Questions and Answers

 
SDC 2007: Contents Questions & Answers Scoreboard Results Bottom

Key:


Contributor's name
Qn. Title of question Google

Text of question

H. Hint (if any)

A. Answer (if any)

E. Explanation (if any)

C. Comments (if any)


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Note 2: Hints, answers, explanations, and comments are initially concealed. To reveal a single hint, answer, or explanation, click and drag over the area to the right of the "H" or "A" or "E" or "C" . To reveal all answers and explanations, click here (and to reconceal, click again) (JavaScript required).


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91

msh210
Q-2. June teaser.  Google

Methanol is to dryad as sake is to what?

A. Inari.

E. Inari and sake are rice spirits; dryad and methanol are wood spirits.



Jerry Friedman
Q-1. July teaser: Safari Google

SF conventions usually have at least Guest of Hono(u)r, or GoH. What kind of GoH should a Harry Potter convention have?

For extra kudos, explain the connection with safaris.



The panel
Q0.  

Q Zero My first is in feet but not in net Second in Avon and Po Third in boat but out of debt Last is in pad Do you know

A. Food

E. The question was hidden, and existence of its whereabouts was mentioned by the Panel numerous times, but no one found it. It was an acrostic formed from the first letters of the subject (slug) lines of questions 1-90, in order.



Peter Morris
Q1. Question about neurotics Google

analog, erotic video, a comedian, a ministrant, most irate, my anger, enemy, acrimonies, bare mud, a garden, spa region, rumba, diners' waltz, tango, safari touch, Englander, lenient ethics, noisy peal, regalia, chain, pure, old animals, I am near, serial, penalties, earlier eons, braise, an ingrate, gnome tenor, bag handles aneurism panel, reign, no radar

A. they're all anagrams of countries.

E. analog, (Angola) erotic video (Cote D'Ivoire) a comedian, (Macedonia) a ministrant (Saint Martin) most irate (East Timor) my anger, (Germany) enemy (Yemen) acrimonies, (Micronesia) bare mud, (Bermuda) a garden, (Grenada) spa region (Singapore) rumba, (Burma) diners' waltz (Switzerland) tango (Tonga) safari touch (South Africa) Englander, (Greenland) lenient ethics, (Liechtenstein) noisy peal (Polynesia) regalia, (Algeria) chain, (China) pure, (Peru) old animals (Somaliland) I am near (Armenia) serial, (Israel) penalties, (Palestine) earlier eons, (Sierra Leone) braise, (Serbia) an ingrate, (Argentina) gnome tenor (Montenegro) bag handles (Bangladesh) aneurism (Suriname) panel, (Nepal) reign, (Niger) no radar (Andorra)



Sebastian Hew
Q2. Zhongwen roots Google

http://alt-usage-english.org/sdc2007/pics/sh1.tif Ten Chinese characters are grouped into two rows. What property do the characters within each row share that is not common between the two rows?

A. The characters in the first row all have the 'moon' radical. The characters in the second row all have the 'meat' radical.

E. Certain radicals have alternative or abbreviated forms depending on their relative position within characters. In all the characters of the second row, the 'meat' has been abbreviated into a form resembling the 'moon' radical. Although sometimes differentiated, the 'moon' radical and the abbreviated 'meat' radical are identical in most typefaces. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_(Chinese_character) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kangxi_radicals for further explanation.



Adrian Bailey
Q3. Especially hard one Google

I've always been intrigued by the exotic-sounding name of the active ingredient of a medicine I sometimes use. I finally got around to investigating, and a fascinating read it has been, leading me to, inter alia, Dava Sobel's "Longitude" and a famous hapax. What's the stuff?

A. guaifenesin

E. This comes/came from the tree named Guayacan or Lignum Vitae. The wood was used for Harrison's maritime clocks. The famous hapax is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorificabilitudinitatibus (see the Nashe quote)



Jerry Friedman
Q4. Roll reversal Google

If Carl is female, what's her brother's name?

A. Fimble.

E. Female hemp plants are called carl hemp (from an obsolete word for "man") and male hemp plants are called fimble hemp (related to "female"). People were mistaken about the sexes of the plants. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=58791



msh210
Q5. Ordinary Jeopardy Google

We have a set of five answers for you, Jeopardy!-style. Supply the category; for added sheep, supply appropriate questions.

Hal and Alice's daughter. My eye. Alfre Woodard. Sanders-Little. Rancho Mirage.

A. Betty. Who is Betty Cooper? What's the now-two-word phrase that once contained "Betty Martin"? Who played Betty on _Desperate Housewives_? What would Betty Shabazz' real name be if she hyphenated? Where's the Betty Ford Clinic?



