Weekend QoD: October 18: Answers & Points

[wintergreen48]

Where Am I, and Why Am I Here



1. The city that is home to the largest bell (unrung) and the largest cannon (unfired) is Moscow.

2. The city that is home to The Bronze Horseman is and Thunder Rock is St. Petersburg. Pushkin composed a poem 'Bronze Horseman' in which the statue has great significance (gets into patriotism and such), and the title of the poem was later attached to the statue.

3. Virginia’s ‘virgin’ was Queen Elizabeth I of England.

4. Maryland’s non-virgin was Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I of England.

5. New York was named after James, Duke of York and Albany, later King James II of England. I accepted any of those names/titles as correct.

6. New York City’s original name was taken from Amsterdam. I accepted 'New Amsterdam' as well, I am such a softie.

7. Jersey is ‘owned’ by 'the Crown,' or Queen Elizabeth II, or the Queen of England, anything like that is OK. It is a 'personal' possession of the monarch, like the Isle of Man.

Bonus: identify either the popular or the ‘official’ language of Jersey at the time that ‘New Jersey’ was being settled by British colonists: Jèrriais, a dialect of Norman French, was the common language, and French was the ‘official’ language. I accepted 'Norman' as well, it's close enough.

8. The country whose name probably does not come from the word for ‘free’ but which nonetheless was never taken over by Europeans is Thailand.

9. Berlin was the capital of the kingdom of Prussia.

10. The largest city in the world (in terms of population) is Tokyo.

Bonus: the earlier name for the largest city in the world was Edo (popular crossword puzzle word).

Bonus 2: the previous capital of the country was Kyoto.


Points
Jarnon = 9
a1mamacat = 5
Marley = 11
KillerTomato = 11
Kroxquo = 7
NellyLunatic = 8
jbillygirl = 8
frogman = 6
jsuchard = 7
weyoun = 13
Confessor = 11
Ritterskoop = 5
VADame = 8
AndrewJackson = 11
plasticene = 9
tanstaafl = 11
LynPayne = 9