Quite Interesting Quiz

You know I love quizzes! I've always loved quizzes, so it hasn't helped the Inventor's and my incurable, insatiable and sometimes indecent quest for knowledge and ridiculous facts, that one of the few things we have had to watch since we arrived in Malaysia, is a numerous episodes of QI from series G, H and I. The inventor and I love this British “quiz” show hosted by Stephen Fry, with another of our favourite actors, Alan Davis, as a regular panelist, and the 3 remaining positions on the “panel” (I dare not say competitors, for the only thing they seem to compete for is humiliation), being filled by a variety of British, and occasionally international, comedian and actors. The obscure “Quite Interesting” facts they discuss are often secondary to the hilarious banter that takes place, and sometimes I wonder if our concrete walls are thick enough to insulate our poor neighbours from the sound of our mirth.

I have made a quiz for you which is nothing like a QI quiz. Like QI, the quiz is themed, and is all about Malaysia and our experiences here. Unlike QI, it is not presented by a panel of hilarious and badly-behaved poms. It also does not involve rigged buzzers, disussion of answers or long-winded sidetracks. There is also no unfathomable scoring system or penalties for wrong answers. Most importantly, instead of the answers being extremely difficult and eschewing common knowledge and common sense, I am hoping the answers will, in many cases, be able to be logically derived. So, hands on buzzers, let's see how my guests go in a test of general ignorance.

1. What is on the Malaysian flag?
   a. red and white stripes.
   b. a moon
   c. a star
   d. all of the above
2. Which of the following is difficult to buy in Malaysia?
   a. fresh cream
   b. Vegemite
   c. glucose syrup
   d. all of the above
3. Which of the following is the current official price for fuel in Malaysia in October 2012?
   a. RM 1.90 (60c) per litre for unleaded
   b. RM 1.80 (55c) per litre for diesel
   c.there is no official price for low-octane (under 95 octane) fuels
   d. all of the above
4. Which of these religions is practised by significant numbers in Malaysia?
   a. Islam
   b. Hinduism
   c. Christianity
   d. all of the above
5. Which is a greeting in Bahasa Melayu?
   a. Salamat pagi
   b. Salamat tenggehari
   c. Salamat malam
   d. all of the above
6. Which of the following is NOT a drink?
   a. Coke Zero
   b. Ice blended
   c. Lipton Ice
   d. Limau ais
7. Which is not a Cadbury flavour?
   a. Old Gold Almond
   b. Black Forest
   c. Blueberry
   d. Dairy Milk
8. Which is NOT a popular sport in Malaysia?
   a. Australian Rules
   b. soccer
   c. netball
   d. badminton
9. Which is NOT commonly seen on Malaysian roads?
   a. Police cars patrolling the roads.
   b. Radar traps on the expressways.
   c. Policemen on a minor road pulling over anyone who appears to be able to afford an on-the-spot “fine”
   d. Teams of men doing roadworks
10. Which of the following do we NOT have in Kampar?
    a. Red Rooster
    b. KFC
    c. Pizza Hut
    d. McDonalds

For the remaining questions, you merely have to tell us the English equivalent of the following Bahasa Melayu words.

11. eksotik
12. hidrofobik
13. basikal
14. akuatik
15. cek
16. kek
17. birokrasi
18. ekspo
19. kualitatif
20. kad
21. kastam
22. fizikal

ANSWERS

The answers to questions 1-5 are all d. The price of diesel and unleaded 95 fuel is actually subsidised, not taxed, in Malaysia, and the price is set by the government. The price has been the same since December 2010. It costs us less in Ringgats to fill the diesel tank of the D-Max than it used to cost in dollars to fill the Statesman! There is a different greeting for very time of the day. If we were to heed Ismail's suggetions, we would be using ten or fifteen different greetings, based on Moslem prayer times! These ones- pagi for morning, tenggehari for daytime, and malam for night, are enough to get by, along with petang for evening. There are also the farewells, salamat tinggal (for the person who is going home) and salamat jalan (for the person staying behind). And welcome is salamat datang. It is finally unravelling and becoming less confusing.

The answers to questions 6-10 are all a. Believe it or not, we can get Diet Coke but not Coke Zero, and many varieties of locally-made Cadbury chocolate plus a few imported ones, but they are nearly all Dairy Milk varieties. Dark chocolate is obviously the far less preferred, and less available. I imagine you were not astounded to discover that Aussie Rules isn't played here, but the other three are popular as a result of the English influence. Believe it or not, roadworks are quite common, and so are the rogue cops gathering some pocket cash, but we don't often see police cars on the road, and when we do, they are not contributing to road safety. In addition to KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonalds, in Kampar we have a Dominoes Pizza, and as I have probably previously mentioned, hundreds of other restaurants serving Chinese, Malay and Indian food.

11. exotic

12. hydrophobic

13. bicycle

14. aquatic

15. cheque

16. cake

17. bureaucracy

18. expo

19. qualitative

20. card

21. custom

22. physical

I hope you found my quiz Quite Interesting! Tonight's episode of QI is now finished, so it's time to turn off the light and go to sleep (that's me, you can do whatever you like).