U R Missing Trivia Quiz

Answer: buggy

Buggy can also be an adjective describing a faulty computer program, or someone who is mad.

Answer: curry

Curry comes from the Tamil word 'kari'. To curry favour is to attempt to ingratiate oneself.

Answer: dumb

Dumbness is very often caused by congenital deafness. The word is also used to describe somebody as stupid, and so can cause offence if used to describe somebody who is unable to speak for any reason.

Answer: fury

Fury is derived from the Latin 'furere' meaning to be mad. When capitalised, Fury refers to one of the three Greek goddesses of vengeance.

Answer: gnu

One of Flanders and Swan's animal songs is about a gnu.
"I'm a gnu-I'm a gnu
The g-nicest work of g-nature in the zoo
I'm a gnu-how do you do?
You really oughtta g-know w-who's w-who
I'm a gnu-spelt G - N - U"
It emphasises the pronunciation which sounds the initial 'g'. Gnu can also have a silent 'g', and be a homophone of 'new'.

Answer: humbug

In the UK, a humbug is peppermint flavoured boiled sweet. 'Bah! Humbug!' is an expression used to express a lack of enthusiasm for Christmas celebrations, and it comes from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol".

Answer: jumbuck

The origin of the word 'jumbuck' is unclear. It may come from a pidgin word for 'jump up', or it may come from an Aboriginal word for 'white mist' describing the appearance of a flock of sheep from a distance. For many people the word is most familiar from its use in Banjo Paterson's song "Waltzing Matilda".

Answer: kudu

The word 'kudu' is derived from a Xhosa word 'i-qudu'. The two species of kudu inhabit eastern and southern Africa. The spiral horn is used to make a shofar which is used in Jewish ceremonies.

Answer: luxury

The word 'luxury' comes through Old French from the Latin 'luxus' meaning 'excess'. It can be used to mean an extravagant way of living, or to refer to an extra that isn't necessary, but adds to one's enjoyment.

Answer: musth

'Musth', which can also be spelled 'must', comes from a Persian word meaning 'intoxicated'. Musth happens when testosterone levels rise to forty to sixty times higher than normal. It can lead to very aggressive behaviour.

Answer: null

The word 'null' comes through Middle English and French from the Latin words 'ne' meaning 'not' and 'ullus' meaning 'any'. It is often used in the phrase 'null and void' referring to something which is invalid in law. It can be used in mathematics to describe an empty set. In electronics it describes something without a signal.

Answer: punch

The word 'punch' can also refer to a device for making a hole in, or an embossed design on, a material. It can also refer to a drink mixed from several other ingredients, usually including alcohol. Punch is one of the two main characters in a traditional puppet show - the other being his long-suffering wife, Judy. A Suffolk punch is a short-legged draught horse.

Answer: rugby

The game of rugby football takes its name from the town of Rugby in Warwickshire, England, the home of Rugby School where the game was first played in the nineteenth century. There are now two distinct forms of the game - rugby union played with teams of fifteen players, and rugby league which has only thirteen players on a team.

Answer: subfusc

The word 'subfusc' is used in a poetic or literary sense as an adjective. As a noun it refers to the formal clothing worn at some British universities. At the University of Oxford, subfusc is worn with full academic dress for taking examinations, as well as for matriculation and degree ceremonies. For men it consists of a dark suit, white shirt and white bow tie, with black socks and shoes. Women wear a white blouse and a black bow, with a black skirt, stockings and shoes. Both wear an undergraduate gown for matriculation and exams.

After being admitted to a degree, they are entitled to wear the gown and hood appropriate to that degree. Men have always carried or worn a mortarboard. Traditionally female members of the University wore a soft cap, but nowadays they may wear a mortarboard if they wish.

Answer: tumulus

The word 'tumulus' comes through Middle English from the Latin word 'tumere' meaning 'to swell'. A tumulus is also referred to as a barrow. There are many tumuli in parts of the British Isles - they can be found on the 1:50000 Ordnance Survey maps marked by small, five-pointed stars.

Answer: vug

A vug will usually be lined with crystals of quartz or calcite. The word 'vug' came into existence in the nineteenth century and is derived from the Cornish word 'vooga'. 'Vug' can also be spelled 'vugh'.

Answer: wurst

There are many types of German sausage. Two of the more common ones are bockwurst and bratwurst, usually served from a market stall accompanied by a bread roll and large dollop of mustard.

Answer: xu

The word 'xu' is derived from the French 'sou' meaning a small coin, presumably because the French colonised Vietnam from the middle of the nineteenth century until the Second World War. Given the exchange rate in 2016 of over 30,000 dongs to one pound sterling, or more than 20,000 dongs to a Euro or a US dollar, it seems likely that the xu has fallen out of use.

It is, however, a useful word if you play Scrabble.

Answer: yurt

Yurts were first described by the Greek writer, Herodotus, writing in the fifth century BC. Traditionally they are made from a felt covering on a circular wooden frame, and could be easily dismantled and carried to another site for re-erection. Nowadays the word is often used to refer to any semi-permanent circular shelter.

Answer: Zulu

Zulu is also the word used to represent the letter 'Z' in the international phonetic alphabet. Zulu Time is the time at the zero meridian, and is otherwise referred to as Greenwich Mean Time. The 1964 film "Zulu" tells the story of the Battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879.