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Ransom Riggs
Famous last words: the quiz
by Ransom Riggs - June 19, 2007 - 7:42 AM

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Whether they be witty, poetic, heart-wrenching or just “Aaagh!,” you only get one shot at making a last impression. Can you match the historical figure to his famous last words? Take the quiz!

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Comments (8)

  1. This weekend I learned that in one version of Hamlet, his famous final words (”The rest is silence”) are actually followed by four “O-groans” : “O,o,o,o.” No one really knows what the heck they’re doing there, whether somebody later down the line felt obliged to exaggerate the death, or if an actor did a particularly good dying groan and Shakey himself wrote it down, thinking it was worth keeping.

    posted by Duane on 6-19-2007 at 9:51 am

  2. It was probably Billy Shakespeare. Think of the dramatic and interpretive possibilities of those four O’s! An expiration of air, four sighs of regret — read into the lines what you will.

    To my mind, Hamlet was probably trying to change his mind about something or other. This reminds me of when MST3K got their hands on a terrible version of “Hamlet.” One of their lines for the Danish prince was, “Maybe I should journal.”

    posted by Drew on 6-19-2007 at 11:50 am

  3. 100%. It was a good quiz, but the “extra information” in each clue gave lots away.

    Examples:
    1) “Famous Welsh Poet”
    2) “Norwegian dramatist”
    3) “Union Casuality in Civil War: — hmm… only 1 is wearing a uniform and died in the right date range.

    The first and last clues are better structured because they don’t include extraneous information that gives it away.

    posted by Sid Morrison on 6-19-2007 at 2:51 pm

  4. 100%
    I agree, the extra info helped, but it was still somewhat hard. I was shocked by my score

    posted by leofishy on 6-19-2007 at 2:55 pm

  5. Thank you for the extra help. Some of us needed it.

    posted by calmthoughts on 6-19-2007 at 5:52 pm

  6. 100%

    it would have been really hard without the extra clues.

    posted by jenni on 6-19-2007 at 8:04 pm

  7. I knew the Wilde one was going to be one of them… that is my all-time favorite last line. I think W.C. Fields had a funny last one too? or maybe that was just his tombstone? maybe I am thinking of someone else.

    posted by Suzanne on 6-19-2007 at 9:44 pm

  8. My grandfather was a wise man, a very wise man and I will always remember his last words. He said, “Don’t set that thing off in the house!”

    (’tis a joke)

    posted by Tdave on 6-21-2007 at 4:20 am

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