Adrian Bailey
Q6. Mystery illness Google

I checked the etymology of what seems to be wrong with my mother-in-law, but she swears that it's other parts of her anatomy that are troubling her. What do I think is the matter with her?

A. hypochondria



msh210
Q7. Years of our lives Google

I'm in Napeague State Park. I have no flashlight. Whither am I headed?

H. Or I'm in Highland Park.

H. A round trip is possible.

H. And don't forget the one red rose

A. Babylon(, New York).

E. The state park is seventy miles from Bablyon. So is Highland Park, NJ. http://www.zelo.com/Family/Nursery/babylon.asp



RH Draney
Q8. Four other Hondas Google

http://alt-usage-english.org/sdc2007/../sdc2007/pics/theprof.jpg Because of a quintessential property he possesses, one might get the mistaken assumption that this Ivy League professor was the subject of what popular sci-fi action movie?

A. _The Fifth Element_

E. The man pictured is Walter Boron, Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at the Yale University School of Medicine, and editor of _News in Physiological Sciences_. Boron is the element with atomic number five.



Adrian Bailey
Q9. Incompatibility Google

A. This is an old advert for Listerine.



Adrian Bailey
Q10. Record broadcast Google

We're not sure whether it was included in the episode shown on the BBC on 9 February 2005, but can you tell you tell us what its first word is?

H. 13955

A. "But"

E. First transmission of "The Rotters' Club", BBC dramatisation of Jonathan Coe's novel of the same name, which contains a 13,955-word sentence, supposedly the longest in the English language.



Laura F. Spira
Q11. Switch off your mobile (cell) phones, please Google

In which city on which date was a ringing telephone during a musical performance greeted with amusement? Name the composer, the conductor, the piece and, if you can, the number -- opus, not phone.

A. Vienna, 1 Jan 2006, "The Telephone Polka" op.165 Eduard Strauss, Mariss Jansons



Jerry Friedman
Q12. Train of thought Google

A recent posting by Arcadian Rises about sex with plants led a panelist to think about sex between humans and organisms of other kingdoms, naturally, and then to wonder about the love life of a former sports champion. Who was the champion?

H. tennis

H. protist

A. Rod Laver.

E. Laver is a seaweed.



Adrian Bailey
Q13. I wasn't very well Google

Which ailment connects Raynerius, December, tellurium, oysters and six gentlemen?

A. salty phlegm



Adrian Bailey
Q14. Somewhere with an E Google

The following towns have something in common:

Abingdon; Barrow; Bilston; Bishop Auckland; Burton; Camborne; Deal; Dollar; Farnborough; Goole; Hyde; Malvern; Port Glasgow; Rhosllanerchrugog; Stowmarket; Teignmouth; Thurso; Trowbridge; Uttoxeter; Workington

Name a part of London that could be added to the list.

H. Stations of the Cross

A. Possible answers: Poplar (E14), New Cross (SE14), Southgate (N14), Mortlake (SW14), West Kensington (W14), Hatton (TW14), Cudham (TN14), Upminster (RM14), Sidcup (DA14)

E. "14" postcodes (eg. Bilston is WV14) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_postcode_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom The title refers to 14 being E in hexadecimal.



Jerry Friedman
Q15. Inclusion Google

Paraphrase these sentences to show what they have in common. (As usual, once you get the answer, you'll feel sure it's right.)

"Wrangell Island is rightfully American territory--could you open a little wider, please?--and we should be demanding it back instead of trying to turn it over to the Russians." "As the leader of the people, I present this protest." "That cell is where we put sailors who get too smart."

H. Another title we considered was "In conclusion".

A. The dentist is an irredentist. The demarch made a demarche. The brig is for the bright.



RH Draney
Q16. Non-idiot Google

What AUE personality shares a special bond with the people pictured? http://alt-usage-english.org/sdc2007/../sdc2007/pics/threeoffour.jpg

H. The person sought is a non-participant in this year's SDC except as the answer to this question.

A. The late Graeme Thomas.

E. Graeme, like Elvis Presley, actress Linda Hamilton and the disciple St Thomas, was a twin.



Adrian Bailey
Q17. First off Google

What is the first word in this sequence? ..., He, Grabbing, As, The, Far, The, I, He, A, Do, On, Only, He, His, The, You, His, Now, ...

A. Renowned

E. First words of the first sentences of the Da Vinci Code

E. Made infamous by Geoffrey Pullum at language Log http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000844.html



Jerry Friedman
Q18. Etymologically winging it Google

Name a word (not a name) with a silent letter that was added without justification in any ancestor of the word. Please explain.

