Today’s Atlantic Trivia: Smarter Than Einstein

Updated with new questions at 4:25 p.m. ET on November 21, 2025.

If I have provided you with any factoids in the course of Atlantic Trivia, I apologize, because a factoid, properly, is not a small, interesting fact. A factoid is a piece of information that looks like a fact but is untrue. Norman Mailer popularized the term in 1973, very intentionally giving it the suffix -oid. Is a humanoid not a creature whose appearance suggests humanity but whose nature belies it? Thus is it with factoid.

So what of those fun, itty bits of info that are correct? In the 1990s, William Safire suggested factlet for the small-but-true fact (and The Atlantic in 2012 agreed), though minifact is sometimes used. And for the statements somewhere in between interesting and untrue—factini, perhaps? Start with five parts fascinating to one part wrong; adjust to taste.

Find last week’s questions here, and to get Atlantic Trivia in your inbox every day, sign up for The Atlantic Daily.

Friday, November 21, 2025

1. What vice president to Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s lost the presidential election in 1960 and then a race for California governor in 1962, before finally winning the White House in 1968?
   — From Idrees Kahloon’s “The GOP Is Realizing That Trump Won’t Be Around Forever”
2. The protagonist of the musical Wicked gets her name from the initials of what author who originally created the world of Oz?
   — From David Sims’s “The Wicked Bubble Has Burst”
3. Elon Musk’s AI bot, Grok, recently asserted that its billionaire creator has greater “holistic fitness” than what all-time leading scorer of the NBA, who has played since 2018 for the Los Angeles Lakers?
   — From Charlie Warzel and Matteo Wong’s “Elon Musk Is Trying to Rewrite History”

And by the way, did you know that a whole bunch of explanations compete for the true origin of the name Oz? There’s the old chestnut that the story is a parable about populism and the gold standard, and that Oz is therefore an abbreviation for ounce; there’s the purported homage to Percy Shelley’s “Ozymandias,” or to Charles Dickens’s pen name, Boz.

Then there’s the story the author himself sometimes told: that he plucked the name from a filing-cabinet drawer labeled O–Z. I’d go with that charming provenance—from the horse’s mouth, no less—were it not for his wife’s insistence that he simply made it up.

Have a great weekend!

Answers:

1. Richard Nixon. Idrees observes that conservatives are starting to talk about the faction’s post–Donald Trump future, including at least one commentator who says that the current veep, J. D. Vance, should look to how Nixon united a fractious right (even though he lost). Read more.
2. L. Frank Baum. The initials give us the Elphaba of Gregory Maguire’s book that turned into a stage musical and, now, two movies—the latter of which, David writes, is unfortunately saddled with all the uncharming stuff of the Broadway show’s back half. Read more.
3. LeBron James. For what it’s worth, Grok also said that Musk is a better paragon of ethics than Jesus. The bot’s bug (or is it a feature?) might amuse for a moment, but as Charlie and Matteo argue, it’s “really a demonstration of power over public information systems.” Read more.

How did you do? Come back tomorrow for more questions, or click here for last week’s. And if you think up a great question after reading an Atlantic story—or simply want to share a top-notch fact—send it my way at [email protected].

Thursday, November 20, 2025

From the edition of The Atlantic Daily by Will Gottsegen:

1. What Christian liturgical season comes from the Latin word for “approach” or “arrival,” in reference to the birth of Jesus?
   — From Ellen Cushing’s “[REDACTED] Are Totally Out of Control”
2. The upstart nationalist party Sanseito runs on an anti-immigrant agenda in what island country, even though only 3 percent of residents there are foreign-born?
   — From Idrees Kahloon’s “Political Parties Have Disconnected From the Public”
3. Donald Trump recently referred to the U.S.-China relationship with what alphanumeric name, meant to sound like a more exclusive version of a larger, well-established crew of liberal democracies?
   — From Thomas Wright’s “What If ‘America First’ Appears to Work?”

And by the way, did you know that, at least according to the Western church calendar, Christmastime doesn’t even begin until December 25? From then, it lasts for 12 days—yes, that’s where that comes from!—before giving way to Epiphany.

The so-called purists out there insisting on no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving are therefore fighting only half the battle; I demand that we wait until Santa has come and gone. In the meantime, everyone can enjoy “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” which, as our staff writer Alexandra Petri once pointed out, “is just a man facing insult after insult … with no reference to Christmas whatsoever.”

Answers:

1. Advent. Ellen explores how the popularity of advent calendars stuffed with cheap (or very expensive) gifts has exploded over recent years, to the point that the season of anticipation is now little more than a brand-a-palooza. Read more.
2. Japan. All over the world, establishment parties are foundering, Idrees reports, and xenophobia is a frequent plank for populist parties on the rise—even in the places where being anti-immigrant makes hardly any sense. Read more.
3. G2. Meanwhile, that other group—the G7—continues to be bullied by Trump, via tariffs and other hardball tactics. The consequences have not been as immediate as experts predicted, Wright notes. So what happens when “America First” appears to work, at least for a bit? Read more.

Wednesday, November 19, 2025

Today’s questions all come from The Atlantic’s 2025 gift guide.

