Book Of General Ignorance - how much do you really know?

**kenney** · 02-04-2008, 08:24 AM

ive had The Book Of General Ignorance for some time now. read it all and thought it would be interesting and good fun to see how much you guys really know about 'general knowledge'. the book is very useful for people who are generally interested, those who want to look clever, or those who love proving people wrong eg the other day my teacher said something about C Columbus believing the world was round, i said "actually miss, he thought it was pear shaped, he set sail to prove that asia was closer than everyone thought...not to prove the shape of the Earth." lol she took it well.

i will ask 2 questions at a time, and will give reps to people that give the right answers. here goes:
first two questions will be about America...

1.How Many States Are There In USA?
2. Who Is America Named After? (major reppage if you get that)

**bbdude** · 02-04-2008, 09:38 AM

1. some say 50, some say 52.. i'll go with 50 though.

2. Discovered for who? i mean, native americans discovered it way before any europeans.
but, by America, do u mean USA or the continent America?

Leiv Eriksson were teh first european to make it to America, to be more specific, the east coast of canada, which he called Wineland.

Christopher Columbus were on several of the islands in the mexican golf.

And, because Peter Griffin is always right, im gonna go with Dick Yorke discovering the United States of America

(im probably the only one laughing now lol)

**kenney** · 02-04-2008, 11:36 AM

my bad bro...i put the wrong question down lol ive sorted it now though. i got Giovanni Caboto as the first recorded European to set foot on American soil.

#1 is incorrect by the way lol

**bbdude** · 02-04-2008, 11:50 AM

haha

both my english teacher and my history teacher told me that. looks like they don't know so much after all lol

**kenney** · 02-04-2008, 11:53 AM

thats what the book is about lol it basically tells you, what you think you know is porbably wrong! haha i will wait for some more replies, then give you the answers

**Freak** · 02-04-2008, 12:15 PM

I have no clue on either one... sadly.

Cain Marko · 02-04-2008, 07:51 PM

Aussie here, ask me something about Her Majesty instead

Half Second · 02-05-2008, 03:35 AM

1. Fifty states, 1 federal district, and a number of territories
2. Amerigo Vespucci, but this is up for debate according to some.

(of course, this information was courtesy of google and wikipedia lol

)

Half Second · 02-05-2008, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenney

1.How Many States Are There In USA?

or perhaps this is a trick question, where you're really asking how many states are there in the phrase United States of America, which in this case would be 1. I could also be looking into that a little too much....

**bbdude** · 02-05-2008, 08:50 AM

1. 46
2. giovanni caboto/john cabot.. john is the english name

**kenney** · 02-05-2008, 08:55 AM

nice work Half Second...but my book says different lol Amerigo Vespucci is the common answer. here are the answers:

1 - 46. Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are officially commonwealths. they chose this title to describe themselves at the end of the war of independence.

2 - Richard Ameryk. a wealthy welshman. Ameryk was the chief investor of the second voyage of John Cabot - the english name of the italian navigator Giovanni Caboto. Cabot reached Labrador in May 1497, predating Vespucci by two years.