Life at Lawndale's "The Cutting Room Floor" Quiz

Answer: Started by the Catholic Church, who wanted high voices, but followed strict scripture forbidding women from singing.

This easy-to-reject quiz idea from the history/music section was given to us by Maggie. Thanks for that...

Poor guys. Makes me shiver. This was a fashionable notion in the Baroque period, and the average castrati would have to go through a double orchietomy in which both of their testicles were removed. This would keep their voices artificially high, and meant that no women had to be included in the choral proceedings.

Although Italian families often did this to their children in the hope that they would become famous, a child had to have a talent to start with - many poor Italian families removed their only son's inheritance with the hope that he would be a star. Sadly, if he was tone deaf anyway, the only thing they ended up with was a lack of grandchildren.

Answer: "Flavourless broth - would much rather be eating something else. No defined personality. Possibly Anthea Turner."

This incredibly strange quiz title for the psychology section was given to us here today by the one and only EmJ. Thank God she is the one and only, put it that way.

This bizarre piece of information, which hasn't been officially proven, but was well received by both the soup manufacturers and the psychological community, can be found here:

http://www.psycport.com/news/2000/12/09/Uwire/harvest_Uwire97634197593016531.html

What's the proof, I hear you ask? Well, soup is a comfort food, and can often be a mirror to childhood experiences. There is no solid proof, just as with any psychological tests, but it was good enough for "U-Wire" and "The Daily Illini". And so this odd little piece of information is good enough for Life at Lawndale.

Answer: Stroessner hated the Americans, but loved the Chinese

This idea for the South American History, Communism, and People categories was sadly put forward by me. Even though I have no clue what I was thinking at the time. And that the question has nothing to do with soap. Oh well...

As anti-Communists and pro-Americans, Stroessner and his party didn't allow any Communist countries to have embassies in Paraguay with the exception of Yugoslavia, and this was for no other reason except there were a large amount of Yugoslavians in Paraguay at the time.

As a German accountant, Alfredo Stroessner's father Hugo emigrated to Paraguay and met Alfredo's mother. The two soon settled down and had a family, and so the Stroessners (also known as the Strössners) settled down in Encarnación. Born in 1912, Alfredo ruled Paraguay from the ages of 32 - 75, during which time he befriended the Americans and brutally suppressed the "Paraguayan Communist Party" (or, in Spanish, "Partido Comunista Paraguayo"), who were a pro-China Marxist-Leninist group.

Answer: That drugs are bad - put across when a bleary-eyed Windy Miller does things that can't even be mentioned in a polite quiz.

Another truly unusual quiz topic from the television division put forward by our EmJ. She really should be stopped.

"Camberwick Green" was often seen as being very environmentally minded, as even though it was a show for small children, it never really had much fantasy in it. Mrs Honeyman, Windy Miller, and the gang were always met with challenges such as the aforementioned electrical sub-station.

The cast of characters would emerge form a musical chest at the beginning of each episode, but other than this, there is no overtly childish theme or cartoon fantasy - this was the charm of "Camberwick Green".

Answer: Bletting - after bletting, eat the medlar fruits whole with a nice glass of port.

Both the question and the quiz topic here were a joint effort between Flynn and EmJ, for the homes and gardens topic area. It's a strange one. And yet another one where the topic has only a tenuous link to the question. It's getting late...

Medlars are an unusual member of the pome family, and they are not edible until they have been bletted. Bletting can be done by frost or by storage, and in this process, the innards of the fruit decay and take on a thick applesauce like consistency. The skin of the fruit then shrivels, and the fruit takes on the characteristics of a large dried date, and thus, the fruit is dried (bletted) and now edible.

Recently, there has been a new type of medlar discovered (exciting stuff, I know), known as the "Stern's medlar". First found in 1990, this extremely rare tree of the Mespilus family is found only in a nine-hectare wood in Prairie County, Arkansas, and with only 25 plants known, this area is now protected as the Konecny Grove Natural Area.

Answer: All of these three. It's a pretty versatile thing, the lowly earwig.

This question, which you could place in the entomology or the etymology areas (or indeed, both), was put forward by Maggie, who just likes to gross people out.

But aren't earwigs charming? They look kind of like dried currants with legs. Good and chewy. The common earwig, found in gardens and filthy houses around the world, belongs to the relatively small order "Dermaptera", which literally means "skin-wings".

Common throughout the world, the earwig is often thought of as "that little insect with the pincers on the end", but they aren't actually pincers. They're cerci, or a pair of sensory structures, which just happen to be found on the backside of the earwig. Some of these cerci are tiny, and some can be up to a third as long as the body. One easy way to tell the difference between male and female earwigs is to look at these cerci - males have hooked cerci, while females do not.

