Q 01/05

Citizens of ancient Athens could banish a politician for ten years by scratching his name on what?

A) Wax tablets

B) Broken pottery

C) Olive leaves

D) Bronze coins

Answer · why

B) Broken pottery

Broken pottery, called ostraka, was the scrap paper of Athens and gave us the word ostracism. The exile kept his property and could come home after a ...

Q 02/05

Which fundraising snack, sold at Australian polling places, is nicknamed after democracy itself?

A) A meat pie

B) A lamington

C) A sausage in bread

D) A Vegemite sandwich

Answer · why

C) A sausage in bread

A sausage in bread, sold to raise money for the schools and churches that host the polls, is known as the democracy sausage. The Australian National D...

Q 03/05

Which flowers did soldiers put in their rifle barrels during Portugal's 1974 revolution?

A) Carnations

B) Sunflowers

C) Red roses

D) Poppies

Answer · why

A) Carnations

Carnations were in season at Lisbon's flower market when crowds came out to cheer the end of the dictatorship. Almost no shots were fired, and the blo...

Q 04/05

Women could not vote in which European country's federal elections until a 1971 ballot of men?

A) Switzerland

B) Luxembourg

C) Austria

D) Portugal

Answer · why

A) Switzerland

Switzerland's men had turned the idea down in 1959 before approving it in February 1971. One canton, Appenzell Innerrhoden, held out on local votes un...

Q 05/05

A common English word for a voting paper comes from an Italian word for which object, once dropped into a box?

A) A dried bean

B) A small ball

C) A folded card

D) A clay token

Answer · why

B) A small ball

A small ball, or pallotta, was how Venetians cast a secret vote. It gave English the word ballot, and the custom survives in blackballing, for shuttin...