A Pair of Didymous Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bank Routing number

RAS is a common source of tautology, as usage leads to forgetting what the acronym actually stands for, and adding a word at the end that describes the type of object being described. The ISBN (International Standard Book Number which gives a unique identification number every edition of every book printed for commercial sale), the PIN (Personal Identification Number which you use to identify yourself in a variety of electronic situations, especially credit cards) and the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number that identifies the car in which an engine was installed at the factory) all have no need to have the word 'number' tacked on, but they often do! The Bank Routing number (which identifies the location of your bank on the international monetary network) is also called the Transit Routing Number, often identified as the TRN, and tautologically called the TRN number.

Answer: Digital

There is no dispute about the words associated with either D, but the V is either said to stand for video (as used by Toshiba when they first introduced them) or versatile (the word agreed on in the DVD Forum, after computer companies complained that the original word left out all the applications within their industry). DVDs are the same size as compact discs, but have a much larger storage capacity, and are commonly used for distribution of software programs and movies (in which capacity they have almost completely replaced VHS - an analog recording method using magnetic tape).

Answer: Human Immunodeficiency

HIV is a lentivirus, meaning it has a long incubation period - typically, no resultant illness is manifested for months, or even years, after infection. HIV is thought to have originated in non-human primates in western Africa, and was first transmitted to humans early in the 20th century, although the disease it produces, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), only attained recognition during the 1980s.

Answer: System

The Global Positioning System was originally developed for military use, allowing the precise determination of position for troops on the move. It works by obtaining signals from a minimum of four different satellites (there are an awful lot of them up there, in geosynchronous orbit, sending out their very accurate time signals); these four signals allow the system to solve for the four unknown quantities (three spatial coordinates, and one temporal) necessary to accurately identify location.

The GPs has a wide range of civilian applications, but the one with which most people will be familiar is the use of a GPS navigational device in their cars, allowing them to readily find their way around unfamiliar areas. I still use my Melways street map, but then my car is 15 years old. My daughter's GPS device offers her advice on the best route to take into the city, based on the traffic conditions along the various possible routes.

Answer: USB flash drive

The BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is what your computer uses to start running, and make its stored data available for use. The data may be stored as Read Only Memory (ROM) which is slower to access than Random Access Memory (RAM), and which can only be modified with difficulty, if at all. RAM is the storage system used for data that is being actively used in the computer's operations.

A Universal Serial Bus is used to connect peripherals to the main computer, including flash drives which may be inserted into the USB drive, and to which data can then be transferred.

There are many names for these useful devices, such as thumb drives or other proprietary names.

Answer: Hula dance

The Hawaiian word 'hula' means dance, and the word is applied to a wide range of dances, not just the grass-skirted performances (often accompanied by ukuleles) with which modern tourists will be familiar. This type of performance belongs to the class of dances called hula 'auana (a word meaning drifting, indicating that the dance has drifted away from its original significance and performance under the influence of Western cultures). The traditional hula, referred to as hula kahiko, includes both sacred dances and others performed simply as entertainment, often with a comedic element. They are accompanied by chants - in the past, these chants formed an important part of the oral history of the islands.

The word Spanish word 'salsa' literally means mixture, and is thought to have been applied to the dance style (developed in New York City in the 1940s) both to suggest the link to the earlier Latin American dance styles from which it evolved, and possibly also as a marketing ploy to suggest that it was spicy.

The word 'tango' could come from the Latin word meaning touch (which the couples most definitely do), or it could have come from an African word brought to the New World by slaves, referring to a place where dancing and drum playing takes place.

The Spanish word 'flamenco' was developed specifically to describe the culture with which this dance style is associated. It may have been meant to suggest the concept of a fire, reflecting the passionate nature of the dance.

Answer: Plait

RSVP stands for the French phrase 'Répondez s'il vous plaît', meaning 'Answer if it pleases you' or, more succinctly, 'Please answer'. Traditional etiquette does not make your response optional - Emily Post declared in the 1920s that it was essential good manners to reply within at most two days when receiving such an invitation, and the Emily Post Institute continues to offer the same advice online in the 21st century.

It is most commonly seen on wedding invitations these days, and (understandably) a prompt response is appreciated so that plans to accommodate the necessary number of guests can be finalised.

When it is expected that virtually everyone will be replying to accept the invitation, the chore of keeping track of replies is often curtailed by changing the message to 'RSVP Regrets Only' - if you cannot attend, you will send a formal reply along the lines of "Mr John and Mrs Jane Smith regret that they are unable to attend the kind invitation of Mr and Mrs John Q. Citizen to attend the wedding of their daughter Penelope."

Answer: Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert, found along the Pacific coast in the northern part of Chile and Argentina, and (according to some geographers) extending into the south of Peru, was named after the indigenous people of the area, called Atacameños by the Spanish. It is best known as being the driest non-polar region on earth - it is believed that no significant amounts of rain fell in the area between 1570 and 1971, and some of the weather stations set up in the Atacama have never recorded any rainfall.

The Sahara, in northern Africa, is the world's largest hot desert (roughly the same size as the United States), as suggested by its Arabic name of 'aṣ-ṣaḥrāʾ al-kubrā' (greatest desert). The word 'ṣaḥārā' is the plural form of the word for desert.

The Gobi, in Mongolia and China, is a rain shadow desert - the Himalaya mountains block clouds that might carry rain up from the Indian Ocean, creating a region of low rainfall because the rain was deposited on the mountain slopes. The Mongolian word 'Govi' literally means semidesert, and one of the Chinese names for the region is just the generic word for desert, Shāmò.

The Kalahari in southern Africa is named from one of a few possible Tswana words, one meaning 'great thirst' and one meaning 'waterless place'. Technically it is a semi-desert, with more rainfall than a true desert, but it is nevertheless pretty dry.

Answer: Arkansas River

The early French explorers of the Arkansas area were led by guides whose name for the Ugakhpa people living there as 'Akansa' (people of the south wind), which became Arkansa when adapted by the French, and pluralised to Arkansas.

The Ohio is named in Seneca 'Ohi:yó', meaning good river. The state takes its name from the river that forms much of its southern boundary.

The Mississippi had the Algonquin name, 'Misi-ziibi', meaning Great River, which turned into the familiar Mississippi.

There is actually some debate as to whether the word Missouri means muddy water, as stated in a number of sources, or whether it comes from some other words (depending on who is doing the linguistic analysis) relating to canoes - either a place of large canoes or a people of wooden canoes. In any case, canoes have a water connection!

Answer: How (from 'haugr')

Excited lists explain that Torpenhow Hill means 'hill hill hill hill', which would make the town's name mean 'hill hill hill'. Current etymological thinking, however, is that the two British words 'torr' and 'penn', when placed together as 'torpenn' actually meant the top of a hill - the combination is not tautological, but serves as a more explicit locational description. Adding 'howe' (which became how over time) did indeed introduce a pleonasm, but it is not as over the top as I originally thought when I saw it in a list, before doing some research!