H.M.S. Pinafore Trivia

1. What is the other name of "H.M.S. Pinafore"?

From Quiz Gilbert & Sullivan's: "H.M.S. Pinafore"

Answer: The lass that loved a sailor

They are all names for Gilbert and Sullivan operas. "The merryman and his maid" is the other name for "The Yeomen of the Guard", "The slave of duty" is "The Pirates of Penzance" and "The statutory duel" is "The Grand Duke"

From Quiz "Pinafore" in Translation

Answer: they are parts of ships' rigging

A "bobstay" is a line that supports the bowsprit of a ship. A "deadeye" is a grooved and riven block of wood that is used to cinch - in pulley type fashion - a line attached to a shroud or sail. In the world before Velcro, a "becket" was a short piece of rope with a toggle at one end and a loop at the other that was primarily used to secure a coil of line.

From Quiz "Pinafore" in Translation

Answer: sweep deck

A sweep deck is a low deck astern of the vessel for launching sonar or mine sweeping equipment - not extant during Captain Corcoran's command. The berth deck is the narrow 'tween' decks that accommodates the hammocks of the crew. The poop deck is the roof of the cabin in the stern abaft the quarterdeck and the orlop deck is the deepest level within a ship where cable or lines are coiled in "overlapping" fashion.

From Quiz "Pinafore" in Translation

Answer: K.C.B.

Sir Joseph was a Knight Commander of the The Most Honourable Order of the Bath. The Order of the Bath is a coveted honor for senior serving military officers and career civil servants in Britain. KBE is "Knight Commander of the British Empire" which was not instituted until 1918 by King George V. K.G. stands for "Knights of the Order of the Garter". K.G.B. is the acronym for the Soviet Russian secret police.

From Quiz Gilbert & Sullivan's: "H.M.S. Pinafore"

Answer: Bumboat woman

Early in the second act Buttercup tells us that she is a bumboat woman. A saleswoman who travels from ship to ship selling her wares to the sailors.

From Quiz Gilbert & Sullivan's: "H.M.S. Pinafore"

Answer: If you please

At the start Captain Corcoran can't quite cope with Sir Joseph and the sailors telling him to say this but he gets to return the favour at the end when things change.

From Quiz "Pinafore" in Translation

Answer: in Homer's 'Odyssey'

In Homer's 'Odyssey', the Cimmerians lived where the sun never shines. Ralph was well read and articulate for a foremast hand - "I am poor in the essence of happiness, lady -- rich only in never-ending unrest. In me there meet a combination of antithetical elements which are at eternal war with one another. Driven hither by objective influences -- thither by subjective emotions -- wafted one moment into blazing day, by mocking hope - - plunged the next into the Cimmerian darkness of tangible despair, I am but a living ganglion of irreconcilable antagonisms." Then he adds, "I hope I make myself clear, lady?" Josephine responds "Perfectly", and then says aside to the audience "His simple eloquence goes to my heart."

From Quiz Gilbert & Sullivan's: "H.M.S. Pinafore"

Answer: Ralph and Captain Corcoran were swapped as children

Buttercup confesses that she looked after Ralph and Captain Corcoran as young children and accidentally mixed them up. The pair swap roles back to what they should have been, allowing Ralph and Josephine to marry as they had always wanted.

From Quiz Gilbert & Sullivan's: "H.M.S. Pinafore"

Answer: The expression of his eyes

"My pain and my distress, I find it not easy to express. My amazement my surprise you may learn from the expression of my eyes!"(Sir Joseph, H.M.S. Pinafore) Sir Joseph is horrified at the bad language used by Captain Corcoran and that Ralph, a common sailor, is in love with Josephine, the captain's daughter.

From Quiz "Pinafore" in Translation

Answer: nine

The crew sing : "Carefully on tiptoe stealing, breathing gently as we may, every step with caution feeling, we will softly steal away." They are much alarmed by the stamping of Captain Corcoran's boot: "Goodness me-- why, what was that?" To which Dick Deadeye knowingly warns: "Silent be, it was the cat!" The cat-o'-nine-tails was a whip with nine knotted lashes used frequently for discipline aboard ships of the Royal Navy.

From Quiz Gilbert & Sullivan's: "H.M.S. Pinafore"

Answer: Dick Dead-Eye

Dick Dead-Eye chorused the captain's words in his enjoyment at getting Ralph and Josephine caught. Ralph and the Boatswain are very polite throughout the opera and Cousin Hebe is Sir Joseph's cousin who is also horrified by the swearing. "Don't go near him! Don't go near him! He is swearing! He is swearing!"

From Quiz "Pinafore" in Translation

Answer: fish in the North Sea

"Drops the wind and stops the mill; Turbot is ambitious brill; Gild the farthing if you will, yet it is a farthing still." Turbot is a flatfish similar to the flounder that yields much sought-after tasty, light and flaky fillets which, because of their size, can be prepared in a variety of ways. Brill is also a flatfish, but as much as 1/4 or 1/5 the size of a turbot and not as sweet to the taste.

From Quiz Gilbert & Sullivan's: "H.M.S. Pinafore"

Answer: Silent be- it was the cat

When Dick Dead-Eye tells the crew that the noise was just the cat, he spoke almost the truth. He was refering to the cat-o-nine-tails carried by the hidden Captain Corcoran. This nine straped whip would have been a terrible punishment for wayward sailors.

From Quiz Gilbert & Sullivan's: "H.M.S. Pinafore"

Answer: K.C.B.

Sir Joseph Porter K.C.B. is the Knight Commander of the Bath, A Knighthood founded by George the first in 1725. K.G. is Knight of the Garter, founded by Edward the third in 1350. The other two I made up.

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