Podcast Script

Welcome back to the LearnedLeague Study Guide podcast, your quick, friendly review session after match day. I’m here to walk you through today’s six questions so you can lock in the facts, the patterns, and a few extra connections for next time.

If you want to go deeper on anything we talk about, remember: the full study notes with links and resources are up at llstudyguide.com. You don’t need to write anything down right now; just listen, and you can always check the study notes on the website later.

Let’s jump into Match Day 8.

We’ll start in space, swing through 70s pop music, touch on some core math vocabulary, visit Scotland by way of whisky labels, head down to South America for a legendary city of gold, and then wrap up with classic TV from the late 70s. A really nice spread.

Question 1 was in Science.

The question was: Imbrium, Serenitatis, Nectaris, Nubium, Tranquillitatis, and Humorum are all names of what?

The correct answer is: lunar maria, or the seas of the Moon.

So these Latin words are names for the big dark patches you see on the Moon when you look up at night. They’re called “maria” — that’s the plural of “mare,” Latin for “sea.” Astronomers in the 1600s thought these dark plains might be oceans, so they got names like Mare Imbrium, the Sea of Rains, Mare Serenitatis, the Sea of Serenity, Mare Nectaris, the Sea of Nectar, Mare Nubium, Sea of Clouds, Mare Tranquillitatis, Sea of Tranquility, and Mare Humorum, Sea of Moisture.

We now know they’re not filled with water at all. They’re huge plains of solidified lava, dark basalt rock from ancient volcanic activity. But the “seas” names stuck, and they’re core astronomy trivia.

The really useful hook here is Tranquillitatis. Even if the other Latin names feel unfamiliar, Tranquillitatis should remind you of the “Sea of Tranquility,” famous as the Apollo 11 landing site. Once you see Tranquillitatis, you can think, “Oh, these must all be ‘something of something’ seas on the Moon.”

In terms of patterns to remember, here are some adjacent topics you might want to review in the study notes on the website:

First, the main lunar maria and their English translations. Getting comfortable with names like Mare Imbrium and Mare Serenitatis pays off in both space and Latin-related questions.

Second, the distinction between maria on the Moon and similar naming on Mars. Both bodies use Latin terms for surface features, and trivia will sometimes ask you to tell them apart.

And third, big space history events tied to these locations, like Apollo 11 at the Sea of Tranquility. If you know “Tranquility Base” and “Sea of Tranquility,” you’re much more likely to recognize Tranquillitatis on sight.

You can find a labeled Moon map and more details on the major maria in the study notes on our website.

All right, from the Moon down to Earth, and straight into some 1970s pop.

Question 2 was Pop Music.

The question was: What stage name was adopted by the musician who had hit songs in the early 1970s with lyrics referencing West Virginia and Colorado, and who was actually born in 1943 in Roswell, New Mexico?

The answer is: John Denver.

His birth name was Henry John Deutschendorf Jr., born in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1943. When he became a professional musician, he adopted the stage name John Denver. He picked “Denver” after the city of Denver, the capital of Colorado, a state he loved and celebrated in his music.

The question’s clue about West Virginia and Colorado is pointing you to two specific early-70s songs: “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” with its famous “Almost heaven, West Virginia” lyric, and “Rocky Mountain High,” inspired by the Colorado Rockies. Both are signature John Denver tracks.

“Rocky Mountain High” eventually became one of Colorado’s official state songs, and “Take Me Home, Country Roads” became an official state song of West Virginia. So that dual state connection is really distinctive.

In terms of patterns and related topics you can build on:

First, get comfortable with a few high-yield 60s and 70s singer-songwriters and their signature songs: John Denver, James Taylor, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, folks like that. Questions often frame them through places mentioned in their lyrics.

Second, pay attention to stage names versus birth names. John Denver, Elton John, Freddie Mercury, and others all changed names for the stage. Trivia writers love pairing a birth name with a famous stage name.

And third, it’s worth knowing a handful of “state song” or “state anthem” connections. “Rocky Mountain High” for Colorado and “Take Me Home, Country Roads” for West Virginia come up a lot.

