Fun With Rhymes Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mononucleosis

The first recorded version of this nursery rhyme in the 19th century actually had the name Rowley Powley instead of Georgie Porgie. There are a number of theories as to its origin, but none substantiated. The theory I like the best is that Georgie Porgie was the arsonist responsible for the Great Fire of London which started in Pudding Lane.

Mononucleosis or glandular fever, commonly referred to as "the kissing disease" or just plain 'mono', is an infection caused by Epstein-barr virus and is primarily transmitted through saliva. Symptoms can include enlarged lymph nodes, liver and spleen, sore throats and fever. It lasts for approximately two to four weeks and generally goes away on its own. So if Georgie Porgie has a sore throat, don't let him kiss you.

Answer: Opposable thumbs

The origin of this nursery rhyme is not clear, but the earliest recorded version which has a fork running away with the spoon was printed in 1765. There are many theories regarding its meaning. Some suggest that it refers to constellations, others suggest that it refers to the game of knurr and spell (trap-ball). Most suggest is has no meaning at all.

Opposable thumbs are what help us to grip and pick up things. Apart from humans and primates, there are a number of animals with opposable thumbs. The East African maned rat has a partially opposable thumb, opossums have opposable thumbs on their feet and of course birds have opposable digits on their feet. Whether the cat would have been any good at the fiddle we do not know, but having thumbs would have helped.

Answer: Salmonella

The earliest known version of this rhyme was published in 1797. The term 'humpty dumpty' in the 17th century referred to a brandy drink and in the 18th century, a short and clumsy person. Nowhere in the rhyme does it refer to an actual egg. Although in 1843, William Carey Richards wrote, "when we were five years old ... the following parallel lines... were propounded as a riddle ... Humpty-dumpty, reader, is the Dutch or something else for an egg". A number of theories exist, but the general consensus is that it was originally created as a riddle.

Salmonella is a bacteria first discovered in 1880 and can cause food poisoning and typhoid fever. Salmonellosis leads to diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and fever. Salmonella can be contracted through poultry not thawed hygienically or inadequately cooked, contamination from faeces and chicken eggs. The shell could be contaminated by animal faeces and the yolk by the bacteria through the shell or from the hen that laid it. A number of people die yearly from salmonella infections.

Answer: Amputation

The earliest versions of this rhyme found in Thomas Ravenscoft's "Deuteromelia" in 1609 does not mention the mice being harmed.

"Three Blinde Mice,
Three Blinde Mice,
Dame Iulian,
Dame Iulian,
the Miller and his merry olde Wife,
she scrapte her tripe licke thou the knife"

Attempts were made to attribute the rhyme to Queen Mary I of England for having three Protestant bishops blinded and burned at the stake, but the bishops were not actually blinded and the rhyme was published long after her death. This does not completely disprove the theory however, as later theories suggested that their faith (Protestant), was equated to blindness.

Answer: Gargantuan

Henry Carey published "Namby Pamby" in the early 1700s and this contains the earliest reference to this rhyme.

"Now he sings of Jackey Horner
Sitting in the Chimney-Corner
Eating of a Christmas pye,
Putting in his thumb, Oh fie!
Putting in, Oh fie! his Thumb
Pulling out, Oh strange! a Plum."

Authors have subsequently used this rhyme to represent political misuse of funds. Thomas Love Peacock writes in his 1817 novel "Melincourt":

"Jack Horner's CHRISTMAS PIE my learned nurse
Interpreted to mean the public purse.
From thence a plum he drew. O happy Horner!
Who would not be ensconced in thy snug corner?"

The "Merriam-Webster" dictionary defines gargantuan as "tremendous in size, volume, or degree". Other synonyms include gigantic and colossal.

Answer: Refraction

Originally this nursery rhyme was written and published by Jane Taylor as a five verse poem in 1806 named "The Star". The tune used for the rhyme is originally from the French nursery rhyme "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman" which has been used for the "ABC Song" as well as Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" (hum it quickly to yourself and you'll see).

Refraction, reflection and dispersion are the three factors that contribute to the brilliance of a diamond. Refraction in a diamond is caused when light travels through it and is angled through the diamond's facets and back out through the surface giving it a spectacular shine. Stars twinkle due to light from the stars being refracted by turbulence in Earth's atmosphere. The twinkling is known as scintillation.

Answer: Mollusc

This nursery rhyme first appeared in print in 1744 in "Tom Thumb's Pretty Song Book" albeit with slightly different lyrics. Instead of "pretty maids all in a row", it has the line "And so my garden grows". As with many other nursery rhymes, there are a wealth of theories as to its meaning. The subject Mary has been equated to Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary, Queen of Scots and Queen Marie I. The "silver bells" and "pretty maids" each have their own significance depending on which Mary you prescribe to. The "cockle shells" refer, in one theory, to the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots being unfaithful to her.

A cockle is a mollusc and is generally found along the coastlines of Europe. It is a bivalve mollusc, meaning its shell is made up of two hinged parts. It has a ribbed shell, lives buried in sand and feeds through filtering plankton. There are approximately 85,000 different species of molluscs and they make up the second largest phylum of invertebrates. Cockles are eaten boiled, fried and my absolute favourite, pickled.

Answer: Pendulum

Appearing in print for the first time in 1744, it was printed in "Tom Thumb's Pretty Song Book". It is probable that it was used as "counting-out rhyme" much in the same vein as "Eeny Meeny Miney Moe".

There is a second verse to the rhyme of which I was not aware:

"Dickory, dickory, dare,
The pig flew up in the air.
The man in brown, Soon brought him down,
Dickory, dickory, dare."

Grandfather clocks generally all contain a a swinging weight called a pendulum. It moves from side to side and each pendulum swing counts off a second. For a long time the long case pendulum clock was though to be the most accurate timekeeper. According to the "Oxford English" dictionary, the name was taken from an 1876 song called "My Grandfather's Clock" written by Henry Clay Work.

Answer: Arachnophobia

There is no clear origin of this rhyme, but a popular theory is that it was written by Dr Thomas Muffet, a physician and entomologist, about his daughter. His specific field of interest involved insects in regard to medicine, as well as spiders. However, the rhyme first appeared in print in 1805, two hundred years after his death, in a book called "Songs for the Nursery".

Arachnophobia is an irrational fear of arachnids in general, not specifically spiders. One of the more popular treatments of this phobia is exposure therapy, whereby the subject is exposed to live spiders in a controlled environment.

Answer: Bassinet

Rock-a-bye baby first appeared in print in 1765 in "Mother Goose's Melody". There have been a number of alternative versions printed through the years, but the version we know today is closest to the original version printed in 1765. In "The Real Mother Goose" published in 1916, the lyrics were changed significantly:

"Rock-a-bye baby, thy cradle is green;
Father's a nobleman, mother's a queen;
And Aggy's a lady, and wears a gold ring;
And Johnny's a drummer, and drums for the king."

Sam Foster writes in his book "Hey Diddle-Diddle: Our Best-Loved Nursery Rhymes and What They Really Mean" (2008):

"One reading of this rhyme is that it describes the observations of an American pilgrim boy, who noticed how Native American Wampanoag women, working in fields, would hang a birch-bark cradle from a tree branch and allow the wind to rock the baby to sleep."

The "Merriam-Webster" dictionary defines a bassinet as "a baby's basketlike bed (as of wickerwork or plastic) often with a hood over one end". The only difference between a bassinet and traditional cradle is that a bassinet generally has fixed legs, whereas a cradle is designed to be rocked.