Vocabulary Quick Quiz

Answer: Fucoid

Fucoids, also called Fucales, are an order of brown seaweed. Seaweed normally consists of three parts: the holdfast is a root-like structure, the stipe is the stalk, and the lamina is a flattened blade. Fucoids have all three of these structures, and are usually found near shores that have a low content of salt.

The name fucoid is derived from the Greek "phaios" for "brown", and "phyton" for "plant".

Answer: Guano

Guano, which is a term derived from the Quechua word "wanu", was such a highly prized substance that the people who lived in the Andes of Peru collected it for at least 1,500 years, enacting very strict policies regarding the protection of the seabirds involved. Like others who came later, they used the guano for fertilizer; it can naturally contain calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. Bat guano is composed differently, usually of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus, and was typically used in the production of gun powder.

While the removal of both types of guano poses a threat to the environment, steps can be taken to mitigate the damage of mining to areas where it is found. It continues to be an important industry in some areas today.

Answer: Pother

Although the word was in use by the 1590s, and used to describe a "commotion", its origin is unknown. By the 1640s the term was used to describe "mental trouble", and meant "to fluster" in the 1690s. Synonyms for the word include agitation and bother, while antonyms are calm and harmony.

Answer: Bandore

Also called a bandora, the instrument was invented sometime around 1560. It was a bass instrument that had six or seven pairs, or courses, of strings. Normally compared to a lute and cittern that were used during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the name bandore is probably derived from the Greek word "pandura", which was a general word used for stringed instruments in ancient times.

Answer: Brabble

Derived from the Middle Dutch "brabbelen" for "jabber", the word brabble is used when arguments erupt over trivial issues. Synonyms for brabble include bicker, quibble, and squabble; antonyms include disclaim and refrain.

Answer: Ruthenia

The word Ruthenia is derived from "Rus", which was the name originally used for the people who lived beginning in the 900s in an area called Kievan Rus, which was a territory in northeastern Europe. Over time, Westerners called the area Russia or Ruthenia.

The territory called Ruthenia has changed hands many times since the 900s. Today it is a region along the eastern Carpathian Mountains in parts of Ukraine, Poland, and Slovakia, where the eastern Slavic group, Rusyns, live and speak the Rusyn language.

Answer: Jabot

You know those lacy ruffles that you see on judges in Australian courts? Those ruffles are called jabots, a term that is derived from the French "jabot", meaning "bird's crop". Dating to the mid-1600s, jabots can be sewn to the collar of a shirt or pinned in place. All the fashionable men of the time wore them!

And I'm not trying to pick on Australians! Jabots are the fashion in other courts too, including the UK, Germany and the United States, where Ruth Bader Ginsburg used them as a kind of fashion statement with her robe.

Answer: Muesli

Muesli is traditionally made of oats and other ingredients that can be nuts, seeds, or fruits. First eaten in the early 1900s, it was intended to be used as an appetizer during supper. It was discovered, however, that it could be made the night before, to be eaten as a breakfast cereal. The ingredients would be mixed together and saturated with milk or cream that was sweetened with honey. Today the ingredients are also mixed together and baked to resemble a granola bar.

Made popular by a Swiss doctor, Maximilian Bircher-Benner, the mixture was called "Birchermüesli", a word derived from his name and "mues", which is Swiss German for "mush".

Answer: stroppy

Stroppy is a British slang word for someone who is belligerent and easy offended. First used in nautical slang in the 1940s for someone who was belligerent, it may have been derived from the Latin word "obstreperus", which means to "drown with noise". According to the original author of the quiz, in Australia the term is used to describe someone who is belligerently uncooperative.

Answer: Umbrageous

Originally meaning "shady", the word umbrageous was derived from the old French, "umbrageus", which originally was borrowed from the Latin "umbra" for "shade" or "shadow". By 1610 the term was used to describe someone who felt they had been slighted, and the phrase, "to take umbrage at" was recorded by the 1670s.

In modern slang, to throw "shade" at someone means that you have insulted them.