XQUIZZITEOf words, History and Literature

Uday Bhanu Satapathy

- - - - - - - - - ע- ב ר א ד ח א ע ב ר א - - - - - - - - ע- ב ר א ד ח א ע ב ר

- - - - - - - ע- ב ר א ד ח א ע ב- - - - - - ע- ב ר א ד ח א ע- - - - - ע- ב ר א ד ח א- - - - ע- ב ר א ד ח- - - ע- ב ר א ד- - ע- ב ר א- ע- ב רע- בע

The first known mention of the word ___________was in the 2nd century AD in a poem called De Medicina Praecepta by Serenus Sammonicus, physician to the Roman emperor Caracalla, who prescribed that the sufferer from the disease wear an amulet containing the word written in the form of a triangle. This, he explained, diminishes the hold over the patient of the spirit of the disease.

Today this word is used in a quite different context. Which word?

Hebrew Form

Answer

ABRACADABRA

A - B - R - A - C - A - D - A - B - R - AA - B - R - A - C - A - D - A - B - R

A - B - R - A - C - A - D - A - BA - B - R - A - C - A - D - A

A - B - R - A - C - A - DA - B - R - A - C - A

A - B - R - A - CA - B - R - A

A - B - RA - B

A

The author of this great novel was once a fighter pilot in U.S. Army Air Corps during WW II.

He observes, Everyone in my book accuses everyone else of being crazy. Frankly, I think the whole society is nuts -- and the question is: What does a sane man do in an insane society?"

The initial chapter of this novel about American servicemen during World War II was published in 1955 as “____-18", in New World Writing. But the names was changed later because of confusion with another WW II novel – Mila 18.

The United States Air Force Academy uses the novel to "help prospective officers recognize the dehumanizing aspects of bureaucracy.“

Identify the novel and the novelist.

Answer

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

What are such clouds called?

Answer

Mammatus or mammatocumulus

Because they look like mammary glands

At the height of French postcards popularity, the word XY was coined. In 1915 George Miller shot the Russian opera singer, Elvira Amazar, for a New York newspaper when she landed in the city. He had her hike up her skirt for the shot, and according to legend when his editor saw the photo, he exclaimed, "Why this is better than XY!" (a new delicacy at the time).

Taking inspiration from the word XY, the media created the word ZY as an analogy of XY for men. The use of word ZY grew a lot after WW II.

Guess the words XY and ZY.

Answer

Cheesecake and Beefcake

In the most ancient layers of Greek mythology, Echidna (meaning "she viper") was called the "Mother of All Monsters“. Echidna, with her mate Typhon mothered every major horrible monster in the Greek myths. Sphynx, Cerberus, Lernaean Hydra – the list goes on.

X, a monstrous fire-breathing creature composed of the parts of multiple animals: upon the body of a lioness with a tail that terminated in a snake's head, the head of a goat arose on her back at the center of her spine, was also an offspring of Echidna

The word X has found its use in genetics as a single animal organism with genetically distinct cells from two different zygotes

What is X?

Answer

Chimera

The use of word _____ in English dates back to 1777 when English explorer, Captain James Cook, visited Tonga, a place he named "the Friendly Islands". Describing the cultural practices of the Tongans, he wroteNot one of them would sit down, or eat a bit of any

thing.... On expressing my surprise at this, they were all ______, as they said; which word has a very comprehensive meaning; but, in general, signifies that a thing is forbidden.

Which word?

Answer

Taboo

In 1856, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson began his hobby as a photographer which was to continue for the next 24 years. He was very well known photographer of his times. But his hobby of taking photos of nude children led to speculation that he was a paedophile.

Though he also was a mathematician and an inventor, his main source of income were books authored by him. He and his books were influenced immensely by the family, especially the daughter ___ of Henry Liddel, the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford.

Who was this daughter and what were the books he was known for?

Alice of Alice in Wonderland, influenced by Alice Liddel

Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

X was the queen of Chittor and the wife of King Rawal Ratan Singh. Her story has been immortalized in Y, an epic poem written by Malik Muhammad Jayasi In the Awadhi language In the year 1540.

