Run of the Mill Cliches Trivia Quiz

Answer: The politician was trying to remain in favor with two sides at the same time.

To "run with the hare, hunt with the hounds" is to try to please two opposing sides or groups simultaneously. It's to play a double game, so to speak--a game that is certainly quite risky. It is a game many people attempt when they feel trapped in controversial political situations or when they are traitors to a particular cause or institution.

They attempt to run with the hare as it is being chased by its enemies while they at the same time attempt to be considered one of the hounds who are hunting the hare. Certainly, it is very difficult to be the hunted and the hunter at the same time, and at some point, this individual has to take a side or, of course, a decision gets made by someone else for the individual.

This expression derived from the custom of hunting seems to have first appeared in writing in 1440 in "Jacob's Well": "Thou hast a crokyd tunge heldyng wyth hownd and wyth hare" (You have a crrooked tongue holding with hound and with hare)".

Answer: Real McCoy

"The Real McCoy" is used to refer to something that is the genuine article or an original item. In other words, the item is not a cheap copy or substitute or fake. It's the real thing. The expression seems to have been in existence since the late 1800s, but no definitive explanation exists for its origin.

There are many theories, however. Some argue that it was a slogan created by A & M MacKay of Scotland, the makers of a particular brand of Scotch who wanted to separate their fine product from any imitators. Of course, the company referred to its whisky as "The Real MacKay", but the theory is that the expression eventually evolved to "McCoy".

Another explanation is that the late nineteenth-century boxer Kid McCoy was so good that others began to steal his name to draw attention to themselves. Apparently, Kid McCoy began marketing himself as "The Real McCoy".

Then, there are those individuals who argue that the expression's origin lies with Elijah McCoy's invention for the lubrication of engines.

His product was so successful that others began to duplicate it although their copies were inferior. Many began to refer to Elijah's McCoy's invention as "The Real McCoy". There are even some who argue that the expression came into existence to describe heroin that came originally from Macao. Many other explanations exist.

Answer: Long, slender feathers along a rooster's neck or back

Hackles are the erectile feathers that line the backs of birds' necks as well as the birds' backs, particularly those of male birds. These feathers stand more erect when certain birds feel threatened. The image of an angry rooster, a very common domestic fowl, is often what comes to most people's minds as they thinking of raised hackles. On the other hand, birds are not the only animals to have hackles. For instance, the hairs on the back of a dog's neck also stand up when this animal feels frightened or alarmed or perhaps even excitement during a hunt. One of the earliest written examples of this cliche occurs in Edward Pennell's "Elmhirst--The Cream of Leicestershire", which was published in 1883: "I almost saw the hackles of a good old squire rise . . . ".

Answer: Rule of thumb

A "rule of thumb" is a rough measure or guide. The origin of this expression is unknown. Many have believed that the expression comes from an English law, passed into effect by Judge Sir Francis Buller, that stipulated that a man could beat his wife as long as he beat her with something smaller in circumference than that of his thumb. However, there is no evidence linking any such law to a Judge Buller; furthermore, there is no written record of any such law at all in any historical text or document. Most scholars theorize that the phrase is the result of the past tendency of people to use their thumbs as measuring devices, just as people once used their feet to measure length. People of the past once used the length from the joint of the thumb to the tip of the thumb to approximate the length of an inch while others once used their thumbs to judge alignment or distance by extending the thumb the way an American hitchhiker does and holding it in their line of sight.

The expression has been in existence since at least the 1600s. In 1692, Sir William Hope wrote in his "The Compleat Fencing-Master", "What he doth, he doth by rule of Thumb, and not by art".

Answer: Ring down the curtain

"Ring down the curtain" means to bring an end to something. Many assume that this expression is derived from the theater, and they are correct; however, they are incorrect when they assume the expression is supposed to be "BRING down the curtain" instead of "RING".

