Nationality Words In Idioms Trivia Quiz

Answer: French

The English language seems to take a rather unfavourable view of both the Dutch and the French. It should be noted however that the French language pays in kind and calls syphilis (in England "the French disease") "la maladie anglaise". In same way a "French letter" is "une capote anglaise".

It's just for the "French kiss" that they have not been inspired by England. There does not seem to be such a thing as "un baiser anglais".

Answer: Scotch egg

There is such a thing as a Russian egg, at least on French menus. Such an "oeuf russe" is little more than a cold platter with slices of boiled egg and some lettuce. But French chefs being great poets, often give impressive names to what is basically a simple type of food.
There is also Scotch tape, Scotch broth and there are of course the "distant relatives" whom we call our "Scotch cousins".
In all those cases there is no longer a literal reference to the Scots or the Scottish nationality. A "Scotch egg" is not the same as as a "Scottish egg" and need not have been made with an egg laid by a Scottish hen.

Answer: Siamese twins

The name Siamese twins has its origin in the historic case of "Chang and Eng" who lived from 1811 till 1874. They were congenitally united near the waist.There of course are many other ways of congenital "linking".
A technically more accurate term than "Siamese twins" is "conjoined twins". But in its extended metaphorical applications "Siamese twins"
is the current phrase.

Answer: English

Neither Africans nor Italians are particularly given to melancholia, and the Spaniards are certainly better known for their bouts of "Spanish fury", an altogether different type of madness - as the Flemings and the Dutch experienced during the sixteenth century.
Sure there is also "Spanish fly", but since the introduction of more recent innovations this preparation of dried blister-beetles has lost some of its glamour.

Answer: Swedish

The Swedish turnip was also popular in England. It even ultimately came to be known as a "swede". A similar Swedish influence is suede leather.

Answer: German

Apart from Swiss clocks and Zurich gnomes there is little the Swiss have been blamed for. The Poles gave us "Polish draughts", which is a form of draughts played on a 100-square board, each side having 20 pieces.

Answer: Prussian

The Mexicans, or rather the world-soccer-championship in Mexico, popularised the term: "Mexican wave" world wide. The Russians gave us the "Russian roulette" and the "Russian dolls", apart from Russian vodka of course. But ferric ferrocyanide blue is of Prussian origin.

There is "Chinese whispers" a game which consists in passing around a message that gradually gets distorted because the players are only allowed to "whisper" it.

Answer: Indian summer

The Indians in this case are definitely not the Asian Indians, but the Native Americans. In a similar way the term "Indian file" is related to them.

Answer: American panther

"Great Danes" actually have their origin in Germany, despite their common name. Because the jaguar is the only member of the genus Panthera (which includes lions, tigers and leopards) to be found in North and/or South America, they have been nicknamed American panthers.

Answer: Greek fire

If anything, the Turks were famous for their "Turkish baths", and later for "Turkish delight" or lokum. The Arabs were popular for pampering the West with first class Arabica coffee and teaching the Europeans how to play chess, a game they themselves had learned from the Persians, who in turn may have learned it from the Indians. But yes, it was the Greeks from the Eastern Roman Empire who had already found techniques that involved the use of a kind of petrol to light a big fire in enemy ranks.