Puns and Word Play Fun Trivia Quiz

Answer: The zoo

Ah well, at least he loved her, even though he didn't know the difference between geography and zoology. The Taiga is a chilly area of the world in the high latitude areas such as Sweden, Finland, Canada, Siberia and Russia. It is notable for snow forests of pines and spruces and other beautiful forms of greenery that thrive in the cold. Can you imagine just how crisp and clean the air would smell there? It is home to some 80 different species of mammals, over 100 different species of fish and thousands of different species of insects which provide food for the birds and animals there, and all co-existing as nature intended.

Listed as endangered on the IUCN Red list, the beautiful, BEAUTIFUL tiger once roamed widely from Turkey, Russia, the Himalayas, down to Bali, Southeast Asia and China - but by 2023, scientists have estimated there are only 5,574 left of these utterly exquisite creatures. Oh weep, world, for such a loss.

Answer: Shot them

A trifecta, in the horse racing game, is a bet on the race, in which the betting person tries to guess the winning order of the first three horses over the line, in the correct order of first, second and third. It's an excellent way to lose your money. When there has been a big win of any kind in any venture, and the call "Pop the Champers!" is heard, that is the time to pop open a bottle of celebratory Champagne (Champers). However to "Pop" anyone in gangster lingo means to kill someone with a gun.

"Champing at the bit" is an expression originally applied to very skittish, eager to run thoroughbred race horses that are being lined up ready to spring out to a flying start when the signal is given (such as the gates flying open). They find it very hard to settle and keep champing at the bit in their mouth to try to remove it. Unfortunately, though, the gangster's bodyguard, who was used to popping off any or all threats to his boss, turned those champion race horse that took out the trifecta, into instant dog meat.

Answer: Dame Jelly Melba

Born in Australia in 1861 as Helen Porter Mitchell, Nellie Melba became a world famous lyric coloratura soprano. She adopted the surname "Melba" from Melbourne in Australia, which she referred to as her home town. A lyric soprano usually takes the sweet young thing roles in opera as the arias written for that are more melodic - and a coloratura - wow - is the creme de la creme of sopranos - higher and more agile even, and exquisite.

Nellie Melba built up a name for her singing in Australia, but it was overseas that she first rose to world fame. There is a mistaken belief that all sopranos are fat, which is very insulting. Body sizes range across the spectrum for sopranos as well as every other category in life - but this is what the mean reporter believed when he wrote his review of her operative performance, changing her name Nellie into Jelly.

Answer: Went for the jugular

The circus performer for this question was a juggler - one of those remarkably skilled people who can throw several assorted objects into the air at once, keeping them there by a form of rapid rotation, catching each one as it drops down to one hand, passing it swiftly to the other hand - and then tossing it back up again. It's fascinating to watch. I tried for years to juggle but couldn't get the hang of it - and the dog took to whimpering whenever I went near him while practising.

Human beings just don't have one jugular vein - they have six, with three going down on either side of the throat. They could be described individually, but it's very long and complicated. Their purpose is to redirect blood from different parts of the brain, face and neck down to the heart. All the old corny movies and novels from years past have the villain going for the victim's jugular in order to commit murder - but one is often inclined to wonder which particular jugular was selected. The pun for this question combines the use of the circus juggler bumping off a rival by going for his jugular.

Answer: By climbing the ladder of success

Carpenters are highly skilled craftsman who build, shape, install, add to, and create a vast variety of usually wooden (or other material) objects from something as small as a box to HUGE edifices, bridges, ships even, anything. You name it - a carpenter can build it. Their tools include hammers, nails, ladders, saws, drills, screws, glue, tape measures, chisel, knives, clamps, a huge range in all.

If anyone is said to have climbed the ladder of success, they are on the way up to - or have already reached, the top of their chosen career, by working hard and climbing up step by step. That is where the pun for this question rests. The skill of carpentry dates right back to the stone age, pre-dating biblical times by far - but you all know, of course, the most famous carpenter of all? Jesus Christ - and taught that skill undoubtedly by his foster father, Joseph.

