Finish My Idiom Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tolerance

Today, zero tolerance means that no anti-social behaviour will be accepted, either in the public arena, or in more private institutions such as schools or other organisations. The saying first arose in the 1950s in connection with pesticides found in food products. Once the damage this caused was revealed to the public it caused an outcry.

A reference to it in a Michigan newspaper, "The News-Palladium", in October 1954, states that "Hootman said the zero tolerance proposed for mercury sprays might be the most troublesome to growers".

The saying may have been around earlier than this, but the first written reference found is cited above.

Answer: Turk

A young Turk is a newcomer to any organisation or business or any endeavour who is young, eager, raring to go, and full of all kinds of ideas on how to improve things. This saying originated in the early 20th century in a political reform movement in the Ottoman Empire where a group of young civil servants, officers in the army, and students began to push for political reform. Eventually making its way to other countries, it was used by 1929 in the United States to describe young and enthusiastic Republican politicians who were eager to get rid of the Old Guard and bring in fresh new blood to run the country.

Answer: Birdie

As we understand it today, this is a photographer's instruction to a person or a group of people when he is after a smile from them as he takes the photo. It's the same as the equally familiar saying "Say cheese" before a photo is taken. Enunciating the word "cheese" with its long "Eee" sound tends to make our lips slightly curl up at the edges in a type of painful smile. "Watch the birdie" was usually used when photographing children, and in this instance, the birdie or some other fluffy toy was actually present, and pulled out and wiggled right at the time when it was guaranteed to raise a smile or laugh from the young models.

Answer: Heeled

To be described as well heeled is to be comfortably off, with nary a care in the world when it comes to paying bills or purchasing anything you wish. Three other lesser meanings of this idiom are (1) to be carrying a small revolver, or (2) to have spurs on the heels of your boots, or (3) to have a well spurred rooster in a barbaric cock fight - but it is the association with wealth that is the most common understanding of the term.

The origin of this idiom cannot be located, but it first began to appear in the American vernacular in the late 1800s.

Answer: Thumb

To be under someone's thumb is to be completely under the control of another person, where you have to do everything that person says and fall in with his or her wishes in every way. Once again, there are several claimants to the origin of this idiom.

Some have it that it is associated with falconry where the handler of the bird uses his thumb to hold it back when he doesn't want it to fly. Others state that it a term associated with a leading member of royalty when keeping his or her subjects under control.

Indeed, the earliest the term has been found in print is in a work by an 18th century politician, Arthur Maynwaring. In his book "The Life and Posthumous Works of Arthur Maynwaring, 1715", which, rather unsurprisingly, was printed after he had died, he says this of the French Monarch: "The French King having them under his Thumb, compell'd them to go at his Pace."

Answer: Betsy

"Heavens to Betsy!" is a well known, but now outdated, exclamation of surprise which originated in the United States in the 19th century. It seems to have first appeared in print in "Ballou's dollar monthly magazine", Volume 5, January 1857, in which one of the characters is described as crying "Heavens to Betsy!" in surprise at an unexpected happening.

This delightfully quaint term has had several claimants as to its origin. One is that it is a minced oath related to "Hell's bells!" but there doesn't seem to be any logical link with that at all.

Another is that it is associated with Betsy Ross, who is said to have sewn the first US flag. A third is that Betsy was a slang name that early US settlers gave to their favourite rifle. Remember Davy Crockett and his favourite gun Old Betsy? There doesn't seem to be any real proof for any of the above claims, however, and heavens to Betsy, that's annoying.

Answer: Hands

Describing anyone as having a safe pair of hands is stating that that person can be relied upon to initiate, carry out or finish any project calmly and successfully, or be sent to carry a mission of some secrecy and so on. That person is very dependable in other words.

This UK expression finds its origins in the typically English game of cricket where any fielder has to have a reliable and safe pair of hands in order to catch any ball that has been whacked in his general direction in order to fire it back at the wickets to knock an opposition batsman out of the game. Sure enough, in 1851, this association can be seen in James Pycroft's work, "The Cricket Field", in which he describes one player as having "The safest pair of hands in England".

