Today’s Atlantic Trivia: Cauliflower, Bachelor of Arts
NEWS | 26 November 2025
Updated with new questions at 2:45 p.m. ET on November 25, 2025. A seminal mid-century paper by the psychologist George Miller asserted that the human brain can hold seven items in short-term memory, give or take a couple. A person can chunk—that is, group items together in sensible, memorable units—to get a bit more bang, but modern psychologists think the species can handle only about four of those. None of the chunks in the great minestrone that is The Atlantic is going anywhere, though, so enjoy leisurely encoding them in your much more capacious long-term memory. Then dip into a little trivia to see what stuck. Find last week’s questions here, and to get Atlantic Trivia in your inbox every day, sign up for The Atlantic Daily. Tuesday, November 25, 2025 What political-science term is a combo of the last name of an early-19th-century vice president (first name: Elbridge) and the name of a common (and notably shaped) amphibian? — From Marc Novicoff’s “Welcome to the [REDACTED] Apocalypse” Mark Twain once joked that a cauliflower is merely a college-educated version of what other vegetable that is among the cheapest vegetables one can buy? — From Gilad Edelman’s “Enough With the Brussels Sprouts Already” What rap subgenre originating in Chicago (and sharing its name with a power tool) is known by its confrontational lyrics and its biggest breakout star, Ice Spice? — From W. David Marx’s “Make Culture Weird Again” And by the way, did you know that another early-19th-century honcho—Timothy Pickering, secretary of state to George Washington and John Adams—tried to organize the secession of a handful of New England states after Thomas Jefferson became president? Pickering, a Federalist, saw Jefferson and the Democratic-Republican Party’s dramatic consolidation of power as the ultimate failure of the new Union (as Henry Cabot Lodge explained in the June 1878 edition of The Atlantic!). Pickering predicted tyranny, unchecked corruption, the air of Robespierre in America. So he determined that a Northern confederacy of Massachusetts and a few pals was the only remedy. You may note that getting from D.C. to Boston doesn’t require a passport, however much linguistic differences suggest it should; Pickering’s plot—despite two separate tries—failed. Until tomorrow! Answers: Gerrymander. Thanks to partisan redistricting, America is rapidly becoming a political system bursting with red-state Democrats and blue-state Republicans who effectively lack congressional representation, Marc writes. And mostly, the incentives are to just keep going. Read more. Cabbage. Gilad argues that the cliché of a “humble” vegetable is actually apt for cabbage and that its bad reputation (or at least boring one) is unearned. He would like to see this unassuming crucifer get its moment in the sun. Read more. Drill. The subculture is one of few still operating in the old-school model of in-person artistic innovation, Marx writes, whereas most of the rest of “culture” has migrated online and oriented toward the mass market. A 21st-century cultural renaissance, he contends, requires allowing (and encouraging) artists to disappear into their own worlds for a spell. Read more. How did you do? Come back tomorrow for more questions, or click here for last week’s. And if you think up a great question after reading an Atlantic story—or simply want to share a dazzling fact—send it my way at [email protected]. Monday, November 24, 2025 From the edition of The Atlantic Daily by David A. Graham: The venue that hosted a high-profile international conference last week caught fire—a pretty on-the-nose metaphor, considering that the summit was about what subject? — From Peter Brannen’s “Our Almost-Apocalyptic [REDACTED] Future” The German theologian Martin Luther is credited with beginning the Reformation in 1517 when he published a collection of his arguments known by what numerical name? — From George Packer’s “An Anatomy of the MAGA Mind” The moviemaking industry known as Nollywood is based in what country—the most populous of its continent? — From Toluse Olorunnipa’s “The Fantastical Storytelling of Nollywood Movies” And by the way, did you know that in addition to Dollywood (very much not a filmmaking industry, unless you count the 2022 TV movie Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas), there is a Dhollywood and a Dhallywood? The former is India’s Gujarati-language industry, named for its frequent use of the drum known as a dhol. The latter is Bangladesh’s movie industry, named for the country’s capital, Dhaka. And the surrealist cinema of the early 20th century, such as Un Chien Andalou? Maybe … Dalíwood! Answers:
Author: Drew Goins.
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