Upwords & Downwords VIII Trivia Quiz

Answer: spoonerism

A spoonerism is a play on words in which sounds (consonants, vowels , or morphemes) are transposed across two or more words. They take their name from Rev. William Archibald Spooner (1844 - 1930), a British cleric and warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to such slips of the tongue (spoonerized "tips of the slung").

Examples:
"May I sew you to your sheet?" for "May I show you to your seat?"
"Hoobert Heaver" for "Herbert Hoover"
"Killed him in a rit of fealous jage" for "Killed him in a fit of jealous rage"

Answer: spermions

In physics, a tadpole is a circular Feynman diagram with one external line interval invented by Sidney Coleman. Coleman's editor was not happy with the word 'tadpole' but allowed it after Coleman proposed the word 'spermion' instead.

Male reproductive cell = sperm + charged atoms = ions gives spermions.

Answer: promises

The word 'promise' derives from the Latin word 'promissum', the neuter past participle of 'promittere', which means 'to send forth'.

Answer: impress

The words 'press gang' and 'impress' refer to the act of compelling or forcing others to serve in a military or naval force. 'Press gang' also refers to the group under a commanding officer employed to impress others into service.

Answer: primes

In mathematics, prime numbers (or primes) are positive integers that can be divided by exactly two distinct positive integers without remainder, one and the prime number itself. For example, the prime 13 can only be divided by 1 and 13 to achieve a positive integer result.

Answer: prism

A prism can be used to break incident light up into its constituent spectral colors given the right amount of light, angle of incidence, and ratio of refractive indices of the two media (usually air and glass). The refractive index depends on the wavelength of light, so white light passing through a prism will be split into its constituent spectral colors based on wavelength variation.

Answer: prim

The idiom, 'prim and proper', is used to refer to someone who behaves in a very formal or prudish manner.

Louisa May Alcott used the phrase in "An Old-Fashioned Girl", which she called a story about Young America for Young America, in her apology to English purists for her use of certain expressions that she nonetheless considered an accurate depiction of her patrons. She reasoned thus: "Otherwise, I must expect the crushing criticism, 'Well, I dare say it's all very prim and proper, but it isn't a bit like us,' and never hope to arrive at the distinction of finding the covers of "An Old-Fashioned Girl" the dirtiest in the library".

Answer: pir

'Pir' is a title of respect given to religious leaders and is used especially in Pakistan and areas of the Middle and Near East. It derives from the Hindu/Urdu/Persian word for 'old man'.

Answer: pi

If you were to place a circle with a diameter of 1 at a starting point 0 on a line and roll it in a positive direction, it would make one complete revolution over a length of pi or 3.141592. That is, a circle with a diameter of 1 has a circumference of pi.

Answer: I

'I' is the nominative (first person) singular personal pronoun used by a speaker to refer to himself or herself.

Answer: Li

Lithium (atomic #3) is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive alkali metal used as a heat transfer medium, in thermonuclear weapons, alloys, batteries, and in mood-stabilizing drugs in its salt forms.

Answer: ilk

In Scotland, the term is used following a name to indicate that the one named is a resident of an area bearing the same name. For example, 'McCloud of that ilk' refers to the fact that McCloud the person is a resident of McCloud the place-name.

Answer: silk

Silk fibers are obtained from the cocoons of silkworms, the larvae of several moths of the Saturniidae family, but especially of the Chinese silkworm moth, Bombyx mori.

Answer: slick

In motor sports, a "slick tire" (or "racing slick") is a wide treadless tire meant to maximize road contact and traction.

Answer: sickle

Sickle cell disease is a group of genetic disorders caused by abnormal crescent-shaped hemoglobin. Polymerization of these hemoglobin molecules causes the red blood cells to have an elongated, crescent-like shape upon deoxygenation.