QWERTY Trivia Quiz

Answer: quiet

The word "quiet" came into modern English from Latin "quietus", via Middle English, "quiete". "Requite" means to return mutually and is usually quiet, "quote" is to repeat from a speech or text (can be noisy at times!) and a "report" can also be noisy if it is the echo from a firearm.

Answer: reporter

While three of these answers are made exclusively from the QWERTY row("reporter", "writer", and "repeater") a writer can produce material for publication anywhere, while reporters most often submit their work to TV, radio, online or print news media. A "repeater" can be a clock, a firearm, a device to send on copies of an electronic message, or a railway signal lamp.

A "prowler" (from Middle English "prolle") would just as soon not have his or her work written, reported about or repeated by anyone!

Answer: prey

In addition to mice, the favorite prey of owls includes snakes, shrews, small rabbits and other woodland creatures. "Pert", meaning saucy or impudent, comes originally from Latin "apert", open, perhaps indicating that the person has their mouth open to speak when they should not. "Pretty" is from the Old English "praettig", via West Germanic; all these mean "attractive". "Wiry" from the Old English "wir", a thin, strong strand of metal, means "tough and flexible of body". Owls might not mind pert or pretty prey, but they assuredly would not like it to be wiry.

Answer: quip

Many well-known writers and speakers such as Samuel Johnson (the dictionary writer), Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, and Oscar Wilde, are renowned for their quips. A "retort" is usually rude and intended to wound, unlike quips, which poke gently at, rather than stabbing, their recipient.

A "quire" is a unit of measure for paper; originally four sheets of paper folded into eight to be bound as a small book (from Latin "quartus", one quarter). Today it also means a packet of 25 sheets, one-twentieth of a ream.

A "quote", of course, when written or spoken accurately, will help enshrine many a fine quip in people's memories.

Answer: retort

The common root meaning shared by "retort" in both usages is from the Latin "retorquere", to twist back. The neck of the glass retort twists back around itself to allow condensation in the distillation process, and a verbal retort twists back a speaker's original words back at him or her.

Answer: porter

Guinness Stout beer is the most famous of the porter-type brews. The name "porter" to describe a fermented beverage comes from a bitter beer brewed from charred or dark brown malt. This brew was apparently originally made for people who worked as "porters", as it was supposed to make them stronger to enable them to carry heavier loads.

It comes from the Latin "portare", to carry. "Respite" means a period of rest, from the Old English "respit", via Latin "respectus", respect. Router comes from the Latin, "ruptus", broken, describing how a road or route breaks up a piece of land.

The most modern usage of "router" is a computer peripheral which breaks one signal into many copies to connect several computers in a network. "Wort" is a member of a plant family used in healing, such as St. John's wort. Wort is also the malt infusion into a hop mixture which becomes beer when fermented, so wort is part of the process by which porter is made!

Answer: worry

"Repine" can also be similar to "worry" but includes the idea of regretting something you cannot change now. "Retire" can be to conclude your working career or to go to bed, and "ponder" (not solely from the QWERTY row) most often means to think deeply about advice you have received, without any distress resulting from your thoughts.

Answer: terrier

The name "terrier" comes from the French word "terre", meaning earth, as these dogs helped hunt and dig out foxes, badgers, and rabbits, all of whom live in burrows in the ground. None of the other answers comes from the QWERTY row only.

Answer: pouter

Pouter pigeons have widely varying colours, small heads and bodies that perch well above the ground on their unusually long legs. They have been bred in Europe for over 400 years.

Answer: prow

The prow is the highest point of the front angle of a ship. In olden times, this was where you would find the ship's figurehead. "Prow" and "bow" are often used as synonyms.