I've Hit a Purple Patch Online Quiz | Colors

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) of the UK adopted three colours as part of their campaign to improve women's social and legal standing, including gaining the right to vote. The colours they adopted were purple, green and white. Each colour represented a particular characteristic. What was the characteristic associated with purple?

Answer: Dignity

The WPSU was established in October 1903 and became better known as the Suffragette Movement. Two of its most famous founding members were Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst. The colour white symbolised purity and the colour green symbolised hope. Some have interpreted these colours as green, white and violet, so as to form the acronym GWV or 'Give Women the Vote'.

2. This purple gemstone was once considered to be a talisman against drunkenness. It is also the birthstone for the month of February. Which one is it?

Answer: Amethyst

Whilst all of these are birthstones, the amethyst is the only one that is purple.

There are a number of stories in Greek mythology on the origins of the amethyst as a talisman against drunkenness. One is that Amethystos was a woman who was pursued by Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and intoxication. Artemis helped her to avoid Dionysus' unwanted attentions by turning her into a white stone. Dionysus, out of respect for her wish to stay chaste, poured wine over the white stone, thus turning it purple.

3. Queen Victoria is credited with popularising the white wedding dress when she married Prince Albert in 1840. Purple, however, was the most common choice for a wedding dress in England in the medieval era.

Answer: False

During the medieval era, the dye that produced the colour purple was very expensive to produce. Due to this expense, the use of the colour was limited to the wealthy, particularly royalty. The majority of people in medieval England wore home-dyed clothes and would not have had access to purple dye.

4. In 1958, the song 'Purple People Eater' made it all the way to number one in the Billboard charts. Who wrote and performed this song?

Answer: Sheb Wooley

'Purple People Eater' can be best described as a novelty song. Sheb Wooley (b 1921) started out his career as an actor in Westerns, including 'High Noon'. Whilst he did write a number of other novelty songs, 'Purple People Eater' was his most enduring hit.

'Weird Al' Yankovic gave us a number of classic novelty/parody songs, including 'Eat It'. One of Ray Steven's contributions to the novelty song genre was 'The Streak'. Gary Cooper was the lead actor in 'High Noon', in which Wooley had a minor role.

5. If something you have written is described as 'purple prose', how is your writing style being characterised?

Answer: Overly ornate

To describe a piece of writing as 'purple prose' is to criticise it for being overly ornate or flowery. The origins of the phrase have been attributed to the Roman poet Horace. Horace used the word 'purpureus', translated as 'purple patch', in his work 'Ars Poetic' when critiquing another's work.

6. Which brand of chocolate is most closely associated with the colour purple?

Answer: Cadbury

The Cadbury Company had its origins in 1824 with John Cadbury of Birmingham, England, who sold tea, coffee and drinking chocolate. In 1854, in partnership with his brother Benjamin, he received a Royal Warrant to be the supplier of chocolate and cocoa to Queen Victoria. The first Cadbury logo appeared in 1905 and was changed from lilac to purple in 1920.

7. Which Teletubby was purple?

Answer: Tinky Winky

'The Teletubbies' was an award-winning British children's television show which ran from 1997 to 2001. Dipsy was the green Teletubby, Laa-Laa was yellow and Po was red.

8. 'The Color Purple' was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Whoopi Goldberg. Which other person, more famous for his/her television show, also appeared in this movie?

Answer: Oprah Winfrey

'The Color Purple', released in 1985, was based on the novel of the same name by Alice Walker. The central character Celie Harris, played by Whoopi Goldberg, suffers abuse at the hands of both her father and husband. She eventually breaks the cycle of abuse and gains independence. The movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards but did not win any.

9. All of these recording artists have released 'colourful' songs, but which one never released a song with 'purple' in the title?

Answer: Elvis Presley

Elvis is more closely associated with the colour blue, having recorded 'Blue Christmas', 'Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain', 'Blue Hawaii', 'Blue Moon', 'Blue Moon of Kentucky', 'Blue River', 'Blue Suede Shoes' and 'Blueberry Hill'. His hit 'Jailhouse Rock', however, does include 'The Purple Gang' in its cast of characters.

Prince recorded 'Purple Rain'. Jimi Hendrix recorded 'Purple Haze'. The Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded 'Purple Stain'.

10. Nazi concentration camp officers required prisoners to wear badges as a means of classifying different groups of prisoners. Which group was required to wear a purple triangle?

Answer: Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses were the main group who were required to wear the purple triangle. Other small, non-conformist religious groups also wore this badge. Sexual offenders, the group in which homosexuals were included, wore a pink triangle. Gypsies were classified in the 'asocial/work-shy' group and wore a black triangle.

The best-known concentration camp badge is the Star of David badge, which had to be worn by Jews.

Source: Author cazza2902

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Pagiedamon before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

I've Hit a Purple Patch Trivia Quiz

This quiz is brought to you by the colour purple. (Please note the English spelling of 'colour' is used throughout).

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