Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic How Observant Are You?

This is a mass-forward (sort of) but I think you guys might enjoy spending a minute or two checking how observant you are. Please post to let us all know how you did

Disclaimer: This was obviously written up by an American for other Americans.

A brain teaser

There are 29 questions about things we see every day or have known about all our lives. How many can you get right?

These little simple questions are harder than you think--it just shows you how little we pay attention to the common place things of life. Put your thinking caps on.

Mind teasers of COMMON KNOWLEDGE. No cheating! No looking around! No using anything on or in your desk or computer!

Can you beat 17? (The average is 7) Write down your answers and check answers (on the bottom) AFTER completing all the questions. REMEMBER - NO CHEATING!!! LET'S JUST SEE HOW OBSERVANT YOU REALLY ARE.


1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the top or bottom?
2. How many states are there? (Don't laugh, some people don't know)
3. In which hand is the Statue of Liberty's torch?
4. What six colors are on the classic Campbell's soup label?
5. What two letters don't appear on the telephone dial? (No cheating!)
6. What two numbers on the telephone dial don't have letters by them?
7. When you walk does your left arm swing w/your right or left leg?
8. How many matches are in a standard pack?
9. On the United States flag is the top stripe red or white?
10. What is the lowest number on the FM dial?
11. Which way does water go down the drain, counter or clockwise?
12. Which way does a "no smoking" sign's slash run?
13. How many channels on a VHF TV dial?
14. Which side of a woman's blouse are the buttons on?
15. On an NY license plate, is New York on the top or bottom?
16. Which way do fans rotate?
17. Whose face is on a dime?
18. How many sides does a stop sign have?
19. Do books have even-numbered pages on the right or left side?
20. How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel?
21. How many sides are there on a standard pencil?
22. Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Doc. Who's missing?
23. How many hot dog buns are in a standard package?
24. On which playing card is the card maker's trademark?
25. On which side of a Venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats?
26. On the back of a $1 bill, what is in the center?
27. There are 12 buttons on a touch tone phone. What 2 symbols bear no digits?
28. How many curves are there in the standard paper clip?
29. Does a merry-go-round turn counter or clockwise?


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Don't look at the answers below until you complete all the questions!

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1. Bottom
2. 50 (please tell me you got this one!)
3. Right
4. Blue, red, white, yellow, black, &gold
5. Q, Z
6. 1, 0
7. Right
8. 20
9. Red
10. 88
11. Counter (north of the equator)
12. Towards bottom right
13. 12 (no #1)
14.. Left
15. Top
16. Clockwise as you look at it
17. Roosevelt
18. 8
19. Left
20. 5
21. 6
22. Bashful
23.. 8
24. Ace of spades
25. Left
26. ONE
27. *, #
28. 3
29. Counter

Observant? Yep, Orthodox even . . . *ducks pies*

#11 -- NO! nononono! This is a MYTH! The Coriolis effect is far too insignificant to cause water to go down the drain in a particular direction -- not unless we're talking a LOT of water. Like an ocean's worth. So some drains both north and south of the equator drain clockwise, some couterclockwise -- and it usually has to do with where the faucet is that filled it, unless the water sits after for filling for >24 hrs.

Ignoring #11, then, I got 11

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. . . wrong, or in several cases, partly wrong, that is. Including #11 (because I knew what they THOUGHT the answer should be), I got 18 correct. And hey, I don't buy or eat Campbells, and the hot dog buns I buy come six to a package -- hence the frustration of matching them to hot dogs that come 8 to a package.

Hmm, I think the fact that I'm fixated on the food one and not doing as well as I should might have something to do with attempting this near the end of a fast-day. :rolleyes:

I think I'm too observant. I got 20.

Jen
(who checked her closet in disbelief that buttons are on the right side of shirts...well I'll be a monkey's uncle)

I got 23. if it wasn't for matchbooks and TV/radio stations I'd have been golden. This was a fun little ego boost! Thanks for putting it up.

I got 26. I had to think about some for a second, but I got 26.

Augh! I got 12 right. some of them I didn't answer because I didn't know the president's name or don't understand it.

Yeah, ps what is a VHF TV dial?

Cool quiz.

Made me feel really not-smart. Haha.

About #29, I recently read that merry-go-rounds in England go clockwise because they wanted to make sure people always mounted the horses from the proper side. But in the US the carousels go counter-clockwise because the idea is that you would want to have your right hand facing out, for your sword... yada yada... hey who knows.

Well, I got 18, so apparently better than the average but not as well as some as these obviously very observant FoLCs posting before me.

