The Post Quiz: Hoax or Not? Answers

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We think the devil made a lot of people do things for this quiz. The devil certainly inspired us.

Hoax or Not? Answers

Some of these answers will probably surprise you. Or not, depending on how cynical you are. You can read up on the complete stories of these wonders over at that fantastic website, The Museum of Hoaxes. We did a little background checking, but most of our info comes from there.

  1. In the 1960s, an Italian was arrested for selling a popular parmesan cheese which was really made of grated plastic umbrella handles. False. But there was some fake cheese out there. In Italy? We thought that was limited to US supermarkets.
  2. Medical studies have proven that men with hairy chests are less likely to develop cirrhosis of the liver than smooth-chested men. True. At least, some studies indicate this. (Testosterone.)
  3. Muhammad Ali regularly trained by boxing underwater. False. Yeah, you may have seen the photos. Ali spoofed a Life photographer. Good joke.
  4. In 1973, the Dutch egg industry put dirt on their eggs, and it improved sales. True. It made the eggs seem 'fresher'.
  5. Vernal, Utah, USA, issues dinosaur hunting licences. True. Why? Why not? Nobody's ever bagged a dinosaur, though. (We want the game warden's job.)
  6. In the 1920s, the French invented a bathing suit that dissolved in salt water. False. It was a hoax story perpetrated by a Pultizer Prize-winning journalist, no less.
  7. The 1904 Olympics included a tug-of-war competition. True. Go figure.
  8. The Dartmoor Livestock Protection Society launched a scheme in 2015 to paint ponies so they glowed at night. True. So they wouldn't get run over crossing the road.
  9. Also in 2015, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources asked the state's citizens to remove their deer-shaped lawn ornaments, so they wouldn't get counted by accident during the annual deer survey. False. The hoax letter was sent out by pranksters. We love it. Now, if they could only tackle the garden gnome blight. . .
  10. In 1960, a group of janitors at an art gallery snuck a piece of scrap metal into an exhibit in California. It won a prize. True. Nobody bought 'Peterfid Tomcat', though. Which is a shame – it's quite an attractive 'sculpture', for a piece of scrap metal with holes cut for door latches. We'd call it 'found art'.

Did you enjoy this? What have we learned? Probably not much. They'll do it again, anyway. If you can find a moral in all this, let us know below.

Post Quiz and Oddities Archive

Dmitri Gheorgheni

10.04.17 Front Page

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