You're Having a Laugh... Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ten

A Roman calendar has ten months in its year, so the pun here is that by stealing the Roman calendar the thief literally got 'ten months'. To get to twelve months, January and February were added into the calendar written by Numa Pompilius - a King of Rome - in around 713 BC. This version is very similar to the commonly used Gregorian calendar.

September, October, November and December - which correspond with seven, eight, nine and ten in Latin - were kept in the Numan and Gregorian calendars, however. This was despite their names being based on their original positions which had then been changed and were therefore obsolete! Some things never go out of date, it seems...

Answer: Water

Dihydrogen monoxide can also destroy human settlements when in large quantities, suffocate certain animals and help support the proliferation of many deadly diseases. Gasp.

On the other hand -- without it, we'd die. After all, at the end of the day... it's 'just' water: two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Just a thought for when scary stories about unhealthy foods, chemicals and activities are rife. Admittedly, water and just about any chemical can be dangerous at certain levels. Moderation or avoidance is usually the trick.

Answer: Hartford

The joke here is that the fire really was 'intense' ... 'in tents'... although the actual event itself was, of course, no laughing matter.

The fire was kindled in the middle of a highwire performance. It grew from the southwest region of the big top tent and quickly engulfed said tent as it had been covered in paraffin wax dissolved in kerosene. Ironically, this coating was intended to waterproof the tent; here, it only exacerbated the flames. The tent collapsed within eight minutes and trapped many people who were in panic, killing many and injuring more.

It was never truly ascertained who, if anyone, set the tent on fire. A man called Robert Dale Segee confessed to being the arsonist. However, he had a mental illness; he claimed that he was told in a dream by a man on a burning horse to start the fires, and then in a future dream from a burning lady to confess to the crime. Investigators could never prove he was even in the vicinity of the circus tent at the time and, many years later, he claimed he did not, in fact, start the fire. Whether that was true or not was up for debate, so the doors were left open by investigators.

Answer: Rodney Dangerfield

The topic of marriage and partnership has been the basis of a lot of wit and humour -- it is one that many people can relate to, both in positive and negative ways. In this case, the statement leads you to believe in a nice romantic gesture, which is then flipped on its head when he says, "Then we met".

Rodney Dangerfield was a stage name taken on by Jacob Cohen who felt he needed a particular image to stand out amongst other comics at the time. His breakthrough role was in 1980's "Caddyshack" as Al Czervik, a comedic golfer. Three years later, he starred in a gambling film entitled "Easy Money" playing title character Monty Capuletti.

Answer: Butch Cassidy

Said movie being, of course, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" which was released in 1969. This movie was only 'loosely based on fact', so Butch Cassidy probably never said (or sung!) this punny quote in reality. It was sang shortly before he rode a bike with Etta Place, a female companion, and these scenes were also associated with B.J. Thomas's "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head", a song produced especially for the film. Butch Cassidy and Etta Place were played by Paul Newman and Katharine Ross respectively.

Like in the film, the real Butch Cassidy was rather taken with theft in general. In fact, he first became acquainted with his famous Wild Bunch gang after being released from prison for stealing horses, where he kept up his life of crime and thrills. This lasted until he and a comrade, Harry Longabaugh, felt they had to escape America and they went to Argentina and, later, Bolivia. The circumstances of Cassidy's death were notoriously unclear; some believed he was shot dead by the San Vicente police of Bolivia, but it was possible they had shot a bandit of a different identity instead.

Answer: Ironic

To those who don't read the interesting information, that question won't have seemed funny at all. But what is ironic about Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" is that the majority of the examples used hardly convey irony at all. Which is ironic in itself!

Irony really has to have a reversal of expectations somewhere where the actual meaning is opposite to the intended meaning, although there is a subjective element to what exactly constitutes such reversal. For example, in the line "a traffic jam when you're already late", it is unfortunate that there's a traffic jam, but traffic jams are fairly common occurrences so there is no such reversal of expectations present here.

