Questions and Answers, 31-68

 
SDC 2003: Contents 1-30 31-68 Scores Bottom

31. Inventive fleshy parts of fruit!

Q: Note: This is a repeat of an old teaser that was never answered
correctly.
One's T-shirt depicted the logo of the University of California at Santa
Cruz; the other's T-shirt said, "I'm with stupid". What happened to Ed?

A: "Ed's dead." (Bruce Willis, in the movie _Pulp Fiction_). The two
hitmen wore the T-shirts.



32. A little nuts

Q: This future baron, on receiving a piece of good news, threw down his
spade with the words, "That's the last potato I'll dig." Who was he and
what was the news?

A: Ernest, Baron Rutherford, learning of a scholarship to Cambridge.
("Little Nut" = nucleus, Rutherford's greatest discovery.)



33. Hacky?

Q: This tourist went for his holidays to a beach resort in a
country where English is just one of the primary languages.

While on the beach, he heard a tour guide shoo away
some persistent beggars with the term "vamoose"--which
surprised him, as he had only encountered its use before in old
cowboy films and novels about the Wild West. Its origin,
he was informed, was from the Spanish "vamos".

Some time later he heard another tour guide use the term "piss off"
under similar circumstances. The origins of this were clearly English.

A little later he heard another tour guide use another imperative
in similar circumstances. But this time the term sounded more like
"foot sack". At least--that's the phonetics he thought he heard.

What country was he in, and what are the accepted spelling
and etymology of this term?

A: South Africa. It is usually spelled "voetsek" or "voetsak" and derives from when a
farmer (or boer) might urge his oxen forward in Afrikaans with "Voort se ek"
which derives in turn from the Dutch "Voort zeg ik" meaning "Forward say I"



34. What only your best friend will tell you

Q: Who judged the bad-breath contest, and what was the MC's prophetic
description of him?

A: Jonathan "Pyke" Hullah, who though a medical student was referred to
as a doctor by the MC. He's the title character of _The Cunning Man_, by
Robertson Davies.



35. Seeing ruby

Q: Who forgot to pass the port?

A: The Bishop of Norwich



36. Ecliptic analogy

Q: Agamemnon is to Gorgon and Hector is to Lion as Ulysses is to ?

A: Dolphin
Eclipse -blocking out -shield

Explanation: As described by Homer, the devices on these hero's shields



37. Capitalist pigs?


Q: Bourgeois tune of the century usually has lyric adjuring whom?

A: All people that on earth do dwell, or alternatively, all who dwell
beneath the skies.
Ref: "Old Hundredth" (tune of hymn based on Psalm 100), music by Louis
Bourgeois, 1510-1561, words attributed to William Kethe:

All people that on earth do dwell,
sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.
Him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell;
come ye before him and rejoice.

Alternative lyrics to this same tune are "From all who dwell beneath the
skies" and "Praise God from whom all blessings flow".
Accordingly anything like "all creatures here below and ye heavenly
host" would also be correct. As long as it's some lyrics to Old
Hundredth



38. Dancer's Delight

Q: Aue readers are certainly aware that regulated house numbers were
first introduced to central London in 1760. But how were addresses found
prior to this?

A:The fan patterns over the door



39. Sometimes a cigar is just...

Q: When Sigmund Freud moved from Vienna to London, he was interviewed by
a reporter from The Times. The reporter asked him to describe the
transition from fear to sex. The considered response from the great man
was ...?

A: Funf. (Ein, Zwei, Drei, ...)



40. The hostess with the mostest

Q: Please examine the photo which may be seen by clicking here
http://www.totally-official.com/SDC2003/../sdc2003/stewardess.jpg and determine the
airline. Note that this question cannot be Googled, and accordingly it's
correct answer will count treble!

Hint: the colour of the jacket is one of the three colours in this
country's flag (which was designed by someone who died in 1821)!

A: Alitalia



41. Warning to STS sufferers!

Q: What tune are the following words sung to?

First came William, then a second William
Henry, Stephen, then a second Hank
Next was Richard called the Lion-Hearted
Evil John, then one more Henry rose to the rank
Three more Eds, and Richard came to power
Then three Hanks, one went to London Tower
Two more Edwards, Richard
And another couple Henrys
All together Kings and Queens of England
Next came Edward, Jane and Bloody Mary
Then Elizabethan was the style
Next King James, two Chucks and one more Jimmy
Then together Will and Mary ruled for a while
Then reigned Anne, four Georges, and a Willy
Queen Victoria lived near Piccadilly
Then two Eds, three Georges
And Elizabeth the Second
All together Kings and Queens of England.

