FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!

Insult to Injury Trivia Quiz

I have selected some finely-honed insults that people over the years have used on friends, enemies, rivals and even nations. All contain reference to, or veiled threats of, injury. Enjoy!

A multiple-choice quiz by Quiz_Beagle. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
Quiz_Beagle

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
313,758

Updated
Jul 23 22

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
1112

Awards
Top 10% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. In possibly an apocryphal story, when Lord Glasgow hurled a waiter out of the window of his club, what did he say? Hint

I do hope the poor chap's alright

Fetch me another waiter

What an ugly waiter!

Put him on the bill!

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. According to a letter from the then Viceroy of India, Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, in 1880, which former President of the USA had behaved 'like a must elephant' at a dinner in his honour? Hint

Bill Clinton

James Buchanan

Ulysses S Grant

Franklin Pierce

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. In one of his most famous books, who insulted his homeland with the words "Ireland is an old sow that eats her farrow"? Hint

Oscar Wilde

Frank McCourt

Brendan Behan

James Joyce

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. Of which people did Johnson assert, as quoted by Boswell in his 'Life of Johnson', "Sir, they are a race of convicts and ought to be grateful for anything we allow them short of hanging"? Hint

Australians

Americans

Welsh

Scots

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. Sir John Crofton, a noted medical pioneer, best known in the field of TB, at a press conference launching a report on 'Health Education in the Prevention of Alcohol-related problems' accused which nationality of drinking in bouts and killing their neighbours? Hint

French

Scots

Italians

Irish

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. Author, priest and mystic Dean Inge received an angry letter from a lady who was praying nightly for what? (She added that she had had great success in two other cases.) Hint

For him to be struck dumb

His conversion to Catholicism

His death

His salvation

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. Which popular and satirical American author was Alexander Woollcott describing as '...a blend of Little Nell and Lady Macbeth'? Hint

Joan Rivers

Louella Parsons

Dorothy Parker

Hedda Hopper

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. Where would a quotation quiz be without Winston Churchill? According to Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan in 'Glitter and Gold', with which lady (the first to hold a seat in the House of Commons') did the following exchange take place?
Lady: "If I were your wife I would put poison in your coffee!"
Churchill: "And if I were your husband I would drink it." Hint

Connie Markiewicz

Lady Astor

Bernadette Devlin

Margaret Thatcher

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. Which Canadian politician did Irving Layton describe as 'worthy of assassination'? Hint

Jean Chretien

Joe Clark

Kim Campbell

Pierre Trudeau

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. Churchill has plenty of quotes attributed to him, but, according to Lloyd George, what would Churchill make a drum out of to sound his own praises? Hint

The skin of his enemies

A gasometer

The skin of his mother

A barrel

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

Select a User ID:

Choose a Password:

Your Email:

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In possibly an apocryphal story, when Lord Glasgow hurled a waiter out of the window of his club, what did he say?

Answer: Put him on the bill!

Although this story is widely quoted in the British press to illustrate various things (amongst them "The Good Old Days!") I can find no definitive citation for this episode.

Answer: Ulysses S Grant

On his last night in Calcutta, with Mrs Grant 'incommoded', Grant had taken advantage of her absence by getting as 'drunk as a fiddle', fumbling Mrs A, kissing a 'shrieking' Miss B, pinching the plump Mrs C black and blue and running at Miss D 'with intent to ravish her'. He had to be returned to his ship by force.

3. In one of his most famous books, who insulted his homeland with the words "Ireland is an old sow that eats her farrow"?

Answer: James Joyce

From 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'. All the wrong answers are also Irish authors, although Frank McCourt (died July 2009) was born in America.

4. Of which people did Johnson assert, as quoted by Boswell in his 'Life of Johnson', "Sir, they are a race of convicts and ought to be grateful for anything we allow them short of hanging"?

Answer: Americans

Penal transportation from England to the US happened from the 1610s right up to the American Revolution. Convicts were similarly shipped to Australia from 1788 to 1868. Boswell actually came from Scotland, about which Johnson was also very rude - "The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England!"

Answer: Scots

The actual quote was "The French tipple all the time and kill their livers, and the Scots drink in bouts and kill their neighbours". Contrast this with the view of the humorous writer Stephen Leacock, who said, "The Scots do not drink... During the whole of two or three pleasant weeks spent lecturing in Scotland, I never on any occasion saw whisky made use of as a beverage. I have seen people take it of course, as a medicine, or as a precaution, or as a wise offset against a rather treacherous climate; but as a beverage, never".

The wrong answers are all people legendarily fond of a tipple, but not, presumably, murderous...

6. Author, priest and mystic Dean Inge received an angry letter from a lady who was praying nightly for what? (She added that she had had great success in two other cases.)

Answer: His death

She had written, "I pray nightly for your death. It may interest you to know that in two other cases I have had great success." According to Alfred Noyes in 'Two Worlds for Memory', Dean Inge was delighted by this letter. He lived to the ripe old age of 93, so perhaps he was not one of her successes...

7. Which popular and satirical American author was Alexander Woollcott describing as '...a blend of Little Nell and Lady Macbeth'?

Answer: Dorothy Parker

In 'While Rome Burns', Alexander Woollcott also said "It is not so much the familiar phenomenon of a hand of steel in a velvet glove as a lacy sleeve with a bottle of vitriol concealed in its folds.' Given that Ms. Parker once described a Katherine Hepburn performance as "She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B" that strikes me as quite apt.

8. Where would a quotation quiz be without Winston Churchill? According to Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan in 'Glitter and Gold', with which lady (the first to hold a seat in the House of Commons') did the following exchange take place? Lady: "If I were your wife I would put poison in your coffee!" Churchill: "And if I were your husband I would drink it."

Answer: Lady Astor

This exchange purportedly took place at Blenheim Palace when both were staying with the Marlboroughs. Like many of Churchill's bon mots, its provenance is difficult to establish, but it should be true!

9. Which Canadian politician did Irving Layton describe as 'worthy of assassination'?

Answer: Pierre Trudeau

Irving Layton (1912-2006) was a Canadian poet who wrote more than 40 books. The actual quote is "In Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canada has at last produced a political leader worthy of assassination."

10. Churchill has plenty of quotes attributed to him, but, according to Lloyd George, what would Churchill make a drum out of to sound his own praises?

Answer: The skin of his mother

"He would make a drum out of the skin of his mother in order to sound his own praises". Despite this, after Lloyd George's death Churchill described him as "...the greatest Welshman which that unconquerable race has produced since the age of the Tudors."

Source: Author Quiz_Beagle

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Snowman before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.