Wordwise Puzzler No. 8 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Union Jack

The Union Jack is the well known name given to the national flag of the United Kingdom. It features a combination of the super imposed crosses of Scotland, Ireland and England - Saint Andrew, Saint Patrick and Saint George. Poor old Wales doesn't get a look in, but that's because it is represented as part of the country of England.

There is a popular suggestion that a small red dragon to represent Wales be placed at the centre of the flag. The design of the flag dates back to 1801.

Answer: Up a blind alley

To be up a blind alley is to be pursuing an objective or goal that is going to lead nowhere, much in the same way that a blind alley does. The use of this phrase dates back to at least 1582, where it appears in a book by Richard Stanihurst called "The First Foure Bookes of Virgil his Aeneid (translated)".

Answer: Vanished into thin air

To have vanished into thin air is to have disappeared completely without leaving any trace as to where something or someone has gone. Shakespeare (1564-1616) came up with the phrase "thin air", and William Blake (1757-1827) with the phrase "vanish into air".

However, it wasn't until an 1822 article in the Edinburgh "Advertiser" newspaper, discussing the possibility of a war between Russia and Turkey, that the full phrase "vanish into thin air" was first recorded.

Answer: The bit between your teeth

If you've taken the bit between your teeth, you've taken over the control of any particular situation, whether personal, business or pleasure. This is a reference to the mouthpiece that rests against the soft parts of a horse's mouth. The rider, by pulling on either side of the reins, is then in charge of which direction the horse must take.

The saying dates back to the days when horse riding was a common means of conveyance in western countries, before the age of the automobile.

Answer: A tall story

A tall story is one that sounds improbable and is extremely hard for the listeners or readers to swallow. This expression can be dated back to 19th century England. It is based on the highly exaggerated yarns of one Baron Munchhausen whose tales of derring-do were so impossible that they created either great mirth or scorn whenever they were delivered.

Answer: A tempest in a teapot

A tempest in a teapot expresses the same sentiment as a storm in a teapot. Both expressions mean that a great fuss has been created out of nothing. Versions of this expression were first recorded, believe it or not, in Cicero's 52BC "De Legibus" in which he puts it as "stirring up billows in a ladle".

Others terms over time relating to the same include the Netherlands "storm in a glass of water", England's "storm in a cream bowl" and Hungary's amusing "tempest in a potty".

Answer: The back of beyond

To be out the back of beyond is to be extremely far away from any form of civilisations. This is a fairly typical expression used in Australia regarding same, but was first recorded by Scotland's Sir Walter Scott in his 1816 novel "The Antiquary", in which he states "You... whirled them to the back of beyond to look at the auld Roman camp".

Answer: The Big Apple

The Big Apple is a descriptive term for the mighty city of New York in the United States. There is no one definite source of this term, as several claim it. However most agree it originated with stable boys in the horse racing game in the southern states when referring to winning a race.

While working there as a sports writer for a New York newspaper in the 1920s, one John J. Fitz Gerald recorded it in an article in 1924, in which he states "The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen.

There's only one Big Apple. That's New York."

Answer: The crack of doom

The crack of doom is the frightening sound that announces that the Last Judgement day has arrived at last, when sinners will quail in their boots knowing what fate awaits them. The general meaning of this is of course recorded back in the Bible in Matthew 12:36 (KJV) in which it is stated "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment".

The definite expression, however, appears to be first recorded by William Shakespeare. In his 1605 play "Macbeth", he records Macbeth as saying "Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo: down!... Filthy hags! Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes! What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?"

Answer: The elephant in the room

This term refers to a topic that is usually of some moment, or one that is very obvious, but which, for various reasons, everyone seems reluctant to talk about - so nothing is said at all. This expression originates in the United States where it is first recorded in "The Charleston Gazette" in July, 1952.

In this it states "Chicago, that's an old Indian word meaning get that elephant out of your room". Chicago was a word used by Native Americans, but it certainly didn't refer to elephants, so what the writer actually meant is a little uncertain.

Answer: The fifth estate

Dating back to the 14th century, when one talked about the estate, it usually referred to some power in the land, such as the clergy, or the government or the nobility and so on. The fifth estate by the 21st century has come to mean an overall power working behind the scenes. Generally speaking, the other four estates were and are 1. Lords spiritual (clergy) 2. Lords temporal (nobility) 3. Commons (usually a reference to the knights, or it could mean the general population), and 4. the media.

