From common knowledge to crazy new info, get ready to exercise your brains with a cavalcade of head scratchers. How many will you be able to beat? (Don’t forget to show off your score by posting it in the comments, and no peaking!)
1. What is a piercing of the filtrum (the skin directly above the bow of the top lip, underneath the nasal septum) called?
2. What year was the first piercing parlor in the United States opened?
3. What was the name of the first piercing studio in the US?
4. Which famous piercer co-named and performed the first daith piercing?
5. When was the APP (Association of Professional Piercers) first founded?
6. What master piercer performed Alicia Silverstone’s famous navel piercing in Aerosmith‘s smash 1993 video for the song “Cryin?”
7. Who is the most pierced person in the world?
8. Who is the Earl piercing named after?
9. Who is the Madison piercing named after?
10. When is International Body Piercing Day?
11. Who is commonly credited with the development and popularization of the BCR (ball captive ring, or “bead captive ring”)?
12. What is the birth name of Modern Primitives Movement founder Fakir Musafar?
13. True or False: Roman centurions used to pierce their nipples and hang capes or other adornments from their jewelry.
14. Which tribe of Native Americans was originally named after a type of piercing the tribesmen often wore?
15. When Ötzi the iceman was examined, anthropologists were surprised to learn that his many tattoos were likely used for what?
16. What is a Japanese full body tattoo (often associated with the mafia or “Yakuza”) called?
17. Name one of the two African tribes that inhabit the Omo River valley and are know for stretching their lip piercings to accommodate enormous clay plates.
18. What type of piercing utilizes jewelry that looks like this?
19. Which gender is most pierced?
20. In the old days, what did it mean when a sailor had a swallow tattooed anywhere on his body?
Ready to find out how you did?
Answer Key
1. If you said either a Medusa or a Jestrum, you’re right!
2. The answer is 1978.
3. The studio was called the Gauntlet.
4. It was famous piercer Erik Dakota, in 1992.
5. The APP was officially founded in 1994.
6. The answer is piercer Paul King.
7. If you said Elaine Davidson of the UK, you’re right!
8. The piercing is named after character actor Erl Van Aiken.
9. This one is named after former adult film star Madison Stone.
10. International Body Piercing Day is on June 28th, which is also Jim Ward’s birthday (he’s often considered the father of modern piercing).
11. Jim Ward!
12. Fakir Musafar’s birth name was Roland Loomis.
13. This is false! It’s a widely spread myth perpetrated by piercing enthusiast Doug Malloy.
14. The answer is the Nez Perce of the American Northwest (named for nose piercings).
15. Ötzi’s tatts are believed to have been a form of acupressure therapy due to their placement and depth.
16. The full body tattoo style is referred to as “horimono.”
17. If you said either the Mursi or the Surma, you’re right!
18. The answer is a microdermal implant (also known as a dermal piercing, or just a dermal).
19. Women are more pierced worldwide, with those in the US comprising almost 3/4 of all pierced persons.
20. The tattoo of a swallow meant the sailor had officially traversed over 5,000 miles of ocean.
