50 Funny Trivia Questions for Work

1. NASA lost its Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999 largely because of what very relatable office mix-up?

2. The word cubicle comes from a Latin word for which room?

3. One of the first webcams ever, set up at a university in 1991, was pointed at what?

4. A clay tablet from ancient Mesopotamia, nearly 4,000 years old, is famous as an early customer complaint. What was the customer angry about?

5. Engineer Percy Spencer got the idea for the microwave oven after something in his pocket did what near radar equipment?

6. Hook-and-loop fasteners were inspired by burrs stuck to an engineer's dog after a walk. Which country was that engineer from?

7. Which word for wordy, confusing official jargon was coined in 1944 by a Texas congressman?

8. The sideways smiley :-) was proposed in 1982 on an online message board at which university?

9. The word nickname started out as an ekename. What did eke mean?

10. When the word nostalgia was coined in 1688, it described what?

11. Before it meant a financial plan, the word budget referred to what?

12. In Old English, the ancestor of the word silly meant what?

13. The word clue comes from clew, an old word for what?

14. The word maverick comes from a Texas rancher who famously didn't do what to his cattle?

15. Sideburns are named after a 19th-century American general whose last name was what?

16. Long before it meant confusing office buzzwords, the Old French word jargon described what sound?

17. Denim, the fabric of casual Friday, is named after a town in which country?

18. University of Washington researchers found that crows can do what to people who once bothered them?

19. In a 2006 study at a New York zoo, an Asian elephant showed she could do what?

20. Bottlenose dolphins use unique signature whistles in a way similar to what?

21. In a 2016 study, what did lab rats do when scientists tickled them?

22. How many bones are in a giraffe's very long neck?

23. Marine scientists prefer to call starfish sea stars. Why?

24. Which flightless bird lays an egg that can weigh about a fifth of the mother's body weight?

25. How many toes does an ostrich have on each foot?

26. Ducks resting at the edge of a group can do what to stay alert for danger?

27. The axolotl, a salamander from Mexico, is famous for being able to do what?

28. Laser measurements show the Moon is slowly drifting away from Earth. By roughly how much each year?

29. About how much of all the mass in our solar system is in the Sun?

30. Which element gives fireworks their bright green color?

31. Seismometers left by Apollo astronauts revealed that the Moon has what?

32. Roughly how long is one year on Mercury, measured in Earth days?

33. When baking soda and vinegar make a fizzy science-fair volcano, which gas forms the bubbles?

34. What do space scientists call a single day on Mars?

35. Graham crackers were first promoted in the 1800s by Sylvester Graham as part of what?

36. The word ketchup is thought to come from an Asian name for what kind of sauce?

37. Caesar salad was invented in 1924 in which city?

38. German chocolate cake is named after what?

39. Swiss researchers found that tiny particles of what help create the holes in cheeses like Emmental?

40. Which English noble title gave the sandwich its name?

41. The hamburger takes its name from which city?

42. What does the Scoville scale measure?

43. Nachos are named after Ignacio Anaya, who first threw them together for hungry guests in which country?

44. Strictly speaking, what is Big Ben in London?

45. The Eiffel Tower was only supposed to stand for how long before being taken down?

46. Why does the Leaning Tower of Pisa lean?

47. Mount Rushmore's sculptor originally planned to carve the four presidents down to what point?

48. Can astronauts in low Earth orbit spot the Great Wall of China with the unaided eye?

49. What is the official name of the color of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge?

50. Why is the Washington Monument two slightly different colors?