the questions; that is according to the times recorded on my computer, which is set on 10 hours ahead of GMT (now actually 9 hours because of your summer time). No wonder Charles Hooper got a headache even thinking about such things at 6.30am in Japan.
I can never do any of the quizzes because by the time I get a bit of spare time to graze around on the Forum they have all been completed. That's my excuse anyway. I knew the answers to Denmark and Turkey but about 6 days too late.

Nancy

[Nancy]

Sorry, that should have been 8 minutes. Didn't have my glasses on but it is still pretty quick!

N

[Nancy]

CORRECT THAT AGAIN TO SIXXXXXX

N

[Charles Harper]

You OK, Nancy?

[Michael Frankis]

Originally posted by alan_rymer
A frog is 5 foot from a pond. How many hops to reach the pond?.
Its first hop is 2' 6", its second hop is 1' 3", each hop is half the distance of the previous hop?

Five hops. Frogs hop with their hind legs, and an average frog is 2" long. The fifth hop puts its hind legs 1.875" from the water, so its front legs are now in the water. :cool:

Michael

[Charles Harper]

OK, Michael, show me how you calculated the average length of a frog.

[Surreybirder]

I doubt if it helps but I heard this on BBC Radio 5
A man goes into a pub with a roll of tarmac under his arm. "I'll have two pints please, barman, one for me and one for the road."
There was also an anecdote on the hoverflies-UK email group about how the Heiniken Fly got its name. Apparently it has a long proboscis (for a hoverfly) so it reaches the parts (of the flowers) that the others cannot reach.
A penguin goes into a pub and asks the barman: "Have you seen my Dad?"
The barman replies, "What does he look like?" Also Radio 5 (someone has just written a book about pubs, apparently).

[Henry H]

Maybe Holland? Belgium perhaps (the low countries!)

[Henry H]

Sorry - I've just woken up! The Maldives? I would never have guessed.