Find the Vowels II Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sit

The command "sit" is often the first to be taught by owners and learnt by dogs. It is important to reward the dog's correct response with some sort of treat so that the dog will learn to associate obedience with treats. It is also recommended that such commands be taught in a calm environment, as you are more likely to lose the dog's attention if they are overstimulated.

Answer: Good dog

Dog is a man's best friend, and domesticated dogs were selected through centuries of breeding, directed by humans. The reason for this selective breeding was to produce dogs well-adapted at carrying out specific roles. When a dachshund flushes out a badger, or when a golden retriever brings you a game bird which you have just shot, you may say "good dog".

These days, the phrase is usually used as a term of affection.

Answer: Walkies

When I saw my neighbour walking their dog, I noticed that the dog walked unusually, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. After a bit of research, I found that this dog paced, rather than trotted. Dogs usually trot, meaning that one limb moves almost in unison with the limb diagonal to it (i.e. the left hind leg moves forward almost simultaneously with the right foreleg, while the left foreleg moves with the right hind leg).

Some dogs may adopt a tendency to pace, meaning that pairs of lateral legs move in unison (i.e. the left foreleg moves in unison with the left hind leg, and same for the right pair).

This behaviour is often just a habit, but may be indicative of spinal problems.

Answer: Roll over

One of the most famous dogs given this command was Beethoven, the St. Bernard. The song "Roll Over Beethoven" was used in the 1992 film "Beethoven", as well as its sequel a year later. The song was originally released by Chuck Berry and was supposedly based on his desire to play popular music on the family piano, while his sister wanted to play classical music.

Answer: The Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo was a decisive battle fought in 1815 at the concluding stages of the Napoleonic Wars. The victorious British forces were led by the Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, who became British Prime Minister in 1828.

Answer: The First Boer War

The First Boer War lasted from 1880 until 1881 and was the first major conflict between the British empire and the Boers - South Africans descended from Dutch settlers. The conflicts took place over the issue independence of the Boer republics that existed at the time (the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic).

Answer: The Second World War

The Second World War (1939-1945) followed the optimistically named War to End All Wars (also known as World War I or the Great War). This military conflict has been more extensively studied that any other conflict in history and there exist a huge amount of terrific quizzes on the subject on this site.

Answer: The Charge of the Light Brigade

The Charge of the Light Brigade refers to a British cavalry force in the Crimean War who were swiftly defeated by Russian forces following a miscommunication of orders. The events are commemorated by the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson in his "The Charge of the Light Brigade", which was subsequently used by George Orwell to highlight the British tendency to produce great works out of literature out of military defeats, rather than victories.

Answer: Humongous

Lord Humungus was the husky voice leader of a motercycle gang in the post-apocalyptic film "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior". In the film, Humungus is referred to as the "Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla", a title also adopted by Chris Jericho of the WWE.

Answer: Huge

HUGE is an acronym, standing for Human Unidentified Gene-Encoded proteins. HUGE is a database containing proteins, the primary sequences of which have been determined through analysing novel cDNA sequences. "What is cDNA?" you cry. Firstly, it is important to highlight what is called the Central Dogma of molecular biology.

This dogma states that DNA is used to make RNA, which is used to make protein. The step of converting DNA into mature RNA involves the splicing out of non-coding regions of nucleic acid called introns.

This mature RNA may then be converted back into DNA. However, this DNA is not the same as the DNA we started with, as it no longer contains non-coding regions. This new DNA (containing only coding regions) is called cDNA.

Answer: Gigantic

A paleontologist can be forgiven for getting excited when discovering a dinosaur bone after years of searching. Upon finding that this is a sample from a previously undescribed species and that the species was big, very big, in fact - gigantic - the name of the species comes naturally. Giganotosaurus is a genus of large reptile which lived in the late Cretaceous period in what is now Argentina.

It was formed like a Tyrannosaurus rex.

Answer: Immense

Immense is a word sometimes used to mean very large, and may be used to describe an entity that is so large that its size is immeasurable. The term can also be used colloquially to refer to something that is good.

Answer: Red and white make pink

It was demonstrated by Gregor Mendel in the 19th century that many characteristics (e.g. the colour of a pea) are determined by genes. Importantly, one gene often displays dominance over another (e.g. a gene coding for yellow peas is dominant over the gene coding for green peas).

This idea of dominant and recessive genes holds in many cases, but, in snapdragons, the colour of the flowers is determined differently. If the snapdragon has two genes coding for red petals, the petals are red. If the snapdragon has two genes coding for white petals, the petals are white.

However, neither white nor red is dominant over the other, so when a snapdragon has one gene for white petals and one gene for red petals, the petals are pink.

Answer: Blue and red make purple

The dye known as Tyrian purple is derived from certain species of sea snails. One legend tells us that this dye was discovered by the dog of the hero Heracles. The dog's mouth had been stained purple after chewing on these snails when Heracles had taken him for walkies on the beach.

Answer: Red and yellow make orange

Much like the colour violet was named for the flower, the colour orange was named for the fruit. The term "orange" was not used to describe the colour in Europe until the 16th century. Until this time, "red" was used to describe both what we would now describe as orange as well as what we call red, and this is seen in the name "robin redbreast", the breast of which is actually orange.

Answer: Green and blue make cyan

Cyan is one of the four standard colours used in printing, with the others being magenta, yellow, and black. This colour model is called the CMYK (black is represented by the letter "K", which stands for "key"). In this model the combination of all colours results in black, whereas in the RGB (red/green/blue) colour model, this combination results in white.

Answer: Rotor

A rotor is a rotating component of a machine. One example of a rotor is that which is found in a centrifuge. Centrifuges are used in biological sciences to seperate cellular components. After a cell is lysed (broken open), the sample (known as the homogenate) is spun at high speeds to separate components based on density.

For example, nuclei are denser than mitochondria, which are denser than ribosomes.

Answer: Deified

If a person is revered as a god on Earth, they are said to be deified. The distinction between a god and one who is deified is sometimes drawn, with "deus" referring to the former and "divus" to the latter.

Answer: Kayak

"Kayak" comes from the Inuit word "qayaq" and describes a narrow, human-powered boat that was originally used for hunting, but which is now more common in sport.

Answer: Aibohphobia

Aibohphobia is, yes, a fear of palindromes. Those sly linguists strike again, as if hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (a fear of long words) wasn't bad enough. Will the torment never end?