Pardon the exclamatory headline, friend.
It’s just that…did you know that?
A friend of mine recently sat in on a bar-side trivia game in Jamaica, (lucky her), where one of the questions was—you guessed it—what is the capital of Minnesota? She was the only American who knew the answer!
Which is: St. Paul, of course.
Everyone else said Minneapolis.
Aarrgh.
So as a favor to the nation I am running this post: a pop quiz comprised of a few key facts for your friends, family and co-workers.
You’ll impress them with your knowledge, I’m so sure.
A Pop Quiz on the Land of Lakes (aka Minnesota)
1. Minnesota’s official nickname is:
a). The Bread and Butter State
b). The North Star State
c). The Gopher State2. The state flower of Minnesota is:
a). prairie grass
b). pink and white lady’s slipper
c). goldenrod3. The state muffin and beverage are:
a). blueberry and milk
b). cinnamon and coffee
c). bran and prune juice4. The largest city in Minnesota is:
a). St. Paul
b). Duluth
c). Minneapolis (ahem!)5. The state motto L’Etoile du Nord is:
a). Finnish
b). French
c). Norwegian6. The state name comes from Dakota words which mean
a). clear water
b). cloudy water
c). many waters7. The site of a major 18th century fur trading center in Minnesota is:
a). Walnut Grove
b). St. Croix
c). Grand Portage8. Which of these movies was filmed in Minnesota?
a). You’ve Got Mail
b). The Mighty Ducks
c). The X-Files9. Which of these things could you find in Minnesota?
a). the world’s largest ball of twine
b). the world’s largest bull statue
c). the world’s largest smorgasbord10. The John Beargrease Sled Dog Race goes between
a). Duluth and Grand Marais
b). St. Paul and St. Cloud
c). Winona and Thief River Falls
Answers are in the comment box. Let me know how you did!
This quiz was taken from The Big Minnesota Reproducible Activity Book
Image from CNN.com.
1-b; 2-b; 3-a; 4-c; 5-b; 6-b; 7-c; 8-b; 9-a; 10-a.
And I certainly hope you got Number 5 right! If not, you may stop by for a few free lessons.
OK, I’ll be brave. I got two wrong, but I confess that #8 was a blind guess. I don’t pay attention to movies. The ones I got wrong were 2 and 7. (I guess I don’t pay attention to history very well either.)
So will Nutmeg be bringing back some fresh blueberry muffins and milk for me or do I have to come get them myself?
Hm. I did very very poorly. But I DID know the capital. Is that worth any points?
7/10 here. But I did get #5 right – in fact, it helped me with #1 — because I first put the gopher state. Come on — you guys don’t have a lot of gophers up there? So the three wrong were… 3, 6, and 9 — at least, I had a mathematical pattern going in my error. Fun Margaret, thanks.
Thanks to a bit of inspired guesswork I got 5/10, which I thought was pretty good from an Englishwoman who has never crossed the Atlantic.
ok, I live here and I got 2 wrong!! I missed 5 and 6!!! I guessed many waters, because of the 10,000 lakes!! I guess I need those free lessons!
Oh, I got 6 right–I guessed blindly on a few of them.
My trivia isn’t so great with Minnesota (I’m a Texas girl at heart — Texas history would be my forte) but here’s a song you might know/like that helps me to this day to remember those odd capitols…
WAKKO’S AMERICA
Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Indianapolis, Indiana
And Columbus is the capital of Ohio
There’s Montgomery, Alabama, south of Helena, Montana
Then there’s Denver, Colorado, under Boise, Idaho.
Texas has Austin, then we go north
To Massachusetts’ Boston, and Albany, New York
Tallahassee, Florida, and Washington, D.C.
Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Nashville, Tennessee.
Elvis used to hang out there a lot, ya know.
Trenton’s in New Jersey, north of Jefferson, Missouri
You’ve got Richmond in Virginia; South Dakota has Pierre
Harrisburg’s in Pennsylvania and Augusta’s up in Maine
And here is Providence, Rhode Island, next to Dover, Delaware.
Concord, New Hampshire, just a quick jaunt
To Montpelier, which is up in Vermont
Hartford’s in Connecticut, so pretty in the fall
And Kansas has Topeka; Minnesota has St Paul.
Juneau’s in Alaska and there’s Lincoln in Nebraska
And it’s Raleigh out in North Carolina and then
There’s Madison, Wisconsin, and Olympia in Washington
Phoenix, Arizona, and Lansing, Michigan.
Here’s Honolulu; Hawaii’s a joy
Jackson, Mississippi, and Springfield, Illinois
South Carolina with Columbia down the way
And Annapolis in Maryland on Chesapeake Bay.
They have wonderful clam chowder.
Cheyenne is in Wyomin’ and perhaps you make your home in
Salt Lake City out in Utah, where the Buffalo roam
Atlanta’s down in Georgia, and there’s Bismarck, North Dakota
And you can live in Frankfort in your old Kentucky home.
Salem in Oregon; from there we join
Little Rock in Arkansas; Iowa’s got Des Moines
Sacramento, California; Oklahoma and its city
Charleston, West Virginia, and Nevada, Carson City.
That’s all the capitals there are!
To the fellow Texan up above… what an awesome song! Must go find it now!
Good luck, Matilda! It’s definitely a fun one!