FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about Speak Your Fruits and Vegetables
Quiz about Speak Your Fruits and Vegetables

Speak Your Fruits and Vegetables Quiz


Fruits and vegetables are good for your body -- and for expressing what you mean! Here are ten English idioms that all hinge on fruits and vegetables; see if you know the full flavor of their meaning.

A multiple-choice quiz by CellarDoor. Estimated time: 3 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. Humanities Trivia
  6. »
  7. Idioms and Proverbs
  8. »
  9. Food and Drink in Idiom

Author
CellarDoor
Time
3 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
336,684
Updated
Aug 06 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Very Easy
Avg Score
9 / 10
Plays
2762
Awards
Top 10% Quiz
Last 3 plays: bgjd (10/10), blake_aus_nsw (9/10), 1995Tarpon (10/10).
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Two little girls are playing in a park, wearing matching dresses. "How sweet they are!" a passer-by tells their proud mother. "They're as alike as two peas in a ____" what? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. A child asking a favor might use a sweet fruit to embellish his request. When "please" isn't enough, he'll try "pretty please with a _____ on top." What's on top? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. "Cool as a cucumber," one businessman says to another. "I was thoroughly impressed." Which of the following is most likely the subject of their conversation? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. It's hard to think of plant matter as particularly nationalistic, especially when it's been sliced, spiced, and baked in a pastry shell. Yet one particular fruit-filled pie is a benchmark for patriotism in the US. One might call a person "as American as _____ pie"; what fruit fills in both the pie and the blank? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Someone blushing deeply might turn very red indeed. In the standard cliché, to what fruit or vegetable is the blusher's color compared? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Yesterday, he announced to his friends that he'd bought a new car; today, he's telling them it's a "lemon." What's going on with the car? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. When it comes to criticism of artistic works, there are two main categories: the erudite kind published in newspapers and magazines, and the more direct kind practiced by the public. Suppose that the public is, idiomatically at least, throwing rotten tomatoes. What do they most likely think of the performance? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. A friend you haven't seen in a while tells you that things have "gone pear-shaped." Which response would be most appropriate? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Some idioms come directly from fairy tales, or at least from the Disney versions of them. If a polite guest feels that a party has gone on too long, she may cite a fear of vegetable transmogrification as an excuse for leaving. "Look at the time!" she'll say. "I'd better go before my car turns into a ______." What food item describes the vehicle's possible fate? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. A friend describes someone to you as "the apple of my eye." What does he most likely mean by that? Hint



(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

arrow Select a User ID:
arrow Choose a Password:
arrow Your Email:




Most Recent Scores
Oct 15 2024 : bgjd: 10/10
Oct 14 2024 : blake_aus_nsw: 9/10
Oct 13 2024 : 1995Tarpon: 10/10
Oct 09 2024 : Guest 166: 10/10
Sep 26 2024 : Guest 104: 9/10
Sep 18 2024 : fgrozalen: 6/10
Sep 18 2024 : pusdoc: 10/10
Sep 08 2024 : dj144: 10/10
Sep 07 2024 : Guest 24: 9/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Two little girls are playing in a park, wearing matching dresses. "How sweet they are!" a passer-by tells their proud mother. "They're as alike as two peas in a ____" what?

Answer: Pod

On the plant, peas grow in pods, long envelopes that contain half a dozen or more peas in a row. Peas next to each other in the pod do look alike, though if you ask me, they're also pretty difficult to tell apart in pans, spoons, or sauces.
2. A child asking a favor might use a sweet fruit to embellish his request. When "please" isn't enough, he'll try "pretty please with a _____ on top." What's on top?

Answer: Cherry

This phrasing comes from the practice of topping an ice-cream sundae with a bright red, maraschino cherry. With such a delectable treat at the top, the dessert is as perfect as it can possibly be -- so the cherry is the finishing touch on both the treat and the request.

Children asking a big favor may up the ante anyway; I've heard "sprinkles" (or jimmies or hundreds and thousands) added atop the cherry, as well as the nonsensical-on-ice-cream "powdered sugar".
3. "Cool as a cucumber," one businessman says to another. "I was thoroughly impressed." Which of the following is most likely the subject of their conversation?

Answer: A colleague who handled hostile questioning with aplomb

Here, "cool" refers not to temperature or to fashion, but to equanimity under pressure. This businesswoman didn't lose her temper or break a sweat when rivals questioned her ability to deliver; like a refreshing vegetable, she refused to lose her cool. Scientists have yet to determine why cucumbers respond so much more professionally to uncomfortable situations than, say, summer squash.
4. It's hard to think of plant matter as particularly nationalistic, especially when it's been sliced, spiced, and baked in a pastry shell. Yet one particular fruit-filled pie is a benchmark for patriotism in the US. One might call a person "as American as _____ pie"; what fruit fills in both the pie and the blank?

