The Shaming of the True Trivia Quiz

Answer: Wocka Wocka Wocka

"OK so this guy asks me 'Did you take a bath today?' and I said 'Why, is there one missing?' Wocka Wocka Wocka."

Maybe it's because I have an affinity with both bears and bad jokes that I really enjoyed Fozzie and his antics. With his pork pie hat (he's actually bald under that hat) and polka dot tie, Fozzie was one of the mainstays of the early "Muppet Shows"... at least he was until that presumptuous porcine, Miss Piggy, stole the show from him. Suddenly he was the programme's fall guy and was quickly set up as cannon fodder for the show's real comedians, the hecklers, Waldorf and Statler, who would always have the final say.

Statler: "This show is awful."
Waldorf: "Terrible."
Statler: "Disgusting."
Waldorf: "See you next week?"
Statler: "Of course."

Answer: It's a form of greeting

Mork is an alien from the planet Ork and on his world "na-nu na-nu" was their way of saying "hello". This would usually be accompanied by a split fingered ("Spock" style from "Star Trek") handshake. Mork is sent to Earth by his boss Orson on a mission to observe its inhabitants and report back.

The truth is later revealed that Orson was just looking for a way to get rid of him. Mork also introduced the Earth to the term "Shazbot", an Orkan curse word, and had the annoying habit of saying "KO" instead of "OK"... but that's "humour" isn't it "R,r,r,r,r: (sorry, another Morkism).

Answer: False

The phrase is synonymous with "Seinfeld", and it was this programme that both popularised it and brought it to the attention of the Paley Centre. It was first aired during the show's 153rd episode "The Yada Yada" in April of 1997. In this episode George believes that his new girlfriend, Marcy, is using the term to hide the fact that she is having sex with her ex-boyfriend. Synonymous, however, doesn't mean original and the phrase had been used a number of times on television beforehand;
- "Magnum P.I." in 1984 (episode: "The Return of Luther Gillis"). A secretary skips the boring bits in a letter by saying "yada yada".
- "The Simpsons" in 1992 (episode "Bart's Friend Falls in Love"). Bart: "Well Milhous, t'is better to have loved and lost, yada, yada, yada".
- "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (episode "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date). This was also in 1997 but it aired about a month before the Seinfeld episode. Buffy, in an exchange with Angel, drones "Prophecy, Anointed One, yada, yada, yada".

Answer: Gadget Boy

Gadget Boy is the bionic kid detective from the 1995 DC Entertainment programme "Gadget Boy & Heather". The series is a spin-off from the "Inspector Gadget" shows and, just like its predecessor, features Don Adams as the voice of the lead role. The show is somewhat of a prequel and runs in a similar format to the "Inspector Gadget" series. Gadget Boy is (obviously) younger but he's still as maladroit as the Inspector.

The very tall Heather is in her 20s and this makes her the polar opposite of the Inspector's very junior Penny.

As a sideline, Gadget has a bit of a crush on Heather. His catchphrase, "Sowsers! Bowsers!", is usually uttered when Gadget comes up with a great idea. This is a play on the Inspectors normal call of "Wowsers!".

Answer: Norville "Shaggy" Rogers

There are two significant speech idiosyncrasies that Shaggy utilises in the television series "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?". These are;

- His use of the word 'like' as a "solve all" mechanism or even as a punctuation mark.
Mary Jane: "I'm Mary Jane."
Shaggy: "Like, that is my favourite name."

- The use of zoinks whenever he is spooked (like, that's often) or whenever he's taken by surprise (like, that's often too).
Shaggy: "Zoinks, them peppers is like hot."

Wiktionary has recorded the earliest known use of the word zoinks as emanating from the show "Scooby Doo" and notes, in particular, its common use by Shaggy. This is supported by the Online Slang Dictionary which defines the term as an exclamation of surprise popularised by the "Scooby Doo" character "Shaggy" Rogers.

Answer: Dukes of Hazzard

The rebel yell became almost an obligatory part of every episode and is usually heard when the General Lee is airborne, clearing a ditch or another car. Of the two Duke boys, it is Bo (Beauregarde), John Schneider's character, who uses it with regular frequency. To be fair to the writers here, "yeee-haaa" is merely a variation of "yee-haw" which has been a staple in western genre films for many years. Yeehaw is also the Mikasuki word for wolf.

