Wow. Where to start? How about the title. Are you WORLDLY enough to ace this geography quiz? Because what says worldliness like knowledge of fourteen non sequiter geography facts? I mean, if you can nail all fourteen questions, you're well on your way to serving as a high level diplomat. Look out, John Kerry. I know obscure capital cities.
Let's go through the questions, shall we?
1) True or False: The region of Hong Kong includes an island.
Woah, this question just shits worldliness. Wanna impress some Chinamen? Start dropping facts about the insular conditions of autonomous administrative regions. But Geography aside, this question starts out, "True or False:" when in fact, according to the answer options, it should start with "Yup! or Ha I think not." You know. Because it's so worldly. The correct answer is Yup! because, yes, their are islands in Hong Kong.
2) How many countries are there in South America? (answer options are 15, 9, 6, and 12).
The correct answer according to the quiz is 12, because Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Guyana, and Suriname. On the surface, this isn't such a terrible question. But there are a couple of ways that "how many countries are there in South America" can be interpreted. Like, say, depending on who you ask, the southern half of Panama could be considered South America. That would be nitpicking, though. I'm more concerned about France. France? Yes, France. More to the point, French Guiana. French Guiana is an overseas department of France. French Guiana is an exclave of France, and it is beyond the shadow of a doubt on the South American continent. Thus, the answer should be 13 which is not one of the options. Am I being petty here? Well, HuffPo is the one throwing down with some pretty aggressive language.
3) What are the countries that make up the United Kingdom? (Multiple choice answers)
The answer is of course England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. If you knew that, you're apparently worldlier for it.
4) True or False: Antarctica is made up of land masses in both the the north and south poles.
Awareness of the existence of this question made me stupider.
5) Which country is larger than the US in terms of total area?
Nothing wrong with this question. The answer is Canada. Move along.
[Update: As this video points out, there are a couple different ways to interpret "total area" including total land area. Considering that much of Canada consists of its three million lakes and territorial waters, total land area drops Canada to fourth in the world, after the US.]
6) New Zealand is located southeast of which country? (Multiple choice options are American Samoa, Fiji, Cook Islands, and Australia).
Because they want you to get one.
7) True or False: Peru is a landlocked country in South America.
Again, instead of starting off "True or False", this one should have led with "Why yes, yes it is or Mmmmmm No."
8) Three truths and a lie: You pick the lie: Singapore is in Indonesia; The capital of Singapore is Singapore; Singapore is made up of 63 islands; Singapore is also referred to as Pulau Ujong
Oh, another economic powerhouse autonomous Asian island city question. How original. Singapore is not in Indonesia, for the record.
9) Madagascar is an African island located off of what?
My only problem with this question are the answer options, which include Um, that's definitely just a movie and Ha, Madagascar is in Asia. Don't even try. It also offers the options of East Africa and West Africa. "Off of" as a description of location also isn't very worldly, HuffPo. Technically it's "off of" everything, because, you know, it's an island. But the answer based on the given choices would be is East Africa.
10) True or False: Turkmenistan is a country that exists.
Again, the wording. A country that exists. LIKE WHOA! There's a country named TURKMENISTAN? That TOTALLY exists! I know because I'm so fucking WORLDLY! So of course, of the three options, the answer is (sigh) Damn skippy and not No, it's Turkey. TUR-KEY or Trick question, used to be, not anymore.
11) Which of these countries reaches farthest north?
Countries don't reach. they have territory furthest north. I think we know what they mean nonetheless. Now, what are my options... Iceland, Ireland, Greenland, and Spain. Well, let me think about that... Spain is definitely not it, and I think the other two are further north than Ireland, so that leaves Greenland and Iceland. But Greenland isn't a country, it's a territory of Denmark. They just referenced a trick question with one of the wrong answers in the last question, THIS must be the trick question. Since Greenland is not a country, the answer is obviously Iceland! Well if this was your train of thought, you were right, but you were marked wrong in this quiz. The answer that gives you a point here is Greenland despite its subordination to the Kingdom of Denmark. The real problem here is that the authors here seem to lack an appreciation for the finer intricacies of what constitutes a "country" (please, please, please watch the video in that link).
12) What country does not border Libya?
Let's test your knowledge of colonial-era boundaries drawn haplessly across the uninhabited Sahara Desert! I'm convinced the whole point of this question was for some white guy writing the quiz to get his rocks off by throwing "Niger" in as one of the options. The correct answer is Ethiopia.
13) True or False: Bulgaria and Russia share a border.
Oh, I'm sorry. This one should have lead with "Indeed or Ya kidding me? Nope." The latter is correct, because YA KIDDING ME? You thought the largest Slavic country in the world and one of the most influential Slavic regions of the Balkan Peninsula shared a border? Son, you best remember Ukraine is between them if you wanna be worldly #swag #yolo
14) Which of the following is not officially affiliated with the US government?
Here's where they get really cute. The four options are Guam, which is unambiguously a US territory; Puerto Rico, which is also unambiguously a US Territory; Turks and Caicos, a British Overseas Territory; and Palau, an independent nation and United Nations member. So, obviously not the first two, right? Well then is it Turks and Caicos, or Palau? It depends on what the fuck "officially affiliated with the US government" means. If officially using US currency means "officially affiliated with" then it is Turks and Caicos. But if it means a Compact of Free Association, then it would be Palau. And I'm sure another cursory internet search could find a few more things that could be construed as "officially affiliated". But whatever it is, it's Palau. Ambiguous wording obfuscates the question. The author of this quiz should learn a lesson about poor communication.
This quiz is such an affront to the field of Geography, if for no other reason it plays the condescending hipster to the test taker. The only good thing about this quiz is that the end of the post links to GeoGuessr, which is a pretty fun Geography game that will in fact sharpen your awareness of the world around you. Otherwise, this quiz does nothing but send the following message: HEY STUPID AMERICAN, I BET YOU'RE TOO STUPID AND BUSY GOING TO WALMART EATING MCDONALDS AND CURSING THE ISLAMICS TO FUMBLE YOUR WAY THROUGH BASIC GEOGRAPHY SO HERE'S A POORLY RESEARCHED, CONDESCENDINGLY WORDED QUIZ OF NON SEQUITER GEOGRAPHY FACTS TO MAKE YOU FEEL STUPID BECAUSE YOU'RE STUPID AND YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF HALF THESE PLACES WE HASTILY RESEARCHED BECAUSE WE KNOW YOU ARE TOO STUPID TO SKIM WIKIPEDIA TO FIND THE ANSWERS. I'M SO FUCKING WORLDLY I JUST CAN'T EVEN!
Go to hell, HuffPo.
