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Quiz about Can You Rephrase That  Part Deux
Quiz about Can You Rephrase That  Part Deux

Can You Rephrase That? - Part Deux Quiz


Quite a few folks asked for a sequel to "Can You Rephrase That?", which was undertaken originally as an author's challenge. Here is the follow-up to the last quiz. Be sure to "think outside the box" and I hope you enjoy!

A multiple-choice quiz by logcrawler. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
logcrawler
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
323,500
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
685
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
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Question 1 of 10
1. A tiger escaped from the zoo and threatened to enter a schoolyard. Luckily, the teachers who were on duty in the playground had just rounded all the children up and had entered the building. You might say that they all escaped harm by "the skin of their teeth." Since everyone knows that teeth don't have skin, where did this phrase originate from? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. If Uncle Jerry is diagnosed with diabetes, his doctor may prescribe insulin to treat the illness. What did "insulin" originally mean? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. The baby was screaming loudly on the bus, so the young mother took out a bottle to feed him. He instantly and greedily began to nurse. From where do we get the word "bottle"? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Grandpa Jones has yet to use the internet, a cell phone or a DVD player. Aunt Susie says that he is just an old geezer and painfully "out of touch" with progress in this century. Where did this term originate? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. The criminal claimed that, while he was "in the jug", he made a lot of new friends. While the quality of those so-called friends might be questionable, the real question here is: why did he refer to his stint in jail as being "in the jug"? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Our team was elated that we won the championship. Our coach told us that he was proud that we had "made the grade." What was he alluding to when he made this statement? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. The mystery novelist was notorious for throwing out "red herrings" in order to deceive her readers with false clues. Why a red herring? I mean, why not a green tomato or a white albacore tuna? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. I was at a play last weekend and I heard a man tell his grown son that it was taboo to wish his wife well before her performance on stage. He told him it was better to say "break a leg" than to wish her good luck. This is an old superstition, but the word "taboo" is probably older. From which culture do we get this word? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. My family and I went to eat at a fancy restaurant last night. The food, the ambiance and the wait staff were all excellent. My daughter, ever the curious one, asked me why they call such establishments by the name "restaurant". I confessed that I didn't know but I would try to find out. I did. What did I discover? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. While sleeping one night, I was rudely awakened when my leg stiffened up and cramped with a charley-horse. Who is the fine gentleman who offered his name for such a miserable experience? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. A tiger escaped from the zoo and threatened to enter a schoolyard. Luckily, the teachers who were on duty in the playground had just rounded all the children up and had entered the building. You might say that they all escaped harm by "the skin of their teeth." Since everyone knows that teeth don't have skin, where did this phrase originate from?

Answer: the book of Job in the Bible

Job, in response to charges made by his "friend", Bildad, listed some of his troubles. In conclusion, he stated that he had barely escaped with his own life. Instead of making a bare statement, however, he used the poetic spirit of the ancient East to make his point.
In Job 19:20, the Geneva Bible translated it this way, "I have escaped with the skinne of my tethe."
King James editors retained the phrase and although many people protested that skin have no teeth, Bible reading had become so prolific that the phrase was too well established to alter it.
2. If Uncle Jerry is diagnosed with diabetes, his doctor may prescribe insulin to treat the illness. What did "insulin" originally mean?

Answer: island product

Diabetes problems go back for centuries, but it wasn't until 1789 that an English physician guessed that the root of the problem lay in a tongue-shaped gland near the middle of the abdomen. No one had any understanding of the pancreas, and about all that could be determined was that clumps of cells were scattered about it like tiny islands on a sea.

In 1922, F.G. Banting discovered that the "islands" secreted a strange fluid. He wasn't sure of what he had discovered, but named the substance "island product" or "insulin."
3. The baby was screaming loudly on the bus, so the young mother took out a bottle to feed him. He instantly and greedily began to nurse. From where do we get the word "bottle"?

Answer: Near East herdsmen

Ancient herdsmen of the Near East, as well as perhaps those from regions of Spain, found an excellent way to store liquids. By using the whole skin of a goat, they could fashion a container that, when sewn, could have one leg remaining open to serve as a spigot. The ancient Romans and Greeks soon adopted this new type of storage gear and the technology spread throughout Europe and Asia.
The thick hide, or "bota", from which it was fashioned lent itself to becoming today's modern "bottle."
4. Grandpa Jones has yet to use the internet, a cell phone or a DVD player. Aunt Susie says that he is just an old geezer and painfully "out of touch" with progress in this century. Where did this term originate?

