See how many questions you can get right from the verbal part of the Titan Test for geniuses. No answers given, but that shouldn't be a problem for sciforum genii. Say whether you had to use reference/google to help. VERBAL ANALOGIES Write the word or prefix that best completes each analogy. For example, in the analogy MAN : WOMAN :: ANDRO- : ?, the best answer would be GYNO-. 1. STRIP : MÖBIUS :: BOTTLE : ? 2. THOUGHT : ACTION :: OBSESSIVE : ? 3. LACKING MONEY : PENURIOUS :: DOTING ON ONE'S WIFE : ? 4. MICE : MEN :: CABBAGES : ? 5. TIRE : RETREAD :: PARCHMENT : ? 6. ALL IS ONE : MONISM :: ALL IS SELF : ? 7. SWORD : DAMOCLES :: BED : ? 8. THING : DANGEROUS :: SPRING : ? 9. HOLLOW VICTORY : PYRRHIC :: HOLLOW VILLAGE : ? 10. PILLAR : OBELISK :: MONSTER : ? 11. 4 : HAND :: 9 : ? 12. GOLD : MALLEABLE :: CHALK : ? 13. EASY JOB : SINECURE :: GUIDING LIGHT : ? 14. LEG : AMBULATE :: ARM : ? 15. MOSQUITO : MALARIA :: CANNIBALISM : ? 16. HEAR : SEE :: TEMPORAL : ? 17. ASTRONOMY AND PHYSICS : ASTROPHYSICS :: HISTORY AND STATISTICS : ? 18. JEKYLL : HYDE :: ELOI : ? 19. UNIVERSE : COSMO- :: UNIVERSAL LAWS : ? 20. SET OF SETS NOT MEMBERS OF THEMSELVES : RUSSELL :: DARKNESS OF THE NIGHT SKY IN AN INFINITE UNIVERSE : ? 21. TEACHING : UPLIFTING :: PEDAGOGIC : ? 22. LANGUAGE GAMES : LUDWIG :: PIANO CONCERTI FOR THE LEFT HAND : ? 23. IDOLS : TWILIGHT :: MORALS : ? 24. SWEETNESS : SUFFIX :: BOATSWAIN : ? From http://www.eskimo.com/~miyaguch/titan.html
You're right about #1, but it's usually spelled Spoiler Klein's bottle. I don't feel like searching for any of these (I charge for research. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!), but I will double-check my own answers. So far, only one: 3. Spoiler Uxorious. From Latin uxor, wife.
They are more to do with General Knowledge than IQ. A good quizzer would get most of them. For 1. It is the name of the mathematician, not the object you need. For 3. Yes I thought the same. Number 11 is a measurement. 4 inches to a hand, 9 inches to a ..............? I thought it might be an Ell, but that turns out to be roughly the length of the arm, 45 inches. I won't look it up. See if someone else knows it. Number 23 is a puzzle. I was thinking "Twilight of the Gods", .................. but can't get any further. For 12. 12. GOLD : MALLEABLE :: CHALK : ? Spoiler FRIABLE
Still, just knowing how to approach the question requires a good intellect. Not clear from the statement of the problem. It works either way. Good for you. Not a word in common use in the 20th century, much less the 21st! People were smaller in the past. My foot is 11 inches long, but in the 16th century they may have been much shorter.
I think that a foot has always been 12 inches. How big are rods and perches? Could be a rod. 3. A person utterly devoted to his wife. (or her wife) 5. Not sure of spelling, but Spoiler PALIMPSEST
Yes, that seems to be correct, varying between 11 and 13 in ancient Greece. The Romans initially divided it into 16 units, but eventually invented the uncia, which is the source of both "inch" and "ounce." A rod = 5.5 yards, more than 2 meters. A perch is a 3-dimensional measurement for stones = 16.5ft x 1.5ft x 1ft. It's an adjective, not a noun. And I'm sure that people who toss around the word Spoiler uxorious are too old to have absorbed gay marriage into their worldview, even if they're decent enough not to object to it. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! As a linguist I'm expected to know that word and I do. But the connection didn't spring to mind.
13. Must be some word meaning lighthouse, beacon ending in -ure. Could be Spoiler CYNOSURE Never used outside of the odd crossword puzzle. That's a tough one.
Spoiler SPAN is correct, nine inches. but you need to hide your answers. According to this article, its average is generally larger among musicians, but not, strangely, for pianists. http://www.smallpianokeyboards.org/hand-size-and-the-piano-keyboard.html 6. Should be easy for any philosophers here.
1. Spoiler Klein 2. Spoiler Complusive? 4. Spoiler kings 7. Spoiler Procrustes 9. Spoiler potemkin 12. Spoiler friable 15. Spoiler Kuru 16. Spoiler spatial 18. Spoiler Morlock 20 Spoiler Olber
1.Agreed 2. Spoiler COMPULSION rather than COMPULSIVE 4. Agreed 7. Agreed 9. That's a good answer. Spoiler I was thinking "DESERTED", but POTEMKIN fits better 12 Spoiler Could be FRANGIBLE, FRIABLE is more like good soil, whereas chalk breaks into fragments 15. Is that a disease caused by cannibalism? Spoiler I was thinking CJD, but KURU is a single word, so fits better 16. Spoiler Answer is the part of the brain that deals with vision. Is there one word which means VISUAL CORTEX? Could be CORTEX 18. From "The Time Machine", agreed. 20. Is a Paradox. Is Olber the Astronomer who thought of it?
@Randwolf Yes, I think you have it. Fits exactly. Both are lobes. The questions are quite clever I think. @Janus Re 2. I get your point. There is a case for both.
14. Is a Latin rooted word for moving using your ams ending in -ATE Spoiler I've had to look this one up. It's BRACHIATE 6. That's quite an easy one. The philosophical belief that everything is self. 8. Is based on a famous quotation by Alexander Pope. 17. Could be Historico plus a Greek word meaning statistics. I came up with Historicometrics, but there's no such word.
Try "brachiate". I don't think it has to mean walking on your hands. Apes brachiate by swinging from their hands, so I think the connection is just "movement", rather than "orientation". What might 6 be?
We crossed over there. Yes, that's right. 6. Is Spoiler SOLECISM 8. Is Spoiler PIERIAN, from "A little learning is a dang'rous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again." I wouldn't have spelled it properly 17. Maybe something simple. Spoiler ECONOMICS 10 is Spoiler BASILISK
17. Is Spoiler cliometrics n (Economics) (functioning as singular) the study of economic history using statistics and computer analysis