“Now attention is the correct answer”: 15 questions from “What? Where? When? "

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Check if you can master the difficult tasks from the team of viewers.

– 1 –

There are two main actors involved in traditional Japanese Noh theater: shite, the performer, and waki, his assistant. All other actors are auxiliary. It doesn't matter though. The only important thing is that all these people are sinners. Who in such a theater is invited to play the role of the emperor, whose personality is considered infallible in Japan?

The answer of experts: the emperor himself.

Correct answer: child. According to the Japanese, the emperor is infallible like a child.

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– 2 –

Vladimir Nabokov usually painted butterflies of different types on the author's copies of his works. He left this peculiar autograph on all his works, except one. What did the writer depict on the author's copy of "Mashenka"?

The answer of experts: "Mashenka" is Nabokov's first emigre novel, then the writer used the pseudonym Sirin. He portrayed the bird Sirin.

Correct answer: Nabokov called "Mashenka" an unsuccessful novel, so he painted a butterfly larva on the author's copy as a symbol of the imperfection of the work.

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– 3 –

Hammurabi is a Babylonian king who lived in the 16th century BC. NS. In his library were kept clay tablets, which spoiled from time to time. They had to be rewritten.

The position of a scribe was honorable, but extremely dangerous. For a broken sign, an employee could be whipped with whips, for spelling errors - his right hand could be cut off. For what offense could he be walled up alive in the wall of the library?

The answer of experts: for the "gag".

Correct answer: for plagiarism. This was the cruel treatment of those who signed other people's works with their own names.

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– 4 –

People in this profession must have a sense of color and shape, like real painters, sculptors or architects. In the second half of the 18th century, they used stepladders, stilts and even sea sextants in their work. What profession are we talking about?

The answer of experts: pastry chef.

Correct answer: hairdresser. All of these tools were needed to give the ladies high hairstyles.

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– 5 –

“They will move one against the other, holding a sharp iron in their hands. They will not cause any harm other than fatigue, because as far as one will bend forward, the other will bend back. But woe to the one who gets between them”- what process did Leonardo da Vinci describe in this way?

The answer of experts: the process of cutting something, and “they” are the fingers holding the scissors.

Correct answer: the process of sawing wood by two people.

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– 6 –

What is now inside the black box, Salvador Dali used to enhance his oratory skills. This made him literally "spew out words of sublime truth, to the limit concise, concentrated and generalized." What's in the black box?

The answer of experts: wine.

Correct answerDali's patent leather boots were small and stinging monstrously. Therefore, he involuntarily had to speak briefly.

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– 7 –

"Raise your right hand up and bend your index finger for 10 minutes" - for what offense was this punished, according to the memoirs of A. P. Chekhov?

The answer of experts: for picking the nose.

Correct answer: in the Greek school, where Chekhov studied for some time, this was the punishment for smoking.

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– 8 –

In ancient Greece, it was customary to erect monuments on the battlefields in honor of victories. What materials were they made of? And, most importantly, why exactly from it?

The answer of experts: from weapons captured from enemies. These monuments were called "trophies". This is where the expression "take a trophy" came from.

Correct answer: Ancient Greeks erected wooden monuments. Over time, they collapsed and ceased to be a symbol of enmity.

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– 9 –

Here is the painting of the Russian painter Igor Grabar "February Azure". What did Igor Emmanuilovich do before he started writing it? Knowledge will not help you.

The answer of experts: the canvas is painted with dots using the pointillism technique. Before painting the picture, Grabar ate pancakes, because it was Maslenitsa. The artist's hands were greasy, and it was uncomfortable to hold the brush.

Correct answer: Grabar dug a trench. In his memoirs, the artist wrote: “I dropped the stick and bent down to pick it up. When I looked at the top of the birch from below, from the surface of the snow, I was stunned by the spectacle of fantastic beauty that opened before me. To keep the perspective, he went home, took a shovel and dug a trench in the snow, into which he climbed with his easel.

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– 10 –

In the 19th century, it was customary to keep special choirs in some wealthy noble houses. They could include from 6 to 50 performers: tenors, baritones, altos, basses, discounts. The voice was not the most important value of this group, but having a good-sounding choir was pleasant to every nobleman. Who were the members of these choirs?

The answer of experts: roosters.

Correct answer: The pride of every nobleman was a well-chosen, beautiful-sounding pack of hounds.

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– 11 –

Sumerian writing was first represented by drawings or a combination of them. So, the word "cry" consisted of two images - "eye" and "water". With the help of which two pictograms did the Sumerians write down the word "give birth"?

The answer of experts: land and grain.

Correct answer: bird and egg.

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– 12 –

The first Europeans to move to the Australian continent missed dairy products a lot. This is because there were no cows in Australia before. Therefore, the Europeans urgently began to import cattle to their lands.

But this harmless undertaking in the middle of the 19th century almost ended in failure. What has been done to save the green continent from environmental disaster?

The answer of experts: Europeans brought in grass that only cows eat and do not eat kangaroos.

Correct answer: in Australia there were no natural orderlies of pastures, so cow dung formed a dry crust on the ground, the grass simply stopped growing. And after the cows, the Europeans had to import dung beetles.

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– 13 –

“Look up to the sky, and let your soul rejoice: you have something to strive for. Look down at the ground, and bow your head, humble yourself. Manage to ascend to heaven without taking off from the ground. Why do Tibetan lamas say these words to their disciples?

The answer of experts: so that their students look not only at the heavens, but also at their feet. Since this is happening in the mountains, they can collapse.

Correct answer: listening to these words, the students did neck exercises.

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– 14 –

In Dutch still lifes of the early 17th century, some of the details were endowed with symbolic meaning. An apple meant the fall of Adam, grapes - the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, withered flowers - death. And the butterfly?

The answer of experts: the butterfly symbolized the soul.

Correct answer: a butterfly born from a chrysalis symbolized resurrection.

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– 15 –

Politician Abraham Lincoln, writer William Faulkner, pop singer Valery Leontyev - all of them in their youth were engaged in this important matter. And the Soviet poet wrote a work about the people of this profession, and about what is now in the black box. What is there?

The answer of experts: Toothbrush. This, of course, is an important business for everyone - brushing your teeth.

Correct answer: mail bag. All these people worked as postmen in their youth. And here are the lines of Samuil Marshak about the representative of this profession:

Who's knocking on my door

With a thick shoulder bag

With the number 5 on a copper plaque, In a blue uniform cap?

It's him, It's him, Leningrad postman.

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The collection questions are taken from this archive.