THE GULLIBILITY TEST:

History and Culture

Pretend that you're an editor at a major newspaper. A reporter has just handed you a story that contains the following statements. Unfortunately, this reporter has a reputation for embellishing stories with wild claims that are completely untrue. Using common sense and whatever you happen to know about the subjects, you've got to decide which statements are true and which are false before the paper goes out to print. Saying 'I don't know' isn't an option.


1.  Sir Thomas Crapper invented the toilet.

True
False


2.  The Eskimo language has over 100 words for snow.

True
False


3.  Early Dutch traders acquired the entire island of Manhattan from a Native American tribe for a few goods worth around $700 in today's currency.

True
False


4.  When the English pilgrims landed in the New World they were surprised to discover that one of the first Native Americans they met had lived in England for many years.

True
False


5.  Mud throwing was an official event at the 1904 Olympics.

True
False


6.  There is a lake in Massachusetts called Lake Chargoggaggoggmanchaugagoggchaubunagungamaug. The name is a Native American word that means 'You fish on your side, I'll fish on my side, nobody fish in the middle.'

True
False


7.  When Columbus sailed to America in 1492, most Europeans believed that the earth was flat.

True
False


8.  The ancient Sumerians worshiped Ninkasi, a goddess of beer.

True
False


9.  Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two of America's founding fathers, both died on July 4, 1826, fifty years to the day after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

True
False


10.  Marco Polo introduced ice cream to Europe after watching it being made in China.

True
False


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