A-1 Cliches Trivia Quiz

Answer: NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

"A-OK" is definitely a space-age expression. Most sources give John A. "Shorty" Powers, a United States Air Force Lt. Colonel and spokesperson for NASA, the credit for introducing America to the term. He first used it to explain that everything was going perfectly with Alan Shepard's "Freedom 7" Mercury mission in 1961.

However, Powers himself gave astronaut Alan Shepard credit for coining the expression. Alternatively, Tom Wolfe in his novel "The Right Stuff" explained that the expression was created by engineers at NASA who found that saying "A" in front of "OK" was easier to hear through the static of radio transmissions.

Answer: "The Miller's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" (late 14th century)

The exact origin of this expression is probably from the Old English, who referred to the pupil of the eye as an apple because they believed it to be spherical and solid, somewhat like a real apple. Naturally, one's pupil would be "a cherished possession", as the phrase "apple of my eye" currently means.

While the Bible mentions "apple of his eye", referring to God, the phrase is not an original Hebrew expression. The translators of the English Bible obviously opted for an English idiom at this point in the book of Deuteronomy to explain how much God cherishes his people.

The original Hebrew makes no mention at Deuteronomy 32:10 of any word equivalent to an English word for "apple".

Answer: acid test

In older times when gold was in wide circulation, people frequently questioned whether a received gold coin or other bartered object was genuinely gold. Thus, some who had access to acid, usually nitric acid, would apply the caustic substance to the object in question. If the item decomposed, the gold was obviously false; on the other hand, if nothing happened, then the gold was genuine. Nowadays, when someone desperately or seriously needs to know the truth about something and applies whatever is necessary to determine that truth, he or she is said to be applying an "acid test" or giving something the "acid test".

Answer: added insult to injury

To "add insult to injury" is "to be notably harsh or unkind to someone, to hit someone when he or she is down". This expression has been around for almost 2,000 years. In his stories written in Latin, Phaedrus cites a fable of Aesop in which a bald man swats at a fly that has bitten him, misses the fly, and hits himself on the head.

The fly remarks, "You wished to kill me for a touch. What will you do to yourself since you have added insult to injury?" In 1748, Edward Moore used the expression in English during his play "The Foundling": "This is adding Insult to Injuries".

Answer: He could not comprehend the lecture he was hearing.

"All Greek to me" is an idiomatic metaphor for something that is incomprehensible or unintelligible, as if it were written or spoken in a foreign language. Most scholars speculate that the expression's origins lie with Medieval Christians, perhaps monks, who were unable to read the Bible or various religious manuscripts in Greek. Nevertheless, the earliest written recording of the expression seems to be William Shakespeare's tragedy "Julius Caesar" presented in 1599. Early on during the scene when Caesar refuses the crown that is offered to him, Casca says the following to Cassius: "Those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Greek to me."

Answer: My ideas were completely wrong or unsuitable.

"All wet" means "wrong; implausible; unsuitable". This idiom surfaced in America around the 1930s. Supposedly, whoever created it was thinking of the comparison between a wrong situation and the notion that a person who allows him or herself to get completely wet and remain that way is silly, stupid, or abnormal.

The expression may be a derivation of the much older English expression: "to cover oneself with a wet sack", which comes from the sixteenth century. It meant to make useless excuses or to adopt a position that could not be taken seriously.

Answer: "Revelation" from the New Testament

The phrase occurs several times in the Bible's New Testament in the book of "Revelation". One of the most significant passages is Chapter 1, Verse 8: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord". The expression's logic is derived from the fact that alpha and omega are the first and last letters, respectively, of the Greek alphabet.

Answer: The judgement of Paris in Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Eris, the goddess of discord, was uninvited to Thetis and Peleus' wedding; thus, she sought revenge. She threw a golden apple upon the table, stating that it belonged to "the most beautiful". Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite each laid claim to the apple. Paris was asked to judge, and he awarded the apple to Aphrodite.

Hera and Athena were sorely displeased and vowed revenge themselves now. Thus did an apple lead to discord--in this case, the Trojan War. Rossetti's poem "An Apple-Gathering" occurred much too late--the late 1800s--to be seriously considered a source of the expression.

As far as Adam and Eve are concerned, the word "apple" is never mentioned in the story of Eden; that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was an apple tree is merely popular belief. Finally, while Hercules' eleventh labor was to steal golden apples from Zeus' garden, the story's reference is to "apples" in the plural; thus, the expression "apples of discord" would have probably evolved instead of "apple of discord".

Answer: as the crow flies

While the crow is not known for flying any long distance in a straight line, it does, however, travel directly to its chosen target of opportunity (a corn field, for instance). On the other hand, a person who chooses to travel must usually follow the twists and turns of a road to get to where he or she wants. If I were giving directions, I might say that a certain destination lies so many miles in one direction as the crow flies.

While the person listening to me may not truly be able to travel in a straight line, at least that person would know which direction he or she needed to maintain as an ultimate goal. One of the earliest written records of someone's using a reference to a crow's flight for directions is in 1800 in a letter written by Robert Southey; he wrote: "About fifteen miles, the crow's road".

Answer: at loggerheads

One hardly ever encounters the word "loggerheads" anymore without its being preceded by the word "at". However, it was once used to mean several things. For one, it was a blockhead or a stupid person. It was also a metal tool with a long handle and a bulbous head at one end that was heated in a fire and used to melt pitch or heat water. Of course, it is also the name of a species of sea turtle with a large head. Based on these definitions, one can only assume that people at loggerheads are confronting each other like heated metal bulbs or thick-headed turtles--belligerently head to head.

The earliest written recording of this expression used to mean "a confrontation" is a passage from Francis Kirkman's 1668 novel "The English Rogue": "They frequently quarrell'd about their Sicilian wenches, and indeed . . . they seem . . . to be worth the going to Logger-heads for".