With Love from Me to You Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cupid wears a blindfold

Cupid, the Roman god of love, was usually depicted as a blindfolded, cherub-like child or a handsome youth, equipped with a golden bow from which he shot the arrows of love. Since he couldn't see his target, it's Cupid as the personification of love who is blind, not the emotion itself. Cupid was the son of Venus, and Eros is his Greek equivalent, son of Aphrodite (the Greek equivalent of Venus).

In both Greek and Roman mythology the young god of love gets mixed up with a beautiful young woman named Psyche (who never seems to have acquired a Roman name). Look up their story - it's much too long to relate in this space.

As for not seeing the faults of those whom you love, perhaps you'd be wise to remember that nobody's perfect! And while people in love may be so distracted by thoughts of the adored one that they bump into walls, it's not the reason we say love is blind.

Answer: Egg

Tennis was all the rage at the French court in the 16th century. The game was played indoors, and the scores were marked up on a board. No points, of course, would be represented by zero. Since zero is generally oval in shape, it looks a bit like an egg.

The French for egg is l'oeuf, which translated to 'love' when the game crossed the channel and became popular in England. Henry VIII enjoyed a game of tennis when he wasn't getting married, divorced or destroying monasteries. The French for bear is 'ours', but bears don't play tennis much. 'Ouvrir' is French for open, and while one of the top tennis tournaments in the world is the French Open, that came along a lot later than using 'love' for no points. Oeuvre, of course, is French for work, and while some make their living on the tennis court, it's still only a game! The OED, by the way, says that another possible reason we use love for zero in tennis is that we play for the love of the game. Tell that to the defeated tennis player! He or she will probably throw an egg at you. (Thanks to FunTrivia member ewasos for the OED explanation.)

Answer: Tomato

The tomato was one of the plants brought from South America by the Spanish in the 16th century. Those romantic Spaniards promoted it as an aphrodisiac and gave it the name love apple. In England, for several decades after its introduction, it was considered poisonous (the English in those days tended to suspect anything with a Spanish connection).

Answer: Smooth

It's a (mis)quote from Shakespeare. In "A Midsummer Night's Dream', Act 1, Scene 1, line 132, Lysander says "For aught that I could ever read, could ever hear by tale or history, the course of true love never did run smooth." Somewhere along the way, 'path' was substituted for 'course'. True pedants, of course, always get the quote right!

Answer: Robert Burns

Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, is responsible for 'My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose' (although he spelled it 'Luve'). Rabbie was an interesting character. Born in Ayrshire in 1759 into a tenant farmer family, he had a difficult childhood, marred by poverty and hard manual labour which left him with a pronounced stoop and a weakened constitution (he died when he was only 37). He had a sporadic education, but when he began writing and publishing poetry in 1783, his work quickly proved popular. He was a Freemason and his fellow masons helped spread the fame of the young poet. He is recognized as Scotland's national bard, and thanks to the Scottish Diaspora there's not a corner of the world that hasn't heard 'Auld Lang Syne' or 'Scots Wha Hae'. There are Burns Societies on every continent (I'm not sure about Antarctica, but if there are Scots there, you can bet your bottom dollar that they celebrate their bard on January 25!) Indeed, Burns birthday - January 25 - is celebrated with more fervour than St. Andrew's Day, November 30 (St. Andrew is Scotland's patron saint). Burns trivia: Burns is probably the only poet ever to find a rhyme for purple - as in his four line verse:
"I'd be more vauntie o' my hap
Doon hingin' owre my curple
Than ony ermine over lap
Or proud imperial purple."

I think vauntie means proud, and I know that curple is Scots for 'buttocks', so I believe the poem means that he's quite happy as he is, thank you.

Answer: Poverty

Any married couple will tell you that money troubles put a strain on the relationship. This adage dates from the early 17th century in England, but it originated in Germany. I could not find a date for its first use.

Answer: A character in a novel

Robert Lovelace is the wicked seducer in Samuel Richardson's 18th century novel 'Clarissa or the History of a Young Lady'. Clarissa is a beautiful young woman whose family has acquired wealth but no position in society. She is being urged by her relatives to marry an old wealthy member of the aristocracy, which she considers a fate worse than death.

She is persuaded by Lovelace to run away with him instead. He promises her marriage, so she accepts. However, Lovelace just wants to add Clarissa to his long list of conquests, ravishes her and abandons her. Clarissa dies, Lovelace is killed in a duel with one of her uncles, and the whole thing ends on a low note. Richardson, and his contemporary Henry Fielding are considered the first modern novelists. Richard Lovelace was a 17th century poet and cavalier.

He wrote the immortal lines "Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage..." in his poem 'To Althea from Prison'. Linda Lovelace found fame as a porn star and she was the original 'Deep Throat'.

Answer: Who knows?

The phrase has been attributed to St. Bernard of Montjoux (Menthon) (923-1008), St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) and John Heywood (1497-1580). St. Bernard of Clairvaux founded the Cistercian Order, while St. Bernard of Menthon is the fellow who founded two monasteries and hospices in the Alps to provide accommodation and protection for pilgrims travelling from France and Germany to Rome.

The monasteries/hospices are in the charge of Augustinian monks. The famous St. Bernard dogs, named for the founder of the monasteries/hospices, are descended from the herding dogs of Valais, trained by the monks to assist them in search and rescue work.

The Cistercians, founded by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, established several monasteries in England and were noted for the fine quality of the wool produced by the flocks of sheep they kept to support their work (aided, no doubt, by sheep dogs). And then again, the saying is also attributed to John Heywood (1497-1580), an English playwright who published, in 1546, a collection of proverbs, among which was "Qui me amat, amat et canem meam". Since the phrase has been around since at least the 12th century, I for one, would be more likely to give the nod to either of the Bernards than to John Heywood.

Answer: No

Interestingly enough, the original meaning of the phrase is that two people loved each other so much that no love was lost at all. In the 18th century, an English bishop set about collecting English Ballads and compiled them into a book called 'Percy's Reliques' ( the bishop's name was Thomas Percy).

His book, originally called 'Percy's Folio', contained over 180 ballads of both ancient and modern (well, 18th century modern) tradition. Percy preserved such important literary works as 'Sir Patrick Spens' (one of my favourites), 'The Nut Brown Maid', 'Lillibulero', and several ballads about Robin Hood and other folklore heroes.

The book is rather a careless compilation and contains many errors, but it served to inspire other, more scholarly, folklorists to hunt down and preserve old ballads and songs.

In 'Percy's Reliques' we find the ballad of 'The Children in the Wood' (the basis for the Babes in the Wood story), and read "No love between these two was lost. Each was to other kind."

Answer: Cupboard love

According to Dr. Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, the compiler of 'Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable' (my source for this quiz), cupboard love is: "Love from self-interest or hope of gain. The allusion is to the love of children for some indulgent person who gives them something nice from the cupboard." I suppose Old Mother Hubbard's dog falls into that category, too.