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Before Al Gore invented the internet, people took quizzes found in magazines. (Just kidding—Mr. Gore never really claimed that he invented it; his words were taken out of context.)The magazine quizzes seemed fun and since you responded to them in the privacy of your own home, no one sold your “secret” answers.

But now, at least according to my own experience, there are boatloads of dumb, time-wasting quizzes waiting for us online. Even though I don’t ever participate, Facebook provides me the “answers” to the quizzes my Facebook friends take. So I still receive the final scores from others. Hmm…would you really want the world to know that the celebrity you would most like to date is Kanye West?

According to one site, the quiz called Only 1 in 50 people can identify these 16 grammar mistakes. Can you? was shared 5.4 million times, making it the fourth highest shared post on Facebook for 2017. I admit to being a grammar Nazi, but I didn’t know millions of other people were also. Maybe there should be a quiz called Are You A Grammar Nazi?

 Oh no. I just fact-checked that statement. It turns out Google says there are 558,000 results for the search “are you a grammar nazi quiz.” I am not kidding.

The seventh highest shared post was a quiz called What state should you move to based on your personality? It was shared 3.1 million times. Really? You’re actually going to move to a different state based on an online quiz?

Here are some more actual titles:

What fall sweater are you?

What color is your ego?

Which woodland creature should give you a pep talk?

Which real housewife are you?

Bet you can’t name a day of the week that has a “Y” in it.

OK, I lied. I made up that last one. But I’ve seen equally stupidly easy “puzzles” with that “Bet you can’t…” hook as the opening. Why do you suppose someone out there is trying to lure us into responding just to prove them wrong?

Since I had to research this post’s topic (and not base it entirely on my opinion), I found this actual question on a quiz:

If you had to wear pajamas, what kind would they be?

• Scooby Doo
• One’s that I can dream the best in
• One’s with a Freddy krueger glove on them
• Dior

The misspelled “one’s” is their spelling, not mine. Note to that pajama quiz maker: Perhaps you should take the quiz called, Do you have difficulty knowing how to correctly use an apostrophe? Clue: Not like it is in the above answers. Your possible choice #2 would mean, “One is that I can dream the best in.”

Plus, if you want me to get really picky, my high school English teacher Mrs. Chisnell drummed into our heads that one should not end a sentence with a preposition. I have a good friend that still corrects herself on that point. Hey Linda, guess what? That rule has been loosened somewhat according to grammarly.com. You can check out the link below.

So what’s the real point of these quizzes? According to a Better Business Bureau post from last month, one possibility is the mining of your personal information. For instance, if one of the quiz questions is What kind of car do you drive? and you respond Honda Accord, then you soon may realize that you’re seeing a lot of online ads for the latest model Accord.

I hate to burst any bubbles but trust me…there isn’t some benevolent computer tech sitting down with a psychologist discussing this topic:  Gosh, what nifty and fun free quiz can we offer our readers just because our company really loves our customers, and we want them to gain valuable insight into their individual personality types?

But you already knew that.

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Links to items mentioned above:

Check out Grammarly’s take on prepopsitions

Better Business Bureau scam alert