Say What? Trivia Quiz

Answer: At dinner the father of the house would pull his chair up to the table

In old England, houses were often small and space was limited. The "board" is actually another name for the kitchen table. When the patriarch of the family would come in from working the fields, he would indeed pull his chair up to the table and hence become the "chairman of the board." Related to this is the term "room and board." If a guest was staying the night, after dinner the table would be flipped over.

The guest would then be offered the board to sleep on hence the term "room and board."

Answer: During very heavy rainfall in London England the streets would literally become rivers for garbage which also often included dead bodies of cats and dogs

The term "raining Cats and Dogs" does not truly have a definitive origin but the most popular one does appear to be the answer noted above. In 1666 there was a great fire in London that literally decimated the city and burned almost 80% or all structures throughout the city. Churches, residences, businesses, and government buildings all succumbed to the fire.

The fire may have continued even longer but a huge deluge of rain helped extinguish the flames. During this deluge, countless numbers of deceased dogs and cats were flushed out into the streets which also is suggested to give reason to the idiom raining cats and dogs. Jonathan Swift used the term in a poem entitled "A Description of a City Shower" in 1710.

Answer: Battle of Copenhagen

In 1801 the British fleet, under the leadership of Horatio Nelson, was locked in a heated conflict with a much larger Danish-Norwegian fleet during the Battle of Copenhagen. A superior officer flagged Nelson to withdraw and retreat. However, Nelson supposedly brought the telescope up to his blind eye and declared that he did not see the signal. Nelson's insubordination led to a decisive victory for the British fleet.

Answer: Melton Mowbray

One night in 1837, the Marquis of Waterford and a riotous group of friends turned the little town of Melton Mowbray into their own personal drunken playground. The mischief-makers, under the influence of alcoholic spirits, vandalized property, broke windows, destroyed flower-pots, and generally were destructive.

In addition, the revelers found red paint and painted a tollgate, several doors, and a statue of a swan. This escapade has literally been translated to refer to any wild night out on the town in the current day.

Answer: Thailand

In Siam (modern-day Thailand), the elephant is regarded as sacred. In fact a white elephant even appeared on the national flag up until 1917. According to stories and legend, if a person angered the king, the royal would gift the man a white elephant. An elephant is a very large animal and difficult to care for, keep up, and very expensive to feed.

Although this might look like a nice gift, in matter of fact it would invariably become a very large burden. Sometimes caring for the white elephant drove a family to financial ruin.

In modern-day terminology a white elephant gift is usually a funny item or prank present that people do not want to be left with.

Answer: Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote "The Canterbury Tales" between 1384 and 1400. It includes 24 tales told by characters from different walks of life gathered prior to a pilgrimage to Canterbury. In "The Merchant's Tale," it states: "For loue is blynd alday and may nat see." William Shakespeare liked the term so much that he incorporated it into many of his plays including "Henry V," "Two Gentlemen of Verona," and "The Merchant of Venice." It literally is used to describe the condition of ignoring the faults and ugliness of the persons that we love.

Answer: Hanging

The term "diehard" is thought to refer to a criminal in the 1700s who struggled the most when they were executed by hanging. In modern day terms a person with a dedication to a particular belief is considered to be a diehard. In 1811, the phrase gained greater notoriety during the Battle of Albuera. William Inglis, a wounded British officer with the 57th Regiment urged his men forward shouting, "Stand your ground and die hard, make the enemy pay dear for each of us." It didn't end well for Inglis and his men with 75% of the regiment killed. However, the unit became known as the Die Hards.

Answer: Holes through which archers would shoot their arrrows

Loopholes today refer to finding technicalities in legal proceedings or ways to avoid complying with various rules and regulations. However, in medieval times, a loophole was a small slit in a castle wall from which defenders could shoot arrows on invading armies. These slits were only small enough for a child to pass through. A loophole thus came to refer to an airtight law or something that only a few people could escape.

Answer: Painting

There are a large number of possible explanations and suggestions for how this term came into being. A modern theory is that when men went to war they would sometimes return having lost a limb in the fighting. Thus losing an arm or a leg was a very high cost of serving one's country.

Although not a lot of concrete evidence exists, there is another great theory for how the term might have come into existence. Before photography and modern-day technology, the only way to capture a likeness of a person was to have them drawn or painted.

It was often a long and laborious process for a portrait to be completed. Hands, feet, arms, and legs were much more difficult to complete. In order to keep the price of the painting down, artists would give discounts to their patrons by excluding the odd arm or the odd leg. If you were to visit many portrait galleries you will notice that very few paintings include the whole body.

Answer: Pull the Wool Over Someone's Eyes

Thank goodness for the daily shower. In the early days, personal hygiene was not high on the list of priorities. Bath time only happened once or twice a year in many cases. Men would often shave their heads and wear wigs made of wool. Attached to the comely wig is the term "to pull the wool over someone's eyes." To fool someone or to stop them from seeing something, a person could literally pull a woolen wig over the eyelids. "Mind Your Own Beeswax" is believed to be an intentional mispronunciation of Mind Your Own Business. Crack a smile literally refers to bursting into a happy expression. Lose face is a term derived from a Chinese expression to lose one's good reputation.