On the Face of It Trivia Quiz

The 'hair of the dog that bit you'. This particular expression refers to drinking alcohol the morning after a night of imbibing to cure a hangover.

The origin actually refers to an old treatment for rabies of which Pliny the Elder (23/24 AD - 79 AD) wrote "When a person has been bitten by a mad dog, he may be preserved from hydrophobia by applying the ashes of a dog's head to the wound." He later changed this to "insert in the wound ashes of hairs from the tail of the dog that inflicted the bite."

The big question, of course, is does it work? The answer surprisingly is yes - in the short term. The first symptoms of a hangover - headache, dehydration and nausea - are actually caused by alcohol withdrawal as the chemical receptors in the brain are reacting to the lack of ethanol. Reintroducing alcohol into the system solves this issue briefly; not only does it fix the perceived withdrawal it also acts on the pleasure centers in the brain.

The main point though is the 'briefly'; unless you are intending to keep drinking indefinitely you have only delayed the hangover not cured it.

When someone cuts off their nose to spite their face they are acting out of anger or revenge to hurt someone else without caring about the damage it will do to them. It is often an act of self-destruction as they often actually do more harm to themselves than the object of their anger.

This action goes against the basic tenet that people will usually act to maximize their own benefit but studies have shown that in the case of deep personal hurt or moral outrage people are prepared to pay that cost. It also brings another two idioms to mind "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" and "Revenge is a dish best served cold".

The exact idiom appeared in print in the 1700s but the basis for it derives from a Latin proverb in 1200 AD which translates to "He who cuts off his nose takes poor revenge for a shame inflicted on him."

To 'turn the other cheek' is a saying that originated in the Bible. Jesus is refuting the Old Testament Laws of reciprocal justice "But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise." (Exodus 21:23-27 NIV).

This new saying was part of the Sermon on the Mount in what is known as The Beatitudes. We are not just to exact no revenge on those that harm us but to actually ignore them and show them charity. It is also what one may refer to as 'passive aggression' in today's age. Those that hurt us expect us to retaliate and force us down to their level. When we refuse to do this it actually has more effect.

This idiom is actually a misquotation. The Bible says "If anyone slaps you on the right cheek." According to scholars this is an important distinction. In Jesus' day everyone was assumed to be right-handed as the left hand was unclean and a slap was an insult but a backhand slap was degrading and used for slaves and inferiors.

Their scenario has the slave facing his master who backhands him with his right hand on their right cheek. Rather than showing any emotion the slave looks him in the eye and turns his head to the right. For this act of defiance the master has the right to slap him again but they have placed him in an impossible situation.

He can't backhand them again because the right cheek is away from him, he can't backhand with his left hand because that is unclean so his only option is to slap them on the left cheek with his right hand. If he does this he is acknowledging them as an equal and not as a slave.

The question 'has the cat got your tongue?' is used to when someone is being unusually quiet. It is often when someone is at a total loss for words because they can't think of a way to respond to an unusual story or question.

There are three main theories as to the origin of the phrase but no proof of any. It was recorded in a magazine in 1881 but only as a comment that it was something children said to each other.

One theory is that kings in times of old would use it as a punishment for those that displeased them by cutting their tongues out and feeding them to their cats.

A similar theory is that witches could steal someone's speech (and sometimes thoughts) by removing their tongues and feeding them to their familiars which were usually black cats.

The last theory suggests that it is not an animal but the cat-o-nine-tails that was a whip commonly used for punishment on sailing ships that was used if someone spoke out of turn or passed on a secret.

To be 'standing on the shoulders of giants' is a metaphor to explain modern thinkers, scientists or inventors only being able to achieve the things they do because others before them had discovered the basics that their theories are based upon.

The origin of the actual saying itself is in a letter written by Isaac Newton in 1675 "...if I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

The actual concept came from Bernard of Chartres, a 12th century French philosopher "We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size."

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking (1942 -2018) used the saying as the title of his 2002 publication about the works of Einstein, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and Newton.

When someone has pulled the wool over your eyes they have fooled or lied to you to get away with something through deception or trickery, often while pretending to be friendly or helpful.

The term is derived from the seventeenth century where the wealthy men in England and their colonies (including the USA) liked to wear woollen wigs. Criminals would pull these down over their eyes so they, or an associate, could rob them much easier and not be identified.

Judges have continued to wear these wigs and it has taken on a further meaning for those in the court, including lawyers, who are able to lie and deceive a judge until they are unable to see properly to make a correct judgement.

To be wet behind the ears refers to someone who is very young, naive and inexperienced. This can refer to life in general or a specific example such as being new at a job.

Its exact saying is said to be an American phrase from 1902 but the phrase 'not yet dry behind the ears' is from a book called "The Parisians" by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1873.

The phrase is said to be derived from either the birth of a baby or livestock. The newborn baby is a reference to it still being wet from the amniotic fluid but that would be true of the whole body.

With reference to livestock, particularly lambs, they are also covered in fluid but are also very fluffy and they take much longer to dry off. The hair behind the ear is sitting in a fold so is the last place to dry naturally.

To keep a stiff upper lip means to show courage and fortitude in the face of adversity or to exercise self-restraint during emotional times. Its origin is from the belief that a trembling upper lip was a sign of fear.

It is often referred to as a 'British' stiff upper lip which was derived from the wartime generation who remained strong, resolute and unflappable under all the stress and pressure of their era.

The tradition dates back to the Spartans in ancient Greece who were well known for their strict discipline and maximization of military proficiency at all costs. The Spartans influenced the Stoics who spent their lives practicing their virtues of wisdom, courage and justice; the Stoics influenced the Romans.

Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius stated it quite clearly when he wrote: "If you are distressed by any external thing, it is not this thing which disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment now."

To have an albatross around one's neck is to have a heavy burden that becomes an obstacle to any success. This could be a personality trait or an associate but is most often guilt over some past deed.

This is one idiom that has a very definite source. It is in reference to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1798 poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". An albatross is considered very lucky to sailors and superstition states bad luck will follow those who kill one.

In the poem the ship is in trouble in the Antarctic and an albatross comes and leads them out. The crew is feeding and praising the bird when the mariner shoots it. At first there is no problem but then they run into calm seas around the equator and run out of water. Remembering the albatross the crew force the mariner to wear the dead bird around his neck:

"Ah! well a-day! What evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung."

As the majority of people are right-handed it is usually associated with power, skill and dexterity so is a very important possession. The willingness to give it up means making a supreme sacrifice so it would only be done for something that would be of great value to the person concerned.

The origin is unknown but it was in use after the American Civil War when soldiers who had lost limbs were paid a special pension so losing a right arm would have meant huge monetary compensation.

It is always a conditional statement though. People don't say 'I will give up my right arm' they say 'I would give up my right arm for...' all the time knowing that it's just a hyperbole and they probably never really would.

There are those who have given up their arm to survive. Major accidents have people choosing amputations to live and they are often right arms as that is what they are using when accidents occur but at least they have anaesthesia for the procedure itself.

Aron Ralston had to cut his own right arm off when it became trapped by a huge boulder while he was climbing in remote Utah mountains and fell down a crevice. After five days with no help he had to do the unthinkable and break the bones in his arm and remove it with a pocketknife.