Funny pub quiz questions and answers

Emus The officer in charge, Major Meredith, complained that the emus could "face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks."

BackRub "Google" came from a misspelling of "googol" when a colleague checked which web address was free in 1997.

Playing cards (accept hanafuda cards) Its first product was hanafuda: decks of 48 ornate flower cards in 12 suits, one for each month of the year.

Tug of war At the 1908 London Games, British police teams swept the medals: City of London first, Liverpool second and the Metropolitan Police third.

Dance (accept the dancing plague) At first officials tried letting the victims dance it out: they built a stage and hired musicians and professional dancers to keep everyone going.

The Aztecs (accept the Mexica or Aztec Empire) Oxford's teachers were formally recognized as a universitas, or corporation, in 1231, almost a century before Tenochtitlan was founded.

Lord Byron (accept Byron) When asked what he meant to do with the bear, Byron replied that it "should sit for a fellowship."

Stink (The Great Stink) Parliament rushed through a bill to fund new sewers in just 18 days, and Joseph Bazalgette's tunnels still form the backbone of London's sewers.

A pig (accept sow) She was led to her execution dressed in a man's clothes.

8 mph (accept anything from 7 to 9 mph) He was chased down by a policeman on a bicycle.

A flamboyance The word "flamingo" comes from Spanish and Portuguese "flamengo," referring to a flame-like color.

Their feet A female drums a leaf with her feet to check its chemicals before deciding whether to lay her eggs there.

Narwhal Medieval traders sold narwhal tusks to wealthy Europeans as genuine unicorn horns.

Shrimp (accept prawn) Strictly, the heart sits in the cephalothorax, the fused head-and-chest section, alongside its stomach.

Goat (accept sheep) When a goat lowers its head to graze, its eyes rotate so the pupils stay level with the ground.

Ostrich Each eye can measure up to 50 mm (2 in) across, while its brain is no bigger than a walnut.

Kelp (accept seaweed) A group of otters floating together is called a raft, and some rafts hold more than 100 otters.

Hippopotamus (accept hippo) The red fluid is neither blood nor true sweat, and in lab tests it also slowed the growth of disease-causing bacteria.

Platypus Scientists found it out of curiosity: while studying glowing flying squirrels, they shone a UV light on a platypus specimen in a museum collection.

Freezing solid (accept freezing, including its heart) Its liver floods the body with glucose, which acts as an antifreeze to protect its cells until it thaws in spring.

Banana Scientists even use the "banana equivalent dose" as an informal way of explaining tiny doses of radiation.

Canada Sam Panopoulos first served it at the Satellite restaurant in Chatham, Ontario.

Wallpaper cleaner Sales slumped when homes switched from coal heating to oil and gas, leaving far less soot on the walls.

Carrots The real secret was airborne radar, and the story centered on ace pilot John "Cat's Eyes" Cunningham.

Mexico (accept Tijuana) Tijuana was then busy with Americans who crossed the border to drink legally during Prohibition.

Brad's Drink Pharmacist Caleb Bradham renamed it Pepsi-Cola in 1898 at his pharmacy in New Bern, North Carolina.

Tomato The judges admitted it was botanically a fruit, but noted people serve it with the main course and not as dessert.

The spine (accept backbone or vertebrae) The extra height disappears within a few months of returning to Earth.

Neutron star NASA says that's about as much as a mountain.

Brain freeze (accept ice cream headache) To ease it, press your tongue firmly against the roof of your mouth until the pain fades.

Dull The idea came from a Scottish woman who cycled through Boring on vacation, and Boring's T-shirts call it a "Pair for the Ages."

Chewing gum The ban followed vandals sticking gum on the door sensors of the city's MRT trains.

Guinea pig One woman near Zürich even set up a rent-a-guinea-pig service for owners whose pet had lost its companion.

Truth or Consequences Host Ralph Edwards broadcast the show's 10th-anniversary episode from the newly renamed town the very next day.

Kansas Olney's pancake race is said to date back to 1445, and the transatlantic rivalry has run since 1950.

Orkney (accept the Orkney Islands) The hop covers just 1.7 miles (2.7 km), and the fastest flight on record took 53 seconds.

Bolivia Bolivia lost its coastline to Chile in the War of the Pacific (1879 to 1883), and a 1904 treaty made the loss permanent.

Massachusetts Its famous translation, "You fish on your side, I'll fish on my side," was invented as a joke by a local newspaper editor in 1921.

Quebec "Haha" is an old French word for an unexpected obstacle or a path that ends abruptly.

Suspicious circumstances The law targets anyone receiving or moving salmon they believe, or should suspect, was taken illegally; a 2009 amendment widened it to other fish.