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Last Week's Quiz

Created by Eli Robinson
Edited by Jonpaul Guinn

Read This First

  • Submit your answers by 4:59am ET 8/12/25
  • Don't cheat. Cheating is bad. Using Google IS cheating.
  • Trivia graders don't care about spelling (but try your hardest)
  • No negative points for incorrect responses (so guess to your heart's content)
  • Email [email protected] for clarification on any questions

125 years ago Charles Seeberger of Otis Elevator Company was looking for a name for his new moving stairs, thus the Escalator™ entered our lexicon.

That’s right, Otis held the trademark for the word for 50 years before the U.S. Patent Office cancelled their rights as the name had become completely genericized.



“Escalator” is just one of many words that we’re now allowed to use freely which were originally trademarked. We’ll give you who owned the trademark, the approximate dates the trademark was in effect, and the Merriam-Webster definition of the word(s). You tell us the words we’re able to use freely!

SCIENCE & TECH Q1. Potent Pills: Bayer (1900-1921): “a white crystalline derivative C9H8O4 of salicylic acid used for relief of pain and fever”



MISCELLANEOUS Q2. Refuse Receptacles: Dempster Brothers, Inc. (1963-2015): “a large trash receptacle”



SPORTS & GAMES Q3. Double Disks: Duncan Toys Company (1929-1965): “a thick grooved double disk with a string attached to its center axle that is made to fall and rise to the hand by unwinding and rewinding on the string”



SCIENCE & TECH Q4. Strip Sliders: B.F. Goodrich (1925-1930): “a fastener consisting of two rows of metal or plastic teeth on strips of tape and a sliding piece that closes an opening by drawing the teeth together”



MISCELLANEOUS Q5. Self-Service: Westinghouse Electric (1940-1993): “a self-service laundry”



SCIENCE & TECH Q6. Packaging Products: DuPont (1923-1934): “regenerated cellulose in thin transparent sheets used especially for packaging”



MISCELLANEOUS Q7. Speedy Servings: C.A. Swanson & Sons (1953-1962): “a quick-frozen packaged evening meal (as of meat, potatoes, and a vegetable) that requires only heating before it is served”



MISCELLANEOUS Q8. Muscle Movement: Sean Gallagher (1992-2000): “an exercise regimen that is typically performed on a floor mat or with the use of specialized apparatus and aims to improve flexibility and stability by strengthening the muscles and especially the torso-stabilizing muscles of the abdomen and lower back”



SCIENCE & TECH Q9. Countertop Cooking: Phillips (2010-2015): “an airtight, usually small electrical appliance for quick cooking of foods by means of convection currents circulated rapidly by a fan”



SCIENCE & TECH Q10. Euphoric Effects: Bayer (1898-1917): “a strongly physiologically addictive narcotic C21H23NO5 that is made by acetylation of but is more potent than morphine and that is prohibited for medical use in the U.S. but is used illicitly for its euphoric effects”



TIEBREAKER Impressive Innovations: What goes up in the evening must come down in the morning? The reversible one-ways that make up the Central-Mid-Levels in Hong Kong are the longest system of escalators in the world. How long in feet are their combined length?

Quiz is closed and your answers are now locked! Graders are grading and results will be sent on 8/12/25