Category Archives: words

April Quiz Questions

Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.

Geography

  1. In what country would you find Mount Kilimanjaro?
  2. What is the largest desert in Asia?
  3. Which river flows through the Grand Canyon?
  4. Which country bordering India measures it’s success in terms of “gross national happiness”?
  5. Which country makes up more than half the western coastline of South America?
  6. There’s a town in the Peloponnese region of Greece with a namesake food item known for its purple colour and smooth meaty texture. What is this fruit?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

March Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

Language

  1. The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States, but in this context, bald doesn’t mean hairless. The bald part of the bird’s name comes from an Old English word meaning what? White
  2. What is the study of mushrooms called? Mycology
  3. Where would you find together a verso and a recto? In a book (left and right pages)
  4. In medieval times armies had a simple yet effective weapon to impede the advance of enemy cavalry or infantry. It was typically made of metal and had four sharp points arranged so that one point always faced upward when thrown on the ground. What was it called? Caltrop
  5. “Width”, “wagon”, “stand” and “leader” can all follow which word to make new words?  Band
  6. Which commonly used word in the English language originates from the religious saying, God be with ye? Goodbye

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2024.

March Quiz Questions

Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.

Language

  1. The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States, but in this context, bald doesn’t mean hairless. The bald part of the bird’s name comes from an Old English word meaning what?
  2. What is the study of mushrooms called?
  3. Where would you find together a verso and a recto?
  4. In medieval times armies had a simple yet effective weapon to impede the advance of enemy cavalry or infantry. It was typically made of metal and had four sharp points arranged so that one point always faced upward when thrown on the ground. What was it called?
  5. “Width”, “wagon”, “stand” and “leader” can all follow which word to make new words?
  6. Which commonly used word in the English language originates from the religious saying, God be with ye?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

September Quiz Answers

Literature

  1. What is Shakespeare’s shortest play?  The Comedy of Errors, with 1,787 lines and 14,369 words
  2. The Chronicles of Narnia is a children’s book series written by which author?  CS Lewis
  3. What German loanword means a novel that focuses on the psychological and personal growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood?  Bildungsroman
  4. Who is the author of the play The Importance of Being Earnest?  Oscar Wilde
  5. Who wrote the line “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker”?  Ogden Nash

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2023.

September Quiz Questions

Each month we’re posing five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As before, they’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as having a bit of fun.

Literature

  1. What is Shakespeare’s shortest play?
  2. The Chronicles of Narnia is a children’s book series written by which author?
  3. What German loanword means a novel that focuses on the psychological and personal growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood?
  4. Who is the author of the play The Importance of Being Earnest?
  5. Who wrote the line “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker”?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

March Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s five quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

Language

  1. Sea urchins got their name from what non-aquatic animal, which was known as an “urchin” until the 15th century?  The hedgehog
  2. What is a group of crows called?  A murder
  3. How many letter tiles are there in a game of Scrabble?  100
  4. What is the origin of the expression “cobblers”, meaning something isn’t true or rubbish?  It derives from “cobbler’s awls”, Cockney rhyming slang for “balls”.
  5. What in pidgin is “Magimiks bilong Yesus”?  Helicopter

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2023.

March Quiz Questions

Each month we’re posing five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As before, they’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as having a bit of fun.

Language

  1. Sea urchins got their name from what non-aquatic animal, which was known as an “urchin” until the 15th century?
  2. What is a group of crows called?
  3. How many letter tiles are there in a game of Scrabble?
  4. What is the origin of the expression “cobblers”, meaning something isn’t true or rubbish?
  5. What in pidgin is “Magimiks bilong Yesus”?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

September Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s five quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

September Quiz Questions: Famous Quotations

Who said …

  1. “And malt does more than Milton can / To justify God’s ways to man.” AE Housman; Terrence, this is Stupid Stuff
  2. “I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.” Charles de Gaulle
  3. “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” Galileo Galilei
  4. “We have no plans therefore nothing can go wrong.” Spike Milligan
  5. “The taboo against nakedness is an obstacle to a decent attitude on the subject of sex.” Bertrand Russell

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2022.

September Quiz Questions

Again this year we’re beginning each month with five pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. They’re not difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers, so hopefully you’ll learn something new, as well as have a bit of fun.

September Quiz Questions: Famous Quotations

Who said …

  1. “And malt does more than Milton can / To justify God’s ways to man.”
  2. “I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.”
  3. “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”
  4. “We have no plans therefore nothing can go wrong.”
  5. “The taboo against nakedness is an obstacle to a decent attitude on the subject of sex.”

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

May Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s five quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

May Quiz Questions: Literature & Language

  1. What does the word conniption mean? A fit of rage or hysterics
  2. What is regarded as the world’s oldest language which is still spoken? Tamil
  3. Who wrote Songs of Innocence and Visions of the Daughters of Albion? William Blake
  4. Even with a small word list and simple structure it is possible to say almost anything in Basic English. How many words are in the lexicon of Basic English? 850
  5. In which play do the following lines occur?
    “A lioness hath whelped in the streets;
    And graves have yawn’d, and yielded up their dead”
    Shakespeare; Julius Caesar; Act 2, Scene 2

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2022.