Language Trivia – July 14, 2011
1. A person who is ‘monolingual’ can speak how many languages fluently?
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2. What language was the lingua franca or ‘common language’ of the Roman Empire?
Latin
Rome founded 753 BC, control Italy 260 BC, gets provinces 241 BC, last emperor 476 AD.
3. In what vernacular language did Jesus preach to the people?
Aramaic.
4. As part of the movement to make language gender-neutral the word ‘stewardess’ was replaced
by what word, during the 1970s?
Flight attendant (change occurs by the end of the 1970s)
5. The year abbreviation BC stands for ‘Before Christ’. What do the letters AD stand for?
Anno Domini. Latin ‘Year of Our Lord’. (birth of Jesus = year 1) Not ‘after death’.
6. The symbol for this Zodiac sign is a set of scales, which explains why we abbreviate ‘pound’ ‘lb’.
Libra
lb  Latin word libra, which could mean a pound, itself a shortened form of the full expression,
libra pondo, “pound weight”. The second word of this phrase, by the way, is the origin of the
English pound. You will also know Libra as the astrological sign, the seventh sign of the zodiac. It
was thought to represent scales or a balance, the main sense of libra in Latin.
7. The abbreviation RSVP is short for répondez s'il vous plait, which means ‘reply please’ in which
language?
French
8. The study of word origins is called ‘etymology’. What is the study of insects called?
Entomology.
Etymology: from L. etymologia, from Gk. etymologia, properly "study of the true sense (of a
word)," from etymon "true sense" (neut. of etymos "true, real, actual," related to eteos "true") + logia "study of, a speaking of". Entomology: Gk. entomon "insect" + -logia "study of" (see -logy).
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9. What is the most widely spoken native language?
Chinese. Next, Spanish, English, Hindi, Arabic.
10. This method of birth, where the baby is surgically removed through incisions in the mother’s
abdomen, is believed to be derived from the name of Emperor Julius Caesar, who was born that
way?
Caesarian (section).
11. A group of cows is called a herd. What is a group of whales called?
A pod.
12. What’s the name of the punctuation mark consisting of a period on top of a comma?
Semi-colon
13. In sunscreen lotions, what does SPF stand for?
Sun Protection Factor.
14. The morning greeting, ‘buenos días’ means ‘good day’ in which language?
Spanish.
15. A ‘polygamist’ has more than one what?
Wife
16. What are the five vowels in English?
a e i o u
17. Many people think our schools should return to an emphasis on ‘the 3 Rs’. What are the 3 Rs?
Reading, Writing, Arithmetic.
18. In a famous gaffe, former Vice President Al Gore once said, "I was recently on a tour of Latin
America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could
converse with those people." What language should he have studied? (1995)
Spanish
19. This northeastern state is the only U.S. state consisting of one syllable.
Maine
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20. What does www stand for in addresses for Internet sites?
World Wide Web
21. These people living in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain speak a language
not related to any other European language.
Basque
22. What’s the number one language on the Internet?
English. Two is Chinese. Three is Spanish.
23. Many deaf Americans are fluent in ASL. What does ASL stand for?
American Sign language.
24. In the story of Joseph, Pharaoh dreamed ‘there came up out of the river seven well favoured
kine and fat fleshed … And behold seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill
favoured and leanfleshed … And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well
favoured and fat kine.
The old plural ‘kine’ refers to which animal?
Cows.
25. This second person pronoun sounds the same as the word for a female sheep.
You (ewe).
26. Arachnophobia refers to the fear of what kind of creepy creature?
Spiders.
27. What is the main language of Brazil?
Portuguese.
28. The ancient Egyptians recorded the great deeds of their pharaohs using what semipictographic writing system?
Hieroglyphics
29. Muslims believe the Koran is the word of God that was revealed to Mohammed in which
language?
Arabic
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30. After Mary Poppins wins a horse race, reporters imagine she is at a loss for words. But, Mary
Poppins says there is at least one word that describes how elated she feels. What is it?
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious!
If you say it loud enough, you'll always sound precocious …
31. In the 1980s, westerners switched to the more authentic Chinese pronunciations promoted by
the Chinese government. What did the capital city we now call Beijing used to be called?
Peking.
32. If you are at a loss for words, which animal has ‘got your tongue’?
Cat. ‘Cat got your tongue?’
33. What did Peter Piper pick?
A peck of pickled peppers.
34. According to Hamlet, what is the question?
To be or not to be.
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and
arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end
them.
35. According to the proverb, what is the pen mightier than?
The sword
36. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
A wood chuck would chuck, as much wood as a woodchuck would chuck, if a
woodchuck could chuck wood.