A: Henry Purcell's "Trumpet Voluntary"
Caution The following links don't work because the site does not allow
references to these pages to come from outside of the site itself - they
are provided here for reference though.

http://www.classicalarchives.com/m/1/trumpet.mid

Seems to be the same as Jeremiah Clarke's "The Prince of Denmark's
March", http://www.classicalarchives.com/m/4/denmark.mid

From the album _Beethoven's Wig_. The lyrics are by Richard Perlmutter,
copyright 2002 by Beethoven's Wig--how do we feel about posting
copyrighted material?



42. Inflammatory Subject

Q: This pioneer of women's assertiveness was the inspiration for a poem
by one of France's best known authors, a tragedy by one of Germany's
best known dramatists, as well as a poem and a play by two English
authors. Please identify the subject and each of the authors.

A: St Joan of Arc. Voltaire wrote a satirical poem about her (La Pucelle
d'Orléans), Schiller wrote a tragedy (Die Jungfrau von Orleans), there
is a poem by Southey (Joan of Arc) and a drama by George Bernard Shaw
(Saint Joan).



43. One for the zipper

Q: Question: Please consider the following members of an unordered list:

- Arlington National Cemetery
- The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor
- The Betsy Ross House
- The Alamo
Adding an item to this list will make the list meaningful and complete.
Would you be kind enough to complete this list by adding the final item
and explaining your rationale? Note please that there will be extra
credit awarded for being *very* precise in your response.

A: The Moon.
Rationale: These are the 5 places where the US flag may not be lowered
to half-mast.



44. Cryptids, Waltzes, and Hops

Q: Please examine the photograph which may be seen by clicking here
http://www.totally-official.com/SDC2003/../sdc2003/suspensory.jpg and name the
locale.

We would be delighted for any background information you can provide
about this unique piece of urban art!

A: Prague



45. Famous niece

Q: In conjugating the verbs "to build" and "to write", I used variants
in my writings that would not be considered standard today. Nevertheless
my writings are still associated today with a basic icon of American
culture. Who am I?

A: Julia Ward Howe (Battle Hymn of the Republic, Builded and writ are in
the lyrics)



46. Oof dah. East Dakotan Language

Q: Name a vocabulary item used exclusively or primarily in Minnesota,
and provide evidence to that effect.

A: Two possible answers are "duck, duck, grey duck" for the game
everyone else calls "duck, duck, goose", and "whipping shitties" to mean
something like 'skidding around in circles in a car on a muddy surface'.



47. Like Halma and Chinese Checkers


Q: What were the other names under which the following games (with
slight variations) were marketed and made famous in the U.S.?
* Five hundred
* Categories
* Salvo
No sheep till someone gets all the right answers in one post, but at
least an extra lamb for extra answers. (One of the games has two correct
answers that the panel knows of.)

A: Rook, Facts in Five or (I think) Scattergories, Battleship



48. A flat tonal performer

Q: This music-hall artist was only capable of producing four distinct
notes when performing a cappella. (do, mi, sol, and the octave do)
Nevertheless his fame as a virtuoso lasted for nearly three decades
until the outbreak of WW1. It is said that his dynamic range extended
from the delicate and almost inaudible, to something like the sound of a
dress-maker ripping 2 meters of cotton cloth.
Who was this person and by what stage-name was he generally known?

A: Joseph Pujol, better known as Le Petomane. see
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_394



49. Undisturbed in the channel

Q: I was born in the 1930s in the Big Apple, but my ancestors originally
came from a place in what some call "La Manche". I was married in 1940
and my first daughter (whose name, although in a different context, was
sought in the 1998 SDC - and ultimately comes from a Hebrew word meaning
"married") was born in the same year. When I went to Hollywood, my
husband, whose name might mean "caretaker of trees from Chichester" or
possibly "protector", spent his evenings playing poker. When I returned
from Hollywood in 1941, I went on a tour of the US. It was during this
time that I began walking. After the War, I returned to New York and had
my second child. We named him after a French word that means "Handsome
Look". In 1957 I had twins in a place that did not talk to Gimbels!
Incredible to relate, in 1971 I was born again(!), this time in a city
whose name means "Land of Gold". I am firmly entrenched in 20th century
Americana, and of course you would recognise my husband immediately as
he gave his name to a common household product. Who am I? My husband?

A: Elsie (the contented Jersey cow). Hubby Elmer was transferred to
Borden's glue division in 1940.



50. You don't know what it is, do you?

Q: Many of us in a.u.e. are of the opinion that you should never write
"Mister" before a surname--you should always write "Mr. Doe" or "Mr
Doe". But all of us would admit one exception to this rule (other than
in literatim quotations). In what situation is it correct to write out
"Mister" before a surname, and what does that situation have to do with
the slug line?