One segment is ironic, however. When 'Mr Play It Safe' conquers his fears and goes on a plane, one expects a positive ending for him. However, the plane crashes, and whilst doing so, he says 'Well, isn't this nice...' which is a form of verbal irony as, obviously, the prospect of imminently dying in a plane crash isn't nice at all! As an extra tidbit, sarcasm is similar to verbal irony but it is usually directed at an individual rather than at a situation in general, as in the case of 'Mr Play It Safe'.

Answer: Horseradish

Amanda wouldn't eat horseradish on its own. Nay! But she might spread some on a vegetable sandwich to give it a real extra punch. The good thing for her is that it is not made of horses, but rather the root of the horseradish plant which is then mixed with vinegar. The vinegar helps retain the pungent taste which is lost when the root reacts with air.

Sweetbread sounds like a biscuit, perhaps, but it's actually the thymus (often in the throat) or pancreas of an animal. After it's been soaked in salt water and poached, it gets chilled. Then, it's breaded and fried and... voilá! Your misleadingly named offal meal is served.

Perhaps black pudding sounded like a more appealing treat -- after all, it's a tasty after-dinner treat, right? Well, not quite; it's black because it's made with congealed blood mixed with oatmeal, stuck in an intestine casing and fried. I doubt this 'pudding' would really get served for dessert; if it did, the diners may well desert dessert.

Pate's name is thankfully less misleading. It's a mix of ground meat and fat which can be spread on crackers, bread, or whatever takes your fancy, really. On the other hand, one can't always be sure what mystery meat they're being treated to. Perhaps there's some horse in that pate after all...

Thanks go to looney_tunes for the horseradish answer suggestion.

Answer: Malapropism

The French phrase in question is 'mal a propos'. Despite the word being derived from the French phrase, it was an Irish playright who coined the term in his comedic play "The Rivals", which featured a character called Mrs. Malaprop. She would regularly make malapropisms which culminated in some humorous yet nonsensical sentences. One example is "I thought she had persisted from corresponding with him" where 'persisted' should have been 'desisted'.

Although this malapropism from Dan Quayle was quite amusing, President George Bush was more famous for making these malapropisms. They were famous enough to be put in a category of their own right, being dubbed as 'Bushisms'. When he said, "They misunderestimated me", let's just say his credibility wasn't assured.

Answer: Angora Rabbit

Angora is the earlier name of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, hence the name. Angora wool is made into quality clothes that are excellent to wear in cold months. The fine yarn is made of tightly packed, hollow fibres which are excellent and keeping the heat in and keeping the cold out.

The wool itself is collected from the Angora rabbit every four months. When it's grown a lot of wool, it can look like a fluffy cloud with a barely visible face, which can be quite amusing! Angora rabbits are usually fairly docile and can also make for good pets but are primarily bred for their wool.

Of the incorrect answers, the Old English Red species came from England and the Flemish Giant came from Belgium. The obvious inference to make is that the Havana species came from Cuba, but it didn't; it actually came from the Netherlands. "You're Havana laugh!", I'm sure you might be thinking, but it's true. The first Havana kits were born in 1898 although its male parent was unknown. They're said to be docile and friendly, making them a good pet for humans, and they come in striking dark colours like chocolate, black and blue.

Special mention goes to the Komondor dog which looks like a giant mop. That also provided me with some amusement. Perhaps I'll find another quiz to shoehorn him into one day.

Answer: No idea

No idea... "no-eye deer"... boom boom. The joke can even be continued! What do you call a deer with no eyes or legs? Still no idea. The joke can be continued even further! However, I am mercifully going to be a dear and spare you from any more of that for now.

To attempt to be vaguely educational, without its eyes a deer would lose its 310 degree field of vision. This would obviously not help its chances of survival! There is also a more geeky answer to the fish question, too. A rather strange cavefish of the genus Draconectes narinosus was found in Vietnam in 2012 which lacks both scales and eyes. Cavefishes in general are found in dark waters so generally lack functional eyes.