In the past, stages often relied on curtains that were lowered and lifted to begin or to end an act of a play. To signal those responsible for lowering or raising this curtain, a bell was rung from backstage. Obviously, "ring down the curtain" might be the exact words given to the bell ringer to notify stage workers to lower the curtain at the end of a play.

However, by 1916, the expression had achieved its figurative sense: Sheila Kaye-Smith writes in "John Galsworthy", "Thus the curtain rings down on Irene Forsyte, crushed under the heel of porsperity".

Answer: An enclosure for domestic animals

A "fold" does indeed refer to an enclosure for domestic animals and is particularly associated with a strong and secure place for a farmer to keep his or her sheep. For this reason, "return to the fold" has for a very long time been most frequently used in religion, particularly Christianity. God or Christ is often metaphorically seen as a shepherd while people are the sheep, often lost sheep.

When a sinner or someone who has lived without God returns to a more faithful life, then that individual is often said to have returned to the fold.

However, the expression is not limited to only religious or spiritual use. Many use the expression to refer to an individual who has left and then returned to a place of employment, an institution, a community, or a particular society.

The use of "return to the fold" has been used figuratively since at least the 1300s.

Answer: Calendars

The phrase "red-letter day" comes from the custom of signifying holy days or other significant days important to the church by printing these dates in red or purple on the calendar. In 1490, William Caxton referred to the practice in his translation of "The boke of Eneydos": "We wryte yet in oure kalenders the hyghe festes wyth rede lettres of coloure of purpre".

However, over time, the expression has come to be used by anyone talking about any important or happy day.

Answer: The coals

To "rake someone over the coals" means figuratively to severely criticize, lambaste, scold, or castigate someone for his or her incompetence or for some foolish or immoral act committed by that individual. Sometimes, instead of using the word "rake", people may say "haul", "drag", "bring", or "fetch someone over the coals". Whatever the wording of the expression, it is derived from the very real practice in the past of church authorities punishing those accused of heresy or witchcraft over coals that were still slightly burning. Often, those punished in such a way died from severe burns or from catching fire themselves.

The idea was that if you survived the ordeal, then you were innocent; however, if you didn't, then you must have been guilty. Lovely.

In 1565, William Fulke worte the following description in "A Confutation": "S. Augustine, that knewe best how to fetche an heretike over the coles".

Answer: Cryptography

The use of "read between the lines" as a figurative expression is derived from particular methods of cryptography, the writing of messages in code, that required the reader of the message to read literally between the lines of a message as it was formatted. Usually, a piece of paper would have two messages written upon it. One would be an easily observable message that readers who were not the intended receivers of the communication would read and believe to be the true message.

The real message, however, would be hidden between the lines of the observable message. Often, this real message was written in disappearing ink, in some other concealable liquid, or in symbols or markings that appeared to be meaningless. Sometimes, the hidden message was to be read by itself; sometimes, it was meant to be read in conjunction with the visible lines or words. Eventually, as the question makes clear, people began to use this expression to refer to any message that was not an obvious or explicit one.

Answer: Running the gauntlet

"Running the guantlet" is a faultily worded expression. Beginning in the Thirty Years War, fought from 1618 to 1648, the British military used a form of punishment that required the guilty soldier or sailor to run through two parallel rows of men, each of whom possessed a stick, a whip, a knotted cord, or something else similar to any of these that he swung at the passing victim. Often, the victim died, and those that didn't were so severely beaten that they wish they had.

This method of punishment was referred to as "running the gantelope", a word that came from the Swedish word "gatlop" or "gatu-lop", which referred to "a gate".

In other words, the rows of soldiers were figuratively referred to as a "gate" through which the one being punished had to pass.

It is unclear how the expression transformed from "running the gantelope" to "running the gauntlet". It may be as simple as how "gauntlet" and "gantelope" are similar sounding and that someone thought another was saying "guantlet" because of the that piece of armor's association with soldiering.

It may also be that people were thinking of another cliche, "throw down the gauntlet", and made an association between the two different situations.