This is a Pain in the Neck Trivia Quiz

Answer: Aspirin

Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid, and its active ingredient is the chemical derived from the bark of willow trees - people have chewed on willow bark for many years, benefiting from its ability to alleviate pain and reduce fever. Aspirin belongs to the class of medicines called NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs).

Salbutamol is an asthma medication commonly marketed as Ventolin, cocaine is a stimulant derived from the coca plant, and consumption of ethanol (drinking alcohol) may ease the pain, but it does not come from a willow tree.

Answer: Interior

The outside of something is referred to as its exterior, and the inside as its interior. The word interior comes from the Latin word meaning the inner or middle part of an area.

Answer: Organ

Organ meats, also called offal or variety meats, include different parts of the animal in different cultures. Pâté, for example, is technically chopped liver, and an organ meat, but most would consider it a delicacy, while the implication of calling something an organ meat is that it is somewhat inferior, and only eaten because nothing better is available. I understand there are people who actually look forward to being served tripe (stomach lining, usually bovine) with white sauce, but I am not one of them.

Answer: Anatomy

Early editions of the book were somewhat longer in title: 'Anatomy: Descriptive and Surgical', 'Gray's Anatomy: Descriptive and Applied' and 'Anatomy of the Human Body', for example, but today it is usually just referred to as Gray's 'Anatomy'. The 41st revised edition was published in 2015, still using many of the original drawings by Henry Vandyke Carter.

Answer: Myocardium

You may have heard that what is commonly called a heart attack is more properly described as a myocardial infarction, meaning that the myocardium (heart muscle tissue) has been damaged because of a loss of blood supply. This is most commonly caused by blockage of the coronary arteries which circulate blood to the area.

The periosteum is a membrane found on the exterior of bones. The mesothelium is a membrane lining any of several body cavities, including that in which the heart is found, the pericardium. Myelitis is an inflammation of the spinal cord.

Answer: Umbrella

Although the word bumbershoot is often used as if it were a British term, it was actually coined in 19th century America, probably as a humorous combination of umbrella and parachute.

Bumbershoot is also the name of an international music/arts festival held in Seattle, Washington on Labor Day weekend (in early September). The name was possibly chosen as a reference to Seattle's notoriously rainy climate.

Answer: Lateral

If the receiver is closer to the goal to which the team is heading, it is called a forward pass. Technically, a pass to a receiver away from the goal is called a backwards pass in the official rule book, but fans and commentators usually call it a lateral.

Answer: Alter

The picture showed an altar, and that word is pronounced the same as the word alter, meaning to change. Two words with the same spelling as well as the same pronunciation, but with different meanings, are homonyms (for example, the bark of a dog and the bark of a tree), and words with the same spelling but different pronunciations and meanings are homographs (for example, lead as an action and the element lead).

Answer: Ermine

The species name, Mustelea erminea, would have been a giveaway! The stoat in summer has a brown fur, which changes to white in winter. This adaptation is clearly a camouflage advantage for hunting in snowy regions, such as those parts of Eurasia and North America where the stoat usually lives in the wild.

They were introduced into New Zealand in the 19th century, where they had a devastating impact on native birdlife.

Answer: neck

Whiplash is a non-medical term for a neck injury caused by sudden extension of the neck. It is most commonly associated with car accidents involving being hit from behind, but can be caused by a range of activities, including bungee jumping (another good reason not to jump off that bridge and trust to a tiny piece of elastic as you plummet groundwards).

In the 19th century, the injury was most commonly seen in train accidents, and it was often called railway spine.