1. According to Jane Austen, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of” what?
   — From Dan Fallon’s entry, “Colorful Storage”
2. From its beginnings to the 1950s, moviemaking was much riskier than it is today, thanks to what quality of nitrate-based film?
   — From Kaitlyn Tiffany’s entry “The World’s Most Dangerous Film Festival”
3. A guitar pedal’s volume knob controls the ultimate loudness of the output. What other knob controls the strength of the signal as it enters the device?
   — From Evan McMurry’s entry “DIY Guitar Pedal”
4. The name of what Romantic English poet is now used in adjective form to describe any brooding, enigmatic type?
   — From Walt Hunter’s entry, “The Perfect Black T-Shirt”
5. In the musical Cabaret, a character is given as a gift what fruit, which she assumes arrived from Hawaii (but actually came from California)?
   — From my own entry “[REDACTED] Perfection”

And by the way, did you know that in some cultures, giving a loved one a gift of scissors or a knife is inauspicious, as it risks severing the relationship? I recently ran afoul of this when I sent kitchen shears to a friend raised in an Indian family; bless her for rectifying the situation by wiring me a dollar and thus turning the transaction into a purchase.

So if anyone buys the nail clippers that senior editor Alan Taylor recommends and suffers a schism with the recipient, let me know—we’ll add them to the bad-luck list.

Answers:

1. A wife. Likewise, Dan writes, “anyone in possession of too many things must be in want of a storage solution.” His favorite option is eye-catching enough to double as decor. Shop here.
2. Flammability. Kaitlyn is a fan of the annual film festival in Rochester, New York, that flirts with disaster by screening nitrate reels. Haven’t you always thought that the frisson of mortal peril is what Meet Me in St. Louis is missing? Shop here.
3. Gain. Building your own guitar pedal is more fun and much more affordable than buying a nice one, writes Evan (who advises that the sweet spot for his selection’s gain knob is at about 1 o’clock). Shop here.
4. Lord Byron. A black T-shirt from the no-frills Japanese retailer Muji is possibly the world’s quickest shortcut to a Byronic air, Walt writes, even when you’re very un-Byronically slumped on a bench wolfing a taco. Shop here.
5. A pineapple. You, however, can send a friend a slice of actual aloha—as I have done many, many times—thanks to a farm that delivers its homegrown jewels from Maui to the rest of the States. Shop here.

Tuesday, November 18, 2025

From the edition of The Atlantic Daily by Isabel Fattal:

1. The manufacturer Abbott once produced about 40 percent of the U.S. supply of a particular product. A 2022 recall by Abbott therefore contributed to nationwide shortages. What is the product?
   — From Nicholas Florko’s “America Has a [REDACTED] Problem—Again”
2. A U.S. trial jury is smaller than a grand jury—hence its also being known by what name containing French’s opposite of grand?
   — From Quinta Jurecic’s “The Trump Administration’s Favorite Tool for Criminalizing Dissent”
3. What is the term for a paradoxical anecdote or riddle used by practitioners of Zen Buddhism to deepen their meditation?
   — From Julie Beck’s “How to Cheat at Conversation”

And by the way, did you know that fewer humans have visited the bottom of the ocean than have gone to space? Depending on how you count, somewhere between 600 and 800 have slipped the surly bonds of Earth; only a few dozen have pulled those bonds as tight as they’ll go by putting seven miles of Pacific Ocean over their head at the Mariana Trench’s Challenger Deep.

Then there is Kathy Sullivan. She has been to both. Her trench trip was in 2020, and in 1984, she was the first woman to complete a spacewalk. She is now, rather charmingly, referred to as the world’s “most vertical” person.

Answers:

1. Baby formula. The supply-chain disaster prompted regulators to explore ways to make the vulnerable industry a little less so, but Nicholas writes that a new recall from a different manufacturer is a reminder of how easily formula making can crack. Read more.
2. Petit jury. Quinta reports that neither the grand juries empowered to indict nor the petit juries empowered to convict have been particularly convinced by the Trump administration’s cases against the people it alleges are “assaulting, resisting, or impeding” federal officials. Read more.
3. Koan. “How do you cheat at a conversation?” sounds as though it could be one, Julie muses, but it is in fact the value proposition of a new artificial-intelligence tool. Cluely promises to give users any answer they might need in a social interaction, but Julie says it only makes them worse. Read more.

Monday, November 17, 2025

From the edition of The Atlantic Daily by David A. Graham:

1. U.S. pennies are plated in copper but principally made of what other metal at the end of the alphabet?
   — From Caity Weaver’s “Pennies Are Trash Now”
2. What beverage is traditionally made of ground tencha leaves, prepared with a whisk, and drunk from a ceramic bowl called a cha-wan?
   — From Ellen Cushing’s “The [REDACTED] Problem”
3. Broken chains and shackles were originally intended to be held in the left hand of what American landmark before a new design replaced those items with a tablet?
   — From Clint Smith’s “Tell Students the Truth About American History”

And by the way, did you know that for more than six decades the United States produced half-cent pieces? They were 100 percent copper and stamped with Lady Liberty, who sported a variety of hairdos over the years. The coin was almost the size of a modern quarter, which seems big until you consider that at the end of its run, the half-cent had a purchasing power of about 17 cents in today’s money.

Still, in 1857 it was deemed insufficiently valuable to keep minting—at 17 contemporary cents! Considering that the government is once again in the coin-discontinuing mood, the nickel and dime might want to watch out, too.

Answers:

1. Zinc. Penny minting abruptly stopped last week. The coins will soon drop out of circulation, and their composition—zinc is much less valuable than copper—makes them unappealing to recycle. What this means, Caity writes, is that those 300 billion pennies floating around are now Americans’ problem. Read more.
2. Matcha. This old-school Japanese preparation is a far piece from the energy drinks and sugary beverages that new companies are marketing as matcha. Ellen explores the ramifications of the collision between matcha’s tradition and its current world-historic demand. Read more.
3. The Statue of Liberty. The gift from France, Clint writes, was meant not just to welcome immigrants but also to celebrate America’s abolition of slavery; he wonders whether the change was intended to make the statue “more palatable” to a wider audience. That instinct has never gone away, and it’s the job of educators to resist it. Read more.

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