An Iota of Obscure Words Trivia Quiz

Answer: A member of an old German Anabaptist sect

Abecedarians were members of an old German sect who pooh-poohed all human knowledge and believed that if God wanted them to learn anything, he would reveal it to them in visions. They believed that even learning the alphabet was a form of worshipping idols. I know some students today who would simply love to join a sect such as this. Abecedarian is also the name given to a person who is learning the letters of the alphabet.

Answer: Frogs

That's quite possibly a French word, oui? Eating parts of the poor little hoppers is not just a peculiarity of the French, however. Kermit's extremities are also eaten with relish in parts of China, Thailand, Indonesia, Portugal, Spain Slovenia, Greece, Brazil, Mexico, Italy and parts of the Caribbean. Frog's legs are said to taste like chicken.

A fine consolation, I'm sure, to the poor little critters now needing artificial limbs.

Answer: Loud and hysterical laughter

Cachinnation is a sound most frequently heard on this site when players come up against a particularly difficult challenge they have to overcome. Gales of loud, convulsive laughter verging on the hysterical can be heard echoing right throughout the halls at such a time.

Answer: Trains animals

A dompteuse is a female animal trainer, to be more precise. Irina Bugrimova, for example, was a famous Russian lion tamer and the first female to ever attempt that work in that country. She lived from 1910 until 2001. Born in the Ukraine, she was the daughter of a veterinarian. Consequentially, she grew up knowing how to handle animals, although one doubts that lions were high on the list of her father's clients.

Answer: A bucking horse trying to toss off its rider

This spectacle can usually be seen when riders are attempting to break horses that have never been ridden before. Many animals object somewhat to this exercise and will try their best to dislodge their riders by bucking, plunging, rearing and other means.

This word can also mean a gymnastic manoeuvre, or a form of torture where the victim is tied to a pole and suddenly dropped from great heights to just above ground level.

Answer: Fear of nudity

Someone who suffers from gymnophobia has an acute anxiety about being seen naked, or seeing anyone else naked. This phobia is strongly related to a poor sense of body image or a fear of sexuality, or, in my case, just good old common sense. It isn't a pretty sight.

Answer: A bog orchid

Bog orchids grow over a wide range, from tropical to more temperate zones of the world. They have fairly long underground roots, and stems that are approximately thirty inches in length. As with all orchids, they are quite exquisite and have flowers than can be white, yellow, green, or a rich red.

Answer: Horse urine

Who comes up with these words? One presumes that if anyone smelled like horse urine, they have been either been sitting underneath one such beast, or have been unfortunate enough to have fallen into same. Either that or they have an unfortunate physiological condition that needs attending to as soon as possible.

Answer: Tobacco smoke

There is not much to add to the meaning of this word than what it states above. A misocapnist dislikes the smell of tobacco smoke intensely and will do anything to avoid same.

Answer: Greek

Iota was the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet, and gave us our letter "i", the ninth letter of our English alphabet. We also use the word itself to denote a small amount as in "not one iota of doubt". The use of the word in this sense appeared in the Bible (King James Version), in the Gospel of Matthew verse eighteen of chapter five.

The word "jot" is also derived from the original word.