Alauddin Khilji, mesmerized by the beauty of X, demands her from the king as his harem. Ratan Singh refuses and is taken prisoner. But he is freed later by his brave generals. A furious Khilji attacks Chittor fort and cuts off all supplies. After a long drawn battle, King Ratnasen finally gives orders that the Rajputs would open the gates and fight to finish with the besieging troops. X decided that women of Chittor would rather die by performing Z than get dishonored by the enemy. Finally all the women of Chittor sacrificed their lives by Z.

Identify X, Y and Z.

Answer

X: Rani PadminiY: Padmavat by JayasiZ: Jauhar, act of committing suicide by sitting on fire

Premier Padmini is named after Rani Padmini.

The term _____ism originated in Britain, expressing a pugnacious attitude towards Russia in the 1870s.The chorus of a song by G. H. MacDermott (singer) and G. W. Hunt (songwriter) commonly sung in British pubs and music halls around the time of the Russo-Turkish War gave birth to this term. The lyrics had the chorus: We don't want to fight but by ___ if we do

We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money tooWe've fought the Bear before, and while we're Britons trueThe Russians shall not have Constantinople.

The phrase "by ___" was a long-established minced oath, used to avoid saying "by Jesus".

Referring to the song, the specific term “____ism" was coined as a political label by the prominent British radical George Holyoake in a letter to the Daily News in 1878

Which term?

Answer

Jingoism We don't want to fight but by JINGO if we do

We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money tooWe've fought the Bear before, and while we're Britons trueThe Russians shall not have Constantinople.

The phrase "by Jingo" was a long-established minced oath, used to avoid saying "by Jesus".

According to myth, ____ was the name of a nymph. Zeus, king of the gods, liked the company of nymphs, but his wife Hera was not so broad-minded. 

Accordingly, Zeus charged ___ with keeping Hera busy while the king of gods sought out the nymphs of his choosing. Although initially successful, Hera eventually realized that the only time the chatterbox ___ was around was when Zeus was off doing things he ought not to do; enraged at the deception, Hera cursed the hapless nymph that she could not speak unless first spoken to, could not keep silence when spoken to and could only repeat that which was spoken to her.

In this state of affairs, she happened upon the youth Narcissus admiring himself, and did herself the further disservice of falling in love with the self-absorbed youth. Her love was not returned, and she eventually retired into a cave, where she died of a broken heart.

Who was the nymph?

Answer

Echo

Identify the duo in the Deutsche Mark note.

Answer

Brothers Grimm

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm popularized such tales as "Rumpelstiltskin", "Snow White", "Sleeping Beauty", "Rapunzel", "Cinderella", "Hansel and Gretel", and "The Frog Prince".

X wrote the novel as a result of a five shillings wager with his brother, namely whether he could write a novel half as good as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (1883). He wrote it in a short time between January 1885 and 21 April. However, because the book was a complete novelty, it was rejected by one publisher after another. When, after six months, it was finally published, the book became the year's best seller; the only problem (much to the chagrin of those who had rejected the manuscript) was how to print copies fast enough.

Name the book and the author. Hint: Use the working title of a bestseller released

last year

Answer

King Solomon’s Mines by Rider Haggard

In older times, it was the custom for local officials to demand a fee from foreign merchants before the merchants could exhibit their wares; the practice still persists today in the form of tariffs. In Old English law, this fee was known as "sceawung” (“showing”), but the Norman French who conquered England in 1066 AD brought the altered version ______ to the islands.

Because this duty was not very time-consuming, such officials were later also charged with ensuring that streets, marketplaces and other common areas remained clean.

Name the word.

Answer

Scavenger

X is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W.W. Denslow, first published in 1900. The story chronicles the adventures of a girl named Dorothy in the Land of Y. Frank Baum named Y after one of his file cabinets. One cabinet contained entries from A to N and the other one contained files starting with the remaining alphabets.

Thanks in part to the 1939 MGM movie, it is one of the best-known stories in American popular culture and has been widely translated. Baum later wrote 13 more such books.

Which book?

Answer

X: The wizard of OzY: Oz

Frank Baum named "Oz" after a file cabinet in his office. One cabinet was labeled "A to N," and the second was labeled "O to Z."

