Hop on Plop Trivia Quiz

Answer: Slop

SLOP is used pejoratively to describe tasteless, often watery, food; slops is an alternative term for swill, waste food fed to livestock, especially pigs. Slop can also be used as a verb, describing an action which leads to spilled or splashed liquids.

Answer: Slap

As well as literally describing a blow with the flat of an open hand, SLAP is often used figuratively. A slap in the face refers to an insult, and a slap on the wrist is a milder rebuke, while a slap on the back is a form of congratulation.

Answer: Slip

When you are walking on a surface with little friction, it is easy to SLIP and fall if one of your feet slides unexpectedly - that's why it is called a slippery surface. Slipping also describes the process of moving quietly, smoothly and unobserved (both literally and figuratively). To let something slip means to reveal something unintentionally. To give someone the slip means to escape while being pursued. My dictionary lists another forty definitions, too much information for one short quiz.

Answer: Clip

This weekend I must find time to CLIP my hedge - it is getting quite straggly in appearance, and those awkward shoots need to be cut back to make it look tidy. I'd better be careful not to let one of the flying twigs clip me on the head (hit me a sharp blow)! Clip formerly was used to describe an embrace, which has led to the use of the word to describe a device that holds things together, such as a paper clip.

Answer: Flip

To FLIP is to toss with a flicking motion. When this is done to a pancake, it is intended that it will return to the pan with the other surface facing the pan, so that both sides will get cooked. In the Australian game of two-up, two coins are flipped from a paddle so that they spin while in the air, and players try to guess whether they will land both heads, both tails, or one of each.

The game is commonly played on ANZAC Day, because it was played extensively by World War I soldiers whose sacrifice is commemorated on April 25.

Answer: Flit

The word FLIT is not only used to describe a rapid, often fluttery, motion, but also as a noun to describe one who moves that way or, figuratively, a person whose thought processes seem to move erratically and whimsically from one topic to another. 'A moonlight flit' describes departing secretly to escape an unpleasant situation, such as unpaid bills.

The word flit is etymologically related to the more familiar word flight.

Answer: Flat

A FLAT tire is one whose bottom surface is no longer curved. On the stage, a flat is a piece of movable scenery. In music, a note is flat if it is below the usual pitch (which is not so good if it refers to a singer whose pitch is not accurate). I prefer my champagne to be effervescent rather than flat, but flat ginger ale was all I was allowed to drink when I had a gastrointestinal problem. I still don't understand why the apartment I rented when I first moved to Australia was called a flat - it was up two flights of stairs!

Answer: Flay

While you could say that you have flayed an orange in preparation for eating it, the verb FLAY is usually reserved for the removal of animal (including human) skin, usually as a byproduct of whipping. The word was more often seen in the days when public flogging was a common punishment. It can also be used figuratively to describe a verbal assault.

Answer: play

Children may PLAY with their toys or with each other. A musician plays a musical instrument, and could do so as part of a presentation of the dramatic form called a play. If you have played your cards right, avoiding the temptation to play the fool, you should expect to succeed. And so on.

Answer: Ploy

A PLOY is a strategic action intended to gain an advantage over one's opponents. The term implies an artful, frequently deceptive, maneuver. This usage is a modern development of the word, which originally meant anything with which one amuses oneself, and originated in the north of England.