Answer: Fish

"A pretty of fish" is a term that describes a muddle, or a mess, or an unfortunate state of affairs. This is an old English term that dates back at least to 1742 in England, where it is found in Henry Fielding's work, "The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews", in that year.

In it he writes "'Here's a pretty kettle of fish', cries Mrs. Tow-wouse". A kettle of fish at that time did not describe several fish cooked in a tea kettle. Instead, a kettle was a word that described a large rectangular frying pan in which a whole salmon was cooked (usually after being poached).

These were called fish kettles, and, after the cooked salmon had been eaten, there was a real mess of bones, head and skin left in the kettle - hence the association with the expression as we use it today to describe a real mess of things.

Answer: Shoulder

Anyone described as having a chip on the shoulder is usually sullen, grumpy, argumentative and prone to getting into a barney at a moment's notice. This saying originated in the United States, where, during the 19th century, if anyone was sparring to get into a fight, that person usually wore a small chip on his shoulder. This was an announcement that if that chip was knocked off by someone else, then the fight was on. That's one meaning given to the expression. Another has it that one of the perks for British dock workers in the 18th century was that they were allowed to take home surplus timber, BUT only enough that could fit under one arm. If this was the case, they had to place a small chip on their shoulder as they approached the exit gates to let the inspector know they were carrying same. Apparently the inspector couldn't see it jutting out from under their arms. Sounds a bit dubious really. The US version sounds somewhat more feasible. The following extract was printed in the "Long Island Telegraph" in 1830:

"When two churlish boys were determined to fight, a chip would be placed on the shoulder of one, and the other demanded to knock it off at his peril."

Answer: Death

This expression dates back several centuries and is said to refer to the dishonour done to a woman's reputation if she loses her virginity before marriage, or, more seriously, if she has been raped. A lot of value was placed on a woman's virginity in those days. Yessiree, nothing like valuing her for her intelligence, character or integrity, was there? In Gibbon's 1781 work, the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", for example, he coyly describes this as "The matrons and virgins of Rome were exposed to injuries more dreadful, in the apprehension of chastity, than death itself." Moving on to another century, Edgar Rice Burrough puts it in less discreet terms in his 1914 "Tarzan of the Apes" where he has it as Jane being snatched by a gorilla who "... threw her roughly across his broad, hairy shoulders, and leaped back into the trees, bearing Jane Porter away toward a fate a thousand times worse than death." Dear me, how salacious.

Today, however, we use this idiom more generally to refer to any piece of misfortune that has really impinged drastically on someone life's, and in fact, we're inclined to do so more for dramatic or comical effects than anything else. Perhaps, for example, the following: "The teenage girl stared in horror at the pimple forming on her nose, and shrieked "I can't go to the school dance looking like this - I look hideous, hideous I tell you! This is a fate worse than death! Oh, my life is over!"

Answer: Disguise

A blessing in disguise is any happening or event in one's life that initially appears to be a disaster but which turns out to be very fortunate in the long run. A somewhat drastic example could be missing a train to take you to an extremely important meeting, only to hear on the news later that day that the building in which the meeting was being held suddenly collapsed and that there were no survivors.

This idiom dates back to the mid 1700s in England. It first appeared in print in James Hervey's 1746 appealing work "Reflections on a Flower Garden".

Answer: Cap

Today if anything is described as a feather in one's cap, this means some kind of action has been carried out, or some award won that is a real achievement on the part of the doer. An example could be being made school captain at an education facility - a real honour for my beautiful grandson - or, taking it to another level and sorry to brag, my sister and brother both winning Australia's top honour on separate occasions.

The origin of this term is not so nice though. It dates back to the 16th century where it was customary for Hungarian men to wear feathers in their cap to represent the number of Turks they had managed to kill in battle. Lord bless us, some of them would end up looking like a turkey.

