Slinging the Hash Trivia Quiz

Answer: Saltpetre

That dish would be quite delicious from our perspective otherwise. In Australia, we cook our own and have it freshly sliced with meals. In England, however, harking back to the days of the world wars, beef was in such short supply there that they took to importing it in tins from the Americas.

The tradition has continued from that time. The English combine this tinned corned beef, the idea of which makes me feel decidedly queasy, with fried and browned onions, gravy or stock, and sometimes tinned tomatoes.

They then add boiled and sliced potatoes (mashed would be nice too), and peas and carrots - and brown the lot under the grill. Quite yummy sounding really, apart from that canned corned beef. Interestingly, saltpetre has been used for several centuries as a food preservative, BUT this is a product which is also used in fertiliser, fuel for rockets and, perhaps most comical of all, in fireworks. One wonders how this works on the aftermath of the meal.

Answer: Cannabis

Cannabis, also known as marijuana or "hash" in its concentrated form, is a plant that has been used for thousands of years by mankind, both as a medicine and as a psychoactive substance. In the dried plant form, this is smoked by those addicted to the substance, to alter their normal state of mind into that of relaxation and a feeling akin to euphoria. It also increases the appetite and sends half its users into fits of unrestrained laughter about nothing at all. Additionally, its negative effects can include red eyes, short-term memory loss, and acute feelings of paranoia or anxiety. How delightful. I have the same reaction from the electricity bill.

As a medical substance, it has been used for thousands of years to alleviate symptoms of various illnesses. In the 21st century, it can be utilised to ease the feelings of nausea brought about when a patient has, sadly, had to undergo chemotherapy treatment. Those suffering AIDS have also been treated using the medical properties of cannabis/hashish, as have people who have to deal with painful muscular spasms or other painful conditions on a daily basis. Bearing in mind its negative effects, however, the medical profession is still definitely split over the issue of the safety and efficiency of using this product as a medical aid.

Answer: Running

Referred to individually as a hasher or a hound or a hare, the Hash House Harriers is an international organisation of social clubs for members who run non-competitively. This organisation began in 1938 in Malaysia. It was formed by a group of British army personnel and Brits living in Malaysia to have Monday afternoon fun runs modelled after the long time British game of paper chase. Don't be TOO impressed by their sporting prowess, however. The main reason behind the first club's formation, as reported in the 2013 edition of "A Drinker's Guide to Running the World", was to "run off the excesses of the previous weekend". This is hilarious: at the end of each run as the members all came puffing back to base, they were treated to cigarettes and beer. Ah well, why not? It was 1938, and for many of them, the shadow of death loomed just around the corner.

Today, with chapters in Singapore, the Far East, Europe, North America and the Pacific regions, the Hash House Harriers, who were informed after the war by the Registrar of Societies that they had to have a constitution, have indeed one such. As recorded in their club registration details of 1950, the objectives of this fun-filled organisation are "(a) To promote physical fitness among our members, (b) To get rid of weekend hangovers, (c) To acquire a good thirst and to satisfy it in beer and (d) To persuade the older members that they are not as old as they feel". Most of the modern day clubs have extremely comical rules, regulations and ceremonies, all carried out of course with due solemnity - accompanied by hearty guffaws and frothing mugs of beer.

Answer: Punish or silence them in some way

This is a dire threat involving physical punishment of some sort against an opponent, an enemy, or someone who has harmed you or a member of your family. Elimination is the worst meaning of the word. The saying has no pleasant connotations at all, in fact.

It is no idle threat, so if you hear anyone threatening you or someone you know in this way, either try to sort the problem out (if you're brave or it can possibly be done), or head for the hills as fast as you can.

Answer: Made a complete mess of things

To make a hash of anything is to muck it up completely and make a complete mess of things. You have, in short, either botched it, bungled it, cocked it up, wrecked it beyond redemption, made a pig's ear of things, turned it into a disaster, screwed it up or - shall I go on? It short, you will be in a very similar position to the one in which I find myself in the Ascension Challenge.

Answer: To highlight and retrieve specific pieces of information

The hashtag symbol of # is used for highlighting and easy retrieval of specific information within larger communications. Say, for example, some time ago you had written, in a fit of madness, a long article about poodles and placed it online in a category with all other articles on poodles. Within that article you may had highlighted a specific section on poodle tail styles with #PoodleTailStyles. Anyone then, at a later date, when searching for ways in which to style a poodle's tail, could then enter #PoodleTailStyles or #poodletailstyles into the search provider, and only that section, along with any other articles by other people with the same hashtag applied, would be brought up for your perusal.

While researching this, I came across a comical snippet in a web encyclopedia and dictionary on the importance of clear directions for the use of hashtags. Following the relatively recent death of the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), the web was flooded with opinions for and against this powerful world leader. In a website that was extremely critical of Mrs Thatcher, a hashtag "#nowthatchersdead" had been included. Unfortunately this subsequently had the effect of causing rather a lot of alarm and confusion among many web users. They read that as "Now that Cher's dead".

Answer: Insignia on uniforms

A hash mark is also known as a service stripe in the United States military. It is not just used in the military, however, but used to denote length of service by any member of the defence forces in that nation. In the army, for example, one stripe is equal to three years services. The marines, navy and coast guard, though have one stripe for every four years of service. How confusing. Depending on the corps, the stripes are also all different between the forces, with different angles and colours to each. This insignia dates right back to the American Revolution (1765-1783 all up) when the mighty George Washington decreed that any soldier who had served bravely and loyally for three years should have same noted on his coat uniform's left sleeve as a tribute to his service.

The position of the placement for the other corps is also different. There are, in fact, a huge array of differences in uniform insignia the more one delves into this rather fascinating subject. But wait, I hear you ask, what about air force personnel? Just to add to the confusion for beginners, it doesn't issue length of service stripes at all. It issues long service ribbons instead.

Answer: False

Hash marks on the playing fields of American and Canadian football are the short rows of lines that run across the fields from side to side, dissecting the long lines that go the length of the fields. These small marks are used to highlight the different locations of players within a game.

They look a little like miniature zebra crossings. Mind you, any zebra that wandered onto one of those fields in the middle of a game of football would have its own stripes knocked off clear into the middle of next week. Those players are downright alarming.

Answer: A data structure

Data structures can capture any sort of recordable data you could wish for. These can be linked and interlinked in an amazing number of different ways so that easy retrieval of any specific elements of information, if it has been input correctly, can be brought to hand at the push of a button.

They're just brilliant, and once all the initial data has been input into the structure, can save millions of working hours that would otherwise be spent on retrieving information manually.

Answer: Octothorpe

Other commonly given names of the symbol # are the octothorn, the pound sign, the number sign, and even the tic-tac-toe sign. One would hope the latter is only used by children. An executive murmuring about tic-tac-toe would be somewhat worrying. In China, this sign is referred to as the cross, while over in Singapore, though frowned upon, the symbol is often called the hex. "Please enter your date of birth, followed by the hex" wouldn't go down terribly well when one considers this.

The hash sign, or octothorpe, is used in a wide number of fields.

These include the printing industry, the field of mathematics, the internet, the vast and complex layers of computing and communication industries and in social networking. In the wider world, Wikipedia states that lesser known names for the hash sign are" garden fence, mesh, garden gate, flash, grid, scratch mark, oof, rake, corridor, punch mark - and even pig pen.