Answer: Yabba Dabba

In the "Billy & Mandy" episode "Modern Primitives" Billy digs up a block of ice in his backyard and finds Fred, frozen, inside it. Fred is not his usual self, does not get to say much and when he does it's usually a half hearted "Yabba dabba" or the occasional "Ooooh... Fred".

There is one scene, however, where Fred manages to destroy a modern motor car and gives it a full throttled "Yabba Dabba Doooooo". When the first scripts were drafted for "The Flinstones" Fred was slated (no pun intended) to yell "Yahoo" but Alan Reed, the original voice behind Fred, felt that it was too short and lacked punch and adlibbed the change.

In one interview Alan provided that the inspiration may have come from a phrase his mother had used regularly "a little dab'll do ya", a slight variation on the famous Brycreem slogan.

Answer: "Chachi" Arcola

Chachi or, correctly, Charles Arcola, played by Scott Baio, is the younger cousin of "The Fonz", Arthur Fonzarelli, played by Henry Winkler. Chachi made his first appearance in 1977 (episode entitled "Hollywood") and gathered so many strong and positive reviews that he soon became a recurring character. Portrayed as a heart-throb he soon attracted the attention of Joanie Cunningham (Erin Moran).

The pair would eventually marry and this created the spin-off series "Joanie Loves Chachi". The catchphrase, "Wa Wa Wa", was not intended. Scott Baio had a habit of saying "What What What" which caught the attention of the scriptwriters and the rest is history.

Answer: Meep Meep

Nuclear waste goes berserk and transforms four baby turtles into walking, talking ninjas with attitude and alters a rat into their sage sensei. The Turtles were a force to be reckoned with in 1980s and early 1990s through all forms of media, not just television. The Turtles commenced life in comic books and progressed to television in 1988 in a bid to win merchandising contracts with toymakers. The comic book staples of Splinter, Shredder and the foot soldiers remained in the move to the small screen but a range of new characters were also added. These included Bebop, Rocksteady and the Neutrinos as enemies of the Turtles. Splinter received a slight tweak - instead of being a transformed rat he was presented as a mutated form of Hamato, the rat's owner. The movie, released in 1990, would revert Splinter back to the original format.
The movie release also indicates that it was Splinter who popularised the term "Cowabunga" within the group. As the movie is closing, the Turtles have dispatched the bad guys and are celebrating:
Leonardo: "We were awesome!"
Michelangelo: "Bodacious!"
Raphael: "Bitchin'!"
Donatello: "Uh..."
Michelangelo: "Gnarly!"
Leonardo: "Radical!"
Raphael: "Totally tubular, dude!"
Michelangelo: "Wicked!"
Splinter: "I always liked... cowabunga!"

(PS) Almost forgot, "meep meep" is the catchphrase of the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies character The Road Runner.

Answer: Robin from "Batman"

The "Batman" television series ran for three seasons (120 episodes) from 1966 to 1968 and featured Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as his sidekick Robin. Ward would deliver his "holy" phrases with a nasally voice that usually carried a hint of frustration, a touch of rapidness and a side order of sarcasm. This may have been deliberate on the part of the writers as a means to counter Adam West's laconic and calculated delivery of Batman's lines. Usually these exclamations would have a direct link to the plot, for example, the above quote was uttered during the 1967 episode "Catwoman, Dressed to Kill" where the evil feline uses an attack on a fashion show as a ruse to kidnap Batgirl. There were 356 "holy" utterances by Robin during the series, with each one trying to outdo the other with their absurdness. Other gems include;
"Holy Known Unknown Flying Objects" ("The Joker's Flying Saucer" episode 1968)
"Holy Contributing to the Delinquency of Minors" ("The Londinium Larcenies" 1967)
"Holy Hole in a Donut" (Zelda the Great" 1966)
"Holy Astringent Plum-like Fruit" (Minerva, Mayhem & Millionaires" 1968)