Answer: Water

Anyone who feels, or looks, like a fish out of water has been placed in some kind of situation to which he or she is completed unsuited, whether socially, personally, in a working environment, or any of the other categories of life. An example could be sending a hard-working farmer, used to only working with other men and prone to speaking in monosyllables, to represent you at a posh dinner meeting for female opera singers. This idiom dates way back to the days of Geoffrey Chaucer where it appears in his 1387-1400 Prologue to the "Canterbury Tales" as "... a monk, when he is cloisterless; is like to a fish that is waterless". That huge work, incidentally, is written in Middle English, and having to try to decipher it and then write an essay on it at university level is absolutely horrible. Below is a wikipedia example of it:

'Wepyng and waylyng, care and oother sorwe
I knowe ynogh, on even and a-morwe,
'Quod the Marchant, 'and so doon oother mo
That wedded been.'

I think it translates to "I'd like some fish and chips, please - and a cup of tea."

Answer: Ointment

A fly in the ointment is a term that means some tiny setback or misfortune or meanness even that has the ability to mar an otherwise ideal event, occasion or celebration and so on. An example could be proudly marching up to be endowed with some award or recognition of service, only to hear the announcer completely mispronouncing your name throughout the entire ceremony. Or an otherwise unblemished soldier's record marred by the time he punched his sergeant on the nose.

This expression dates right back to biblical days and is described in Ecclesiastes 10:1 (KJV) as "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour."

Answer: Dog

This is described in one list as a more up to date expression, but it still, rather comically, dates back to 1859, where it is found listed in John Camden Hotten's "A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant and Vulgar Words" and defined as "To be like a butcher's dog, that is, lie by the beef without touching it...".

The dog in fact, is so used to being so well fed from the butcher's offcuts of meat, that it doesn't really appreciate it as much as it did in the beginning. The idiom can be further applied to anyone who is so used to living the good life, or having everything handed to him or her on a silver platter, that its true worth is no longer valued by that person.

Answer: Driver

This expression describes somebody full of advice and instructions on what to do about any particular subject without either having had any experience at all, or at least being prepared to do the work himself. It arose in the United States, along with the birth of the motor car with which it is associated, at the beginning of the 20th century, and quickly spread to the rest of the western world from there. An example of this could be any of those annoying people who stand behind another person using a computer - giving advice non-stop to the computer user on how to perform a certain procedure - but not being prepared to take over, sit down, and do the task himself. SO annoying!

Answer: One

Having to go back to square one means having to go right back to the beginning of any particular project to start out all over again. It is uncertain where this idiom originated, but three possible explanations have been put forth for it. One of these is historically interesting.

In early radio broadcast days, long before the advent of television, commentators giving a blow by blow description of a football game for avid listeners used to divide up the football field for the game they were calling into grids for the benefits of these listeners. That way they could visualise the game in their minds as to where players were as it was being called over the air.

Another is the game of Snakes and Ladders, or any game which involved going from square to square on a printed board. Square one was the start off point of each game.

The third possible explanation was the game of Hopscotch where players progress through different squares, in numerical order, to win.

Answer: Day

This phrase can literally mean a day where one's hair is a mess and nothing done to make it look better seems to work - or it can mean a day where everything goes wrong. It is uncertain which period saw its birth, but it was known at least by 1988 in the US, when it appeared in a Santa Rosa newspaper, the "Press Democrat".

It mentions in an article there that "Even those who emerge from the sea to casually braid their shiny wet vines into a thick coil with a hibiscus on the end also have bad-hair days." However, it was when it was delivered in the 1992 film "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" that it became really popular.

In this movie, Buffy says to the rather disheveled looking vampire, Amilyn, that "I'm fine but you're obviously having a bad hair day."

Answer: Coot

This idiom means exactly what it states, and is a description of people without a hair on their heads. They're bald, in fact. It's a term that has been around for several centuries and appears to be first recorded in 1430 in Lydgate's work "Chronicle of Troy". In this he describes some unfortunate man as "And yet he was as balde as is a coote."

A coot is a small water bird with very dark feathers, but with a white streak extending from its beak to the top of its head. From a distance, this makes it look as though it is bald. This idiom is also known in various places as being as bald as a badger, but that is not the answer required for this question. Besides, that original idiom was to be "as bald as a badger's backside".

Answer: Stone

To cast the first stone is a biblical expression that means to be the first person to attack a sinner. Its implication, taught by Jesus himself, was not to be too hasty in doing so, unless you yourself had an unblemished soul - otherwise you ran the risk of being judged in return.