A hidden power (the fifth estate) behind them all controlling everything is a rather alarming thought, don't you agree? Absolutely power corrupts absolutely.

Answer: the floozie in the jacuzzi

The floozie in the jacuzzi was a statue of a female located in the middle of a fountain in O'Connell Street, Dublin. There she rested in all her glory, with water all around her and trickling down over her shoulders. This famous statue, given such an hilarious nickname by the irreverent Irish, represents a personification of Dublin's Liffey river.

Her official name, Anna Livia, comes from a novel by Irish writer, James Joyce. The floozie in the jacuzzi has since been moved to Croppies Memorial Park in Dublin to make way for the Spire of Dublin which was erected in her place. That spire is just a tall stainless steel monument that looks like a tapering needle, and is, quite frankly, boring to the eye.

The floozie was ever so much more amusing when it resided there.

Answer: Fed up to the back teeth

If you're fed up to the back teeth, you've have enough and refuse to take it any more, whatever the source of exasperation or annoyance may be. This expression can be dated back to the onset of the 19th century. It compared the force feeding of animals to fatten them up so they could barely move - to an overweight and self-indulged aristocracy.

A newspaper article of 1832 described one Duke of Bourbon as being so fat that he couldn't have hanged himself if he tried, as he wouldn't have been able to stand on a chair or even tie a knot.

The Duke had been found dead under very suspicious circumstances. Lawyers described his obesity by comparing it to "the awkwardness of princes" because "Every thing being done for them, they never learn to do anything; they are fed up, as it were, in a stall to exist and not to act.

It is rare to find a Prince who can walk decently across a room".

Answer: Obesity in the young

If someone is obese (sob), that person is overweight. Some of us, though, prefer to describe this condition as delightfully plump (here, here!). Unfortunately though, obesity in the young is no laughing matter and is described by many health professionals as reaching epidemic proportions. Lack of exercise and the availability of fattening and oily junk foods are directly being blamed for this.

Answer: All fingers and thumbs

If anyone is described today as being all fingers and thumbs, that person is extremely clumsy, prone to dropping everything picked up and usually breaking it into the bargain. This doesn't particularly make sense as we've inherited the saying, but it was actually "all thumbs" alone. That would explain a great deal.

It would be very hard to be graceful and certain in one's movement if we only possessed thumbs. In John Heywood's 1546 "Dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue" (sic), the first time it seems to have been recorded, he describes it as ""Giijb, Whan he should get ought, eche fynger is a thumbe".

Answer: A fish out of water

Feeling like a fish out of water is akin to the feeling one experiences when placed in a new and completely unfamiliar situation that evokes feelings of discomfort and uneasiness. This term has been recorded as far back as the days of Geoffrey Chaucer (1434-1400) and appears in his famous work "The Canterbury Tales" which he began writing in the late 1380s.

He describes a monk in his prologue as "a monk, when he is cloisterless; Is like to a fish that is waterless". You can take the monk out of the cloisters, but you can't take the cloisters out of the monk.

Answer: Wuthering Heights

Written by English author Emily Bronte (1818-1848) between 1845 and 1846, "Wuthering Heights" is one of the most passionate love stories ever written. It relates the doomed, tortured and overwhelming love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, an orphan boy adopted by Catherine's father.

Its savagery and cruelty is juxtaposed against the gentler and more civilised romance of two members of the next generation, and leaves the reader almost overcome by the supernatural themes it introduces at its climax, and the knowledge that even death could not separate those two wild beings of Heathcliff and his Catherine.

This is a heartbreaking and astonishingly powerful work of fiction indeed.

Answer: A fly on the wall

Being a fly on the wall would allow you to listen to all that is being said below, but without anyone taking any particular notice of you. This phrase originated in the United States during the early years of the twentieth century. It first appeared in print in "The Oakland Tribune" in an article that stated "I'd just love to be a fly on the wall when the Right Man comes along".

Answer: The Full Monty

Most of us probably associate the full Monty with the highly entertaining 1997 movie of the same name, but the term is older than that. Nobody appears to know exactly when and from where it originated, but it has been tentatively credited to a tailoring business in England which opened in Derby in 1904, and which was owned by Sir Montague Burton. His manufacture of three piece suits for gentlemen attending high society functions became known as the Full Monty to many of his customers.

Answer: From strength to strength

Going from strength to strength is a series of successful coups in any endeavour, whether business, entertainment, science, personal and so on. Believe it or not this term dates right back to the days of the Bible where it appears in Psalm 84:7(KJV). It states here that "They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God".