Black Sheep With Blue Blood Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pitch

Pitch is another name for the black sticky residue substance obtained after distilling coal. Coal mines were extremely dark and dangerous places to work because of the build up of gases. Using candles was not a safe option so oil lamps, including the Davy lamp with its protective gauze, were introduced in the 19th century. Since then, much safer electric lighting has been used.

Answer: Funk

'Funk' is another name for panic, fear, or generally being out of sorts, and is probably taken from the old Flemish word 'fonck' meaning disturbance or agitation. An example used in a sentence would be, "I am in a blue funk as I have not yet revised for my exams".

Answer: Ace of spades

Many phrases are used to describe something which is black in colour. These include 'black as a skillet', 'black as night' and 'black as the ace of spades'. The ace of spades is the highest rank in a pack of playing cards. The 17th century saw the introduction of stamp duty and this included a taxation on playing cards.

The ace of spades was marked with a hand stamp to denote that tax had been paid. Unfortunately in some areas, the phrase 'black as the ace of spades' has been used against people racially because of their skin colour or race.

Answer: Blue pencil

The term used if you edit or censor something written is 'blue pencil'. The colour blue was specifically used to correct lithographic work as the pigment would not show up on any copies taken. The shade of blue used was called non-photo blue or non-repro blue and is still used today by artists, illustrators, and designers.

Answer: Market

To purchase something on the black market is usually done cheaply and illegally by means of an underground trading method. Contraband goods are sold without paying any taxes, but the quality of goods tends to be much poorer. Examples of black market goods are drugs, weapons and electronic equipment. Sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery and prostitution are also carried out on the black market.

Answer: Arse

People who rush around quickly and without thought are said to be buzzing around like 'blue-arsed flies'. A similar expression is to 'run around like a headless chicken'. It is believed the term 'blue-arsed fly' is taken from the blue bottle fly which tends to buzz around frantically, attracted to garbage and rotting animal carcasses.

Answer: Black gold

'Black gold' is the name given to oil or petroleum which comes out of the ground and sold for a great deal of money. Crude oil has been a fossil fuel for millions of years, but it was only in 1859 that a well was discovered in Pennsylvania by American Edwin Laurentine Drake which led to drilling for major production. Since then, billions of gallons of oil are sold each year with the majority coming from Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United States.

Answer: King Carlos of Spain

There are eight main blood types. Blood types A, B, AB, & O are the four main blood types but we get eight in total because of the Rh- factor, either positive or negative. It is believed that people with 'blue blood' from European royalty or nobility tend to have the rare RH negative blood type.

The term 'blue blood' comes from a social class of Spanish Moors of Visigothic descent with blond hair and fair skin showing blue veins.

Answer: Black stump

It is not exactly sure when the term 'beyond the black stump' came into being to describe a remote area, but is believed to originate back in the 19th century or even before. Because the Australian outback was so vast and thinly populated, blackened tree stumps were used as markers to guide travellers from one place to another.

The towns of Blackall, Coolah and Merriwagga all claim to have the original black stump.

Answer: Blue Blazes

The 'boys in blue' is a name used in Britain to describe police officers, named after the colour of uniform they used to wear. 'Blue Meanies' is a slang term to describe a police officer. The phrase was first coined in the 1968 film "Yellow Submarine". The Australians gave their police officers the name 'Blue Heelers' after a cattle dog, a breed of dog which would control cattle by biting at their heels.