A. 'Ptarmigan'. M-W says "modification of Scottish Gaelic tarmachan". Nothing to do with Greek or words with a p.

C. There are probably other answers. --Jerry



Jerry Friedman
Q19. End result Google

If it's a slaughter, Slaughter is joined by Taylor and even Black. What is this about?

A. Skat or schafkopf, or any card game that counts "matadors" in the score and has bonuses for "schneider" (a lopsided win) or "schwarz" (a shutout).



Sebastian Hew
Q20. Tangled verbs Google

A,B and C are verbs (in the infinitive) with past participles D, E and F respectively. A and B have the same spelling; C and D likewise have the same spelling. B and C are spelt differently; D and E are also spelt differently. Find a set of English verbs A, B and C satisfying these criteria.

A. wind (wound), wind (winded) and wound (wounded), for example



Jerry Friedman
Q21. Bend around Google

What two items are found in the grocery store and in a well-known opera? Please explain the connection to the slug line.

H. The number is a trio.

H. The slug could have been "Benz around".

A. Melons! Coupons!

E. With a circumflex over the e and one over the u, that's the title of the fortune-telling scene in /Carmen/. ("Let's shuffle! Let's cut!") "Bending around" is a translation of "circumflex".

E. Benz for Mercedes, one of the characters who sings the number.



Peter Morris
Q22. Useful in many circumstances Google

What links the following:

Ichneutae

peasant after 1861

leaderless warrior

smallpox scar

never been to sea

brigand

overlong speech

tropical storm e4

Arlecchino

monotreme

ghostly substance

"If you take my advice--oh, then do it your own way."

lie detector

rollmop

Dick Turpin

cave dweller

A. All swear-words used by Captain Haddock in the Tintin books.

E. Ichneutae = acting the goat. peasant after 1861 = Moujik. leaderless warrior = Bashi-basouk. smallpox scar = pockmark. never been to sea = landlubber. brigand = pirate. obstructive speech = filibuster. tropical storm e4 = 10,000 thundering typhoons. Arlecchino = harlequin. monotreme = duck-billed platypus. ghostly substance = ectoplasm. "If you take my advice--oh, then do it your own way." = anacoluthon. lie detector = polygraph. rollmops = pickled herrings. Dick Turpin = Highwayman. cave dweller = troglodyte.



Adrian Bailey
Q23. There beats a heart Google

A. Pecs, Hungary

E. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A9cs The gentleman is Victor Vasarely. I got the title here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pecs (AHD4)



Adrian Bailey
Q24. Not that they were all that successful Google

http://alt-usage-english.org/sdc2007/pics/8folks.html These eight people did something rather unusual this year. What was it?

A. They stood as candidates in the French Presidential Election http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_presidential_election,_2007



msh210
Q25. Odd one out Google

See http://alt-usage-english.org/sdc2007/pics/x.html .

One of the six fours' seconds is odd. What is it?

A. H.

E. The pictures represent, in order, jump boot, Jumpluff, jump page, jump ring, jumpseat, and jump shot. Of the six four-letter counterparts' respective second letters, o, u, a, i, e, and h, one, h, is odd, in that it's a consonant.



msh210
Q26. The hobgoblin Google

Complete the sequence: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, ____.

A. 30.

E. Possible scores per frame of a consistent bowler: one who bowls the same frame every time.



Jerry Friedman
Q27. It will be a Thursday, because... Google

What do A. C. Swinburne, Tom Bombadil, and Prince Rupert of the Rhine have in common? Please explain the connection with the slug line.

H. The people are mentioned in chronological order.

A. They all produced verse printed as prose: Swinburne in his limerick on Clough, Bombadil all the time, a fictional Prince Rupert of the Rhine in Poul Anderson's novel /A Midsummer Tempest/.

E. The first hit on the slug line takes you to Cesar Vallejo's magnificent sonnet "Piedra Negra Sobre una Piedra Blanca", which contains the phrase "que proso estos versos".



Adrian Bailey
Q28. Nippy Google

A. Barbara Blackburn

E. The question is "Who is this?" typed with Qwerty key positions on a Dvorak keyboard. BB is the world speed-typing champion.



Jerry Friedman
Q29. Not in good taste Google

If A can say "parsley" and B can say "bread and butter", what else must B say?

A. "Green cheese" (or "young cheese")

E. Both "parsley" and "butter and bread and green cheese" have been shibboleths--"perejil" to identify Haitians in the Dominican Republic <http://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Fall_2003/ling001/shibboleth.html> and "B??ter, brea en griene tsiis: wa't dat net sizze kin, is gjin oprjochte Fries" to identify non-Frisians in Friesland, according to legend <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_Gerlofs_Donia>.



