A Thirteen Question History Quiz for Baby Boomers

This is a history exam for Baby Boomers. Everyone over the age of 40 should find it pretty easy.

1. When you were growing up, where were automobile headlight dimmer switches located?
a. On the floor shift knob
b. On the floor board, to the left of the clutch
c. Next to the horn

2. The bottle top of a Royal Crown Cola bottle had holes in it. For what was it used?
a. To capture lightning bugs
b. To sprinkle clothes before ironing
c. As a large salt shaker

3. Why was having milk delivered a problem in northern winters?
a. Cows got cold and wouldn’t produce milk
b. Ice on highways forced delivery by dog sled
c. Milkmen left deliveries outside of front doors and milk would freeze, expanding and pushing up the cardboard bottle top.

4. What post-World War II car turned automotive design on its ear when you couldn’t tell whether it was coming or going?
a. Studebaker
b. Nash Metro
c. Tucker

5. Which of the following was a popular candy when you were a kid?
a. Strips of dried peanut butter
b. Chocolate licorice bars
c. Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside

6. How was Butch wax used?
a. To stiffen a flat-top haircut so it stood up
b. To make floors shiny and prevent scuffing
c. On the wheels of roller skates t! o prevent rust

7. Before inline skates, how did you keep your roller skates attached to your shoes?
a. With clamps, tightened by a skate key
b. Woven straps that crossed the foot
c. Long pieces of twine

8. As a kid, what was considered the best way to reach a decision?
a. Consider all the facts
b. Ask Mom
c. Eeny-meeny-miney-mo

9. What was the most dreaded disease in the 1940’s through early 60’s?
a. Smallpox
b. AIDS
c. Polio

10. What was the name of Caroline Kennedy’s pet pony?
a. Old Blue
b. Paint
c. Macaroni

11. What did all the really savvy students do when mimeographed tests were handed out in school?
a. Immediately sniffed the purple ink, as this was believed to get you high
b. Made paper airplanes to see who could sail theirs out the window
c. Wrote another pupil’ s name on the top, to avoid their failure

12. Why did your Mom shop in stores that gave Green Stamps with purchases?
a. To keep you out of mischief by licking the backs, which tasted like bubble gum
b. They could be put in special books and redeemed for various household items
c. They were given to the kids to be used as stick-on tattoos

13. Who left his heart in San Francisco ?
a. Tony Bennett
b. Xavier Cugat
c. George Gershwin

1. b. On the floor, to the left of the clutch. Hand controls, popular in Europe , took until the late 1960’s to catch on.

2. b. To sprinkle clothes before ironing. Who had a steam iron?

3. c.Cold weather caused the milk to freeze and expand, popping the bottle top.

4. a. 1946 Studebaker.

5. c. Wax coke bottles containing super sweet colored water.

6. a. Wax for your flat top (Butch) haircut.

7. a. With clamps, tightened by a skate key, which you wore on a shoestring around your neck.

8. c. Eeny-meeny-miney-mo.

9. c. Polio. At the beginning of August, swimming pools, movie theatres and other public gathering places were closed to try to prevent spread of the disease.

10. c. Macaroni.

11. a. Immediately sniffed the purple ink to get a high.

12. b. Put in a special stamp book, they could be traded for household items at the Green Stamp store.

13. a. Tony Bennett, and he sounds just as good today.


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