A: In sheet music. "Because something is happening here,/ But you don't
know what it is,/ Do you, Mis-ter Jones?"



51. On reflection

Q: Vampires don't have reflections, but who can you see *only* in the
mirror? (Not the trapeze artist in the corner.)

A: The man talking to the barmaid in Manet's painting "A Bar at the
Folies Bergere".



52. Not quite standard English, but on topic

Q: Two words have fallen off the following roadside sign. What were
they?
"Rodeo Sept. 27-28! To sign up junior for ______ ______', call
555-9876."

A: Mutton bustin'
See http://www.nationalwestern.com/nwss/rodeo/special/mutton.php



53. How I wonder what you are

Q: Sometimes a well-known poem or lyric is translated from its native
register to one that reflects another author's idiolect. For example, an
inebriate might chant:

Starkle, starkle, little twink
Who the hell am I d'you think?
I'm not under what you call
The affluence of inco-hol
...

Please quote the first few lines of another such example of this
particular opus. (We're looking for something more radical than just a
few words changed here and there)

A: The astronomer's version:

Scintillate scintillate globule vivific
Fain would I fathom thy nature specific
Loftily poised in ether capacious
Highly resembling a gem carbonaceous



54. Panelist's revenge

Q: It's well-equipped, with a working Audible Warning Of Approach and
other practical and pleasing adornments. You're welcome to borrow it,
but, despite my wishes to the contrary, I can't give it to you. Why not?

A: I borrowed it.
Lyrics: Bike, by Pink Floyd (Relics, 1967)


I've got a bike
You can ride it if you like
It's got a basket, a bell that rings,
And things that make it look good.
I'd give it to you if I could,
But I borrowed it.

PS: Answers must be exact, or arbitrarily close. A guess such as "It's
not mine" is not correct. There was too much of that going on last time
round - a panellist jumping in with a "Close enough" far too early.



55. Crystalline salts unidirectional

Q: Please consider the following unordered list: Oath, Figure, Generous,
Troy, Galileo. Removing an item will make the list meaningful and
consistent. Which item should be removed? Why?

A: Figure should be removed! The other horses have won the Epsom Derby
at Epsom Downs.



56. Eponymous kernels of leafy involucres in controlled anaerobic breakdowns

Q: This 17th century cleric used the various fruits, herbs, and berries
native to his home in northern Italy to develop a beverage which now
bears his name. Please name this beverage.

A: Frangelico
Note - the reference in the slug is to fermented hazelnuts



57. Ahi te guacho


Q: At a Sonic drive-in in northern New Mexico you hear the following
short dialogue. Please rewrite it so it can be understood widely in the
English-speaking world:

"How's it going?"

"ATM, carnal knowledge. Me and Michelle just cruised up to El Vado and
threw a fierce munch, and we had us a couple tallboys, and then she told
me she had go to Christine's, so I drove her to her cousin Christine's
in Dixon, no, but she's all, 'No, stupid, they're gonna put me the do!'
So then I snapped, and I took her to Christine's in Española and then I
was just peelin' it for a while, but now I gotta go pick her up, so
we'll see you later."

A: ATM, though pronounced in English, is short for Mexican Spanish "a
toda madre", excellently.
carnal knowledge = Mexican Spanish "carnal", brother (friend)

Cruise = drive

Throw a munch = have a snack or picnic

Fierce = excellent (can also mean striking, formidable, etc.)

Tallboy = long-necked bottle of beer

No = if you know what I mean

Put me the do = give me a new coiffure

Snap = understand suddenly, catch on

Peeling it = masturbating, wasting time

We'll see you later = I'll see you later



58. White men can't jump?

Q: Albino who jumped to the head of his class to become a 20th Century
world leader was best known by what name?

A: Pope John Paul I.
Ref: Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected Pope by the College of
Cardinals on August 26, 1978. (He died on September 28, 1978.)

See http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_i/



59. Counterintuitive

Q: This businessman went down to the market-place in the piazza to
negotiate a loan from a fellow merchant. But the latter demurred,
saying "They have destroyed my counter!".

How would we express a similar piece of news in English today?
And please give any etymological connection to the above story.

A: The man had been declared bankrupt - from "banca rotta" = a broken
bench or counter. The word 'bankrupt' originates from this term
and refers to medieval times in Italy when it was the custom to
smash the counter of a banker or money-lender who became insolvent.



60. A rigged question

Q: You are magically transported to Kazan! In the central part of the
city, you encounter a well-dressed, middle-aged woman who is walking a
poodle. You notice that the poodle is male. What's his name?