Adrian Bailey
Q30. Enemy of a radio comedian? Google

A. Antwerp



Adrian Bailey
Q31. The Novice Google

A. "French"

E. Jack Dempsey in "So This Is Paris" (1924)



Peter Moylan
Q32. Soup (condensed) Google

See http://groups.google.com/group/alt.usage.english/browse_thread/thread/1cc3a5232560a1fe/7fd23f38634cb84f#7fd23f38634cb84f .

Reduce this recipe to as few words as possible while keeping the meaning clear enough:

Soup of mustard ( 8 persons)

Ingredients:

120 gr. of carrots

120 gr. of mushrooms

40 gr. of margarine

50 gr. flour

10 dl. of broth

120 gr. of green peas

5 dl. milk

4 spoonful of mustard

100 gr. of grated cheese

bread sticks

1. Peel the carrots and cut them "en julienne" (= small strips.)

2. Clean the mushroom en cut them to slices.

3. Melt the margarine in a cooking pot, add the flour stir it and cool it down (roux).

4. Add half of the hot broth, make it boil while stirring it, make sure that there are no lumps in it, add the rest of the broth.

5. Add the cut carrots, the green peas, and the mushrooms, let it boil for ten minutes on a low fire.

6. Add the milk to the soup, stir the mustard and the cheese through the soup, taste the soup, add pepper and salt if you like.

7. Serve the soup, with a bread stick.

A. [No TO answer.]



msh210
Q33. Every picture tells a story Google

What's unusual about these people's respective names and occupations? http://alt-usage-english.org/sdc2007/../sdc2007/pics/headshots.png

A. They change weekly.

E. These are the men on the street interviewed weekly in The Onion, each week with a different name and occupation.



msh210 and Adrian Bailey
Q34. Coy Google

Buren is to clean as Beauvoir is to shiny as Ashan is to what?

A. Knowledgeable.

E. Martin (van Buren): martinizing makes something clean. Simone (de Beauvoir): simonizing makes something shiny. Eddie (McAshan): edifying makes something knowledgeable. And in the slug line, Real (McCoy).



Adrian Bailey
Q35. Opposition and baking Google

The grandfather--one of the most important figures in prewar British politics; the granddaughter--an okay postwar actress. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she gets 750,000 ghits to his 55,000. Name them.

A. George and Angela Lansbury



msh210
Q36. New International Google

Seven successive entries in the W3NID have the following definitions. Which entries?

1st. complicated.

2d. dis.

3d. gammate.

4th. army.

5th. fit.

6th. accented.

7th.

A. Fykie, fyle, fylfot, fyrd, fytte, fz, g.



Sebastain Hew
Q37. Did I change in days of old? Google

What do the words SET, DRENCH, WEND, FELL, REAR and LAY have in common?

A. They are all from Class I weak verbs in Old English derived regularly as the causative of a corresponding strong verb.

E. The corresponding strong verbs in Modern English are of course SIT, DRINK, WIND, FALL, RISE AND LIE. The rule governing this derivation is addition of the infinitival ending -jan to the preterite (sing.) of the strong verb. The /j/ of the ending then gave rise to i-mutation of the root vowel and was subsequently lost. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-mutation ). For example, 'settan' was derived from 'sittan' (the OE forerunners of 'set' and 'sit' resp.) thus: sittan (pret. s??t) -> s??tjan -> settan.



Jerry Friedman
Q38. It's a food word Google

This word looks like a translation from German or a Hobson-Jobson from French. What word is it and what is its etymology?

A. Cutlet, from French /côtelette/, ultimately from Latin /costa/, rib. AHD mentions no connection to German /Schnitzel/.



Adrian Bailey
Q39. Not hockey Google

0 40 20 60 20 25 50 25 ?

A. 3

E. scores on a dartboard, starting at the top and moving vertically down the board



Jerry Friedman
Q40. All of them are like that Google

Who might have been mistaken for Superman, owned many cows, and found the closet too dark?

H. STS warning

A. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

E. Mnemonics for beginnings of movements from his fortieth symphony: "It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's Mozart!" "Oh, Mo-zaart had a herd of cattle." "Mozart's in the closet--let him out, let him out, let him out! Mozart's in the closet--let him out, let him out, let him out! It's dark, it's dark in here! It's dark, it's dark in here!"