The study notes on our website walk through those songs, the biography details, and a few listening suggestions if you want to lock the tunes into your head.

Let’s move from pop music to some nice, clean math vocabulary.

Question 3 was in Math.

The question was: The “multiplicative inverse” of a real number is more commonly known by what name?

The answer is: reciprocal.

So, if you have a nonzero real number, say 5, its multiplicative inverse is the number that you multiply by 5 to get 1. That’s 1 over 5. In general, for a nonzero number x, the multiplicative inverse is 1 divided by x. We usually write it as 1 over x, or x to the minus 1. And in everyday math language, we just call that the reciprocal.

The key is that this is the “undoing” operation for multiplication. Multiply by x, then multiply by its reciprocal 1 over x, and you’re back at 1.

A big test trick here is that “inverse” can mean different things depending on the operation. There’s an additive inverse, which is the number you add to get back to zero. For example, the additive inverse of 5 is negative 5. But when the question says “multiplicative inverse,” that’s reciprocal territory. That’s why the problem says, “more commonly known by what name?” They’re nudging you toward the everyday term.

If you’re not sure in the moment, you can do a quick mental example: “What would be the multiplicative inverse of 2?” The number that gives 1 when multiplied by 2 is 1/2. And 1/2 is clearly the reciprocal of 2.

A couple of adjacent concepts worth making solid, which you’ll find explained in the study notes on the website:

First, the contrast between “additive inverse” and “multiplicative inverse.” Knowing that additive inverse means the opposite sign, and multiplicative inverse means reciprocal, will save you from trap wording in future questions.

Second, how reciprocals show up in algebra, especially in dividing fractions. That familiar “keep, change, flip” rule—keep the first fraction, change division to multiplication, flip the second fraction—is exactly “multiply by the reciprocal.”

And third, the idea of exponent notation, where x to the minus 1 means the same thing as 1 over x. That little minus sign in the exponent is your reciprocal warning flag.

We’ll shift from numbers to language now, specifically the language hidden in Scotch whisky labels.

Question 4 was Food and Drink.

The question was: What four-letter Scottish term, from Scottish Gaelic meaning “valley”, is used as a prefix in the names of dozens of Scotch whiskies?

The answer is: glen.

“Glen” comes from the Gaelic word “gleann,” meaning a valley. Scotland and Ireland both use it. Many Scotch whisky distilleries are built in actual valleys, often along rivers that supply their water, and they borrow the local valley names.

So you get brands like Glenfiddich, which means “valley of the deer,” Glenlivet, named for the Livet valley, and Glenmorangie, which is often explained as “valley of tranquility.” Once you notice it, you’ll realize how many bottles have “Glen” at the start of the name.

This is a classic trivia pattern: a short Gaelic word that describes a landscape feature, reused again and again in place names and then in brand names.

A few adjacent things to study that really multiply your points here:

First, build a tiny Gaelic geography vocabulary. Words like “glen” for valley, “ben” for mountain, “loch” for lake, and “strath” for a broad valley. These show up in Scottish place names, hiking references, and, of course, whisky.

Second, get familiar with a few of the major single malt distilleries and how their names break down. Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Glenmorangie, and maybe one or two more. They’re frequent guests in quiz questions.

Third, it can help to know the basic Scotch regions: Highlands, Lowlands, Speyside, Islay, and so on. You don’t need to become a connoisseur, but recognizing that a lot of “Glen” distilleries are in Speyside, for example, can give you context.

If you want to see more examples of “Glen” names and some maps, there’s a nice breakdown in the study notes on our website.

Now, we leave Scotland’s valleys and head all the way to northwest South America for a legendary land of gold.

Question 5 was World History.

The question was: Legends of an indigenous ruler in northwest South America who ritually coated his body in gold dust and plunged into a sacred lake gave rise to the belief in what mythical land?

The answer is: El Dorado.

Originally, El Dorado wasn’t a city or a country at all. It was a title for a person. In Spanish, “El Dorado” basically means “the gilded one” or “the golden one.” It referred to a ruler of the Muisca people, near what is now Bogotá, Colombia.