A: Jerry (or Cyrillic equivalent)



61. Black and White Cows

Q: This one's bigger brother is in Norfolk; this one seems to be
preparing to decorate; this one sounds like fun; this one has twins
everywhere. Where and what are they?

A: They are towns on The Isle of Wight, England. Specifically Yarmouth,
Sandown, Ryde and Newport (Cowes would have been too easy).



62. Royal Salute!


Q: On 14 May 2003, the Queen's Official Birthday, the BBC reported the
following:

"A 62-gun salute was fired from the gun wharf at the Tower of London, by
the Honourable Artillery Company. Its 105mm light guns fired one round
every 10 seconds and the salute took six minutes and 20 seconds to
fire."
The editors at Totally Official believe this report is not accurate and
invite you to explain why.

A: The BBC made a cock-up. (62 - 1) * 10 = 610 = 10 minutes and 10
seconds.



63. Huckleberry resistance

Q: Please examine the photo that may be seen by clicking here
http://www.totally-official.com/SDC2003/../sdc2003/wherethis.jpg and identify the
general locale. Promptness and exactititude would be appreciated!

A: Peter's Fortress, Saint Petersburg, Russia



64. Who about who?

Q: Some folks at Totally Official dot Com enjoy the Sunday Times! Here's
an excerpt from a Sunday Times article that appeared in the same decade
that a US President was assassinated. Please examine this excerpt and
tell us [1] who was the author? and [2] who was the author referring to?
Of course this is a toughie (you can *forget* Google), but it's fair;
and the excerpt provides all the needed information.

Here's the excerpt:

"...Every time you get set he jabs you off balance by wanting to do a
love scene on top of the Jefferson Memorial or something like that.
...He has a strong feeling for stage business and mood and background,
not so much for the guts of the business. I guess that's why some of his
pictures lose their grip on logic and turn into wild chases. Well, it's
not the worst way to make a picture. His idea of characters is rather
primitive. Nice Young Man, Society Girl, Frightened Woman, Sneaky Old
Beldam, Spy, Comic Relief, and so on. But he is as nice as can be to
argue with..."


Panel hint if needed: Of course we could shower you with hints, or bate
you with tips. OK, here's a thought: a particular flower in a particular
pigment is used as a figure of speech in English usage to mean
"something impossible". Hope that helps!


Second Panel hint if needed: Of course we can provide another hint to
keep this question from going south. Rather than south, reverse your
direction by 180 degrees and then take that which is 45 degrees to your
left. That would be for air travel, for ground travel you might try a
train. Whilst on the train be careful that a bachelor with three sons
doesn't do something he will regret!

A: Raymond Chandler on Alfred Hitchcock



65. Reporters want to know

Q: Suppose, at a press conference, reporters ask you the following
series of questions:
And?
What?
And?
What?
And what?
Yeah?
When?
What would be your answer to the last question?

A: "When we both reached for the gun!" (These are lyrics from the song
"We Both Reached for the Gun" from the musical and movie _Chicago_.)



66. Not on first

Q: Add the missing clause at the beginning of this sentence: "Me is who,
who is he, and he is she."

A:'Oti is me. (We should probably accept any reasonable spelling,
including "oaty", and if we'll allow stretching a point, maybe "li" or
any homophone.) These are Hebrew words--'oti means me, mi means who, hu'
means he, and hi' means she. (Li means to me or for me, but it's a more
common word than 'oti, as I recall.)



67. Stone Ruins

Q: There are two pictures of some old ruins that may be seen at
http://www.totally-official.com/SDC2003/../sdc2003/ruins1.jpg
and
http://www.totally-official.com/SDC2003/../sdc2003/ruins2.jpg

The name of these ruins is reflected in the name
of the country where they are located. Where are they?

A: Zimbabwe



68. Care for a turn around the piano Darling

Q: Add another item to this series, and explain why:
0. Strindberg
1. Evangelion
2. Jim Theis
3. Kal-El
4. Kirsten Storms
5. ?????

A: Any pop-culture reference to "Radon" will be accepted as correct.
(All the items in the series clue noble gases: the online cartoon
_Strindberg and Helium_; the Japanese anime series _Neon Genesis
Evangelion_; _The Eye of Argon_ by Jim Theis, reputedly the worst
fantasy story ever written; Superman is from the planet Krypton; the
TV-movie _Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century_, starring Kirsten Storms as
Zenon. If anyone can come up with a better clue than that for "Xenon",
I'm all ears.)

SDC 2003: Contents 1-30 31-68 Scores Top