75 Trivia Questions for Adults

1. On a credit card statement, what does APR stand for?

2. How many digits are in a US bank routing number (ABA routing transit number)?

3. The US retirement plan called a 401(k) is named after what?

4. What do you call interest that is earned on both your original deposit and the interest already added to it?

5. Using the Rule of 72, roughly how many years does it take money growing at 6% a year to double?

6. In investing, what does a 'bear market' describe?

7. What is the name for a person who signs a loan with the borrower and is on the hook if payments stop?

8. When buying a home, what is an escrow account used for?

9. A work trip comes with a 'per diem.' What does that Latin phrase literally mean?

10. In which year did euro banknotes and coins first go into circulation?

11. On a paycheck, what does 'gross pay' mean?

12. If a company's books are 'in the red,' what is happening?

13. Why does pasta take longer to cook in a high-altitude city like Denver?

14. What minimum internal temperature does the USDA recommend for safely cooked poultry?

15. In the US, cilantro is the leafy part of which plant whose dried seeds are sold as a spice?

16. Which spice is made from the dried stigmas of a crocus flower?

17. Which gas, released by yeast, makes bread dough rise?

18. Baking soda is the everyday name for which compound?

19. Using standard US kitchen measures, how many tablespoons make a quarter cup?

20. A roux, the base of many sauces and gumbos, is made by cooking which two things together?

21. Which nut grows hanging beneath a fleshy, pear-shaped 'apple'?

22. Botanically, the peanut is not a tree nut. What is it?

23. The noodle soup pho comes from which country?

24. Pasta cooked 'al dente' is named after an Italian phrase meaning what?

25. What maximum refrigerator temperature does the FDA recommend for storing perishable food?

26. In standard cooking terms, what does it mean to blanch vegetables?

27. The home video format VHS was short for what?

28. In 1971, engineer Ray Tomlinson chose which symbol to separate a user's name from the computer in email addresses?

29. Tim Berners-Lee proposed the World Wide Web in 1989 while working at which organization?

30. Before phones did everything, what was the common nickname for a pager?

31. In an email, the 'CC' line is a holdover from the office world. What does CC stand for?

32. Where does the name of the QWERTY keyboard layout come from?

33. In the US, which three-digit number did you dial for directory assistance to look up a phone number?

34. Texting started with SMS. What does SMS stand for?

35. On an old vinyl album, what did the abbreviation LP stand for?

36. Chefs say 'mise en place' before they start cooking. What does it mean?

37. What does USB, as in a USB cable, stand for?

38. What does HTML, the language behind web pages, stand for?

39. Home electricity use on a utility bill is usually measured in which unit?

40. Which blood type is known as the universal red cell donor?

41. A modern vehicle identification number (VIN) on a car is how many characters long?

42. What does HVAC, as in an HVAC repair bill, stand for?

43. Which lower-leg bone provides ankle stability but does not normally bear body weight?

44. What color does blue litmus paper turn when dipped in an acid?

45. On a new-car window sticker, what does MSRP stand for?

46. What does PIN stand for, as in the number you type at an ATM?

47. In Einstein's famous equation E = mc², what does the c stand for?

48. In computing, what does the ROM in CD-ROM stand for?

49. What causes the sound of thunder?

50. Which unit expresses sound level on a logarithmic scale?

51. What is the chemical symbol for tungsten?

52. Since 2019, the kilogram has been defined using which fundamental constant?

53. Which city opened the world's first underground railway, in 1863?

54. The golden ratio, admired by artists and architects, is roughly equal to what number?

55. In which city is the Rijksmuseum, the Dutch national museum?

56. The zloty is the currency of which country?

57. Uluru, the giant red sandstone rock also called Ayers Rock, is in which country?

58. Which country has the longest coastline in the world?

59. Which desert in northern Chile is one of the driest places on Earth?

60. What is the official currency of Switzerland?

61. In which city is Antoni Gaudí's still-unfinished basilica, the Sagrada Família?

62. Which country splits its government between three capital cities: Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein?

63. Which country is completely surrounded by South Africa?

64. The Channel Tunnel, opened in 1994, connects England with which country by rail?

65. Which river flows through the city of Baghdad?

66. What is the capital of Morocco?

67. On a job application, what does CV stand for?

68. The abbreviation 'i.e.' comes from Latin id est. What does it mean?

69. The RSVP on a party invitation comes from a French phrase meaning what?

70. Which day of the week is named after the Norse god Thor?

71. What is the name of the punctuation mark ‽ that combines a question mark and an exclamation point?

72. How many sides does a dodecagon have?

73. When a meeting is called 'ad hoc,' what does that Latin phrase mean?

74. Words like 'brunch' and 'motel' that blend two words into one are called what?

75. What is the Oxford comma?