Brass Tacks Trivia

The Geography Bowl is like a spelling bee, but worse. July 20, 2009

1. Napoleon fought the Battle of Waterloo, but in what country would you actually find Waterloo?

Answer: >Belgium<

2. Lake Titicaca is in Peru and what other country?

Answer: >Bolivia<

3. What 4 states have boundaries that convene at one point to form the “Four Corners?”

Answer: >Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah<

Explanations:

1. The Battle of Waterloo took place in June of 1815, shortly after Napoleon escaped (or excaped if you’re gangsta) from exile on the island of Elba. Here’s the problem with being the commanding officer of the military AND the head of state at the same time: when you lose, you lose big. In this case, it was Napoleon vs. the Duke of Wellington, who I’m pretty sure invented Beef Wellington, although that suspicion has yet to be confirmed by the internets. It was Napoleon’s army vs. the Duke’s Coalition forces. I’m not French history expert, so I couldn’t really tell you why it was fought in Belgium and not France. But the important thing to know is that it wasn’t fought in Canada.

2. Although the origin of the name Titicaca is unknown, it will forever go down in the books as one of the funniest geographical names of our time. Just like Walla Walla, Washington, except these two are examples are funny because they sound unusual to say. Some of the best funny place names are funny because they are words that mean something different in English, like Condom, France, Fucking, Austria, and Hell, Norway. Two out of three are sexual names, which makes me wonder about cartographers. I always have trouble with this question, because I always think of the two landlocked countries in South American, which are Paraguay and Bolivia.

3. While most of the region belongs to a Navajo Tribe, the largest and pretty much only metropolitan city in the area is Farmington, New Mexico. If you call that a metropolitan city. I’ve never heard of it, so I’m guessing they don’t have very clearly defined zoning rules. Your address is in Arizona, but your kids go to school in the New Mexico; your cable bills go through Colorado and your utility bill is from Utah. You’re registered to vote in three states, even though you never vote in any of them, but for some reason you pay income taxes in all four states. Don’t worry, you make up for it from the stipends you get from living on an Indian reservation. Arizona doesn’t participate in daylight savings, so you’re constantly an hour late or an hour early to places, but at least you’re able to pick up 3 dozen radio stations.