It's in Your Mind or Your Face Quiz

Answer: mind

Something which is imaginary can be said to be all in your mind. This is often used to comfort small children who are afraid of intangible dangers, such as a bogeyman. Of course, the phrase can also be used sarcastically about someone who thinks they are more important than they are - their significance is said to be all in their own mind.

Answer: face

Facebook was set up in 2004 as a networking site for students at Harvard University, but it rapidly expanded to have over 900 million users in May 2012. Along with other social sites such as Myspace, it has revolutionized the way people stay in touch with each other, since it can be accessed from mobile phones virtually anywhere and anytime, making quick and low-cost contact easy. On the other hand, it has been the source of a number of incidents involving posting of malicious or embarrassing information.

Answer: mind

The origin of this phrase, used to remind one to be on one's best behavior, is obscure. As is so often the case, there are multiple sources which are definitively cited by different authorities. One of them has to do with printers' assistants in the early days of moveable type, who needed to pay close attention to the p and q pieces of type, which were in adjacent boxes and looked very much like one another, so were easy to confuse.

Another relates to chalking up accounts in pubs, where a pint was shown by the letter p, and a quart by the letter q - reversing them would make a significant difference in the amount owed!

Answer: face

"Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss."

This quotation comes from the play 'Doctor Faustus' (Act V, scene 1) as Faust addresses the ghost of Helen of Troy, who he has summoned up. Helen, a well-known beauty, was married to Menelaus, and all her many previous suitors had sworn to support him should he ever need their help. Paris chose Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess in a contest between her, Athena and Hera, because she promised him the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife. He proceeded to abduct Helen of Sparta, and carry her off to Troy. According to Homer, the Greeks raised a fleet of over a thousand ships to sail to Troy and get her back, starting the Trojan War that led to the destruction of Troy.

Answer: face

If something is in your face, it is unavoidable. A person who makes their presence such that you cannot turn away from it is said to be in your face, and is probably asking for a fight, whether verbal or physical. The phrase has often been used to describe the way boxers interact as they go through their pre-match posturing for the press.

Answer: mind

When I first saw the Beatles on the 'Ed Sullivan Show', they really blew my mind, and I have been a fan ever since. Something that blows your mind is overwhelming in its impact on you, usually not in a negative way. It is exciting, thrilling, something you want to pursue and have more of.

Answer: mind

If you see something in your mind's eye, you are imagining it so clearly that it might almost be there so that you could physically see it. The human ability to do this has been explored by a number of scientists, who want to find the physical location of the part of the brain where such images are created.

Some studies suggest various areas in the visual cortex as being involved. But wherever it is, we all use it!

Answer: face

The origin of the phrase "to face the music" is, as is the case for many phrases, obscure. One popular possibility is a reference to the practice (now obsolete) of formally dismissing a disgraced soldier from the army in a ceremony that involved a drumbeat as the soldier is stripped of his official insignia and leaves the regiment.

Another suggests that it is related to actors onstage facing the orchestra pit during a performance - although I fail to see why this is such a punishment!

Answer: face

To start an ice hockey match, the puck is dropped between two players who stand facing each other in the centre of the field. They then use their sticks to try and gain control and move play into their team's offensive zone. This confrontation between two players is called a face-off. The phrase can also be used to describe other hostile confrontations.

Answer: mind

The phrase mind over matter was widely used during the mid-20th century to describe psychokinesis, the use of the mind to move physical objects, such as bending spoons by thinking at them. It then became attached to the idea that self-will could help one overcome obstacles, such as refusing to acknowledge pain that might otherwise be felt if one were to walk over hot coals.