The Ups and Downs of Magical Words Quiz

Answer: Sesame

The story of "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" is part of the greater collection of stories called "One Thousand and One Nights". Originally a collection of stories written in Arabic, the greater work was first translated into French in the early 18th century by Antoine Galland, who called it "Les mille et une nuits".

"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" was not actually one of the stories recorded in Arabic; it was added by Galland to his French version, along with another famous tale known as "Aladdin".

Answer: Masse

To make a masse shot in billiards takes practice and no small amount of skill to do consistently. One must elevate the back of the cue so that it is nearly perpendicular to the tabletop, then strike the cue ball so that it has a downward spin (on the left or right side of the ball), along with enough forward motion to get the cue ball to curve around whatever obstacle is in the way of the target ball.

Answer: Mesa

The word 'mesa' comes from both the Spanish and Portuguese words for 'table', and that makes for an apt description of the geological land form of the same name. Mesas are common in the western and southern United States, and the term is used as part of the English language. When speaking Spanish, the term used to describe the same types of formations is 'meseta'.

Answer: Sea

You may have heard of the 'Seven Seas', and such a list does exist. Many of them, in fact. Depending on your culture of origin, or even your historical era of choice, the list contains differing bodies of water. In the end, perhaps it is best to go with the 'Law of the Sea' (UN) which states that all of the world ocean is 'sea'.

Answer: Se

Selenium is element number 34 on the Periodic Table of the Elements. It is considered a polyatomic nonmetal, and is sometimes referred to as a metalloid. In its natural state it is a solid, with a melting temperature of 221 degrees Celsius (430 degrees Fahrenheit).

Answer: S

The S Band is used primarily by radar systems (weather radar or ship radar), but it is also used by some communications satellites. The combined Sirius XM Radio also falls within the S Band, with the original XM Radio satellites using frequencies from 2,332.50 through 2,345.00 MHz, while the Sirius satellites operate from 2,320.00 through 2,332.50 MHz.

Answer: Us

We thought about referring to the Peter Gabriel album or the Céline Dion song, or maybe even the commonly abbreviated form of the United States. In the end, we went with the royal prerogative of referring to ourselves as 'us' rather than 'me'.

Answer: Sum

For those of you who can't remember their grade-school math classes, here is a summary (see what I did there?):

Addition gives sums.
Subtraction gives differences.
Multiplication gives products.
Division gives quotients.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Answer: Slum

In researching the word 'slum' I was shocked and dismayed to discover that (according to the UN-HABITAT report of 2012) approximately 1/3 of the world's urban population lives in slums. Their number was 863 million people. Ugh.

Answer: Lumos

Author J.K. Rowling created a multitude of spells for her "Harry Potter" books. The use of the 'Lumos' spell was first seen in "Chamber of Secrets", and when used, a bright light shines at the tip of one's wand. To extinguish said light, one simply must utter the counterspell, 'Nox'.

Lumos is also the name of Rowling's children's charity, which was founded in 2005 and aims to help Europe's disadvantaged children through "transform[ing] education, health and social care systems for children and their families; [and] helping to move children from institutions to family-based care". (source: Wikipedia)