Hardest Can You Rephrase That? Numero Tres Trivia Quiz | Humanities

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. As promised in the intro, "right on the nose" is a fairly modern phrase that implies everything going according to schedule or right on time. Where did this phrase originate, as recently as the 20th century?

Answer: in radio broadcasting

If the programming director of a live radio broadcast wanted to let the people who were on-the-air know that scheduling was running according to plan, he would place a finger alongside his nose.
Sign language was very common in the early days of radio, and later in television broadcasting when shows were done "live" in real time. This prevented the audience from hearing anything not related to the show and made for a more seamless production.

2. From what nationality of people do we get the word "hunk," meaning any well-built male, perhaps even a modern-day sex symbol?

Answer: Hungarian

"Hunk" was not originally intended to be a flattering term. In fact, it was a derogatory name for Hungarian immigrants who came to America in the early 1900s. Much like other ethnic slurs, it was intended to be a put-down; in this case it was applied to foreign laborers.

It later was applied to other Eastern European nationalities as well, such as Poles, Slavs and Lithuanians. Eventually, however, it became a complimentary term, meaning any well-built male.

3. Although Grandpa used to be considered a hunk, he has now lost nearly all his hair. What hasn't turned white has simply turned loose; at least, that's what Grandma says. He's bald, all except for a couple of tufts of hair right behind his ears. Oh, by the way, from which language do we get the term "bald", anyway?

Answer: Welsh

In early Welsh, "bal" meant "white-browed". The English borrowed the word, to describe people who were losing their hair and referred to them as "balled". It was due to the whiteness, (and perhaps the sun's glare) that gave birth to the word; not the rounded shape of the bare head.
Even though animals do not lose their head hair like humans, for many years any dog or horse that had a white streak or blaze on its head was usually named "Ball".

4. I was in class one day and the teacher assigned us the task of memorizing all the states in America, in alphabetical order. She referred to this as "learning by rote." What in the world was she talking about?

Answer: a wheel

The word "rote" comes to us via the Latin. Rota was the Latin word for wheel. The concept of turning something over and over in one's mind in order to memorize or to study it by repetition lends itself to that of a wheel, rolling over and over again.

5. The young bachelor found himself engaged once, but near his wedding day, he got cold feet and called the whole thing off. Needless to say, his former bride-to-be never spoke to him again. From where do we get the phrase, "cold feet"?

Answer: soldiers

Cases of frozen feet were very common among soldiers until the 19th century, and even after that time there have been cases of severe cold injuries to bodily extremities. A soldier who has cold or frozen feet isn't going to be able to rush into battle. He will either proceed slowly or not at all.

6. The war ended, and a ten mile-wide stretch of land extended from east to west between the newly formed republic in the north and the old kingdom to the south. This area is now referred to as a demilitarized zone, or no man's land. From which English-speaking country do we get the term, "no man's land"?

Answer: England

Over a thousand years ago, the authorities of London, England, did not wish to litter the city with bodies of executed criminals. It became standard practice to remove the condemned to the outside of the north wall, where they were hanged, beheaded or impaled, depending on their crime and the mood of the judge. Often, the bodies were left on display as a deterrent to like-minded criminals. As time passed, farming fields and game preserves were established in areas around the execution area, and title deeds were registered. Even after the gallows were moved into the city, no one wanted to claim the land where so many had died; thus the acreage became known as no man's land.

It came to mean any dangerous or desolate place, and around the time of WW1 it began to be used as a military term.

7. They finally arrested all six of the tool burglars that were stealing in our neighborhood. Five of them indicated that the sixth, Melvin the Mastermind, was the ringleader of the group. Why did the police use the term "ringleader" in describing what he did?

Answer: Because of a type of recreational activity involving rings.

In medieval Europe, a favorite pastime was folk dancing. Entire villages would come out to partake in festivals with folk dancing a major part of the celebrations. Most of these dances involved the people gathering into a circle and holding hands.

The circles became known as "rings", and once a signal was given, one person or couple, who had been formerly designated, would break the ring and lead the rest of the group in dance. It was considered a high honor to be the ringleader.

Only in recent history has the word gained a more negative connotation in regards to criminal activities.

8. My Aunt Susie makes the best pound cakes you have ever tasted. Just the other day she made one with orange zest and almonds. Talk about good! So, tell me, how did pound cake get its name?

Answer: The recipe originally called for each ingredient to weigh one pound

Old recipes for the cake called for the main ingredients to consist of a pound of "this" and a pound of "that".

9. What does the "Jerusalem artichoke" have to do with the city of Jerusalem in Israel?

Answer: Nothing, it is a corruption of another word.

The flower, "Jerusalem artichokes" are members of the sunflower family. The Italian name for sunflower is "girasole", hence the name is just a corruption of that word. The artichoke part of its name comes from the edible tuber (root) that may bear some likeness to the flavor of an artichoke.

10. What did the "D" stand for in the military term "D-Day", the invasion of Europe via France by the Allies on 6 June 1944?

Answer: day

That's right, it merely stood for day; any given day. In order to prevent the enemy from gaining knowledge of the exact place and time of the planned invasion, it was never written as a specific date; only "D".
(Other related terms were "H" for Hour and "D+"; "D-"; "H+" and "H-" which were used as reference points to times.)

Source: Author logcrawler

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor LadyCaitriona before going online.
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Can You Rephrase That? Numero Tres Quiz

Third in a series of the origins of words and phrases in the English language. Now, let's see if you can get the first question "right on the nose."

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