Insults and their Origins Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dr Seuss

While there are alternative explanations, the good doctor's book "If I ran the Zoo" contains the lines "I'd ... bring back an it-kutch, a preep and a proo, a nerkle, a nerd and a seersucker too.". None of the other terms seem to have caught on in quite the same way.

Answer: A wooden beam

I learnt to juggle from a book called "Juggling for the Complete Klutz". After 6 months of practising (but not mastering) keeping 5 balls in the air at once, my girlfriend told me that she had always hated juggling. How prophetic that title was.

Answer: Othello, in the Shakespeare play of the same name

Othello was duped by Iago into killing his wife Desdemona, by the simple trick of leaving a handkerchief lying around. Nevertheless, he is known as the "Moor", and not the "Moron", of Venice.

Answer: Muppet

I find this a bit surprising, as I've always liked the Muppets. "Barney" is a term for an argument or fight, which may possibly derive from attempts to punch the purple freak.

Answer: False

In fact, it comes from Ancient Athens. An idiot meant someone who was not interested in politics, precisely the opposite of what it means today.

Answer: Kinnock

Despite being a Southerner, I love Northern insults - calling someone a "pillock" is just so satisfying.

"Kinnock" is the surname of Neil Kinnock, the politician who led the labour party (in opposition to Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives) for much of the 1980's. It is probably thought by some to be an offensive term, as a result.

Answer: Edgar Allen Poe

Jesters were the medieval performers who wore coloured costumes and made weak jokes in front of Kings and Queens. Amazingly, some of them managed to avoid having their heads cut off.

Answer: Half a penny

It is a contraction of "ha'p'orth", which is itself a contraction of "ha'penny'worth", which is in turn a contraction of "half a penny's worth". Quite why anyone would take offence at being called a "daft half a penny's worth" is beyond me, but that's slang for you. It may be related to the fact that a ha'penny was a coin with very little value, and considered pretty worthless.

Answer: False

This appears to be an urban myth (I have found no reliable source suggesting that a "dork" is, as believed in some quarters, part of a whale, and several quotes from whale experts saying that it is not - please stop sending me correction messages).

In fact it is not clear where the term "dork" comes from. My guess is that it has something to do with Adam Sandler.

Answer: True

Myrrh is a type of balm, and it would almost certainly have been presented in a pot, so it's true. What this says about the North of England is anyone's guess.