Answer: military formations of the eighteenth century

In the eighteenth century, military leaders decided to tighten their formations. As a practical way of ensuring this was accomplished, each soldier had to be able to swing his elbows while marching and thus touch the soldier to his right and to his left.

Whenever there was a gap in the line, that meant that someone was literally, "out of touch". Civilians adopted the term to mean any situation in which a person lost contact.
5. The criminal claimed that, while he was "in the jug", he made a lot of new friends. While the quality of those so-called friends might be questionable, the real question here is: why did he refer to his stint in jail as being "in the jug"?

Answer: it is from an old Scottish word meaning yoke

A "joug" was a yoke or a pillory for the head, used by Scottish lairds to punish criminals publicly. Rock houses of detention became known as stone jougs and, as is common, the spelling was modified to the now-familiar "jug".
6. Our team was elated that we won the championship. Our coach told us that he was proud that we had "made the grade." What was he alluding to when he made this statement?

Answer: railroad engineering

As the American nation rapidly expanded westward, so did the railroads. Hasty and sometimes careless engineering left doubt in the trainmen's minds as to whether their iron horses could pull grades that were challenging to the engines. They were always elated when they were successful in reaching the top of a difficult pull. Today, any person who wins against the odds is said to have "made the grade."
7. The mystery novelist was notorious for throwing out "red herrings" in order to deceive her readers with false clues. Why a red herring? I mean, why not a green tomato or a white albacore tuna?

Answer: people trained their hounds with the smoke-cured fish

Herring was a staple in the diet of many European nations. It was so plentiful that many different ways of curing it were devised, among them salting, sun-drying and smoking. Salted and sun-dried herring would turn black, while smoked herring turned a reddish color. Sailors would carry it on long voyages, and landsmen were commonly thought to have found another novel use for it.

The story goes that when hunting for foxes, they would train their dogs by dragging the red herring across the ground to train them to track the scent of the pungent fish.

When a hound was diverted from the scent of a fox later, it was said to be following a "red herring". This made its way into everyday speech, inferring that any false or misleading information could serve the purpose of distracting a person from the truth.
8. I was at a play last weekend and I heard a man tell his grown son that it was taboo to wish his wife well before her performance on stage. He told him it was better to say "break a leg" than to wish her good luck. This is an old superstition, but the word "taboo" is probably older. From which culture do we get this word?

Answer: Polynesian islanders

Early explorers in the South Seas of the Pacific regions were familiar with the concept of holy or forbidden objects. They were, however, unaccustomed to the extent that the Polynesian peoples forbade them to enter, touch or even look upon certain things. It seems that everywhere they went, a priest was shouting "Tabu! Tabu!" (Forbidden! Forbidden!)
Whether spelled in its native Tonga form or in the more westernized "Taboo", this word has gained universal recognition as representing anything that is to be avoided.
9. My family and I went to eat at a fancy restaurant last night. The food, the ambiance and the wait staff were all excellent. My daughter, ever the curious one, asked me why they call such establishments by the name "restaurant". I confessed that I didn't know but I would try to find out. I did. What did I discover?

Answer: it was a term meaning to restore

An innovation in business in France, a "restaurer" was from a common French term meaning "to restore". English travelers were impressed with the name because it sounded so 'continental', and took the word back home with them. The spelling remained the same for some time, but eventually was changed to the restaurant that we are familiar with today.

It now is applied to all types of establishments where food is served, whether they are upscale dining experiences, or simply a greasy joint that specializes in heartburn.
10. While sleeping one night, I was rudely awakened when my leg stiffened up and cramped with a charley-horse. Who is the fine gentleman who offered his name for such a miserable experience?

Answer: King Charles the First

London was at one time a great place for criminal types and thugs to hang out in. In 1640, Charles the First became alarmed at the situation and ordered the police to crack down on these unsavory characters. The thugs and slugs derisively nicknamed members of this police force as "Charley's Man" or "Charley". Since the police were often on foot, they began to develop muscle cramps in their legs. Later, in America, baseball athletes began suffering similar symptoms and, since American lawbreakers had already introduced the term "Charley" to the lexicon, the ball players were said to be tired from riding "Charley's horse." This was one small step from becoming what we today call a "charley-horse."
Source: Author logcrawler

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