"Pinafore" in Translation Trivia Quiz

Answer: shoes

Buttercup announces her presence to the sailors thusly: "Hail, men-o'-war's men -- safeguards of your nation, here is an end, at last, of all privation; You've got your pay -- spare all you can afford to welcome Little Buttercup on board." "Jacky" refers to plugs of twisted, rum soaked tobacco; "Soft tommy" is a bun which was more palatable than the standard issue hardtack; "Pretty polonies" were smoked sausages similar to bologna. Buttercup also offered snuff, tobacco, scissors, watches, knives, ribbons, lace, candy (peppermint drops, treacle, toffee), tea, coffee, three kinds of meat (lamb chops, chickens and conies). Amazingly, she fit it all in a basket, according to the stage directions! "Then buy of your Buttercup -- dear Little Buttercup; Sailors should never be shy; so, buy of your Buttercup -- poor Little Buttercup; Come, of your Buttercup buy!"

Answer: they are parts of ships' rigging

A "bobstay" is a line that supports the bowsprit of a ship. A "deadeye" is a grooved and riven block of wood that is used to cinch - in pulley type fashion - a line attached to a shroud or sail. In the world before Velcro, a "becket" was a short piece of rope with a toggle at one end and a loop at the other that was primarily used to secure a coil of line.

Answer: sweep deck

A sweep deck is a low deck astern of the vessel for launching sonar or mine sweeping equipment - not extant during Captain Corcoran's command. The berth deck is the narrow 'tween' decks that accommodates the hammocks of the crew. The poop deck is the roof of the cabin in the stern abaft the quarterdeck and the orlop deck is the deepest level within a ship where cable or lines are coiled in "overlapping" fashion.

Answer: K.C.B.

Sir Joseph was a Knight Commander of the The Most Honourable Order of the Bath. The Order of the Bath is a coveted honor for senior serving military officers and career civil servants in Britain. KBE is "Knight Commander of the British Empire" which was not instituted until 1918 by King George V. K.G. stands for "Knights of the Order of the Garter". K.G.B. is the acronym for the Soviet Russian secret police.

Answer: False

Royal Navy ships of the line were divided into classes (First, Second, Third and Fourth) based on the number of guns each carried. Nine pound guns were the smallest in weight, but offered a much longer effective range and were, thus, too dangerous for ceremonial use! Ships also carried 18 and 32-pounders.

Answer: in Homer's 'Odyssey'

In Homer's 'Odyssey', the Cimmerians lived where the sun never shines. Ralph was well read and articulate for a foremast hand - "I am poor in the essence of happiness, lady -- rich only in never-ending unrest. In me there meet a combination of antithetical elements which are at eternal war with one another. Driven hither by objective influences -- thither by subjective emotions -- wafted one moment into blazing day, by mocking hope - - plunged the next into the Cimmerian darkness of tangible despair, I am but a living ganglion of irreconcilable antagonisms." Then he adds, "I hope I make myself clear, lady?" Josephine responds "Perfectly", and then says aside to the audience "His simple eloquence goes to my heart."

Answer: "skim milk masquerades as cream"

While "skim milk masquerades as cream" is in the first verse of the song, it is not an Aesop reference. "Jackdaws strut in peacock feathers" is a reference to "The Fox and the Crow"; "storks turn out to be but logs" is from "The Frogs Who Desired a King"; and "bulls are but inflated frogs" is from "The Frog and the Ox"

Answer: nine

The crew sing : "Carefully on tiptoe stealing, breathing gently as we may, every step with caution feeling, we will softly steal away." They are much alarmed by the stamping of Captain Corcoran's boot: "Goodness me-- why, what was that?" To which Dick Deadeye knowingly warns: "Silent be, it was the cat!" The cat-o'-nine-tails was a whip with nine knotted lashes used frequently for discipline aboard ships of the Royal Navy.

Answer: fish in the North Sea

"Drops the wind and stops the mill; Turbot is ambitious brill; Gild the farthing if you will, yet it is a farthing still." Turbot is a flatfish similar to the flounder that yields much sought-after tasty, light and flaky fillets which, because of their size, can be prepared in a variety of ways. Brill is also a flatfish, but as much as 1/4 or 1/5 the size of a turbot and not as sweet to the taste.

Answer: False

Alexander Graham Bell was granted his U.S. patents for the telephone in March of 1876. There was a much publicized and somewhat controversial demonstration for Queen Victoria by Bell himself in January of 1878 (the controversy arising when Bell put his hand on the Queen to get her attention). "Pinafore" opened at the Opera Comique in London the ensuing May.

The first London exchange opened a year later in August of 1879.