Daily Trivia Quiz - Day 68 (2025-12-17)

Question 1

Why do so many languages' words for tea cluster into versions of "tea" (te, thé) or "cha" (chai)?

Accepted Answer

They trace two main trade routes from China, one by sea and one over land

Question 2

Why do many restaurants and food brands use a lot of red in their logos and interior design?

Accepted Answer

Warm red tones can subtly boost appetite and urgency

Question 3

How did traditional West African "talking drums" send messages between villages before telephones?

Accepted Answer

By imitating the tones and rhythms of spoken language

Question 4

What helped save the Eiffel Tower from being dismantled a few decades after it was built?

Accepted Answer

It became a valuable radio and telegraph transmission tower

Question 5

Thousands of years ago, what surprising landscape did much of the Sahara Desert have?

Accepted Answer

Grasslands with lakes and rivers, not endless sand

Question 6

Which civilization is credited with developing the concept of zero as a number and symbol used in modern place-value math?

Accepted Answer

Ancient Indian mathematicians

Question 7

At the 1904 Olympic marathon, one exhausted runner was dosed mid-race with a stimulant now more famous as a rat poison. What was it?

Accepted Answer

Strychnine mixed with brandy and egg whites

Question 8

What psychological quirk, named after Benjamin Franklin, says you're more likely to like someone after you've done them a favor than after they help you?

Accepted Answer

The Ben Franklin effect

Question 9

Why are chefs in Japan required to get special licenses before serving fugu (pufferfish)?

Accepted Answer

Its organs contain deadly tetrodotoxin, so one mistake can be fatal

Question 10

Which royal helped make white wedding dresses fashionable in the West by choosing white lace for her own 1840 ceremony?

Accepted Answer

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom