Punioms Trivia Quiz

Answer: It died in the wool

Anyone who is described as "dyed in the wool" is a person who is very set in his or her ways, and not willing to accept change without a struggle, or change opinions about various issues. A far right conservative politician could be an example of this.

Interestingly, "dyed in the wool", a term known as far back as the 16th century in England, comes to us from the cloth manufacturing trade. At that time, wool was either dyed after it had been woven into cloth or thread - or dyed before the spinning process began when it was still more or less straight from the sheep's back.

The pun rests in the words "dyed" for the wool, and "died", as in having gone to that great shearing shed in the sky.

Answer: Ivory tower

An "Ivory tower" is a term used to describe someone who is a bit dreamy, distant from the rest of society, and usually absorbed in intellectual pursuits. The original expression, which had nothing to do with academic interests, dates back to the Bible's "Song of Solomon" (7:4), when King Solomon likens his love's slender neck to that of an ivory tower, pure and white and perfect.

In this modern age, anyone who is very tall is usually endowed with one of several nicknames, "tower" being one of them. Teeth are more often than not also described as "pearly whites" or "ivories" as well. So the pun is in the towering university professor absorbed in his studies (the ivory tower), wearing a new set of "ivories" in his mouth.

Answer: A green eyed monster

Green is a colour that has been associated with jealousy for many centuries. Shakespeare, for example, has Portia, from the 1596 play "The Merchant of Venice", declaring "How all the other passions fleet to air, As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced despair, And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy! O love, Be moderate...". Some people believe that the Bard of Avon may have even coined that term himself.

The famous Frankenstein was created by Mary Shelley in her popular 1818 novel "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" - except that monster was given no name at all. He was instead created by the scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who was obsessed with trying to regenerate life into that which was dead. To that end, he created his famous monster, who has been with us in various forms ever since. The pun is in the association between the emotion of green-eyed jealousy and that poor old monster created by Frankenstein.

Answer: He went out on a limb

To go out on a limb is to take a risk that possibly has a high chance of failure, or to be placed at a severe disadvantage. Although literally meaning to go out on the limb of a tree (dangerous at any time), it was first associated with being placed in an undesirable position in 1895 in the United States, when referring to an election there. Recorded in the "Steubenville Daily Herald" in October that year, it states "We can carry the legislature like hanging out a washing.

The heft of the fight will be in Hamilton country. If we get the 14 votes of Hamilton we've got 'em out on a limb. All we've got to do then is shake it or saw it off". How refreshing to know that elections were just as bloody-minded back then as they are today.

The pun is in likening the perilous act of actually being out on the limb of a tree with being in a position that is far from favourable.

Answer: Baby boomer

Who would seriously want to work as an explosives expert? This incredibly dangerous work deals with analysing, detonating, manufacturing and sometimes even disarming explosive devices of every kind, either in the field of construction - such as blasting tunnels through mountains or demolishing old skyscrapers etc - or in the field of battle - such as disarming explosives devices placed by an enemy in order to do as much damage as possible. The pun lies in the boom caused by those explosives when detonated - and in the term "baby boomers" elaborated upon below.

Baby boomers was a term used to describe the sudden increase in the birth rate of many countries following the return home to their families of service personnel following WWII. It referred to babies born between the years of 1946 until the early 1960s, when the population growth rate began to bottom out, rather alarmingly in fact. Baby boomers, as they grew to adulthood, saw a huge amount of change in societal values, witnessed so many threats to their very lives during the Cold War, were amazed beyond belief at the scientific progress that was growing at an exponential rate, worked hard, lived hard, paid their taxes, voted and fought for positive change and values, and survived it all. Now that many of them are approaching retirement and pensionable age, they are suddenly being looked on as costing governments too much in health care and funding and resources. It's all so very, very sad. They're like old, once hard working horses that suddenly nobody wants any longer. And they shoot horses, don't they?

