How Impressive Is Your General Knowledge?

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are classified as gas giants. Jupiter and Saturn are the largest of these. The remaining planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, are called terrestrial planets. Pluto has been demoted to dwarf planet status.

Your femur is your thigh bone. It’s the longest and strongest bone in your body. Did you know that technically your thigh is not part of your leg? In formal anatomy, for some reason, only the part of the body from the knee to the ankle is called the leg.

A traditional pound cake is made with equal parts flour, butter, sugar, and eggs—literally a pound of each! There’s no actual pounding involved, though. Just use your mixer.

A business of ferrets is so named not because they are professionals who make money, but because they’re always busy. Collective names for animals are imaginative and fun: Imagine a crash of rhinoceros, a parade of elephants, an ambush of tigers, or a skulk of foxes!

The pistons fire and create an up-and-down linear motion, which will not spin your wheels. The crankshaft converts the up-and-down motion of the pistons into rotational motion. This motion is transferred to the wheels via the gearbox and drive shaft. Luckily, you don’t have to understand any of this to drive your car.

The Victorian era spans the years of Queen Victoria’s reign over the British Empire, from 1837 to 1901. The Victorian era falls between the Georgian period and the Edwardian period. The Victorian era is remembered as the time of Industrial Revolution, the Irish Potato Famine, advances in medicine, and a stark division between rich and poor.

The Jazz Singer had synchronized dialogue, plus it was a musical. Actor Al Jolson spoke the iconic line “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet” early in the movie.

Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. The first Barbie was introduced in 1959, wearing a black-and-white swimsuit. Her boyfriend’s name is Kenneth Carson. If your Barbie was friendly with G.I. Joe, some sources say that his name is Joe Trooper. Other sources say that his name is Rocky if he's in the Army or Marines, Skip if he's in the Navy, or Ace if he's in the Air Force.

The word “orchestra” comes from a Greek phrase that means “dancing place,” and it was originally the area where dignitaries sat in an auditorium. The Japanese word “karaoke” means “empty orchestra,” so keep that in mind the next time you perform I Will Survive on karaoke night.

Japan has nearly 7,000 islands, but four make up the majority of the country’s land area. Those islands are Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido. Japan’s most well-known cities, including Tokyo, are located on Honshu.

Victorious was about a group of students at a performing arts high school. Grande also played her character, Cat Valentine, in a spinoff show called Sam & Cat, which ran from 2013–2014.

Incredibly, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were both born on February 12, 1809. They followed very different paths in life, but both held views that were controversial at the time, and both changed the world in ways that remain with us now.

The Italian word “fettuccine” means “little ribbons.” Many pasta shapes have interesting names. For example, “orecchiette” means “little ears,” “gemelli” means “twins,” “linguine” means “little tongues,” and “radiatori” means “radiators.”

In total, there are about 900,000 recognized species of insects, and the order Coleoptera includes about 380,000 of those. One out of every four identified animal species on Earth—not just insect species, but all animals—is a beetle.

When you’re asked to name an Australian city, Canberra probably does not come to your mind first, second, or even third. Nevertheless, it’s the capital. The prime minister’s official residence in Canberra, at 5 Adelaide Avenue, is called The Lodge.

John F. Kennedy held the first live televised presidential press conference on January 25, 1961. Dwight D. Eisenhower held a press conference in 1955 which was televised, but it was broadcast after the fact, from film footage.

Freddie Mercury, Queen’s lead vocalist, wrote the lyrics for Bohemian Rhapsody. He never explained the meaning of the song before he passed away in 1991. Scaramouche is a clown character commonly seen in traditional Italian theater, and the fandango is a Spanish dance. “Bismillah” means “in the name of Allah.”

At its narrowest point, the Strait of Gibraltar is only 9 miles wide. A ferry can carry you across the strait from Tarifa, Spain, to Tangier, Morocco, or vice versa. Along the way, you might see orcas, sperm whales, and pilot whales.

Samuel B. Fay patented his bent wire paperclip in 1867. Without that patent, early users of Microsoft Office might have never gotten to know the helpful and lovable character, Clippy the paperclip. Clippy’s real name is Clippit, by the way. (Don’t tell anyone that Clippy was created by Kevan Atteberry … on a Mac.)

Mexico City is the capital of Mexico. A man from Mexico City is a capitalino, and a woman from there is a capitalina. Mexico City was founded in 1325, and it is the oldest capital city in the Americas. Unfortunately, the city is sinking, at a faster rate than Venice, Italy.