37. If a word ends in –ly, chances are, it belongs to this part of speech.
Adverb
38. Which U.S. president was known as ‘the Great Communicator’?
Ronald Reagan. (After Carter, before George Bush, Sr.)
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39. Latin used to be the language of Rome. What language do they speak in Rome today?
Italian
40. What are the two official languages of Canada?
English and French
41. Two animals speak in the Bible. Name one.
The serpent in the Garden of Eden. Balaam’s ass. (who stops b/c of the angel, and Balaam beats
him)
42. The spelling rule has it: i before e except after …
‘c’ – or when sounded in ‘a’ as in ‘neighbor’ and ‘weigh’
43. How many letters are in the English alphabet?
26
44. What is the plural of ‘louse’?
lice
45. An unintentional error regarded as revealing subconscious feelings, e.g. saying to a wellendowed woman, ‘’Are you busty?’ rather than ‘Are you busy?’ is called what, commemorating a
famous psychologist who studied them?
Freudian slip. Sigmund Freud.
46. During WWI, anti-German feeling was so high that this side-dish was renamed ‘Liberty
Cabbage’.
Sauerkraut
47. The name of this medium-sized burrowing nocturnal animal native to Africa begins with a
double-a.
aardvark
48. Two months of the year are named for different Caesars. Name one.
July (Julius Caesar’s month). August (Augustus Caesar’s month)
49. This farewell greeting is a contraction of ‘God be with ye’.
Good-bye.
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50. People often try out a keyboard by tying a well-known sentence that uses every letter of the
alphabet. In that sentence, what does ‘the quick brown fox’ jump over?
The lazy dog. ‘The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.’
51. Fraternities and Sororities have names that come from the alphabet of this language.
Greek. E.g. Delta Sigma Chi
52. If you reveal a secret, what animal have you let out of the bag?
Cat. Who let the cat out of the bag?
53. If you are reminded to ‘be careful of your manners’, someone might use two letters of the
alphabet to ask you to mind your what’s and what’s?
Ps and Qs. (Many think it stands for ‘Pleases’ and ‘Thank yous.’)
54. Teacher Annie Sullivan taught Helen Keller how to associate language with objects by spelling
words into her hand. What was the first word that Helen made a connection with?
Water
55. If you cannot speak clearly because something is blocking your throat, what kind of amphibian
do people say you have in your throat?
A frog. To have a frog in your throat.
56. This type of bird was used to carry important messages during WWI and WWII.
Carrier pigeon. (= homing pigeon)
57. If you owe someone money, you might write them a note called by this 3-letter abbreviation.
IOU
58. In the Sound of Music, in the song Doe, A Deer, what is ‘a name I call myself’?
Me.
59. If you are picking the petals off a daisy, what sentence follows ‘She loves me’.
She loves me not.
60. In the expression, H-E-Double toothpicks. What letters do the toothpicks stand for?
LL
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61. The name of the writing system cuneiform, used in ancient Sumeria and Akkadia, means
wedge-shaped in Latin. Its wedge-shaped symbols were made by impressing this plant stem into
wet clay.
reed
62. What is the verb used to describe the act of typing each other short notes via cell phone?
Texting. (or, twitter)
63. What’s a male deer called?
Buck.
64. The idiom ‘to see the writing on the wall’ derives from a Bible story where King Belshazzar,
son of King Nebuchadnezzar, parties idolatrously with stolen gold and silver vessels. A
disembodied hand writes words on a wall that foretell the end of the Babylonian empire. Which
Old Testament prophet interprets these words?
Daniel (of lion’s den fame)
65. In Greek mythology, Hera, wife of Zeus, often caught her husband in adulterous affairs. Zeus
dallied with a beautiful nymph who loved the sound of her own voice. Hera punished the nymph
by taking away her voice: now she could only repeat the words of others. What was the name of
the nymph, from whom we get a word describing reflected sound waves?
Echo
66. In what language was the New Testament first recorded?
Greek
67. Word origins, meanings, and pronunciations can be found in a dictionary. In what kind of
book do you find groups of synonyms, one of which will be just the right word?
Thesaurus.
68. Spanish explorers thought this spiny tropical fruit resembled a ‘pinecone’ so they called it by
this name.
Pineapple
69. If you are asked to do a thorough job, someone might ask you to dot your i’s and do what to
another letter of the alphabet?
Cross your t’s.
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70. If you say something you regret, you might wish that you could eat your what?
Eat your words.
71. What is the plural of ‘deer’?
deer