People Who Became Words - 7 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bowdler brought out a censored version of Shakespeare's works

Thomas Bowdler is known for bringing out a censored edition of the works of William Shakespeare. This edition was titled "The Family Shakespeare, in Ten Volumes; in which nothing is added to the original text; but those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family".

This form of censorship, where certain original work is edited to remove that which is considered offensive is referred to as 'bowdlerizing'.

Answer: Alexander Graham Bell

The unit of measurement 'bel' was devised to measure the reduction in audio levels over a length of telephone cable. This word was derived from the name of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. The unit incidentally was named by the scientists working at Bell Telephone Labs. The unit was later renamed as decibel, since bel was too large a unit to measure.

Answer: An Apache leader

The term 'Geronimo' is an exclamation usually used by parachutists while jumping out of a plane. The word originated from the name of an American Indian leader called Geronimo (also called Goyaale). In April 1940, a soldier named Aubrey Eberhardt had seen a film about the Apache leader Geronimo.

He was taunted by his team mates, who said that he would be so scared to do a parachute jump that he would forget his own name. Eberhardt reportedly replied that he would prove he was not scared by yelling the name of Geronimo when he jumped out. That was how the word originated and soon all parachutists began to use this word.

Answer: A stable owner

Thomas Hobson (1544-1631) was a mail carrier who also ran a stable. He would rent horses to customers. Because of great demand for a few horses, he devised a queue system by which horses would be rented. He gave customers an option to rent the next horse in the queue or none.

His policy of 'this one or none' began to be known as a 'hobson's choice', which was actually no choice. A popular adaptation of Hobson's choice was made by Henry Ford who offered the Ford-T model in 'any colour, as long it is black'.

Answer: True

A Scotsman Charles Macintosh developed a rubber coated cloth, using which he made coats used for protection against rain. This coat which was named after him was called 'Macintosh' or 'Mackintosh'. Macintosh patented his invention in 1823.

Answer: A Big Brother state

George Orwell's book 'Nineteen Eighty Four' was about a totalitarian state. The word Orwellian is derived from George Orwell's name. The word refers to a situation where a 'Big Brother' state or authority puts its citizens under surveillance. It also refers to manipulating history to suit some people, invasion of people's privacy and substitution of religion with worship of state and party leaders.

Incidentally, the popular television series 'Big Brother' is all about surveillance of participants who do not get any privacy.

Answer: A victory which ruins the winner

The term 'pyrrhic victory' refers to a victory wherein the winner faces ruin and devastation. This word has its origins from the name of King Pyrrhus who defeated the Romans. But the win was costly as King Pyrrhus's forces suffered huge losses. Even though a large number of Romans died, they had reserve forces, whereas Pyrrhus did not have such reserves. King Pyrrhus is reported to have remarked that one more win over the Romans would undo him.

The term 'pyrrhic win' refers to any win which affects the winner negatively.

Answer: A US President

The teddy bear is named after former US President Theodore Roosevelt. The teddy bear is a stuffed toy (usually a bear) and children around the world love to play with a teddy bear. Once during a bear hunt, Roosevelt's assistants captured a bear, tied it to a tree and asked Roosevelt to shoot it. Roosevelt was disgusted and refused to shoot the bear.

This spawned a political cartoon of Roosevelt and a black bear. This inspired a toy store owner, who created a new toy bear and named it 'Teddy bear' after the President.

Answer: Thespis was the first actor to appear on stage

Thespis of Icaria is reportedly the first ever person who appeared on stage to act in a play. He is believed to be the first actor in the world. Thus, the word thespian is named after Thespis and is used to refer to an actor or entertainer.

Answer: A Roman God

A volcano is an opening in the earth's surface that spews out molten lava. There have been many incidents of volcanic eruptions in history that have destroyed people and buildings. The word volcano is named after Vulcan or Vulcano, the Roman God of fire.