Answer: ta'aam - which means 'food'

This question has just been plucked fresh from the mind of Blethar (he has the marks to prove it), and would be placed in the international cuisine section of the site. If it were ever allowed to be made into a quiz, however. Which it most definitely will not.

Although the Maghreb word for the grain is 'kuskusu', which comes from the Tamazight word 'sesku', couscous is in fact just called ta'aam all over the Maghreb area, which includes Morocco, Libya, Algeria, and Tunisia.

This speciality, which is of Berber descent and so is a food of the Imazighen people, is often served with other Moroccan specialities, such as the aforementioned Tagine. Tagine isn't the only Moroccan food available, however, and you may also find yourself tucking in to Pastilla, Tangia, or Harira soup in a Moroccan restaurant.

Answer: "La Cagoule" were also a violent French political party in the 1930s.

This odd little question was formulated by Dagmar G. and Sazzaw, and let's face it, it can't really be put in any topics! Maybe clothing, maybe thematic fun, or otherwise, useless knowledge.

"La Cagoule" was in fact a nickname given to the group by it's opposition. The name actually means "The Cowl", but the official name is "Comité secret d'action révolutionnaire". This group's main aim was to destabilise the Third Republic of France, and their leader, Eugéne Deloncle, founded the group in 1935 along with fellow royalists and those disillusioned by the lack of action taken by Maurras and his "Action Française".

And they said I couldn't get Nana Mouskouri into a quiz about barroom antics and bad ideas. I sure showed them.

Answer: From "The Independent" - "I couldn't have seen what was going on around me, as the weather was poor that day."

This little gem is a joint effort between Flynn and the ever-present Colin H., who, let's face it, knows more than he does. Since dangling modifiers are unusual, however, it will not be made into a quiz. Thankfully.

Don't know what a dangling modifier is? Don't worry, this is one of the more taxing areas of English grammar. The following sentence is a dangling modifier. "I opened the door in my housecoat". This sentence is a dangling modifier as it is constructed as to say that you opened the door that is to be found in your housecoat, and is another case of a badly placed clause. To rectify this, you could say "I opened the door while wearing my housecoat".

Answer: Hekla, a notable Icelandic volcano, used for animal sacrifices.

Will this prophecy be fulfilled? You're going to have to wait and see until the next quiz by the fantastic people at Life at Lawndale. This question is a joint effort by Flynn, Maggie, Blethar, Sazzaw, and Dagmar G., and you can put this one in any of four places! Geography, Politics, World, and Scandinavian history. How very thrilling!

The 'thingevellir', or plains on which the first assembly was held, are situated 45km east of where the country's capital, Reykjavik, was later founded. The 'Althingishús', or the main Althing building of Iceland, was built in 1881 out of Icelandic stone, and although Iceland is a republic with a legislative parliament, the Althing went through several stages of existence.

Of course, Iceland was also the country to have the first female president, which is another lovely little nugget of information for the people who actually read this.

Credits:-

Quiz titles in questions 3, 8, 9, and 10 by Flynn_17
Quiz titles in questions 1, and 6, by MaggieG 5
Quiz titles in questions 2, 4, and 5 by EmJ23
Quiz title in question 7 by Blethar

Question 1 by Flynn_17 and MaggieG 5
Question 2 by Flynn_17 and Sazzaw
Question 3 by Dagmar G. and Blethar
Question 4 by Flynn_17, EmJ23, and Dagmar G.
Question 5 by Flynn_17 and Sazzaw
Question 6 by Flynn_17 and Blethar
Question 7 by Blethar, MaggieG 5, and Flynn_17
Question 8 by Dagmar G. and Flynn_17
Question 9 by Flynn_17 and Colin H.
Question 10 by Flynn_17, MaggieG 5, Dagmar G., Sazzaw, and Blethar.

Huge thanks to all those who participated, suggested titles and questions, and allowed their names to be used in the quiz. Big screamin' thanks to Dagmar G. and Colin H. in the real world, who are always helpful. A big pat on the back to Colin H., because without his help with the grammar, this quiz would have been extremely confusing. But then he is a printer, he should know these things. Three cheers for Sazzaw and Blethar for avoiding work by doing this, and thanks to all you people who played, especially if you read the credits, too. Someone has to do them, and it just happens to be me. And why so many olives, you ask? Because. That's why.

Now seriously. Where is my Martini?
And hold the olives. Or better yet, give them to EmJ.

This has been a 'Life at Lawndale' production.
We hope you enjoyed your time here!

-The Lawndalers