Keep It Under Your Hat Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hat trick

Originally a sporting phrase, hat trick now also refers to any string of three successes. As a Canadian, I'm most familiar with the term hat trick in relation to hockey (a player scoring three goals in one game has achieved a hat trick), but the phrase originated with cricket.

A bowler who took three successive wickets was entitled to get a new hat and have the bill sent to his cricket club. I don't know if this is still in practice in cricket, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't apply in hockey - unless the player gets a new touque from the club.

Answer: Friesland

The equivalent of "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," the phrase "Never wear a brown hat in Friesland," is said to have originated in Victorian times, when a traveller in that part of The Netherlands made the mistake of wearing a plain brown felt hat and was jeered at by the locals.

It seems that in those days Frisians wore a knitted cap, over which they wore a high silk skull-cap, topped that with a metal turban, and finally they donned a large bonnet to complete this (rather bizarre, in my view) fashion statement.

The saying must have originated with the traveller who was so rudely greeted, as a warning to anyone planning a trip to Friesland. I doubt if anyone would receive such a reception these days, since the Dutch are renowned for their hospitality and courtesy. I am not aware of any taboos regarding brown hats in Moldavia, Jutland or Russia.

Answer: Ninepins

Originally, if you knocked someone into a cocked hat it meant that you had beaten them by a wide margin in a game of ninepins. Ninepins (or skittles) are set up in a diamond shape, and if a player can knock down the six front pins leaving the triangle of three pins at the back (that's called the cocked hat because of its similarity to the shape of a tricorne), the player has knocked his/her opponent into a cocked hat! Ninepins has been a popular pub game in the UK since the 17th century, and it is also popular, I'm told, in Germany and Austria.

Answer: The person had been found guilty of heresy

"You are only fit to wear the steeple-crowned hat," was the sentence pronounced against heretics tried by the infamous (and, according to Monty Python, unexpected) Spanish Inquisition. It meant that the condemned person would be burned at the stake, and all those who went to the stake wore a steeple-crowned hat. I have no idea why.

Answer: Political factions

While the term could apply to the other three choices, in that the first group in each set would wear hats, and the second group would wear caps, the term actually refers to two 18th century Swedish political factions in the Swedish Riksdag (parliament). Following the Peace of Nystad in 1721, which ended the 21 year war against Russia, Sweden had surrendered the provinces of Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria and part of Karelia to the Russians.

The Hats, who were dominated by the Swedish military, were all in favour of going to war again to regain their lost territories.

The Caps (nicknamed the Nightcaps by their bellicose opponents) made up the pacifist wing, and they were loth to wage war on anyone. The Caps managed to keep the Hats at bay until 1741, when the Hats gained control of the Riksdag and declared war on Russia. Sweden was defeated, the lost territories remained under Russian control (they even got the rest of Karelia) and that was that!

Answer: Pilgrims

Pilgrims to the shrine of St. James in Compostela, Spain wore cockle (scallop) shells, the symbol of St. James, on their hats. Each shell had been blessed by the pilgrim's priest, and served as an amulet to protect said pilgrim against spiritual foes.

The inside of the shell bore a scratched-in representation of the cross, the Virgin Mary, or some other religious motif. The practice dates back to mediaeval times and is mentioned in "Hamlet", when Ophelia, descending into madness, sings, "How should I your true love know from another one? By his cockle hat and staff, and by his sandal shoon." Sir Walter Raleigh wrote a poem called 'His Pilgrimage' that begins, "Give me my scallop shell of quiet, my staff of faith to lean upon..."

Answer: Any one of these

A candidate for elected office is said to have "thrown his (or her) hat into the ring", but the phrase originated with pugilism. It was not unusual in the late 18th and early 19th centuries for pugilists to invite any spectator to spar with them in the ring, and the person who accepted such a challenge would toss his hat into the ring to indicate his willingness to have a go.

In light of the fact that politics can be something of a hit and miss affair, both for candidates and the electorate, it makes sense to use boxing cant.

The first recorded instance of a politician saying that he had thrown his hat into the ring goes back to Theodore Roosevelt declaring himself a candidate for the presidency.

Answer: From the effects of chemicals

While the phrase is usually connected with the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland", it is also found in Thackeray's "Pendennis", which predates "Alice" by fifteen years, and the expression was known in the U.S. as far back as 1836. It derives from the fact that mercurous nitrate was used in the making of felt hats, and it can affect the nervous system, causing spasms or tremors, and seizures.

There's also a tradition that one Robert Crab, an eccentric chap who lived in Chesham, England in the 17th century, was the first to be called "mad as a hatter". I don't know if Mr. Crab made hats, but his neighbours called him that because he gave away everything he had to the poor, and dined solely on dock leaves and grass.

Answer: Where Did You Get that Hat?

It amazes me that there are songs about hats, but there's no accounting for tastes! "The Bird on Nellie's hat" was a hit for vaudeville star Helen Trix in 1907. Fred Astaire introduced Irving Berlin's "Top hat, White Tie and Tails" in the 1935 movie "Top Hat" co-starring Ginger Rogers.

As far as I know, there is no song called "Somebody Stole My Hat". You must be thinking of Leo Wood's 1918 lament "Somebody Stole My Gal".

Answer: Outdated

The term probably derives from the fact that fashions in hats changed so frequently, no one ever got a chance to wear out a hat.