11-06-2005, 02:40 PM
answers time..but i expected a few more attempts :huh:
1. A cartoon character by Al Capp could cast a spell on someone by aiming at them with one finger and with one eye open. When he aimed with both eyes open, he called it a _____________
double whammy
2. State the expression that came out of the scenario described below - During the war of 1812, in America, an American soldier shot a bird during a ceasefire. He was complimented by a British officer who then asked to see his gun. On receiving the gun, the British soldier turned it upon its owner, and forced him to eat part of the bird as a punishment for trespassing.
eat crow
3. During the 13th to 17th centuries, paper of specific size was folded in two to form two leaves. These large sheets of paper had watermarks of a jester with a cap and bells. Name the type of paper.
Foolscap
4. An extremely poor girl MS Goody who had only one shoe, attained wealth and prosperity upon being gifted 2 shoes. The expression that comes out of this is?
Miss goody-two-shoes
5. This expression is derived from the story of how Draco met his death, supposedly by being smothered and suffocated by caps and cloaks thrown onto him at the theatre of Aegina, from spectators showing their appreciation of him, 590 BC
kill with kindness
6. The origins of this expression can be traced to the book of Daniel, which tells the story of the King of Belshazzar who sees the words of warning 'mene, mene, tekel, upharsin' written on the wall of the temple of Jesusalemen, following his feasting in the temple using its sacred vessels.
writing on the wall
7. In ancient Roman days the slaves or prisoners who were given a capital punishment had none but one chance to escape. If they could escape from the prison in central Rome and reach the sacred grove outside the city they were pardoned. Then they could lead a free life. This gave rise to a phrase much in use even today.
out of the woods/grove
8. Jonathan Swift was the first to coin this name. His book Gulliver's Travels was first published in 1726 and described the ________ as a race of brutish men.
yahooligan
9. This phrase evolved from a middle English expression for blow for blow or trading verbal insults. According to James Rogers dictionary of quotes and cliches, John Heywood used the ' ----- ----- ----- -' expression in 'The Spider and the Flie' 1556.
tit for tat
10 Gangsters with contracts on their lives used to hire persons who looked similar to them to appear in a public places. The lookalike would often be convincing enough to fool the contracted killers…and hence were called ---- ------.
“You’re a ---- ------ for Dilbert.”
doppelganger
11 This originated in a boast of confidence from a racetrack tipster.
I got it “------- ---- --- ------ -----“
straight from the horses mouth
12 When someone was court marshaled, in the British Military, there would be a military drum squad playing.
"It's time to ---- --- -----."
face the music
13 The phrase comes from gestures attributed to the ancient Romans, and the Gladiators who fought in the Coliseum. When one Gladiator had emerged victorious in a fight, the spectators would get to decide if the loser should live or die. If they felt the loser had fought bravely enough, his life would be spared, otherwise he would be killed.
They indicated this by hand gestures.
thumbs up/down
14 Here is how the character Will Boniface describes her: "My ? ? is one of the best of women. Her late husband, Sir Charles Bountiful, left her with £1000 a year; and I believe she lays out one-half on't in charitable uses for the good of her neighbours. In short, she has cured more people in and about Lichfield within ten years than the doctors have killed in twenty; and that's a bold word." What expression came from this female character from the 1707 comedy Beaux' Stratagem by the playwright George Farquhar (1678-1707)??
lady bountiful
15 What word was derived after the three monstrous sisters Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa in Greek mythology, who had snakes for hair and they turned into stone anyone who looked into their eyes??
gorgonize
16. This word was got from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 1830 poem Lilian whose opening lines are: Airy, Fairy Lilian, Flitting, fairy Lilian, When I ask her if she love me, Claps her tiny hands above me, Laughing all she can.
airy-fairy
17. The US presidential elections take place on the first Tuesday in November. The idea of it stems from the belief that a significant event taking place just before the election would influence the voters and change the result. The term originated in the 1980 US presidential elections. US embassy personnel were held hostage in Tehran, leading to speculation that the incumbent president would secure their release just before the election, in order to boost his prospects for re-election. This gave rise to which term??
october surprise
18. This word was derived from the policy of neutrality of a country under the influence of another more powerful one without being formally allied to it, similar to the neutralization of a European country with respect to the Soviet Union after 1944.
finlandization
19. In Greek mythology, the Phoenician prince Cadmus killed a dragon and sowed its teeth. From those teeth sprang an army of men who fought each other until only five were left. What phrase did this give rise to?
sowing the dragon's teeth
20. All fiction has a grain of truth, but ‘this’ has it by the bushel. ‘This’ dates back to seventeenth century France. In the beginning, this really did have a key that was published separately. In these times, you can simply go on the Internet and search using Google. An example of ‘this’ is Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. Guess the word that describes this kind of novel?
roman a clef
Help
.... c'est la vie! 
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