It's All in Black and White Trivia Quiz

Answer: Black

"Black and blue"

The phrase may have originated in Middle English as "blac and bla". It clearly had arrived by the 16th century; John Heywood wrote in a 1542 poem: "He that feeleth his owne skinne blacke and blewe, Knoweth what it is to be beaten true."

Answer: White

"White elephant"

It is said that the king of Siam would give an albino elephant to a member of the court with whom he displeased, for he knew that to care for the animal, considered sacred to his people, would exhaust the blighter's fortune. Hence the phrase "white elephant" entered into the lexicon to mean a useless but expensive item, and particularly costly to maintain. The term has also been extended in some places to mean a rummage sale of unwanted items.

Answer: White

"The Great White Way"

The theater district of Broadway in Manhattan is known as the "Great White Way" because of its bright lights. Broadway was among the earliest streets in the USA to be illuminated by electric lights, beginning with sizzling arc lamps in the 1880s. The nickname first appeared in print in Ship Friedman's column in the "New York Morning Telegraph", which in a 1902 article had the headline "Found on the Great White Way."

Answer: White

"Showing the white feather"

It was once believed that a white feather on a gamecock's tail was a sign of poor breeding and a poor fighter. Eventually the white feather became a general mark of cowardice. During World War I, Admiral Charles Fitzgerald founded the White Feather Society, which consisted primarily of women and girls who passed out white feathers to young men who were not wearing military uniforms, thereby calling them cowards and publicly shaming them into joining up. Some pacifist organizations have, however, co-opted the white feather and turned it into a symbol of peace and nonviolence.

Answer: White

"White knight"

In 1333, King Edward III bestowed the noble title of White Knight upon the Fitzgibbon family of Ireland, though over time it came to be used to mean a savior, especially one who is heroic and virtuous. In medieval literature, the white knight was usually a knight-errant, or a knight who roved the land to prove his chivalry and right wrongs. In business parlance, it refers to a company (or a person) who rescues another company from a hostile takeover, either by infusing revenue or buying the company outright.

Answer: Black

"Black gold"

"Black gold" is a slang term for petroleum oil, for it is as black as pitch, and it has made many a Texan rich. In centuries gone by, "black gold" also referred to peppercorns which in ancient times were expensive and used at times in lieu of money.

Answer: Black

"Black Maria"

A (usually) black-colored police wagon or van used to transport prisoners was called a "Black Maria" beginning sometime in the1830s. The origin of this term is unclear. Possibly the moniker comes from a champion racehorse, a filly named Black Maria, foaled in 1826 in Harlem, New York. One of her most celebrated victories was taking the Jockey Club purse in a race at the Union Course in Queens, New York in 1832.

Answer: White

"Raise the white flag"

In modern times the white flag has been internationally recognized as the symbol of the symbol of surrender, and also as the symbol truce or negotiation. Its origins as the symbol of surrender are ancient, as far back as the Eastern Han dynasty (AD 25-220) of China and the Roman Empire.

Answer: Black

"Black sheep"

Because of the vagaries of genetics, occasionally black sheep may be born into a flock otherwise white. From a commercial point of view, this is vexing because the dark wool cannot be dyed. (And it doesn't help that a black sheep was considered the mark of the Devil in England during the 17th and 18th centuries). So, when there is a family member who is frowned upon by his or her relations, that person may be called the black sheep of the family, the undesirable one. It could also refer to any deviant or persona non grata of any other sort of group, really.

Answer: Black

"That's the pot calling the kettle black!"

If you accuse me of something that you are doing yourself, or if you criticize me for doing something that you are guilty of committing yourself, then I might cleverly (or tritely, perhaps) point out your hypocrisy by saying, "Well, aren't you the pot calling the kettle black?!" The slang expression can be traced all the way back to the days when open hearths would blacken all of a cook's pots, pans, and utensils used.

Answer: White

"A little white lie"

To protect someone's feelings, or to simply avoid being rude, you might say that you enjoyed a meal when you didn't, or that you think a particular outfit is flattering when it isn't. If you do, you are telling a little white lie, a minor sin (peccadillo) justified in the name of avoiding needless offense, and after all, is anybody getting hurt?

The first appearance of the phrase in writing dates from the 14th century.

Answer: Black

"Black hole"

As a large star comes to the end of its life, it explodes into a supernova. If massive enough, anything left of the star becomes compacted into a very dense object called a neutron star. Or if more massive still, it will become an extremely dense object with gravity so strong that, close enough to this object, not even light can escape. (In more scientific phrasing, the escape velocity beyond the event horizon equals or exceeds the speed of light). This has variously been called a "collapsar" or a "black sun", but the name that has stuck is a "black hole".

(It should be pointed out that the vast majority of stars in the universe (about 97%) are not nearly massive enough to be either neutron stars or black holes, but will end up as white dwarfs - which are also pretty dense!)

The idea of a black hole has been metaphorically extended into anything into which you put items or information and have little hope of retrieving them again (as in perhaps certain archives), or something in which you invest resources or energy with little hope of return.

An earlier usage is The Black Hole of Calcutta, the epithet of a small dungeon in West Bengal into which one night in 1756, according to an employee of the East India British Company, 146 British and Indian soldiers were crammed, and all but 23 suffocated by morning. (Some modern historians believe this account to be exaggerated.)