Its further grim imagery is that of a person, usually a woman, being stoned to death for giving way to her sensual passions, a punishment, sorrowfully so, still carried out in the 21st century in some Islamic countries.

The earliest printed example of this saying comes from the 1535 edition of Miles Coverdale's Bible, where, in John 8:7, it is stated "Now whyle they contynued axynge him, he (Jesus) lift him self vp, and sayde vnto them: He that is amonge you without synne, let him cast the first stone at her."

Answer: Footprint

A carbon footprint is considered to be the amount of environment destroying carbon dioxide that an individual, company, government, state or country contributes to the earth's atmosphere and global warming, because of the creation and consumption of all our energy burning products, pollutants, and so forth.

This term, which expresses the huge impact on one entity by another factor, originated in the first spacecraft landed on, and the first footprints made by man, upon the surface of the moon and the importance of that astonishing achievement.

A carbon footprint though, as we understand it today, has far more negative connotations.

Answer: Cheese

This term describes any two concepts that are completely the opposite of one another in practically every way. It dates right back to England of the 1300s and can be found listed in John Gower's middle English 1390 work "Confessio Armantis" in which, while referring to an attempt to deceive, he states "Lo, how they feignen chalk for chese". Gower, incidentally, was a friend of Geoffrey Chaucer, and his poems and other works are just as hard to understand as Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales".

Indeed, spelling, pronunciation and even letter formation back then is so different to today's written and spoken word that they themselves could even be said to be as different as chalk and cheese.

Answer: Horse

This is an American and Canadian term, seldom heard in other English speaking countries, that simply means a painful cramp in a leg muscle. Also spelled as a "Charlie horse", this idiom originated in the popular sport of baseball in those two countries.

The earliest reference to the term in print is from the Fort Wayne "Gazette", where, in July 1887, it is stated that "Whatever ails a player this year they call it 'Charley horse'...". There are several possible origins of this term, but nobody can state with certainty if any one of these is correct. Charley, for example, was an old lame horse that pulled the roller around the ballpark of the Chicago White Sox is one such story. Poor old fellow. I hope they were gentle with him.

However, Charley didn't do this work until the 1890s apparently and the phrase had appeared in print prior to this.

Another term has it that policemen who pounded the beat in England used to be called Charleys and their legs often ached from their work - so the Charley part found its way to the United States, but where the horse part fitted in is anybody's guess.

A third explanation has it that an American baseball pitcher called Charlie Radbourn (1854-1897) was given the nickname "Old Hoss", and Charlie, it seemed, was prone to suffering from leg cramps during baseball games. So take your pick as to its origins, but always remember that a "horse is a horse of course of course".

Answer: Life

If anyone is described as leading a charmed life, that person is extremely lucky in everything he or she does, so lucky in fact that it almost seems as though a spell or charm has been placed on this fortunate soul. So there's the hint of the supernatural about it. This expression dates back at least to Shakespeare's famous circa 1606 play "The Tragedy of Macbeth", in which a brave Scottish general is aided to the throne by following the deceptive advice of three witches, only to lose everything in the end - but for a while there, he had it all. Shakespeare has Macbeth stating in this play that:

"Thou losest labour:
As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air
With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed:
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield,
To one of woman born."

Answer: Whispers

Commonly used in the United Kingdom and other English speaking countries but not as much in the United States, Chinese whispers is a term that describes gossip that has gone around an area from person to person, inaccurately each time, so that by the time it gets back to the originator of the tale, the story has been distorted altogether. An example of this could be a girl named Sally who casually mentions to a friend that she and Joe Blow have started to date and they really like each other - but then the tale is passed around from person to person. By the time that piece of news makes it way back to Sally, she's received an indignant phone call from her mother demanding to know when she and Joe got married, why wasn't she invited to the wedding, and when is the baby due.

Chinese whispers derives from a fun filled parlour game where people sit around in a ring and quickly whisper the same phrase to one another to pass around the circle. It usually returns to the person, who started the phrase, highly distorted and very comical.