Little Talks Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dialogue

Dialogue means talk, discussion or speech that takes place, back and forth, between two or more people. It can be conducted face to face, video linked or on the telephone. In slang terms you may hear people refer to conversations as "chewing the fat" or "bending the ears".

Answer: Parley

Parley is a military term for discussions that take place between enemies. This is usually done under a flag of truce. It is no longer used a great deal but has become more accessible during recent times due to its use in the popular movie series "The Pirates of the Caribbean".

Answer: Spreading rumours

Gossip is often called idle talk. It is usually a casual conversation between people that is generally of a personal or even intimate nature. For example "Did you hear about so and so and what he and what's her name got up to"?

Answer: Empty talk

A person who is all talk and no action is one who makes a lot of promises but delivers nothing. In other words they are giving you nothing more than hot air or empty words. Another word that describes this very well is rhetoric (pronounced ret-or-rick). I would prefer to use words like hokum or bunk, which mean the same thing.

Answer: Lecture

A lecture is a type of speech that is given to an audience, it doesn't necessarily need to be in a classroom, but is designed to teach or instruct people. A lecture may include very small bits of shop talk, chatter and maybe even a tiny bit of scuttlebutt but this wouldn't be the usual form of a good lecture.

Answer: Yes

A sermon is similar to a lecture in that it is also a speech that is delivered to an audience. A good sermon will also teach and instruct people. Where a sermon becomes slightly different to a lecture is that a sermon will involve preaching. Preaching is a way to deliver a strong or moral message like "always be good to your parents" or "stealing is wrong". You will often hear a sermon presented during a mass in a church.

Answer: The cat

"Letting the cat out of the bag" is one of those strange ways of saying that you have revealed a secret. In other words, you've opened your big mouth when you shouldn't have and you have "blabbed". I said it was a strange phrase because in days gone by "letting the cat out of the bag" meant taking the whip (called a cat-o-nine tails) out to punish someone.

Answer: Baby talk

This can also be called "mummy" or "daddy" talk and it is used when speaking to babies. This is very important because it helps the babies to learn how to talk and develop a bond between it and the parents. Baby talk usually requires you to make your words shorter or change them around a bit. For example "gee gee" for horse or "wuv" for love.

Answer: Murmur

A murmur can be like a whisper as if you are trying to say something in a secret way. It can also be a mutter, like "muttering under your breath". You sometimes do this when you want to complain about something or have to admit that you're wrong but you want to say it in such a way that the other person doesn't quite hear you properly.

Answer: Movie

A movie is a film or picture and, while it contains talk and is sometimes called a "talkie", it doesn't mean "to talk". Yammer, jibber-jabber and chit-chat all mean idle talk or idle conversation or shoot the breeze or jawbone ... and there are so many more ways that I could talk about this. I won't because I think it's time for me to zip my lip and stop talking.