E. Cosi fan tutte



Adrian Bailey
Q41. Victorian hero Google

A. National Railway Museum, York, England

E. The statue of George Stephenson is shown in its earlier location in the hall of Euston Station, London, which was demolished in 1962.



msh210
Q42. Over and under Google

A. mm (or any other abbreviation for millimeter).

E. The ratio reads: "Fifth is to fluid ounce as inch is to what?" Then just do the (almost exact) arithmetic.



msh210
Q43. New vocable Google

I walked into the bank today with some things, including a paper, and walked out with the same things, except that the paper now had more writing on it. While I was in there, I added a word to my vocabulary. The word starts with 'j'; what is it?

A. 'Jurat'.

E. I had had something notarized.



Adrian Bailey
Q44. AUE crossword (toughie) Google

Here's the grid: http://alt-usage-english.org/sdc2007/../sdc2007/pics/alfiesp2.gif

Here are the clues:

Across

6 6d: May 21, 2005 and 20d: August 19, 2003

10 James Follett: January 21, 1999

11 One of them goes right through La Chambre (2 words)

12 Evan Kirshenbaum: February 7, 2002

13 R H Draney: February 12, 2004

17 Chris Malcolm: May 31, 2001

19 Bob Lieblich: January 8, 2002

20 Tinwhistler: June 8, 2006

21 Dick VandeVelde: May 10, 1997

29 Richard Fontana: January 21, 2000 (2 words)

30 Henry Tickner: November 7, 1998

31 Two acronyms found in Intro B

Down

2 Pat Durkin: October 2, 2002

3 Moberg's "Child", originally (not)

4 Its president sits on it (with the correct article) in Enschede

5 Ivan le Terrible, par exemple

7 Justin B Rye: passim

14 How drunks look in Birmingham and Bournemouth, or so I've googled

15 26: September 6, 2005

18 Richard Chambers: February 3, 2005 (3 words)

22 Comme les organes facials 14

24 Yusuf B Gursey: January 13, 2005

25 Ben Zimmer: May 29, 2003

Unclued answers are/were AUE contributors. "Name: date" clues give an instance of the answer-word having been used by an AUE contributor in a post.



Adrian Bailey
Q45. Now are you sitting comfortably? Google

Which 24 could've been 120?

A. The Canterbury Tales

E. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterbury_Tales "The work is incomplete, as it was originally intended that each character would tell four tales, two on the way to Canterbury and two on the return journey. This would have meant a possible one hundred and twenty tales which would have dwarfed the twenty-four tales actually written."



msh210
Q46. Double Jeopardy Google

We have a set of five answers for you, Jeopardy!-style. Supply the category; for added sheep, supply appropriate questions.

Anthrocon. Life. Plas Newydd. Slow Hand. Wampus Cats.

A. Conway. What does Samuel Conway head up? What did J.H. Conway invent? Where's the HMS Conway, a stone frigate? What did Conway Twitty famously cover? What's the Conway (Arkansas) High School sports team?



msh210
Q47. print(print(print(...))) Google

I'm reading a book that has every letter of the alphabet on its cover except R, V, W, X, Y, and Z. What book?

A. _Quiddities_, by Quine.

E. As to the slug line, note that, if infinite programs were allowed, then print(print(...)) would be a quine.



Jerry Friedman
Q48. Obscure in nature Google

A panelist on a recent foreign trip had occasion to use a word--some might call it a proper noun--that is found on the Web and in books but is not in the OED or Webster's Third. It was apparently used in French earlier but is not in any French dictionary he could find. What is the word? A Cormo is available for a documented etymology (including documentation of "origin unknown").

H. In English this word always collocates with a common word, but that's not true in French.

H. This question is not Google-proof.

A. Baglafecht (as in baglafecht weaver, /Ploceus baglafecht/, an African bird called "le baglafecht" by Daudin and Buffon).



msh210
Q49. Translation, please Google

The 3059 was 4658 because the 3037 was 4673. The 4420 asked what had happened. "After the 4135 3072 3075, who had 4271, 4576 4779 with a 4726 4767." "So what did you do, 3277?" "Kept it as a 3049!"

A. The crown prince was boiling because the queen was blackeyed. The king royal asked what had happened. "After the gala, large Lady Baldwin, who had champagne, sticks sweet mama with a long, white golden nugget." "So what did you do, baby?" "Kept it as a fine!"

E. Product descriptions attached to PLU codes: http://www.innvista.com/health/foods/plucodes_123.htm



msh210
Q50. Hot stuff Google

What color is the door of my oven?

H. grandma's bread

A. Tan.

E. Tandoor.

E. nan



Adrian Bailey
Q51. In English usage Google

A. It's the Aue coat of arms.



msh210
Q52. Rabbiting on Google

Identify each animal: http://alt-usage-english.org/sdc2007/../sdc2007/pics/collage.png

A sheep is available for the first competitor to list twenty correct answers (and match them to the correct pictures). An additional sheep for whoever gets the balance.