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a book written under the pseudonym Newt Scamander. Scamander claims to have collected most of the information found in the book through observations made over years of travel and across five continents.

The author notes that the first edition was commissioned in 1918 by Mr. Augustus Worme of Obscurus Books. However, it was not published until 1927. It is now in its fifty-second edition.

The book has sections dedicated to species such as Basilisk, Acromantula, Dragons and werewolves.

Who is the actual author of the book?

Answer

J. K. Rowling

In 1759, Etienne de _____, a French finance minister was forced by France's severe credit crisis during the Seven Years War to impose severe economic demands upon the French people, particularly the wealthy. People were forced to live cheaply. Because he enjoyed making cut paper portraits, his name became synonymous with these portraits and with anything done or made cheaply. Prior to the advent of photography, profiles cut from black card were the cheapest way of recording a person's appearance.

What is such an art known as?

Answer

SilhouetteÉtienne de Silhouette (1709 – 1767) was a French Controller-General of Finances under Louis XV.

A _____ was a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by the nations of Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries. Whether used for war or commerce, they were generally armed with the demi-culverin type of cannon.

One of the biggest companies in its domain (in news a few months back) derives its name from the ship. Which company?

Answer

Galleon Group

The FBI described these books (published in 1992 & 2005) as "the most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source". The books, which give details about much of the Soviet Union's clandestine intelligence operations around the world, were a collection of notes made secretly by KGB Major X during his thirty years as a KGB archivist in the foreign intelligence service. Their publication provoked parliamentary inquiries in the U.K., India, and Italy.

Who was X and what was the collection of books known as?

Answer

X: Vasili MitrokhinThe collection was called Mitrokhin Archives

Gerald Holtom, the creator of this symbol once said about his creation, "I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya's peasant before the firing squad. I formalised the drawing into a line and put a circle round it.“

Which symbol?

Answer

The peace symbol by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

+ =

One of the greatest in his field, he once drafted a letter addressed to Osama bin Laden.

Dear Mr. Osama bin Laden,

Allow me to introduce myself. I am ______. First of all you should know that I share your hatred of the murderous bandit state of "Israel" and its chief backer the Jew-controlled U.S.A., also known as the "Jewnited States" or "Israel West." We also have something else in common: We are both fugitives from the U.S. "justice" system.

Who is this U.S. citizen?

Answer

Bobby Fischer

A bouncy ball is a popular toy which rebounds proportionally to the amount of force used when thrown at a hard surface. A typical bouncy ball can keep around 70% of its kinetic energy in one rebound.

Lamar Hunt thought of this event’s name after seeing his children playing with bouncy balls. He only meant his suggested name to be a stopgap until a better one could be found. Nevertheless, the name became permanent.

Which event?

Answer

Superbowl

When X presented his finding that “No white dwarf can be bigger than the a limit, that is 1.4 times the mass of the sun” at the London meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1935, he was hoping to be warmly received by the astronomical community for his path-breaking research, little realizing what he was in for. Y, the most influential astronomer of the time, stood up to present his own results and tore X to pieces, not by pointing out mistakes in his analysis but by ridiculing him, not by logic but by rhetoric. Y did not believe in black holes. With a haughtiness one associates with Viceroys rather than scientists, he declared, “I think there should be a law of nature to prevent a star from behaving in this absurd manner.”

Identify X and Y.

Answer

X: Subramanya Chandrasekhar ( Nobel Laureate of 1983)Y: Sir Arthur Eddington. He is famous for his work regarding the Theory of Relativity. He also conducted an expedition to observe the Solar eclipse of May 29, 1919 that provided one of the earliest confirmations of relativity

While pursuing a bachelor's degree in fine arts Danny Finegood, on January 1, 1976 (the day California officially decriminalized marijuana), went over to Mount Lee and did something he recalled as, “An artist's role thoughout history has been to create representations of the culture he exists in. By hanging four relatively small pieces of fabric on the landmark, we were able to change people's perceptions of the ________ sign.”

The image was seen around the world. The stunt earned him an "A" on the class assignment. This incident marked the beginning of attempts to change the landmark to make political statements.

