These questions cover all the usual fields of academic knowledge and are taken from a book entitled A Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs To Know. From time to time, I will add additional similar quizzes to the website. The best way to do this is to write your answers on a piece of paper and when you are through answering the quiz items, check the answers from the link at the bottom of this page.

1. "To malfunction" is closest in meaning to which of the following? "to grow old"; "to work poorly"; "to make ill"; or "to cause accidents."
2. What animal is used to describe the stock market when prices are falling?
3. The BTU is an abbreviation for the name of a unit for measuring heat. What does BTU stand for?
4. Name the now extinct animals whose name comes from two Greek words meaning "terrible lizards."
5. Name the scientific apparatus that separates solids from liquids by spinning test tubes containing the substances at very high rates of speed.
6. When a child receives an innoculation for DPT, what three diseases will he or she be protected from?
7. Name the American president who was assassinated, thus allowing Theodore Roosevelt to become President of the U.S.
8. According to the parables of Jesus, what was the first name of the prodigal son?
9. The administration of JFK was sometimes compared to reign of what legendary king in what legendary city?
10. Acording to Homer's Odyssey, what were the names of Odysseus' wife and son?
11. If you "gild the lily," you are describing something accurately; exaggerating the good aspects of something; stealing money from your employer; or making expensive jewelry.
12. What happened at Auschwitz and Buchenwald during World War Two?
13. What was the name of Sherlock Holmes' famous partner?
14. Which of the following best defines the word "mendacity"? absolute honesty; habitual lying; hatred of Jews; or excessive pride.
15. What was the name of the high ground of ancient Athens where such buildings as the Parthenon were built. Hint: the word you are looking for comes from two Greek roots which mean "the high city."
16. From what city do the Pilgrims in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales begin their pilgrimage to the shrine at Canterbury Cathedral?
17. Who was the ruler of England when Thomas Jefferson was U.S. president?
18. What two animals appear most often on the national flags of the world's more than 200 nations?
19. In which of America's wars were the two sides referred to as "the Blue and the Gray"?
20. Name the World War Two German Field Marshall who commanded the massive army of tanks and infantry known as the Afrika Korps. He was sometimes known as the Desert Fox.
21. Bella Abzug and Betty Friedan were famous American women during the 1980's. Why were they famous?
22. Which cabinet department of the U.S. government is in charge of the National Park Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs?
23. Baghdad is the ancient city which serves as the capital of modern Iraq; what ancient city (mentioned in the New Testament) serves as the capital of modern Syria?
24. Which U.S. lake is bridged by a fifteen mile long span from the City of Covington in St. Tammany Parish to the City of New Orleans in Orleans Parish?
25. In what city and country did Sigmund Freud practice his famous psychoanalytic medical treatment of mental illness?