Put This In Your Pipe Trivia Quiz

Answer: You have to accept what I just said, like it or not.

As the idiom is usually used, it indicates an assertion of authority in an argument, or a gesture of defiance: "I am going to marry him against your wishes, so put that in your pipe and smoke it, Father". It has been suggested that the phrase refers to the fact that the person to whom it is addressed will find food for thought in contemplating what has just been said, and that traditionally pipe smoking is an activity that is conducive to reflective thinking.

Answer: Wine

The pipe, or butt, was a wine cask that held two hogsheads of wine. Of course, that doesn't mean much unless you know how big a hogshead was, and that was somewhat variable over time. As a rough approximation, a butt is close to 475 litres, or 125 US gallons, or 105 imperial gallons. According to Shakespeare's play "Richard III", George, Duke of Clarence, youngest brother of Edward IV and Richard III, drowned in a butt of malmsey (a sweet red wine from Madeira). Edgar Allan Poe refers to a pipe of Amontillado (a type of sherry) in his short story "The Cask of Amontillado".

Answer: Custard

A piping bag, also called a pastry bag, is used to squeeze semi-solid foods in a decorative manner. The sack containing the substance to be applied is attached to a metal or plastic tip, which allows it to be placed precisely. Piping bags are often used to decorate cakes with fancy icing, as well as to fill cream puffs and eclairs with custard or whipped cream.

A pastry chef might also use one to produce fancy meringues; other chefs might even use one of the savory ingredients listed as incorrect options, all of which could conceivably be used as a decorative touch in a dish.

Answer: A vertical line

Commas and apostrophes should be familiar to all. An interpunct is a dot that is centred both horizontally and vertically in the space where it is used. Originally it was developed to show the break between words in ancient Latin writing. In modern usage, it is often used in dictionaries to show the break between syllables in a word.

The pipe is a vertical line which can be used as a divider between data fields, but may be more familiar from its use in a number of mathematical symbols. Pipes surrounding a quantity can be interpreted to mean the absolute value or magnitude of the quantity; two pipes close together is the symbol for parallelism - A || B is read as 'A is parallel to B'.

Answer: Pan pipes

The pan pipes, also called a pan flute, are made of a number of pipes of different sizes that are tied together. Their differing size means that each produces a different note when air is blown across the top of the tube. The tubes can be made of wood, bamboo, plastic or metal.

The latter, of course, were not the traditional materials used in this ancient instrument. Similar instruments are found all over the world, and are still widely played by traditional musicians. The pan pipes are thought to be the original inspiration for the development of the harmonica.

Answer: Horseback riding

A half-pipe is a curved structure on which stunts are performed by competitors using a variety of pieces of equipment. From one end, it can be seen to have a flat lower surface, with curved sides (called quarter-pipes) on each side, and a horizontal deck at the top of each side. For sports in which competitors are expected to perform stunts as they pass through the half-pipe, rather than staying in it for an extended time, the half-pipe is built on a slight gradient, which also allows competitors to add downhill acceleration from gravity to that generated by the curved surface.

As well as the sports listed, skiers and BMX riders also compete in half-pipes. Horses are not comfortable there.

Answer: Keeps a solution's acidity (pH) at a desired value

A buffering agent is a chemical which reacts to a change in pH (a measure of acidity), such as occurs when an acid or a base is added to a solution, by undergoing a reaction with the new substance that tends to restore the original acidity of the solution.

There are many different buffers used for different purposes - they have different natural pH values, and different physical and chemical properties that make them useful in specific situations. PIPES (how much easier is that to pronounce than the full chemical name?) naturally maintains a pH close to that found in cell tissue, so it is often used when working with cell cultures.

Answer: Great Highland bagpipe from Scotland

Bagpipes, like pan pipes, are found in many parts of Europe, Africa and Asia. The air from an inflated bag is used to force air over the reeds of a chanter, which is used to vary the pitch of the note produced. The bag of a modern bagpipe may be synthetic, but they were traditionally made from the skin or stomach of a local animal. (My husband bought a traditional gaida, and we had to store it in a sealed plastic bag to keep the smell from permeating the house while it 'aged' to a usable state.) The bag is inflated by blowing through a tube, or by pumping a bellows.

However you play it, you put plenty of air into a bagpipe!

Answer: Boatswain's pipe

A boatswain's (pronounced bosun's, with a long o) pipe is a narrow tube on the end of which is a metal ball with a hole in its top. Blowing on the pipe pushes air over the hole, producing a high-pitched note whose pitch is adjusted by changing the hand position around the hole.

It was traditionally used to transmit orders when conditions at sea precluded the issuance of voice commands. When important guests are boarding a ship, they are ceremonially piped aboard by the boatswain. (The boatswain, by the way, is in charge of supervising the crew on deck.)

Answer: Diamond

Volcanic pipes are deep cones of solidified magma formed by the sub-surface eruption of deep volcanoes. They are usually composed of either kimberlite or lamproite, minerals which are higher in magnesium content than is usual for rocks in the crust. Kimberlite is named after the South African town of Kimberley, where it was first identified during the Kimberley diamond rush at the end of the 19th century. Kimberlite is associated with diamonds, which are often found embedded in kimberlite pipes.