What did Finegood do?

Answer

He changed the Hollywood sign to Hollyweed.Finegood didn't stop there. He would alter the sign (erected in 1923) several more times to read HOLYWOOD (an Easter prank), OLLYWOOD (protesting Oliver North) and OILWAR (protesting U.S. reliance on foreign oil).

Some of the famous modifications are:HOLYWOOD, PEROTWOOD, JOLLYGOOD, GO NAVY etc.

Find the themePablo Picasso

Salvador Dali

Gustav Dore

Answer

Don Quixote

During the American Civil war, the army had no proper facilities for holding prisoners, so they would draw a mark on the ground beyond which a prisoner was liable to be shot down. This was akin to the "do-not-cross" line in Civil War prisons quoted in literature as, “Seventeen feet from the inner stockade was the ______ over which no man could pass and live.”

A word was thus born in 1864 which was then popularized by the print media.

Which word?

Answer

Deadline

After topping the graduating class in computer science from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, X came across a job advertisement in February 1974, which said ______ (an Engineering and Locomotive Company) wanted bright young graduates. However, much to her disappointment, she found in the footnote it was written "female candidates need not apply." Her ego deeply hurt, she shot off a 'postcard' to Y asking him how a leading and progressive company, "which always thought ahead of time, could put such a restriction." "After posting it I forgot about it," she said. A pleasant surprise awaited her. A telegram soon arrived asking her to appear for an interview "with a promise of reimbursement of first class fare both ways," she said.

She was selected as a GT (graduate trainee) and as the first lady technical officer at the company. After having served the company for eight years, when she wanted to leave the company in 1982, she met Y to convey her gratitude. In the meeting Y asked, "You fought so much for the job and now you are quitting it?“She told him that her husband Z wanted to start a new company. And then Y turned almost a soothsayer to say, "If you make lots of money you must give it back to society as you have received so much love from it.“

Nice story, isn’t it? Who are X, Y and Z ?

Answer

X: Sudha MurthyShe was employed by TelcoY: JRD TataZ:Narayana Murthy

________: A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of ______

What is the recent book based on?

Answer

Avatar: A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of Pandora

It has been launched as the field guide to Pandora

Identify the painter and the subjects in the painting

Answer

Arjuna and Subhadra by Raja Ravi Verma

Connect

Anophthalmus, a beetle

Caloplaca, a lichen

Crikey, a snail

Agathidium, a beetle

Answer

Species named after personalities

Anophthalmus hitleri, a beetle

Caloplaca obamae, a lichen

Crikey steveirwini, a snail

Agathidium bushi, a beetle

What is the following exhaustive list all about (give the exact word/ phrase):SightingExperience of Physical effectsObservation of animate beingsAbductionContactInjury / deathHybridization

Answer

Close encounters in UFOlogy Close encounters of first kind to seventh

kindCE1: SightingCE2: Experience of Physical effectsCE3: Observation of animate beingsCE4: AbductionCE5: ContactCE6: Injury / deathCE7: Hybridization

This famous book of 1962 by Anthony Burgess was inspired initially by an incident during World War II in which his wife Lynne was allegedly robbed and assaulted in London during the blackout by 4 GI deserters from the U.S. Army, an event that contributed to a miscarriage she suffered.

When it was made into a (in)famous movie, he wrote, “The film made it easy for readers of the book to misunderstand what it was about, and the misunderstanding will pursue me till I die.”

Which book?

Answer

A Clockwork Orange

Breaking this code is punishable by death:

"Whoever appeals to the law against his fellow man is either a fool or a coward. Whoever cannot take care of himself without police protection is both. It is as cowardly to betray an offender to justice, even though his offences be against yourself, as it is not to avenge an injury by violence. It is dastardly and contemptible in a wounded man to betray the name of his assailant, because if he recovers, he must naturally expect to take vengeance himself.“

What is this code called and who uses it?

Answer

Code of Omerta, used by the Mafia

Even if somebody is convicted for a crime he has not committed, he is supposed to serve the sentence without giving the police any information about the real criminal, even if that criminal has nothing to do with the Mafia himself. Within Mafia culture, breaking omertà is punishable by death.