A. Reading across the rows from left to right: Top row: the bunnies from _The Runaway Bunny_; Thumper from Disney's _Bambi_, the hare statue in Copley Square, Boston; the Stanford bunny; the Duplo (Lego) logo, Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare from _Guess How Much I Love You_; Oolong. 2nd row: a Faroese hare on a Faroese postage stamp; the logo for Vysm'at'y Zaj'ic, a restaurant in Prague; tile in Louvre from Zakariya al-Qazwini's book; Trix cereal mascot; picture on wall from the 1998 film _Bunny_; _Nature morte aux troph'ees de chasse, au li`evre et au perdreau_ by Jan Weenix. 3rd row: from _Goodnight Moon_; the velveteen rabbit; _Thinker on Rock_; Rabbit from Disney's _Winnie the Pooh_; Quik mascot (Quicky, except stateside); Roger Rabbit; statue of Brer Rabbit in Eatonton, Georgia, USA; Bunny Rabbit from _Captain Kangaroo_; Peter Rabbit from the 1965 book; _Playboy_ logo. Last row: South Dakota State University Jackrabbits logo; Bugs Bunny; Energizer Bunny; Duracell Bunny; White Rabbit from _Alice_; Hip Hop, the Philadelphia 76ers' mascot.



msh210
Q53. Don't worry Google

I changed my surname when I was naturalized, translating it from an eighteen-letter German name to an eleven-letter English name. What is the English name?

A. "Strangelove".

E. The slug line refers to the subtitle of the book.



Adrian Bailey
Q54. Inca problem Google

Phonetically speaking, where is five usually replaced by a capital?

A. Indonesia

E. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet In Indonesia, the word "Lima" for letter L is seldom used since the word "lima" means number five (5) in Indonesian. Instead, "London" is most often used for letter L.



Jerry Friedman
Q55. Non-colonial problem Google

Phonetically speaking, where is "five" usually replaced by a blunder?

A. Spain (other than Andalusia)

E. "cinco" -> "thinko"

C. Maybe "Spain" should be accepted, with a Herdwick or two for excepting Andalusia. -JF



Sebastian Hew
Q56. Blessed is He who cometh in the name of the Lord. Google

BEATUS QUARE DOMINE CUM VERBA ... What comes next?

A. DOMINE

E. They are the first word of the incipit of the first five psalms in Latin: 1. Beatus vir, qui non abiit, &c. 2. Quare fremuerunt gentes? 3. Domine, quid multiplicati? 4. Cum invocarem 5. Verba mea auribus The incipit of the sixth psalm is 6. Domine, ne in furore



Adrian Bailey
Q57. Ohioans Google

Two university teachers in Columbus share a surname that seems quite appropriate, given the opinion of Dave Gorman (and others) about the cityfolk. Sum their phone numbers (excluding area codes).

A. 9815693

E. http://medicine.osu.edu/pharmacology/1210.cfm (292-7026); http://www.math.ohio-state.edu/people/mullet/view (688-8667)

E. In "Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure" http://www.davegorman.com/googlewhack.htm DG visits Columbus, where everyone seems to have a mullet. This is backed up: http://www.columbuswired.net/Columns/Sirk/MulletHunting_091402.htm



Jerry Friedman
Q58. America's Fourth-Largest City? Google

How would you understand "Brooklyn (LOODAVPSB)"?

A. Brooklyn Beckham, largest offspring of David and Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham



msh210
Q59. The next shape Google

What's the next shape in this sequence? http://alt-usage-english.org/sdc2007/../sdc2007/pics/asequence.png (You can describe it well rather than draw it.)

A. A solid shape that looks like one-sixth or so of a disk, like a slice of pizza, with the point (center of the disk) downward.

E. The shapes are then symbols for, respectively, do, re, me, fa, sol, la, and ti in Jesse Aiken's shape-note system. See http://fasola.org/introduction/note_shapes.html (especially the seven-shape-notations picture there) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape_note. (The latter shows a picture with the symbol for fa the inverse of what I drew, but that's because it's at the bottom of the stem; at the top, it's as I drew it.)



Adrian Bailey
Q60. Bottle-reading contest Google

I'm thinking of a three-letter word. I notice that on some items in the bathroom it means one thing, and on others it has quite the opposite meaning. What is it?

A. for

E. e.g. 1. "for soft, thin nails"; "for dull, tired hair" 2. "for gorgeous smelling skin"; "for healthy looking skin" (sic)



msh210
Q61. Unusual story Google

What is unusual about this story?

