Language and words trivia concerning omega, picogram, wohelo, brontology, carport, curricle, and more.
Free fun language and word trivia questions and answers about word meanings, spellings and more!
In America's horse-and-carriage days, what was a curricle?
A: A two-wheeled chaise usually drawn by two horses running abreast.
What was the original meaning of ezel, the name
seventeenth-century Dutch artists gave to the three-legged stand we
know today as an easel?
A: Ezel is Dutch for "donkey." The artist's stand was so named
because like a donkey, it too carried a burden.
What is pseudogyny?
A: :The use of a woman's pen name by a male writer. When a female
writer uses a man's pen name it' pseudandry.
What is brontology the study of?
A: Thunder.
What is the last letter of the Greek alphabet?
A: Omega.
What is the measurement, "one foot," based on?
A: One third the length of the arm of king Henry I (1068-1135) of
England.
What is the word "laser" and acronym for?
A: Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.
Who invented the word, "carport"?
A: Frank Lloyd Wright.
What do the letters "Z", I, and "P" stand for in zip codes?
A: Zone Improvement Plan.
What ails you if you have a bilateral perorbital hematoma?
A: You have a black eye.
In ballet, what's a promenade?
A: A slow turn of the body, pivoting on the heel.
A milligram is a thousandth of a gram. What's a picogram?
A: A trillionth of a gram.
What is the meaning of the Greek word kosmetikos, from which we
get the word cosmetics?
A: Skilled in decorating.
The first two letters of what three words were combined to form
wohelo, the watchword of the Campfire Girls?
A: Work, Health, and love.
What do noologists study?
A :The mind.
What is the meaning of the Latin term ad hoc?
A: "For this"--in the sense of "for this task only."
What is the unfriendly meaning of the acronym NIMBY?
A: Not in my backyard.
In mining, what is a manway?
A: A passage wide enough for just one person.
How do the British pronounce the name Beauchamp?
A: BEE-cham.
What is an undecennial?
A: An eleventh anniversary.
The Pennsylvania Dutch call it schmierkase. What do most of us
know it as?
A: Cottage cheese.
What is a parsec?
A: It's a unit equal to 3.26 light years or 19.2 trillion miles,
used in astronomy to measure interstellar space.
In space lingo, what does the acronym EVA stand for?
A: Extra-vehicular activity, which refers to all movement outside
the spacecraft.
What is trokenbeerenauslese?
A: A German wine made from vine-dried grapes so rare that it can
take a skilled picker a day to gather enough for a single bottle.
What is a valetudinarian?
A: A professional invalid--a sickly person who thinks constantly and
anxiously about his or her health.
How did the loosely woven fabric we know as gauze get its name?
A: From the city of Gaza, in Palestine, where it was first made.
In agriculture, what is a windfall?
A: Ripening fruit knocked down from a tree by the wind.
