Hang Ups! Trivia Quiz

Answer: disconnect

When you want to end a phone call, you need to disconnect. In the olden days, most phones were mounted on walls, and you had to "hang" the reciever "up" on a hook to disconnect a call. That was referred "hanging up" the phone. People started referring to the act of disengaging from a call as "hanging up" and that expression is still used today, even though the mechanism for ending a call is very different now with cellular and cordless phones.

Answer: fear

When people have a "hang up" about something, they have an irrational fear of it. Some common fears are heights, flying, or swimming in the ocean. Any fear that seems out of the ordinary or misplaced can be referred to as a "hang up".

Answer: upset

People can get "stuck" on or "so upset" about something, that they can't move forward, and they are basically "hung up" on it. Until they can overcome the issue, they can't move on and do whatever it is that they wanted to do.

Answer: put something on a hanger

This is a common request of many parents to their children. Somehow, setting clothes down on the nearest piece of furniture or even on the floor of their room seems "easier" than just "hanging" them "up" in the closet where they belong. Kids!

Answer: delay

A "hang up" can also mean a problem that causes a delay in the normal course of events. When a contract has complicated negotiations, it can get "hung up" over the details. When there is an additional step needed to solve a problem, it can mean a "hang up" or a delay in resolving it.

Answer: snagged or tangled

When something gets caught or ensnared somewhere, it is said to be "hung up" on that thing. Other examples of this type of snag could be a kite, a clothes line, any kind of rope or leash, etc.

Answer: obsessed with

When you are "hung up" over something or someone, you are often enchanted or obsessed by it. This is used in the passive tense, and is very common for any exaggerated interest in a topic or thing.

Answer: advertise services

When people start a new career, they often talk about "hanging up their shingle", which can be a literal or a figurative announcement of their service offering.

Answer: quit or end

When someone hangs up his/her hat, that person has decided to stop doing something, usually the kind of work that he/she has been dedicated to for a long time. The expression probably started with image of men getting home from work in the '50s, and removing their hats after a long day. Deciding to "hang up your hat" for good is to stop working.

Other variations are "hang up one's boots" or "hang up one's spurs" (for a cowboy). People also say, I'm just going to "hang it up" when they give up on a project.

Answer: make peace

This is an old-fashioned expression, similar to "bury the hatchet", where people agree to stop arguing over an issue that has been a long-standing conflict. Instead of continuing to take verbal blows at eah other, they agree to put the issue aside and "hang up" the hatchet.