Word and Phrase Origins Trivia Quiz

Answer: False

The most probable theory about the origin of "tip" traces it back to the 1600s, where thieves used the word to mean to lend or give someone a small amount of money or goods. One problem with the acronym theory is that "insure" does not mean to guarantee that something will happen. That word is "ensure." If the acronym theory were correct, we'd be tepping waiters and waitresses.

Answer: True

The word "scapegoat" entered the English language in the 16th century as a result of a mistranslation of the Hebrew word "Azazel." In Leviticus is a description of a Hebrew practice during Yom Kippur of sacrificing one goat and letting another go free into the wilderness.

The one sacrificed is said to be for the lord and the one set free is for Azazel. In his translation of the bible from 1530, William Tyndale mistranslated "Azazel" to his inadvertent neologism "scapegoat."

Answer: Yes

Both words derive from the medieval tribe of the Franks.

Answer: False

The root of the word "history" is the Greek word "historia," meaning a narrative. It has no relation to the word his, which comes from a root word, "hisa," found in an early language that formed the basis for Germanic languages such as Dutch, Norwegian, Icelandic and other similar languages.

Answer: True

The "stan" part of Afghanistan means "land." Thus, Afghanistan means "land of the Afghans", and Pakistan means "land of the pure".

Answer: Yes

When a bosun on a ship blew "pipe down", it was a signal to the crew to go below decks to their quarters. As you might imagine, since the deck became rather quiet when the crew left, the phrase eventually became ship slang for "be quiet".

Answer: Yes

"Gobbledygook" was coined during World War II by Maury Maverick, a congressman from Texas. He used it to describe bureaucratic doubletalk and explained that he was reminded of the way that turkeys in Texas were "... always gobbledygobbling and strutting with ludicrous pomposity.

At the end of this gobble there was a sort of gook." Interestingly, Rep. Maverick was the grandson of Sam Maverick, who was the source for the eponymous term for free-roaming cattle and later, by extension, anyone who bucked the norm.

Answer: nothing, it is used simply because it's easy to remember

Three dots, three dashes, three dots, easily recognizable and easy to bring to mind in an emergency; the letters don't have any meaning beyond that.

Answer: No

Originally, the "peanut gallery" came from the theatre and referred to the cheap seats, usually highest and farthest from the stage. The folks who sat there were often vocal about their displeasure when they didn't enjoy a particular play, and it was not unusual for them to display their displeasure by throwing peanuts at the actors.

Answer: False

"Rule of thumb" probably derived from a common practice of using the thumb, from the tip to the first knuckle, as a measurement of length approximating an inch. The myth about the stick didn't appear until 1986, according to "The Bias-Free Word Finder".

Answer: Yes

The phrase is a metaphorical reference, referring to a loose hatchet or axe blade which might fly off the handle if one doesn't control how it's used. Thus, it came to mean someone who loses control in anger.

Answer: True

It is a corruption of the French word "m'aider" meaning "help me".

Answer: No

It appears that this phrase was coined in Walter Scott's novel "The Antiquary" published in 1816, in this passage: "The Countess's dislike didna gang (didn't go) farther at first than just showing o' the cauld shouther." Thus, it refers to coldly turning one's shoulder away from another.

Answer: No

"Weigh" in this sense derives from an Anglo-Saxon word, "wegan" which meant to carry, lift or move.

Answer: False

This story recently appeared in my email, along with many other equally contrived tales. The phrase "dead ringer" derives from horse racing. A "ringer" was a better running horse that was substituted for a nag that wouldn't run well. Obviously, anyone who had knowledge that a ringer had been substituted for a nag would be in a better position to bet on the winner. "Dead" in "dead ringer" is simply an intensifier meaning "absolute", as used in the phrase "dead heat".

If you believe any of the information I have provided here to be inaccurate, feel free to send me a message, and I'll happily share my source.