10 Question Humanities Quiz: More Pun Fun | Language Use

Answer: The carats

The pun here rests in carrots, root vegetables long associated with rabbits - and carats, units of mass used in the measurement of precious jewels. Did you know that when carrots were first cultivated by man, it was for their leaves and seeds, rather than the part we chomp into today - and that in some countries in the world, carrots are purple rather than orange? In fact, orange carrots were first produced in the Netherlands, a country that is itself associated with this colour. Purple carrots, which are orange on the inside (what a gruesome colour combination) are now starting to make a re-appearance in the UK. That'll probably be the next trendy food we have to endure when this catches on elsewhere. "My dear, you must have a purple carrot - they're simply divine dipped in sushi and tabbouleh".

This is interesting: The myth that carrots help us see better in the dark began as propaganda during World War II. It was instigated by the RAF to explain why their pilots suddenly began to have more success with nightly raids. In actuality, it was to cover up the fact that they had made impressive advances in radar technology - and to try to prevent this knowledge falling into enemy hands.

Answer: In the write frame of mind

The pun is being in the RIGHT frame of mind to create a quiz - a positive attitude and so on - and in actually sitting down to WRITE it. That sitting down to begin is the hardest part of any form of writing. Finding the motivation to get going, that is. Once you're past that hurdle, the rest is a matter of research, making sure those facts are correct, and then wording questions that are short and crisp.

The extra information should be interesting enough to hold the attention of the readers, while avoiding long, rambling words and boring details. Most important of all, though, is that you ENJOY that act of creation.

Answer: Pasta salt please

The pun here is between "pasta" (the spaghetti) and "pass the" salt. Pasta itself dates back to at least 1154 in Sicily when the first reference to this foodstuff was recorded. It was probably around long before this though, to have warranted that reference in the first place. Did you know that before tomato sauce was created some time in the late 18th century, pasta was eaten dry in much the same way we eat potato chips today, straight from the packet? Somehow that doesn't sound terribly appealing at all.

Answer: Sirius

Serious and Sirius are the words interchanged in this case. Sirius is the brightest stars that we can see in our night sky. The name itself has come down to us from an Ancient Greek word meaning glowing. This is interesting: The Sirius that we see as one bright star shining up there every night is actually TWO stars.

This is known as a binary star system. Sirius A is the main powerfully shining star, while Sirius B, known as "The Pup", is its white dwarf mate. That was discovered in 1862. This is even more interesting: Sirius A is twice as big as our sun, and its luminosity rating is an amazing twenty-fives times stronger.

It is actually moving closer to us, growing marginally brighter the closer it becomes, and this will continue for another 60,000 years before it begins to move away again.

Answer: The trumpet

Jazz bands can include any number of assorted instruments, but brass ones in particular are basic to them. The pun is in the trumpet - a brass instrument used in a band - and the trumpet sound associated with an elephant when it is agitated or angry.

What did the angry elephant do to its credit card? Charged it.

Answer: He saw straight through it

Radiologist are specialists who are skilled at carrying out medical imaging procedures on patients for the purpose of diagnosing various conditions. For example, those procedures include taking x-rays, a technique that allows a machine to take internal images of patients suffering from suspected fractures. So, in fact, they see "right through you" - which is where this pun rests. Any parents who knows their children well can also easily "see through" the yarns that their offspring sometimes come up with.

Answer: Watch out or he will fleece you

Shearers are professional workers skilled at the task of removing the fleece from very unwilling sheep. Today they almost always used electrically powered shears for this job, where once it was all done with a pair of strong hands and an old hand-held manual set of shears.

It's back-breaking work, whether assisted by electricity or not, as shearers are usually bent over squirming sheep all day long, every day, while the shearing season lasts. "Fleecing" someone out of money or goods is also a slang term for the crime of robbery in one form or another.

Answer: He thought it was killingly funny

Ugh, that's a dreadful job, but someone has to do it. Abattoir workers, quite simply, are in the business of slaughtering animals so that those sacrificed animals, when diced up by butchers, can be consumed by humans. If a joke is extremely amusing, it is often described as being killingly funny - so the pun here is on the relationship between those two meanings.

Answer: Very filling

Part of a dentist's work is - oh shudder all ye with cavities - filling teeth. After first scraping out the decay with what seems to the unfortunate patient to be an atomically powered buzz saw, that is. So the pun is with that filling, compared to a meal that is so rich and nourishing and generous that is it said to be very filling.

Answer: Joe Girt

Yoghurt is a dairy food produced by boiling milk, allowing it to cool, and then adding specific bacterial cultures into it that enable it to thicken up. This can then be flavoured anyway you like, or consumed as is. This product is said to be very good for us and packed with nice healthy calcium.

The word play here is on the name Joe Girt, which, when said aloud, sounds like the word yoghurt.