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Quiz about Raw Prawns and Drinking Lizards
Quiz about Raw Prawns and Drinking Lizards

Raw Prawns and Drinking Lizards Quiz


Australians have always had a unique turn of phrase. In this quiz I promise not to come the raw prawn with you. If you are flat out like a lizard drinking you might want to change tack and play.

A multiple-choice quiz by Nannanut. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
Nannanut
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
182,665
Updated
Sep 19 23
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
4526
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: Guest 101 (9/10), Guest 1 (10/10), mazza47 (7/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. My mother's generation would often announce that they needed "a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down". This would be at the end of a hard day. The tea and the good lie down are obvious. What is or was a Bex? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. My friend called and said she had been talking to someone when they suddenly "shot through like a Bondi tram". I knew she meant that they left very quickly but it started me wondering if there ever was such a thing as a Bondi tram?


Question 3 of 10
3. My father was a huge sports fan. He would often call me when Australian teams were announced, to tell me one of his favourite players was now wearing the "baggy green". What is a baggy green? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. When I was little and lived in the country, there was always a 'gazunder' underneath my bed each night - what was it? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. OK then. As this quiz blurb goes - if I "come the raw prawn" at someone who is "going flat out like a lizard drinking " - what am I doing? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. If I was at the football and called out "chewie on your boot" what would I be wanting? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Australians never ever call a spade a spade if there is a more convoluted expression available. A phrase denoting jealousy of someone who is famous or in a highly regarded position carries a reference to a particular flower. Which flower is that? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. At our country Queensland school the principal would often gather all students into the school grounds and order an emu parade. What did he want? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. When I was little my parents always took me to the "Ekka". This was the large Exhibition held in Brisbane each August (you see - you must always shorten the word wherever possible). One year my brother consumed copious amounts of every food imaginable and then went on the crazy rides in Sideshow Alley. Spinning whirlygigs and wild speeds were his ultimate undoing and his stomach rebelled in spectacular fashion. What Aussie slang word would be used to describe this unfortunate situation? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. I know it's a bit rough but this quiz took a lot of elbow grease. It has gone from go to whoa. I've been flat chat writing it. If you like it, I'll be all smiles. I'm off now to catch forty winks. Where am I going? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Mar 27 2024 : Guest 101: 9/10
Mar 24 2024 : Guest 1: 10/10
Mar 21 2024 : mazza47: 7/10
Mar 14 2024 : KayceeKool: 7/10
Mar 13 2024 : doh1: 10/10
Mar 11 2024 : colbymanram: 5/10
Mar 05 2024 : Guest 1: 10/10
Mar 04 2024 : Guest 107: 6/10
Mar 04 2024 : Guest 165: 7/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. My mother's generation would often announce that they needed "a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down". This would be at the end of a hard day. The tea and the good lie down are obvious. What is or was a Bex?

Answer: A headache powder

Bex was a brand of powdered painkiller sold in a yellow box. Each dose was wrapped in a paper envelope and tasted just dreadful.
2. My friend called and said she had been talking to someone when they suddenly "shot through like a Bondi tram". I knew she meant that they left very quickly but it started me wondering if there ever was such a thing as a Bondi tram?

Answer: Yes

The last Bondi tram ran on Sunday, February 18th, 1960. The reference to "shooting through" came from the fact that there was a long portion of the route with no pick up or set down and the driver could really gather speed. To leave in haste is one meaning of this colloquialism but there is also an earlier reference from World War Two where to shoot through like a Bondi tram meant to go absent without leave.
3. My father was a huge sports fan. He would often call me when Australian teams were announced, to tell me one of his favourite players was now wearing the "baggy green". What is a baggy green?

Answer: An Australian cricket cap

Getting a "baggy green" cap means you have been selected to play for the Australian test cricket team. The most highly prized baggy green of all was Sir Donald Bradman's cap. It sold at auction in 2003 for $AU425,000.
4. When I was little and lived in the country, there was always a 'gazunder' underneath my bed each night - what was it?

Answer: A chamber pot

That's right. There was NO indoor sewerage plumbing in most of country Australia in the 1950s and so a chamber pot or pottie was a necessity. The word gazunder comes immediately from the fact that the pot "goesunder" the bed. This term was also widely used in other parts of the world with similar lack of indoor plumbing.
5. OK then. As this quiz blurb goes - if I "come the raw prawn" at someone who is "going flat out like a lizard drinking " - what am I doing?

Answer: Trying to delude someone who is working hard

"Coming the raw prawn" means to try and fool or delude someone. "Going flat out like a lizard drinking" means someone is working at top speed. The fact that a drinking lizard, while essentially flat, is certainly not going at any speed at all is testament to the wry Aussie sense of humour. The reference to raw prawns is most likely something that is difficult to swallow.
6. If I was at the football and called out "chewie on your boot" what would I be wanting?

Answer: To distract a player

Chewie is a typical Australian diminutive for chewing gum. We Aussies shorten or lengthen any word we can. Presents will become pressies, Christmas will be Chrissie and a short name like Kim will always become Kimmy. Enough distraction! Calling out "chewie on your boot" is an attempt to distract a football player about to take a kick.

This will not be construed as helpful unless the player is on the opposing team.
7. Australians never ever call a spade a spade if there is a more convoluted expression available. A phrase denoting jealousy of someone who is famous or in a highly regarded position carries a reference to a particular flower. Which flower is that?

Answer: Poppy

The "tall poppy syndrome" is a term referring to jealousy of someone perceived to have higher social position or kudos. Unfortunately we Australians are not content to leave it there and cutting down "tall poppies" is an inevitable Australian reaction if someone has is seen to have gotten too big for their boots. Be warned - no-one is immune!
8. At our country Queensland school the principal would often gather all students into the school grounds and order an emu parade. What did he want?

Answer: A clean playground

In an emu parade, students were lined up across the entire length of the playground and moved slowly forward under the watchful eyes of teachers. Each child was expected to pick up any rubbish directly in their path. The resultant spectacle was a long straggly row of children bobbing up and down for rubbish which looked for all the world like emus feeding.
9. When I was little my parents always took me to the "Ekka". This was the large Exhibition held in Brisbane each August (you see - you must always shorten the word wherever possible). One year my brother consumed copious amounts of every food imaginable and then went on the crazy rides in Sideshow Alley. Spinning whirlygigs and wild speeds were his ultimate undoing and his stomach rebelled in spectacular fashion. What Aussie slang word would be used to describe this unfortunate situation?

Answer: All of these

Aside from odd linguistic habits, Australians have a strange predilection for words describing bodily functions. The language is littered with imaginative phrases for burps, farts and vomits. The yawn and the laugh are obvious graphic terms. The word chunder is most likely derived from Norman Lindsay's advertising character Chunder Loo and is rhyming slang for spew. (Another vomit word!)
10. I know it's a bit rough but this quiz took a lot of elbow grease. It has gone from go to whoa. I've been flat chat writing it. If you like it, I'll be all smiles. I'm off now to catch forty winks. Where am I going?

Answer: To have a nap

A "bit rough" means it hasn't been an easy task (trust me). "Elbow grease" is another expression for plain hard work. To go from "go to whoa" is to go from start to finish and "flat chat" is as fast as possible. "All smiles" is hopefully self evident and the number of terms Aussies have for sleep is amazing.

When I first heard my father say he was off to have forty winks I sat at the bedroom door and winked forty times. I was a bit of a galah in those days.
Source: Author Nannanut

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Bruyere before going online.
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