Ready for Red? Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Matrix

"You take the blue pill... the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill... you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."

The expression 'to take the red pill' comes from the 1999 movie "The Matrix", when Morpheus offers Neo a choice of pills. The red one will bring him a whole new understanding, while the blue one keeps him unenlightened. Cassie Jaye used it as the title of her really interesting film because it documents her gradual awakening to the legitimate concerns voiced by the men's movement that she had not expected at all. The expression has also been adopted by conspiracy theorists, for whom 'taking the red pill' means waking up to the realization, for example, that the world is controlled by aliens under the direction of Jay Z. In the 2020s it's morphed into just 'pilled'.

Answer: The Republican Party

The terms 'red', for the American Republican party and 'blue' for the Democrats solidified around the year 2000. There are 'red states' and 'blue states' and a 'red wave' would mean a whole lot of Republican votes. It all has to do with television and those big light-up electoral maps on election night. But the idea of colourising political parties started much earlier.

Some time around the end of the Civil War, the Republican Party became associated with Union blue. In 1976, NBC started using an electoral map where states that had gone Republican were blue, and the Democrat ones were red. Over the years different networks used different combinations, and it was only during the election year 2000 that they synchronized with Republican red and Democrat blue.

For boomers like this quiz-maker, however, the term 'red wave' might bring back memories of a time when 'red' meant something really different.

Answer: A red herring

The politician here has no intention of spending a penny on teaching materials or teachers, so he hopes to divert the journalist's attention to something very current - safe schools. He's using a 'red herring' - when you use deflection to change the subject. Politicians use them, your kids use them and mystery writers use them a lot. In "The Da Vinci Code", for example, Dan Brown even called the character meant to make you think is responsible for the conspiracy (but isn't) "Bishop Aringarosa".

Herrings are not actually red when they're swimming around; they get that way when they're smoked. They also develop a pungent smell. It seems that the expression 'to draw a red herring' originated in literally doing so to train hounds, or alternately, horses. The first use of an expression in print however, came in 1807, when William Cobbett wrote, "It was a mere transitory effect of the political red-herring; for, on the Saturday, the scent became as cold as a stone."

Answer: Caught red-handed

Being 'caught red-handed' pretty much obviously refers to being caught in the act and hearkens back to murderers or more frequently, poachers caught with the blood of their victims still on their hands. It first appears in a Scottish ordinance from 1432, "That the offender be taken reid hand..." and it appeared frequently thereafter in lawbooks in Scotland as "taken by redhand". It was Sir Walter Scott who brought the expression to England in his novel "Ivanhoe" - "I did but tie one fellow, who was taken redhanded..."

And it's your mom who is 'seeing red' (really angry) when she catches you!

Answer: Moscow

For centuries, a red flag has meant defiance. As early as the 13th century, ships flying a red flag meant they were open to a fight. In France, a red cap was a sign of revolt as early as the 14th century. During the 17th century, flying a red flag over a besieged castle meant no surrender. Jacobins flew the flag during the French revolution and a red banner flew above the Alamo.

In the 1920s, after the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks adopted a red flag with hammer and sickle. Communist China adopted a similar one in 1942. In the 20th century, 'Red' became a synonym for Communist. There was the 'Red Scare', the 'Red Menace' and slogans like 'Better dead than Red' everywhere during the Cold War. Western labour unions dropped anything red out of concern for being associated with the U.S.S.R. Being called a Red at the time of the McCarthy trials could get you fired, blacklisted or blackballed.

Answer: Rolling out the red carpet

Red carpets seem to have been laid out on occasion for dignitaries all the way back to Agamemnon. Getting the "red carpet treatment" however, started with the beautiful carpet first laid out for passengers boarding the luxury train '20th Century Limited' in 1902. Hollywood picked up the idea early; 1922 saw the first red carpet rolled out for a movie premier and from 1961 it became a fixture at the Academy Awards. Today, red-carpeting someone is treating them like a star. Sure hope it works for your mother-in-law!

When you're 'sporting the red flag', you are sunburned and 'fixing somebody's little red wagon' stems from spankings and has come to mean revenge. Louboutin high-heeled shoes are the ones with those signature red soles.

Answer: Redd something up

To 'redd something' or 'redd it up' is a colloquial expression from certain regions of the USA, brought over, it is believed, by Scottish immigrants. It means to clear out or clean up something (redd up your room). In Pittsburgh it's still obviously in use. In 2022, the 'Pittsburgh Post-Gazette' urges the municipal government to "Redd Up the City", meaning get tough on crime.

On the other hand, to 'red light' something is to halt it. Getting 'redlined' is when you're denied certain financial services because of where you live or the colour of your skin. If you're 'in the red' means you owe more money than you have. Redding up your bedroom is a positive alternative to all three!

To 'redd', however, doesn't have much to do with the colour. It's from Old English hreddan "...to save, free from (Satan, guilt, etc.), deliver, recover, rescue."

Answer: They painted the town red

About the nicest thing I can find that people said about the Marquis is 'reprobate'. Apparently, after a day of fox hunting, he and some friends went partying in the town of Melton Mowbray. They got completely hammered and painted a lot of the buildings in the town red. That is the origin of the expression 'to paint the town red' and this is Melton Mowbray's story and Melton Mowbray is sticking to it. It's on their website. However, the OED cites the first use of the expression in print as being in 1884 in the 'Chicago Advance' and cites it as of American origin.

By the way, it doesn't matter what colour flag you wave at a bull - they're colour-blind. In general, it's not a good idea.

Answer: A scarlet dress

Bette Davis played Julia in 'Jezebel', the story of a headstrong young woman of the antebellum South. In a fit of pique she chooses to wear a scarlet dress to the Olympus ball, where unmarried women are expected to wear white. This movie was Warner Brothers' answer to 'Gone With the Wind', already in production, and also, some say, Bette Davis's revenge for not having been chosen to play Scarlett.

"Red is the color of sex and fear and danger!" says Lola in 'Kinky Boots'. 'TV Tropes' points out that "A Lady in Red is sexy. She might be morally ambiguous but she mostly displays a form of sexual availability, a signal that she's ready to fulfill a guy's sexual desires." A whole lot of sexual idioms also use 'red' including 'scarlet woman, 'a red-light district' and the 'scarlet letter'. The idea of red as a bit naughty on a woman is a little old-fashioned today (see: Chris de Burgh) but it can still work on stage and screen.

A red feather is said to be lucky, and you're lucky if you can afford a Balenciaga jacket in his signature red. The 'Red Hat Society' is an American mutual support organization for women over 50.

Answer: A red-letter day

People have been experiencing special, celebratory or 'red-letter' days for centuries. In Roman, and then in Medieval manuscripts, significant calendar days and texts were written in red (hence, rubric). Some calendars still mark national holidays in red. The OED cites the first example of the expression in print as being in 1663.

'Rubella' (from the Latin 'rubrum', for 'red') is commonly called German Measles and is named for the faint rash the disease produces. A 'red-haired stepchild' is an unfortunate expression that emerged at some time during the early 1800s. It is either a euphemism for an illegitimate child, or a child suffering from abuse.

The term 'Redskin' or 'Red Indian' appeared sometime in the late 1600s, possibly to distinguish the native people of North America from East Indians. Today the term is a pejorative, which is why Washington Redskins finally changed their name to the Commanders in 2022. The former team name is one of a plethora of sports teams, both professional and amateur, with names referring to Native Americans (Braves, Chiefs, Blackhawks...). The Florida Seminoles, however, are the only team to have received an official ok from the Seminole Nation.