According to accounts from the 1500s, during an important ritual, this ruler would be covered in gold dust and then sail out onto a sacred lake—often identified as Lake Guatavita—on a raft. He would then plunge into the water, washing off the gold, while golden objects were thrown into the lake as offerings.

Over time, Europeans who heard these stories transformed “the gilded man” into a whole golden city, and then into a mythical rich kingdom somewhere in the interior of South America. That’s the El Dorado that fueled so many doomed expeditions by Spanish conquistadors and others, all looking for a place of limitless gold.

Modern usage has stretched even further. Today, “El Dorado” can mean any supposed land of easy wealth or opportunity, even outside of a historical context.

Some helpful adjacent ideas you can pick up from the study notes on the website:

First, the difference between the original Muisca ritual and the later European myth-making. Remember: person first, then city, then country. Questions sometimes test that evolution.

Second, the role of Lake Guatavita in the legend. If you ever see a question that mentions gold dust, a lake in Colombia, and a new ruler being inaugurated, think El Dorado immediately.

Third, other “lost city” myths, like the Seven Cities of Gold, or the idea of a lost Amazonian city sometimes called “Z.” Grouping those legends together helps you keep El Dorado straight in your mind.

You’ll find more on the Muisca raft artifact, which actually depicts the golden ruler on a raft, in the show notes on the website. That visual is a really sticky way to remember the story.

And finally, we wrap up with some classic TV history.

Question 6 was Television.

The question was: Edna Garrett, the Drummond family’s housekeeper on Diff’rent Strokes, left their Manhattan penthouse to become a housemother on what successful 1979 spinoff?

The answer is: The Facts of Life.

Edna Garrett, usually called Mrs. Garrett and played by Charlotte Rae, starts out as the housekeeper for the Drummond family on Diff’rent Strokes. In 1979, NBC launched a spin-off built around her character. In that new show, The Facts of Life, she leaves the Drummonds’ Manhattan apartment and becomes the housemother—later also the dietitian—at Eastland, a private all-girls boarding school in Peekskill, New York.

The show follows Mrs. Garrett and a group of students, including characters like Blair, Tootie, Natalie, and Jo, as they grow up and deal with school and life issues. The Facts of Life ran for most of the 1980s and is one of the most successful spin-offs of that era.

For reasoning, the key here is recognizing Edna Garrett as a link between two shows. If the question gives you “Diff’rent Strokes,” a 1979 spinoff, and the role of housemother at a girls’ school, The Facts of Life is the standout answer.

A few related TV patterns that are worth shoring up, which you can explore more in the study notes on our website:

First, famous spin-offs: The Facts of Life from Diff’rent Strokes, Frasier from Cheers, Better Call Saul from Breaking Bad, and so on. Spin-off family trees are a favorite topic.

Second, classic 70s and 80s multi-camera sitcoms and their premises. Knowing just a one-line description—“wealthy Manhattan household with adopted kids,” versus “all-girls boarding school in upstate New York”—can help you quickly separate shows.

Third, actors tied closely to certain roles. Charlotte Rae is almost synonymous with Mrs. Garrett. When you hear that name, you should be thinking Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life.

All right, that’s all six questions from Match Day 8.

To recap the key anchors you might want to remember:

Those Latin “sea” names on the Moon point to the lunar maria. The songwriter connecting West Virginia and Colorado is John Denver. A multiplicative inverse is just a reciprocal. On your whisky label, “glen” signals a valley. The golden ruler diving into a sacred lake gave us the legend of El Dorado. And Edna Garrett’s new job at an all-girls school took her to The Facts of Life.

If any of these felt just out of reach during the match, that’s actually a good sign—they’re perfect things to lock in now so you can pick them off quickly next time.

Remember, everything we talked about today, plus extra context, pronunciation help, and links to good references, is collected for you in the study notes on llstudyguide.com. Take a few minutes to skim the notes, especially on the lunar maria, John Denver’s big songs, and that inverse-versus-reciprocal distinction. Those are all high-yield topics that come up often in trivia.

Thanks for listening, and for making the time to learn from your match. Come back next episode, and we’ll walk through the next match day together.

Until then, happy quizzing, and I’ll see you after your next round.