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Tales from DMV: Trivia While You Wait
By
Jen Chung
Published May 10, 2004
Modified Mar 6, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 10, 2004
Modified Mar 6, 2008
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Watch out, Jeopardy! fans - the NY DMV may be screwing with you, as tale of two cities' joey details a trip to the Herald Square DMV. Since his and other would-be licensed drivers have to wait in line for hours at that location, the DMV installed a LCD ticker of trivia to amuse people and prevent them from plotting an uprising. joey, however, has some problems with it:
How fun! Or so I thought. One of the trivia questions went thusly:
In what war was Francis Scott Key inspired by "bombs bursting in air" to write the Star-spangled Banner?
An easy one, thought I. T'was the War of 1812, of course! But no dice, Joey, because the choices given were (a) Revolutionary War (b) Civil War and (c) Spanish-American War. I instantly doubted the quality and foundation of my extremely-expensive education. How could the DMV fool me?
Well, the answer was given: (a) Revolutionary War. Francis Scott Key wrote the song after he saw the flag still raised after a battle against the British in 1814.
And, Governor Pataki, you say you want to make the NY State education system the best in the country? For shame!
The Smithsonian on the Star-Spangled Banner. And Gothamist's readers on other good DMV locations to go to, besides Herald Square which might be the Manhattan location from hell.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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