Speaking British Trivia Quiz

Answer: Nap

Spotted dick is a suet pudding with dried currants. A zizz is a short snooze or a nap. But don't say nappy. A nappy is a diaper.

Answer: Grades

In America, children start in Kindergarten, then progress from 1st grade through 12th grade. Elementary school encompasses Kindergarten through either 5th or 6th grade. Then comes either Middle School for 6th through 8th grades or Junior High School for 7th through 9th grades.

After that is High School. In Great Britain, Year 1 equates to Kindergarten and Year 13 equates to 12th grade.

Answer: Wear them

A winklepicker is a pointed shoe from the 1950's. They were called winklepickers because the pointed toe was reminiscent of the pin that was used to get the body out of periwinkle snail shells.

Answer: Verges

In America that would be known as a shoulder. In general, verge means edge or rim.

Answer: University

Upon completion of year 13, a British schoolchild could elect to go to uni, or university. Before entering, though, they must have completed at least 3 A levels. An A level is 6 units of a specialized subject area, such as business, science, humanities and the like.

Answer: Minnow

A tiddler may also be a toddler or anything small. A creel is sometimes known as a corf in Great Britain. Lead weights are lead weights and a vest with umpteen pockets is simply a fisherman's vest.

Answer: Cock-eyed

Skew-whiff comes from askew. You might also say it was wonky.

Answer: Baseball

The rules of rounders are very similar to baseball. Only nine players are allowed on the field at one time, although rounders can be played with as few as five. There are four bases. The batter tries to hit a thrown ball.
The major league baseball season in the US culminates with the World Series in which only one team from outside the US, the Toronto Blue Jays, has an opportunity to play. No British rounders teams are eligible to play in the World Series. Odd, that.

Answer: Lines

Queue is an unusual word in that it has four successive vowels. Queueing is even more unusual in that it has five successive vowels. Archaeoaeolotropic has six successive vowels, but now I'm starting to carry this successive vowel thing to a ridiculous extreme.
People lining up to take part in the UK's National Opinion Poll would form an N.O.P. queue.

Answer: Sneakers

A plimsoll shoe is made of canvas with a rubber sole and was first made by the Liverpool Rubber Company back in the 1830's. It is also known as a sand shoe. They came to be called plimsolls because the line marking the separation between the canvas upper and the rubber lower resembled the plimsoll line on a ship -- the line that denotes how low the ship could ride in the water and still be seaworthy.

Answer: Out-goings

Revenue would be in-comings. You want your in-comings to exceed your out-goings or you will be out-going from your current house or apartment and in-coming into a smaller house or apartment (flat).

Answer: Tic-tac-toe

Nought is the British word for zeroes and crosses take the place of Xs. Checkers in Great Britain is known as draughts.
Whether you are in the US or the UK, you always start a games of noughts and crosses at square one.

Answer: Sausage and mashed potatoes

You can also have sausage pie and mash (meat pastry and mashed potatoes). Other UK foods include toad in the hole (sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter), inky pinky (cold roast beef and carrots), and marmite (a nutritious sandwich spread). I remember an "Andy Griffith Show" from the 1960's in which a visiting Englishman made bubble and squeak. I always wondered what that was. Thanks to the internet, I now know that it is leftover vegetables (shallow fried), cold leftover roast and pickles. Mmm.

Answer: Roadside rest area

In the US we have county roads (maintained by the county), highways (maintained by the state) and interstates (built by the Federal government but maintained by the state). In Great Britain they have motorways (designated by an M in the route name), main roads (designated by an A) and short local roads (designated by a B).
Whether you are on an interstate or a motorway, the thing you drive is called a car either way.

Answer: Kerb

In America it is spelled curb. The kerb, or curb, defines the edge between the roadway and the pavement (sidewalk in the US).
Did you hear about the man who walked into a bar with a section of kerb under his arm? He ordered a beer plus another for the road.

Answer: Baked

A baked potato (the U.S. term) is baked with the skin on. It is served with the skin, or jacket, on; ergo jacket potato (the British term).
I once hosted a show where I talked about baked potatoes. The show never won any TV awards. As it turns out I was just a commentator.

Answer: Turn signal

An indicator is a turn signal. Bonnet is the hood. Boot is the trunk.
And the steering wheel is on the opposite side.

Answer: Vacation

A holiday in Great Britain is a time period when one is off work but still being paid. In the US that is called vacation, whereas a holiday is a national day of celebration, such as Memorial Day or Christmas.
A lot of people from England take their holidays in Ireland because they get to walk on Eire.

Answer: Yes

Grotty means inferior or shabby. It comes from "grotesque". You want them to say your work is spot on.

Answer: End of a sentence

A full stop (British term) is the period (American term) punctuation mark. Inverted commas are quotation marks.

Answer: Busy signal

An engaged tone, or busy signal, tells the caller that the person they are calling is on the phone with someone else. In the US, the telephone company graciously offers to keep trying the person for you for only $.95.

Answer: No

To de-bag means to pull someone's pants down as a joke. I would not want that to happen to me. When I wrote the question I assumed no one else would, either -- to me I mean.

Answer: Potato chips

Crisps are potato chips. Chips are French-fried potatoes. Americans: make it easy on yourself. Just order salad when in Great Britain.

Answer: Paper money

A tenner or cock and hen is a 10 pound note. A score is a 20 and a fiver is 5. Interestingly, the UK has not issued a 100-pound banknote.

Answer: Eggplant

The aubergine came to be known as eggplant in the US and other places because the fruit of some varieties resembled goose eggs.
Eggplant, or aubergine, is the main ingredient in baba ghanoush. That has little to do with this question but isn't it a fun name to say? Baba ghanoush!