Trivia Time (Phrases and Idioms Version)
Here’s something I really enjoy. A good old Trivia bash! Unfortunately, as I don’t have enough visitors/subscribers, I can’t make this interactive as I would prefer. Instead, you can simply try these twenty questions on Phrases and Idioms yourself and compare your answers against the answer grid provided at the end of this post. You need to answer this without “Googling” the answer as that would be cheating.
Thapson
So are you ready? Here we go! Again, the answers are given in the grid at the end of these questions below. Test yourself on how good you are!
1. The phrase ‘a sight for sore eyes’ was first coined by:
A. T. S. Elliot
B. Mark Twain
C. Jonathan Swift
D. Author unknown
2. The nonsense phrase ‘A Spaniard in the Works’ was coined by:
A. William Shakespeare
B. Winston Churchill
C. King George
D. John Lennon
3. ‘Beg the question’ means:
A. Make a question irrelevant
B. Make a question relevant
C. Make a question primary
D. Make a question into an answer
4. ‘Smithereens’ is/are:
A. A Rock Band
B. Small shards of metal
C. A dust storm
D. A type of ocean current
5. The origin of the phrase ‘dead ringer’ goes back to:
A. A broken bell that fails to ring
B. A faulty telephone
C. A horse substituted to gain advantage in a race
D. A special tool used to design accurate rings
6. ‘The first water’ refers to:
A. The first batch of water from a new well
B. Water used in a chemical process
C. A water hole/reservoir on an arid desert trail
D. The highest quality diamonds
7. ‘A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle’ was coined by:
A. Cher
B. Gloria Steinem
C. Ellen DeGeneres
D. Irina Dunn
8. ‘Give up the ghost’ comes from:
A. A Charles Dickens novel
B. The Bible
C. Keats poetry
D. A Greek Fable
9. ‘Run Amok’ is derived from which language:
A. German
B. American Indian
C. Malay
D. Arabic
10. The term ‘Kangaroo court’ originated in:
A. Australia
B. England
C. United States
D. New Zealand
11. ‘Stealing one’s thunder ‘ was originated by:
A. John Dennis
B. William Shakspeare
C. Ernest Hemingway
D. Tolstoy
12. ‘Left in the lurch’ comes from which language:
A. German
B. Spanish
C. Italian
D. French
13. ‘Flotsam and jetsam’:
A. Describe areas on a ship
B. Debris remaining after a shipwreck
C. Floatation devices
D. Parts of a seaplane
14. The incendiary bomb, the ‘Molotov Cocktail’ was named after:
A. A drink
B. A combination of spices
C. A Soviet premier
D. A type of flower
15. ‘Grin like a Cheshire Cat’ was coined by:
A. Lewis Carroll
B. Robert Louis Stevenson
C. Enid Blyton
D. No one – it simply means to smile broadly exposing the gums
16. ‘Turn a blind eye’ originates with:
A. Jesus forgiving man’s evil
B. Nelson deliberately refusing to see a signal at the battle of Copenhagen
C. Looking with eyes shut
D. Forcing one to look away
17. ‘Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year’ was:
A. Coined by U.S. advertisers in the 1920s
B. The lyrics of a song
C. The text on the first Christmas card
D. Has unknown origins
18. The phrase ‘Salad Days’ coined by:
A. William Shakespeare
B. Julia Child
C. Better Homes Cook Book
D. Dr. Oz
19. Where did the term ‘to get fired’ originate?
A. When one was executed by the firing of a cannon
B. When villagers burnt down houses belonging to unwanted people
C. When a disloyal soldier was executed by firing squad
D. When flaming arrows were used to set fire to the enemy
20. Kowtow is the ac to respect, submission, or worship. What language is it derived from?
A. Russian
B. Chinese
C. Hindi
D. Bengali
C: Jonathan Swift
D: John Lennon
A: Make the question irrelevant
B: Small shards of metal
C: A horse substituted to gain advantage in a race
D: The highest quality diamonds
D: Irina Dunn
B: The Bible
C: Malay
C: United States
A: John Dennis
D: French
B: Debris remaining after a shipwreck
C: A Soviet premier
B: No one – it simply means to smile broadly exposing the gums
B: Nelson deliberately refusing to see a signal at the battle of Copenhagen not to attack
C: The text on the first Christmas card
A: William Shakespeare
B: When villagers burnt down houses belonging to unwanted people
B: Chinese
So, how did you do? The idea was to sharpen your mind in case you find yourself in front of Alex Trebek and have to answer these in the form of a question and lots of money is at stake.
I’ll be back with more trivia covering something completely different sometime down the road.
Last Three Posts under ‘Other’
Watch Where You Step: Danger! Will Robinson!
