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Comment by davidwihl | Hacker News Reader

The capital of Canada is an unbelievably tough interview question? Is Ottawa that obscure or have we lowered our standards of geographical knowledge to kindergarten level?

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You've got a few too many words in the first sentence for my taste.

"The capital of Canada is an interview question?"

What does that show? That you paid attention in geography, that you're Canadian, or that you are able to answer pointless questions?

Here's some questions on the entrance exam for the most successful R&D lab of all time:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/30000/thomas-edisons-eccentri...

As you can see, "doesn't prioritize my favorite trivia" was a deal-breaker, even back then.

One of my favorite capital questions is "Capital of Australia". People invariably end up with Melbourne. They are surprised when it turns out to be Canberra - a city which in all likeliness they have never heard about.

While I knew about Canberra, I always thought Sydney would be the most obvious choice.

Brazil is another surprising one.

I'm guessing that Sydney is the only city in Australia that a lot of people could name. (And Rio the only one in Brazil.)

Just like your example, I bet people will say Toronto.

I probably would have before I read it here. A strange question to ask.

Sorry, I would not have been able to tell you that answer. I have never cared much for geography and I literally never need to know other country's capitals in my day to day life.

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