Answer: Apple

Ideas, corporations, and rituals, as well as people, may be as American as apple pie. It is unclear just what makes apple pies more pro-American than lemon tarts or cranberry muffins, but the notion also turns up in an old joke. Condensed, it goes like this: Ask a Canadian what a Yankee is, and he'll say someone from the US. Ask someone from Atlanta, and she'll say a Northerner. Ask a Bostonian, and he'll say someone from Vermont. Ask a Vermonter, and it's someone who eats apple pie for breakfast!

(There's another version of the idiom out there: "as American as cherry pie." Apples are far more common, though!)
5. Someone blushing deeply might turn very red indeed. In the standard cliché, to what fruit or vegetable is the blusher's color compared?

Answer: Beet

When someone prone to blushing is embarrassed, blood rushes to their cheeks and reddens their skin tone. Beets have become the benchmark for the resulting redness, although what these fine root vegetables have to be embarrassed about is anyone's guess.
6. Yesterday, he announced to his friends that he'd bought a new car; today, he's telling them it's a "lemon." What's going on with the car?

Answer: It's defective.

A lemon is a major purchase that appeared to work properly when sold, but soon proved to be defective. Maybe the refrigerator burnt itself out; maybe the car engine started knocking two blocks from the lot. "Lemon laws" provide consumers with some recourse if they've purchased a lemon, but it's never a fun experience.
7. When it comes to criticism of artistic works, there are two main categories: the erudite kind published in newspapers and magazines, and the more direct kind practiced by the public. Suppose that the public is, idiomatically at least, throwing rotten tomatoes. What do they most likely think of the performance?

Answer: It's terrible.

This idiom is popularly traced to public performances hundreds of years ago, when audience members were not shy about their opinions and had overripe produce ready to hand. A rotten tomato is used in this image because it's not only less appetizing than a fresh one, but also makes a more satisfying squelch when it lands. Today, the idiom has been appropriated by more lettered critics: the Rotten Tomatoes site collects published movie reviews to give a numerical rating of a film's "freshness".
8. A friend you haven't seen in a while tells you that things have "gone pear-shaped." Which response would be most appropriate?

Answer: "Oh no! What happened?"

This expression is most common in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. If things have gone pear-shaped, they've gone horribly awry: the plan has failed utterly and it's past time to try something new. The origins of this expression, which seems to have come into use in the 1940s or thereabouts, are murky; one popular explanation is that it originally referred to the distorted aerial loops made by fighter pilots who weren't quite successful in their maneuvers.
9. Some idioms come directly from fairy tales, or at least from the Disney versions of them. If a polite guest feels that a party has gone on too long, she may cite a fear of vegetable transmogrification as an excuse for leaving. "Look at the time!" she'll say. "I'd better go before my car turns into a ______." What food item describes the vehicle's possible fate?

Answer: Pumpkin

This image seems to come from the tale of Cinderella, a beautiful girl without the resources to go to a ball. Her fairy godmother makes her dream come true by transforming ordinary things into marvelous and useful ones. A drab housedress becomes an elegant ballgown; a pumpkin in the garden becomes a carriage; and mice become the horses to draw it. If Cinderella stays past midnight, however, everything changes back -- and riding a pumpkin home is very slow.

Some guests have been known to claim that they themselves are in danger of turning into pumpkins, but that's a little unlikely.
10. A friend describes someone to you as "the apple of my eye." What does he most likely mean by that?

Answer: He is especially fond of this person.

"The apple of my eye" describes a very precious person or thing, often a child who has caused particular pride. The idiom shows up in several places in the King James Bible, such as Proverbs 7:2, which reads, "Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye."
Source: Author CellarDoor

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
Related Quizzes
1. Food and Drink in Idioms Easier
2. Eat Your Words Very Easy
3. Slinging Hash at the Diner Average
4. Speak Your Meat Very Easy
5. Who Ate all the Pies? Easier
6. Baking Bread Average
7. Nationality Words In Idioms Average
8. Common and Not-So-Common Sayings Easier
9. Euphemistically Speaking Average
10. Original Objects Tough
11. What Is He On? Average
12. Easy Proverbs Very Easy

10/31/2024, Copyright 2024 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us