He won a spelling bee, and was extremely proud of himself. In salute, he shot his pistol into the air, not realizing the bullet could hit something or somebody. It went extremely high and hit a propeller plane. That caused the plane to wave its wings, which the shooter took as friendly. But when the plane starting coming down, he felt lower than a worm. He saw the plane arch through the air; the pilot was trying to land it safely. He said, "I'd better hide -- go underground -- bar the door -- they're going to come and arrest me."

H. abracadabra, alakazam, hocus pocus, hey presto

A. Each sentence contains the name of one of the tetrahexes (respectively, bee, pistol, propeller, wave, worm, arch, bar).

E. http://www.mathematische-basteleien.de/polyhexes.htm



msh210
Q62. Tough pictures Google

A. map1, Forest Park in St. Louis, MO; map2, Green Bay, WI; map3, Boulder, CO; map4, Williamsburg and Newport News [accept either], VA; map5, Matagorda Bay and Matagorda Peninsula [accept either], TX; map6, Cincinnati, OH



Peter Morris
Q63. Off the wall Google

Using South Park Studio, available at http://www.sp-studio.de/sp-studio.swf , create an image of a world-famous person, fictional character, or member of the panel.

To submit your entry, e-mail it as an attachment to [email protected] with "SDC" in the subject line; it will be published on the Web.

Sheep available for the best entries, as judged by the panel.

A. The winner was Lieblich by Ray Musika.



Adrian Bailey
Q64. Unmined Google


msh210
Q65. This one's for Laura Google

What is the next item on this list?

Airlines, Broadcasting, City, data, European, fibered, Generale, hash, Intelligence, Johnson, karabin, ljudska, message, nervous, our, Partei, sonar and underwater sound, River, Service, ____, ....

A. Tune.

E. The items are the expanded versions of abbreviations 'A', 'B', etc., where the letters appear in acronyms 'SAS', 'SBS', etc; the next item is then the expanded version of 'T' in 'STS'.

E. For the curious, 'SQS' is a designation on sonar systems. What the letters stand for is defined by the JETDS, which you can look up online: it turns out the 'Q' stands for 'sonar and underwater sound'.



Jerry Friedman
Q66. Only if Google

There's a common phrase that appears in "if" clauses, but what you would expect to be its declarative and interrogative equivalents don't exist. What is it?

H. It also only appears in negative form.

A. "If it weren't (or wasn't) for"



Adrian Bailey
Q67. Fashion Google

What became less fashionable a few years later?

http://alt-usage-english.org/sdc2007/../sdc2007/pics/ab-prohibition.jpeg



Adrian Bailey
Q68. Double mistaken identity Google

When they arrived at the big house, he correctly assumed that the name he saw was the name of the owner, rather than the name of the house, though it could conceivably have been either. What was the "owner's" real name?

A. Phillip Vandamm

E. A scene in Hitchcock's "North By Northwest"



Adrian Bailey
Q69. Electric "Friends"? Google

Discussion of a certain phrase in an a.u.e. thread this year touched on which noble family who did much to bring Baghdad into the eighth century?



msh210
Q70. By! Google

Mae is to Eliot as Aald is to what?

A. Sand.

E. George Eliot's initials were MAE; George Sand's, AALD. (And, of course, both were authoresses.)

E. The slug line is reminiscent of "By George!".



Adrian Bailey
Q71. The missing. Google

Put these words in order. Which is the odd one out?

blood deal dog doll fire letter money note opposite race show wife

A. deal 2/9, note 3/1, dog 3/4, letter 3/21, wife 5/17, fire 5/20, opposite 5/22, race 6/10, doll 7/17, money 8/12, blood 9/4

A. Odd one out: show

E. They're Seinfeld episode titles. I've added the series/episode numbers, but they aren't needed for the answer.



Sebastian Hew
Q72. Loyal address Google

http://alt-usage-english.org/sdc2007/pics/shh2.tif What language was this epistle penned in? (Bonus: In which year was it sent?)

A. Malay (Bonus: 1953)

E. Although uncommon these days, Malay was traditionally written in the Arabic script, called Jawi in Malay. (Bonus: This letter is in fact the loyal address of the Legislative Council of the Federation of Malaya on behalf of the Malayan people to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of Her coronation. Although neither the name of the queen nor the date is actually mentioned therein, the context is sufficient to uniquely identify the monarch being crowned.)



Peter Morris
Q73. Art Google

Name the title and creator of this famous and influential work of art. http://alt-usage-english.org/sdc2007/../sdc2007/pics/mysterypic.jpg

A. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Julian Lennon.



Adrian Bailey
Q74. Sandtrap Google


msh210
Q75. Triple Jeopardy Google

We have a set of five answers for you, Jeopardy!-style. Supply the category; for added sheep, supply appropriate questions.

