FunTrivia Humanities Mix: Vol 14 Quiz

Answer: The Mona Lisa

Alfredo Geri met Peruggia in person, and then met with Giovanni Poggi, director of Florence's Uffizi Gallery. Geri and Poggi agreed to accept the painting, and went to meet Peruggia at his hotel room in Florence. Peruggia revealed the painting in a false bottom in a trunk and handed it over to Geri and Poggi whereupon Italian law enforcement authorities quickly arrested Peruggia.

The Mona Lisa was then briefly displayed at the Uffizi and went on a brief tour of Italian museums. It was then returned to the Louvre on December 31, 1913.

Question by player Billkozy

Answer: it's on wheels

Casters (also spelled castors) are small wheels attached to the legs of heavy furniture making them easier to move.

Question by player debodun

Answer: It has been censored or edited

To be honest, I think the only time I have ever heard the word 'redacted' is in the movies. However, it is actually a fairly common term, particularly in the field of law. The term started being used in 1967 and means that any sensitive or confidential information in documents has been obscured prior to the document either being published or made available to the public.

While redaction is very popular in legal documents, it is also used in government documents where an individual's data, such as social security numbers or the names of minors, needs to be kept confidential.

Question by player heatherlois

Answer: cook the books - plan marketing strategy

To "cook the books" is to alter the financial records or statements of a business. This could be done to hide a bad financial situation, cover up some sort of malfeasance such as embezzlement, throw off tax auditors, or in any way to create a false impression regarding the finances of the business or institution. According to "The Phrase Finder", this usage dates back possibly as far as Tudor England, and does derive from the idea that, since "cooking" means altering by heat, altering to deceive is simply another form of cooking (source: www.phrases.org.uk).

Question by player Nealzineatser

Answer: sing, sang, song

Ablaut refers to the change of the internal vowels in related words to indicate that they are different in meaning, while still related. Sing is a present tense verb, sang is past tense, and song is the noun that is the focus of the action. Other familiar examples of ablaut would include geese as a plural for goose, and rise as an intransitive verb related to the transitive verb raise.

Question by player looney_tunes

Answer: Saddle

As well as meaning a leather seat that is placed on a horse's back in order to make it easier for the rider to stay on (bareback riding requires both balance and skill to avoid being unceremoniously dumped on the floor), the word 'saddle' can also be used as a verb to describe the process of giving someone a job to do that may be difficult, unpleasant, time consuming or boring. It can also refer to having unwanted ownership of something, for example large debts or a high-maintenance asset - like a horse!

To bridle can also mean to show resentment; stirrup is also another name for the stapes, a bone in the ear; and a martingale is also a system used in gambling.

Question by player Fifiona81

Answer: parapsychology

Some scientists consider parapsychology as a "pseudoscience." This is because parapsychologists, after more than a century of study and research, have not been able to conclusively prove the existence of psychic abilities.

Question by player unterkircher

Answer: Perseus

Perseus, son of Zeus and Danae, was the the legendary originator of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty, and was one of the first great Greek heroes, renowned for his death-defying accomplishments. He executed the Gorgon Medusa by cutting her throat while she was asleep in a cave, and rescued Andromeda when she was chained to a rock as a sacrificial offering to a sea monster sent by Poseidon.

Question by player nickdrew55

Answer: Zeus

The mother of the Muses was Mnemosyne, or memory.

Question by player Ditanie

Answer: Camelot

When Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe adapted T. H. White's "The Once and Future King" into a Broadway musical, the younger, media savvy ways of the Kennedy Administration led to its labelling as the 'Camelot Era', the coinage first seen in a 1963 "Life" magazine article.

It was perhaps too easy to draw a parallel between the failure of King Arthur's chivalric ideal and the blasted and broken dreams and unfulfilled promise of John Kennedy. "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot," according to the lyrics of the musical's signature song. To paraphrase an inscription on the tomb of the King from "Le Morte d'Arthur" by Sir Thomas Malory: 'Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam, rexque futurus' - "Here lies Kennedy, president once, and president to be"!

Question by player Humanist