Depiction of Sagar ManthanX is a temple complex built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. This temple was initially dedicated to god Vishnu and was later dedicated to buddha also. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology. It had a different name initially, which could be translated to “Priya Vishnulok” in Hindi.

Which temple?

Answer

Angkor Wat in Cambodia

Identify the person appearing as a cameo in the movies in the video

Should be a sitter!!!

Answer

Stan Lee

Dr. Sudhir Dixit was born in Indore and educated in Bhopal in a Hindi medium government school. Afflicted by a nationalistic fervour, he protested when his father put him in an English medium school. He was in the ninth standard then. His incompatibility with English made him fail in the subject. Then his father, a government servant, took matters in his own hands. He would mark passages in the newspaper everyday and Dixit junior had to look up the hard words. There would be impromptu tests. In time, Dixit would do his Masters in English and procure a doctorate status too. But, for ideological reasons, he also did his Masters in Hindi. Today, he works as an English literature professor in Narmada College, Hoshangabad, 75 kms from Bhopal. Over the years he has authored the following books (not exhaustive):

सवा�ल ही� जवा�ब ही रहीस्यमय� तहीख़ा�ना� आग का� प्य�ल� मय�पं�छी� का� सम�ही म�त का� त�हीफ़े�

His life changed when he got an offer he could not refuse. What was the offer?

Answer

Translate Harry Potter books

There are total 19 instances, of which 7 have been shown below. What does the last column depict?

1949 The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb. -4

1963 The United States and Soviet Union sign the Partial Test Ban Treaty, limiting atmospheric nuclear testing.

+5

1968 France and China acquire and test nuclear weapons -5

1974 India tests a nuclear device (Smiling Buddha) -3

1990 Fall of the Berlin Wall, dissolution of Iron Curtain sealing off Eastern Europe, Cold War nearing an end.

+4

1998 Both India (Pokhran-II) and Pakistan (Chagai-I) test nuclear weapons in a tit-for-tat show of aggression; the United States and Russia run into difficulties in further reducing stockpiles.

-5

2010 Worldwide cooperation to reduce nuclear arsenals and limit effect of climate change.

+1

Answer

Changes in Doomsday Clock time The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face,

maintained since 1947 by the board of directors of the people Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago. The closer the clock is to midnight, the closer the world is estimated to be to global disaster. As of January 14, 2010, the Doomsday Clock now stands at six minutes to midnight; since its creation the time on the clock has changed 19 times.

The initial setting of the Doomsday Clock was 11:53 PM in 1947.

X is a writer based in New York City. He was born in Calcutta, India, and raised in Bombay where he lived until his family moved to the New York area in 1977.

Not many know that he co-wrote the screenplay to the Bollywood film Mission Kashmir with novelist Vikram Chandra, though he mentions it in the autobiographical account of his experiences with the city of Mumbai published in 2004. This book was a wildly popular one and will be a major Hollywood movie in 2011.

Name the author and his book.

Answer

Maximum City by Suketu Mehta Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found to be a

movie by Danny Boyle in 2011

Nassim Nicholas Taleb says, “What I call a _____ _____ is an event with the following three attributes. First, it is an outlier, as it lies outside the realm of

regular expectations, because nothing in the past can convincingly point to its possibility.

Second, it carries an extreme impact. Third, in spite of its outlier status, human nature

makes us concoct explanations for its occurrence after the fact, making it explainable and predictable.”

Taleb's best-known book, The ____ ____, has been described by The Times as one of the 12 most influential books of the past 60 years.

What are we talking about?

Answer

Black Swan The Black Swan sold as of March 2009, close to 1.5

million copies. It also spent 17 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list and was translated into 31 languages.

The _______ test is a psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretation, complex scientifically derived algorithms, or both. Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning. It has been employed to detect an underlying thought disorder, especially in cases where patients are reluctant to describe their thinking processes openly.

Which comic character has been inspired from this test?

Answer

Rorschach

A fictional

comic book

superhero featured

in the acclaimed

1986 DC Comics miniseries

Watchmen.