I got a chuckle on seeing question #22, especially when I realized that was the same dwarf that Lois had forgotten. Handy thing I have that dialogue memorized, otherwise I might not have remembered the name of that missing dwarf myself. You never know when this sort of info proves useful...

KathyM

Well, I got 10 answers right. Not bad for someone who doesn't live in the US, right?

I mean, how am I supposed to know who's on a dime, or how many hotdogs are in package (here, it's just two) or the colors of that soup label (gold?? green is much better )?

At least it's more than the average seven, so I think it's good enough for me.

Saskia

Definitely written for a US audience! A number of the answers are different over here; for instance, all letters of the alphabet appear on my phone (just looked at it to check, on my desk beside me). Plus I'm sure that the cord to adjust the slats on blinds is on the right in my house - and that's not counting vertical blinds, where both cords are on the same side. And our 'standard' packages - matches, hot dog buns - are clearly different sizes.

Oh well - at least I knew how many states in the Union, the New York licence plate and the Statue of Liberty question!


Wendy (19 )

I only got 13 right. (and for most of them, I guessed!)

But about the water going down the drain. I never, ever paid any attention to the way water went down the drain. If you had asked, I wouldn't have been able to tell you which way it went, or even that it always went the same way. Then, I went to Brazil. The first time I went to take a bath, I pulled the plug on the bathtub drain, and the water started going down. Something totally freaked me out!! I had *no* idea what it was. When I finally calmed down enough to stop and analyze it, I realized it was that the water was going down the wrong way. At first, all I knew was that I had this very strange, VERY unpleasant gut feeling that something saw VERY VERY wrong! I literally jumped out of the tub, as if I had seen a ghost.

Rivka, maybe I noticed this because it was a bathtub, not a sink (that is, there's more water.) Or maybe I used to take really, really long baths, so the water had a chance to sit? (this was when I was much younger - I take showers, now.) All I know is, it was a very strange feeling.

I got 19. Of course, the blinds answer threw me off. On the blinds at home, the plastic rod to turn the blinds is on the left. The cord to make the blinds go up and down is on the right. I think I should count that one as right - so 20.

Shadow: Long before we had these fancy tv's with their fancy buttons on them and their fancy cable tv, they had dials. There was usually 2 numbers on these dials - 2-13 for VHF, and a wider range for UHF. I'd forgotten they didn't have a #1 on them.

I did 20, but I must add I don't leave in the US.
(so I'm not good with hot dog buns package, VHF TV Dial, lug nuts or license plates in general. Still, lucky I went to New-York thought )

The question that troubled me the most was number 5, 'cause here, all the letters of the alphabet appear with the phone's digits...

The other mistakes where things I knew, but I couldn't remember...until I saw the answer.

Carole

#13 is so unfair...no one has dial TVs anymore! I doubt if they're even made anymore!!!

Anyway, I got 20½ right...and I think that not knowing how many matches are in a book is good since I don't smoke!

Vicki, actually, in the Southern Hemispehere, they put the faucets in the necessary position to freak out the tourists . . .

Just kidding. This could have happened to you with any bathtub you'd never used before -- you likely remember it (possibly you only even noticed it) because you associated it with being in the Southern Hemisphere.

More info on the myth of basins and the Coriolis effect here and here .

I have to quote Saskia. 11 answers, for the same simple reason: I don't live in the USA.

Question 10:

Why only 88? There is 87.5 here (and I think there are stations below that, too... I think until 86).

AnnaBtG.

I got 21 of them. I missed 4, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 21, and 26. Kind of feel embarrassed about missing 26. It's actually more than I expected. I've always thought I was one of the least observant people around. It's nice to know a lot of people out there are much worse.

Wendy said: Actually, that's true over here too, now. However, growing up, there was no q or z.

James 19
Elisabeth, who is still alive and kicking OW! , 15
(But James would have only had 18 if I hadn't helped )

PS There are no radio stations below 88 because they didn't want interferance between commercial radio and other uses. For a while there was quite a bit of contraversy over power and placement of stations, since the big stations tended to wipe out the signals of the smaller stations from colleges and the like. Now the FCC has reserved the lower end of the dial for not-for-profit organizations like colleges, churches, kids radio, national public radio, etc.
Elisabeth

When I read the quiz, I was afraid to take it -- people know that I am just not observant! I was afraid I would be the person with <7 LOL! I am probably the least observant person around. However, I did the quiz, and I got 16 and thought I was really smart. But then I read the other responses, and now I am completely secure in the fact that I am horribly oblivious.

- Laura