More Wordwise Still Trivia Quiz

Answer: Complete shambles

If anything is described as being a complete shambles, it's in one big mess, mix up or disorder. The word shambles derives from an Old English word "scomul", which, in the year 825, meant a footstool. That evolved from the old Latin word "scamellum" which meant a low bench. By 1300 the word had evolved to become a stall for the sale of meat, and then moved on to "flesh shambles", before eventually becoming "shambles" on its own. Shambles were located in the middle of old English markets where everything was sold in one big bustling crowd of people, noise and goods. Finally, by the 17th century, the word had come to mean utter chaos and disorder. An example of this can be found in Fyne Moryson's 1617 travelogue detailing his trip through Europe.

In this he describes Venice, for example, as "There is the Pallace of a Gentleman, who proving a Traytor, the State (for his reproch) turned the same into a shambles." Today when we use this expression we usually describe any mess as a "complete shambles".

Answer: Crack of doom

The crack of doom is the mighty sound preceding the Day of Judgement when we're all to be hauled before the heavenly courts to give an account of our lives. Surprisingly this term doesn't derive from the Bible, but from William Shakespeare instead. In his 1605 "Macbeth" when he has had a vision of the murdered ghost of Banquo, he recoils in horror and cries "Filthy hags! Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes! What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?"

Answer: Diamond in the rough

A diamond in the rough is someone who's a bit uncultivated, lawless even, and lacking social skills of any sort, but who, underneath that exterior, has a heart of gold full of compassion and kindness. This term actually referred, and possibly still does, to an unpolished diamond before it has been worked on to become the beauty that polishing reveals it to be.

The first recorded use of this term can be seen in John Fletcher's 1624 work, "A Wife for a Month" in which, referring to a woman, he describes her in these words: "She is very honest, and will be as hard to cut as a rough diamond".

Answer: Turn

If anything is described as being done to a turn, it has been cooked to perfection. In days of yore before the advent of all the mod-cons found in kitchens these days, most food was cooked over open fireplaces, either in pots suspended from hooks above the flames, or in pans resting on shelves over the fire, or, if large pieces of meat, skewered through with a steel rod with the edges of same resting on two support brackets over the fire.

This was then slowly turned by hand as the meat began to cook and was eventually done to a turn. That is the origin of this expression that we use today.

Answer: Double Dutch

If anyone is talking double Dutch, they're talking utter rubbish, or speaking a lingo that nobody can translate. This term usually refers to the former description however. Dutch was once an expression to describe people both from the Netherlands (known as Hollanders) and from Germany, because the more classical Dutch (High Dutch) was spoken in the southern area of today's Germany, while a lower or more common form of the language was used in the Netherlands. Double Dutch was a rather derogatory term used by the people from the north to describe the rather incomprehensible language that the south High Dutch speakers used during this period of history.

By the early 1800s, the term had spread to much of the English speaking world, and a reference to same can be found John Davis' 1803 work "Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States of America" in which he has one of his characters asking "Mr Adams - What devil language is that? Is it double Dutch coiled against the sun?"

Answer: Down at heel

If anyone is described as being down at heel, they are down on their luck, as poor as a church mouse and starting to look a bit threadbare around the edges. Because, when we walk, our heels hit the ground first with each footstep, shoes eventually begin to wear down at that spot, and those tell-tale heels were a real indication that anyone wearing them was battling financially.

A reference to this term can be found in William Darrell's 1732 work, "A Gentleman Instructed in the Conduct of a Virtuous and Happy Life", in which he describes an impoverished person as having to "Sneak into a corner ... down at heels and out at elbows".

Answer: Down in the dumps

To be down in the dumps is to feel dejected, depressed and as though there's nothing happy about life at all. For most people this is a passing state of mind, but, should it continue for too long, then it would be wise to seek professional help. This is one saying that has not derived from an original meaning, but came into being of its own accord. Though probably known for some time prior to 1529, the earliest recorded use of the term can be found that year in Henry More's "A Dialoge of Comforte Against Tribulation".

He states in this that "What heapes of heauynesse, hathe of late fallen amonge vs alreadye, with whiche some of our poore familye bee fallen into suche dumpes".

Answer: Hedge

If anyone tells you that you're looking as though you've been dragged through a hedge backwards, you haven't received a compliment. This term means that you look very untidy indeed, hair all over the place and clothes rumpled. This is a fairly recent expression in the English speaking world, and the first known version of same appears in a report on a poultry show in the 1857 February edition of the "Hereford Journal". In this the writer states the following:

"In the class for any distinct breed came a pen of those curious birds the silk fowls, shown by Mr. Churchill, and a pen of those not less curious the frizzled fowls, sent by the same gentleman, looking as if they had been drawn through a hedge backwards..".

Answer: Blank

This term means that someone has failed in some endeavour, or the results of a search for something has achieved no result, or that some fact previously known cannot be recalled to memory. Interestingly, this expression goes back to Tudor times in England when Good Queen Bess, normally quite sensible at managing the budget, was short of money.

She therefore decided to copy her European counterparts and run a national lottery. In 1567, she signed the necessary approval for this with the words that the funds raised would go to "the reparation of the havens and strength of the Realm and towards future public works". How amazing that that kind of gambling even existed back then - along with the public service.

The cost of each ticket though, at ten shillings, was enormous, and unaffordable for the average labourer.

Answer: Economical with the truth

To be economical with the truth is, quite simply, to lie. This excellent descriptive term has been known in the English speaking world since the 18th century, but had almost faded from use until given a new life in the famous 1986 Spycatcher Trial in Australia, when a witness in the stand was asked to define the difference between a lie and a misleading impression. That was his response.

He had quoted Irish statesman and parliamentarian Edmund Burke (1729-1797) who used the expression in 1796 when he wrote "Falsehood and delusion are allowed in no case whatsoever: But, as in the exercise of all the virtues, there is an economy of truth."