Answer: Battle of the Bulge

Soldiers in the Australian army, and no doubt in other countries as well, just don't join the defence force and then rest on their laurels. They have to periodically prove their readiness for any immediate endeavour, by undergoing basic fitness tests. These tests include the required number of sit-ups, push-ups and shuttle runs (56 sprints of 20 metres each) - and our soldiers are very fit indeed. Special Forces have even harder tests to pass.

So, when the recruit failed his test, because he had grown too tubby, he was made to re-enact the army's version of the Battle of the Bulge for his next basic fitness assessment - hard work and exercise - to remove that spare tyre - the bulge - from around his middle.

Answer: He kept forgetting his lions

Lions are beautiful but ferocious creatures that are member of the Panthera family of animals. They are known officially as Panthera leo. The male in particular with the huge mane around his neck like a large feather boa, is stunningly handsome, but, to be fair to his little lioness partner, he's a lazy fellow. He will hunt if he is on his own, but in a pride, the lioness does most of the work - from hunting to bringing up her cubs. He just lies around looking magnificent.

Any actor in any movie has to thoroughly know his or her lines of dialogue before any scene is shot, so the pun for this question has the lazy male lion constantly forgetting each line - which led to his dismissal.

Answer: Vice Versa

Vice versa is a term that means the other way around, or the opposite to. This is a Latin expression thought to have originated some time early in the 17th century. Poetry is a creative work of literature that has been known to man for thousands of years. In Ancient Rome, for example, well known poets were supported by wealthy men and women who admired their work. In early Arab societies they were considered to be historians and soothsayers as well as creators of the poetic form. During the troubadour era in the Middle Ages, not only were they poets, but also carried out the role of actors and musicians as well. And so on. In the 21st century, poets, if they're very lucky, can make their living from their pen, but it takes many years for a reputation to build up in this field, so they also need other skills as well to fall back upon, usually (hopefully) in other forms of writing.

The argumentative husband, who compiled "verses", and who always said the opposite - vice versa - to what his wife said, is the pun for this question.

Answer: A salad

There is sometimes a little confusion between the meaning of the words karat and carat, and of course the poor little similar sounding carrot. While carrot is a vegetable, tasty and crunchy when eaten raw, but squishy and tasteless when boiled, both carat and karat are terms used by jewellers who deal with the supply and sale of gold and diamond adornments. Carat refers both to the purity of gold, and the weight of diamonds - but karat is a word that refers to the purity of gold alone. Carat was in use first, and karat was introduced at a later time to mark the difference.

The poor little greengrocer of course only dealt in fruit and vegetable and didn't catch on at all about his now indignant girlfriend's hint for an engagement ring. He confused karats with carrots.

Answer: In the tidal bore

Gloucestershire, one of the loveliest areas in England, is located at the south-west of that country. The River Severn, which almost dissects Gloucestershire, is the longest river in this part of Britain, and also contains the largest volume of water in both England and Wales. It rises in the Cambrian Mountains (Wales) and ends where it discharges into the Bristol Channel near the Severn estuary, then out to the Atlantic. One of the unusual features of this beautiful river takes place when the incoming tide - up to 50 feet high in the ocean - rushes into the narrow Bristol Channel, which is shaped rather like a funnel and which cannot evenly take the force of the inflow. This causes the water to force its way up the river in a series of rather alarming waves known as a tidal bore as the banks of the river narrow.

The tidal bore travels upstream from there at a speed up to 13 miles per hour - and at a height of some eight feet at times. People and visitors from that part of the world flock to the river on days when the bore is expected to be very high, to see this take place. Vessels have been known to ride on the bore as it carries them along, and surfers take to the waves for the challenge of riding it upstream. So amazing.

Unfortunately, though, our poor little Gloucestershire pig, a boar of course, and as reported in the Trivia Fun Pun Daily News, one day attempted to do likewise, but drowned and lost his life - leaving the papers to sadly report "No More Boar Bore".