Frequent trivia game players can usually come up with the most interesting pieces of trivia to share. You probably also have a friend or two who just love spewing random facts at you. At first glance, those two look pretty similar. However, you certainly know multiple facts that you could never incorporate in a pub quiz or game of trivia; it just wouldn’t make a fun question! That begs the following question: what are random facts vs trivia?
Of course, there are several differences between trivia and facts, but it is often difficult to separate one from the other. To me, a fact is a piece of information that is not only 100% factual, but also somewhat important. As a result, it’s not always entertaining or interesting. Trivia, on the other hand, has to be interesting, as well as factual. It doesn’t, however, have to be important.
In this article, we will discuss in-depth what makes a trivia question and how it may differ from a basic fact.
What Is a Trivia Question?
When you think of the word trivia, another word that comes to mind is trivial. Trivial is the perfect way to describe a piece of trivia. It’s an unimportant fact that you don’t really need to know. Nobody needs to know how Elvis Presley died or how many Harry Potter films there are. However, it’s fun to guess. Thus, a trivia question has to be interesting and have the ability to strike up a conversation.
That’s where it gets tricky. If a question is not interesting and way too difficult, it resembles a school quiz rather than a pub quiz. If there is no way you could possibly even attempt to answer, the game loses all meaning. So, who’s to say what is interesting and what isn’t? The beauty is always in the eye of the beholder. We’ve provided the criteria, and now you can be the judge of what is a trivia question, and what is just a boring and useless piece of information.
A good trivia question should be answerable and only have one possible answer. Ideally, it should contain enough humor to entertain your audience. In some rare cases, it’s ok to ask trivia questions that can only be answered in the form of numbers, but it’s best to avoid that. You can learn how to write good trivia questions yourself and wow all of your friends!
What Are Examples of Trivia?
Generally speaking, a piece of trivia doesn’t have to be entertaining to everyone, unlike a trivia question. A piece of trivia can concern a very small group of people and cover a past event that’s only relevant to them. For example, the name of the neighborhood where you were born is a piece of trivia, as well as the name of your first pet and the model of the first car you drove.
To make a trivia question, you need to take a piece of trivia and remove one crucial detail. Now, that detail will be the answer. For example: Which city with 3 million inhabitants is Australia’s largest by population? Click here to find out the answer. While the answer is a fact and a somewhat important one at that, you don’t necessarily need to know it. You can find more examples of trivia questions on our website.
What Are Examples of Basic Facts?
A fact is a truthful piece of information that might not be very interesting or easy to turn into a piece of trivia. For instance, we know for a fact that London is the capital city of Great Britain. That is neither fun nor exciting, but it is true. Under these circumstances, we may arrive at the conclusion that trivia is often hard to believe or provocative while remaining factual. A fact is just a piece of trivia without the element of excitement.
Another example of a basic fact is that there are eight planets in our solar system. It is also a fact that the Earth is orbiting around the sun. You can find countless facts about our world and the people in it.
Final Thoughts
Now that we’ve settled the basic facts vs trivia argument, it may be even more difficult to see the difference between the two. The truth is, it all depends on your perception. It might have been interesting to you to find out that there are only eight planets in our solar system and that London (not Manchester, not Brighton, and not Liverpool) is the capital of Great Britain. For others, these may just be simple facts that they once learned and never thought of again.
To conclude the argument, my belief is that there are two things separating trivia from facts. The first one is that the importance of facts is significantly higher than that of trivia. The second one is that trivia is exciting, surprising, provocative, and unexpected. You are meant to say “wow” when you hear a piece of trivia, while a series of facts will likely not keep you on the edge of your seat. As we already know, it all depends on the perception of each individual making the distinction between facts and trivia.
What do you think the difference between the two is? Start a conversation in the comments and share your opinion with us!
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