Answer: Gave it a wide berth

Considered unsinkable, the Titanic was the gigantic and very famous passenger liner that sank on 15 April, 1912, after being struck by an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean the prior evening. More than 1,500 people lost their lives as a result, and that famous ship has haunted and fascinated the world ever since. Apart from that terrible loss, she has come to stand for the last flicker of a way of life that disappeared almost overnight when the world changed so terribly following the onset of World War One. She was also, at the time of her manufacture, the largest ship in the world.

The pun is in the size of that beautiful ship, the width of the berth needed to accommodate her - and the expression of giving anything undesirable "a wide berth" in order to avoid unfavourable consequences. That is how we understand this term in our modern age. Originally though, it was once a commonly used nautical expression that meant "a place where there is sea room to moor a ship".

Answer: Diamond in the rough

When a woman becomes engaged to the man she loves (well, hopefully anyway) in our western societies, it is traditional for her swain to spend an absolute fortune buying her a diamond ring to symbolise their betrothal. One has a sneaking suspicion that the occasional man may also feel as though that ring has symbolically been placed through his nose as well. Part of the many snares and tricky parts of a golf course is a section known as the rough. That is the area located between the fairway and the out of bounds section of the course. The grass there, instead of being the lovely green and velvet carpet found on the majority of the course, is longer and coarser instead. So if a player's ball lands in the rough, his or her language probably follows suit.

A diamond in the rough is a term that describes someone who is all tough and a little coarse (rough) on the surface but is pure gold underneath. The pun likens a diamond lost in the rough of an otherwise beautiful golf course to that expression.

Answer: Fair and square

A fuddy-duddy is usually an insulting term to describe anyone who is set in their ways and rather foolish and old-fashioned. The original meaning of a fuddy, though, was an old Scottish term dating back to the 15th century. It described anyone who was very poor and dressed in ragged clothing. A duddy, on the other hand, was another Scottish word, one that referred to the buttocks.

"Fair and square" is a term, as we understand it in the 21st century, to describe anyone who is straightforward and honest, and whose word can be relied upon. However, during the 1960s and 1970s, the slang term of describing anyone as a "square" means that that person was old-fashioned, overly conservative and somewhat rigid in their thinking. One doesn't see the word used in that context much any more. One day in the future, no doubt, someone will do a quiz on the puzzling origins of words and expressions from the swinging sixties. The pun for this question then, sees the blond fuddy-duddy becoming a blond (fair) square.

Answer: Put the cart before the horse

Dyslexia is a reading disorder that sees its usually perfectly intelligent sufferers having trouble with the formation of words and letters. They may see the word "saw", for example, as "was". This disorder also includes spelling and writing as well, and putting the order of words in reverse order. Fortunately, with help from trained professionals, and a determination to overcome this difficulty, this disorder can be remedied. It takes more time in adults who have managed to slip through the system undetected, but it CAN be conquered. Please don't ever give up trying to overcome it if you have this condition.

In times gone by, before fuel driven motor vehicles were invented, home deliveries of various goods, such as milk, or meat, or groceries, were carried out by a worker bringing the goods to one's home in a horse and cart. Those lovely old horses were so used to the job and knowing which houses they usually pulled up at, they just eventually did so automatically. They were amazing. So then, the unfortunate delivery man who had dyslexia often accidentally put his cart before his horse as he set it up to begin his day's work. That's where the pun is found for this question.

Answer: He egged her on

To egg someone on is to encourage them to keep trying to do his or her very best to reach a desired goal. The original meaning of this term had nothing to do with hens or laying eggs, but dates right back to the 12th century when it was a variant of the word edge. It is believed that both "egg" and "edge" derive from a Viking word "eddja". However, it is proving difficult to find the meaning of that word. Egg was being used as a verb one hundred years later, and to "egg on" someone to do something was known by at least the mid 1500s, for it appears in Thomas Drant's translation of Horace, "Horace his arte of poetrie, pistles and satyrs englished, 1566" as "Ile egge them on to speake some thyng, whiche spoken may repent them."

And a hard working little hen of course lays eggs. So the pun connects that painful process to egging her on to do even better than before.