The Expats Christmas quiz was rather sparsely attended last night, no doubt due to the snow on the ground, the sub zero temperatures and the fact that as it's that time of year everyone has Christmas parties to go to. The lack of people didn't stop us scraping together four teams though and certainly didn't diminish the competitive nature of the evening either.
Here are a few of the questions:
- In what modern location is the Bethlehem where Jesus was born?
This was multiple guess, but I was so proud of myself and my non existant geographical knowledge for hearing the answer and knowing it was the answer.
- The first SMS message was sent in December 1992, what did it say?
As it was a Christmas quiz, it could only be either 'Merry Christmas' or 'Happy Christmas', fortunately we went with option unmber one.
- Name the two plants found in the title of a traditional English carol which, while pagan symbols of fertility, have also been the mainstay of Christmas decoration in English churches since the 15th century.
It is stating the bleeding obvious, but it really does help in an English pub quiz to be English, or have half the team English. I knew the answer straight away but the team next to us, 2 Germans and 1 American hadn't got a clue.
- A movie question about Will Ferrell, after inadvertently wreaking havoc on the elf community due to his ungainly size, a man raised as an elf at the north pole is sent to the USA in search of his true identity.
The quizmaster had to repeat the question a few times, putting ever more emphasis on the word 'elf' before the penny dropped with some teams.
- Which Christmas carol takes place on December 26?
Another multiple guess, but I knew that answer, my teammate, KM, wasn't so sure, but as I probably know more English carols than she does (being American) she couldn't doubt me for too long.
- What are there eight of in the song, the 12 days of Christmas?
KM was so proud, the only bit of swotting she'd done for the quiz* was to learn** the song 'the 12 days of Christmas'. So that'll be maids a milking then.
- Who does the Queen watch on TV at 3pm on Christmas day?
So obvious to a Brit, the Germans and the Amis were bemused!
We were delighted with the questions, we were the first to get a full row and then we got joint highest score which led to a tie breaker question, I can't remember the wording exactly but here's the gyst:
There was an eight year period in English history when the celebration of Christmas with the singing of carols and other such jollyment was outlawed, in what year did this begin?
It is amazing that we got to within one year of the right answer (1649) seeing as the reason I gave up history was because I hated having to remember dates and only knew that it was something to do with Cromwell because of all the historical fiction I've read. Unfortunately for us, Simon had Sam on his team and Sam clearly went to a school that drummed dates into its pupils, and they got the answer spot on.
Possibly the most embarassing fact forthcoming from the quiz is that Simon was able to correctly identify Justin Bieber as the singer of one of the Christmas songs, maybe I need to buy him some better music for Christmas!
* I hadn't done any, I always joke about doing some, but somehow can never be bothered to take it so seriously!
** I know, learn! Not just read through once, but read through enough times to commit to memory, dedication.
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