1476. 3 and 7. Bob Woodward. Converted. Baseboard.

A. Relatives. When was the Battle of Grandson? What's the smallest pair of cousin primes? Who wrote _The Brethren_? What is Uncle Ben's rice? What's another name for a motherboard?



Adrian Bailey
Q76. I'll say nothing Google

H. (3, 10)

A. The Charleston.

E. http://home.att.net/~bobhope/Conley_Silverman_Photo.html



msh210
Q77. Smack dab in the middle Google

What do Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee have that no other state of the Union has?

A. United States District Court for the Middle District of (the state).



msh210
Q78. In star Google

What very popular book for small children is not written in rhyme, but has its dedications page written in rhyme?

H. My copy of the book is full of holes.

A. _The Very Hungry Caterpillar_(, by Eric Carle).



Adrian Bailey
Q79. Name and time Google


Adrian Bailey
Q80. Provenance Google

Which linguistic fruit is apparently commoner in China than in Finland or Turkey?

A. eggcorn

E. http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001390.html "Things are different in languages with other sorts of writing systems. Mandarin eggcorns will be even easier to detect than English ones. Finnish or Turkish eggcorns will almost all be hidden. An eggcorn hunt in Helsinki or Istanbul will be a tough undertaking indeed, while one in Beijing will be a breeze."



Adrian Bailey
Q81. Anthropometric Google

A. Yves Klein, Paris, 1960 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Klein



Peter Morris
Q82. Directly to clap 'em Google

A. Gareth Hunt

E. Ava Gardner, Seaforth Highlanders, Eva Peron, Ivor The Enine and Arthur Daley all may be found in the Cockney Alphabet. Gareth Hunt is rhyming slang.



Jerry Friedman
Q83. Doubler Google

Please add another appropriate word to each of these three lists.

Speck hat die wart...

Bail son chat pour...

Hay red sauce tender...

No sheep till all three are answered.

A. Any word that has different meanings in German and English, French and English, and Spanish and English, respectively, such as "den", "met", and "ton".



Adrian Bailey
Q84. Ouliposer Google

What connects Raymond Queneau with the Oakland Raiders?

or:

What six-letter verb connects Raymond Queneau with the Oakland Raiders?



msh210
Q85. Yet another Google

::::::::?

A. .

E. Four-dot symbol is to colon as colon is to period: halve each.



Adrian Bailey
Q86. Officially more or less Google

What's so famous, metaphorically, etymologically and US-historically speaking, about one of the least significant of the Quantock Hills?

A. Buncombe (Hill) gave its name to a family, one of the descendents of which was the war hero for whom Buncombe County, North Carolina, was named. And the rest, as they say, is history.

E. The question and the title allude to Henry Ford's famous remark.



Jerry Friedman
Q87. Unrelated Google

Some time ago, a panelist asked in sci.lang for two words that have similar meanings and appear to be cognates (according to the rules of historical linguistics) but are unrelated. One example requires relaxation of the requirement that they be words but gives us the possibility of a third element. We present this question without malicious trickery in the hope that you will answer it without error. What are the two (or three) "words"?

A. mis- from Teutonic (related to "miss") and from French (related to "minus"). The third "word" is "miso-", from Greek, meaning "hate(r)".

E. "malicious trickery" is supposed to suggest "mischief"; "error" is supposed to suggest "mistake".



Adrian Bailey
Q88. Knotty problem Google

What links Ballantine's beer and Lake Maggiore?



Jerry Friedman
Q89. Number question Google

The first time, this plural-seeming noun takes a plural verb, but the second and third times it takes a singular verb. Elsewhere, it occurs attributively, so it's naturally singular in form. What is it?

A. Castles

E. And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually.... And so castles made of sand melts into the sea, eventually.... And so castles made of sand slips into the sea, eventually.... --Jimi Hendrix, "Castles Made of Sand". The "elsewhere" is "Spanish Castle Magic"



msh210
Q90. One is missing Google

What genus is named for its description but sounds like it's named for the Holy Family?

A. Chrysanthemum.

E. Chris' and the mum.



Peter Morris
Q91. What (but not who) Google

If you're not Annie Sullivan, a man who stayed home from work today, Sigmund Freud, Paul Carrack, David Copperfield or Sissy Spacek's father, and you've never been hoist by a petar, what exactly are you?

A. a doctor

E. Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a: Miracle worker (Annie Sullivan); bricklayer (man who stayed home from work today, as in the joke); Psychiatrist (Sigmund Freud); Mechanic (Paul Carrack); Magician (David Copperfield); coal miner (Sissy Spacek's father); engineer (hoist by a petar)


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