Words and language quiz questions.

Thirty words and language questions from the free bank, easiest first, answers folded away so you can read them out. The bank has 195 in this category.

Run a words and language round Build a whole night

In Australian slang, what time of day is the 'arvo'?
Answer
Afternoon
Arvo is first recorded in Australian English in the 1920s. Source
In Australia, what kind of shop is a 'bottle-o'?
Answer
Liquor shop
The bottle-o is short for bottle shop, the Australian name for a liquor store. Source
What brand name do Australians use for any portable drinks cooler?
Answer
Esky
Esky began as the brand name of a cooler made in Sydney and became the everyday word. Source
In Australia, a 'stubby' is a small bottle of what?
Answer
Beer
A stubby holder, or stubby cooler, is the foam sleeve that keeps it cold. Source
In British slang, if you are 'knackered', how do you feel?
Answer
Exhausted
A knacker was someone who bought worn out horses for slaughter. Source
In British slang, how much money is 'a quid'?
Answer
One pound
Quid has no plural in slang: you pay five quid, not five quids. Source
In Cockney rhyming slang, what are 'apples and pears'?
Answer
Stairs
Cockney rhyming slang is thought to date from East London in the 1840s. Source
In British slang, what is a 'brolly'?
Answer
Umbrella
Brolly is a shortened, altered form of umbrella. Source
A Geordie comes from the area around which English city?
Answer
Newcastle
Geordie is a diminutive of George, though exactly why it became the nickname is debated. Source
How many dots are in a standard braille cell?
Answer
6
Louis Braille published his system in 1829. He had been blinded in an accident as a child. Source
The word 'news' comes from the initials of north, east, south and west.
Answer
False
News is simply the plural of new, used for new things, a folk etymology debunked long ago. Source
The word 'golf' began as an acronym for 'gentlemen only, ladies forbidden'.
Answer
False
Golf probably comes from the Dutch kolf, club. Acronym origins like this are almost always modern inventions. Source
In Cockney rhyming slang, what is the 'dog and bone'?
Answer
Telephone
Usually only the first word is said, as in 'get on the dog'. Source
In Cockney rhyming slang, telling someone to 'use your loaf' means use your what?
Answer
Head
Loaf is short for loaf of bread, which rhymes with head. Source
How many letters are in 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'?
Answer
34
It was made famous by the 1964 film Mary Poppins. Source
How many tiles are in a standard English language Scrabble set?
Answer
100
The 100 tiles include two blanks. Scrabble was invented by American architect Alfred Butts. Source
Google's name is a play on googol: 1 followed by how many zeros?
Answer
100
The name googol was coined by nine year old Milton Sirotta, nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner. Source
How many official languages does the United Nations have?
Answer
6
Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Arabic was the last added, in 1973. Source
Etymologists agree that 'posh' comes from 'port out, starboard home'.
Answer
False
This is a folk etymology. No ticket stamped P.O.S.H. has ever been found, and the true origin is unknown. Source
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is a name for the fear of long words.
Answer
True
It is a jokey coinage rather than a medical term, and is itself 36 letters long. Source
SOS originally stood for 'Save Our Souls'.
Answer
False
SOS was chosen because three dots, three dashes, three dots is easy to send and recognise. It stands for nothing. Source
The word 'emoji' comes from the English word 'emotion'.
Answer
False
It is Japanese: e means picture and moji means character. The likeness to emotion is a coincidence. Source
The Canary Islands are named after the canary bird.
Answer
False
The name comes from the Latin Canariae Insulae, islands of dogs. The birds are named after the islands. Source
A sesquicentennial celebrates how many years?
Answer
150
Sesqui is Latin for one and a half, so it is one and a half centuries. Source
The ancient Greek word myrias, origin of 'myriad', meant how many?
Answer
10000
Myriad was the largest named number in ancient Greek counting. Source
How many letters are in 'antidisestablishmentarianism'?
Answer
28
It describes 19th century opposition to removing the Church of England's status as the state church. Source
How many letters are in the Hebrew alphabet?
Answer
22
All 22 letters are consonants; vowels are shown with optional dots and dashes. Source
The 'mare' in the word nightmare refers to a female horse.
Answer
False
The mare was a goblin in Germanic folklore believed to sit on sleepers' chests and cause bad dreams. Source
When it entered English, 'nice' meant foolish or ignorant.
Answer
True
It comes via Old French from the Latin nescius, not knowing. Source
What name is given to broad Australian English, coined from saying 'Australian' quickly?
Answer
Strine
It was popularised in 1965 by the book Let Stalk Strine by 'Afferbeck Lauder', alphabetical order. Source

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