Bite the Bullet Trivia Quiz

The missing word is "chip". He's a chip off the old block describes a son, perhaps, as being like his father. It is generally used to apply to behaviour more than physical appearance. The saying is also used when any younger person displays similar characteristics to one who is senior to them.

It refers to a fractured piece of wood or stone having the same characteristics as the larger piece from which it came.

"You're a chip off the old block", said Fred, fondly, as his daughter, Julie, served him with tea and scones which were as good as the ones his late wife used to make.

The missing word is "eat". You can't have your cake and eat it too means that you can't have everything that you want all the time. It may refer to material goods, or to less tangible desires such as friendship or activities which could be done.

The saying probably originated in a letter from the Duke of Norfolk to Thomas Cromwell in the sixteenth century. It literally means that if you have eaten your cake, it has gone and you no longer have it.

When Andrew grumbled that he would have to miss a bowling trip with his school friends because he was going to Scout camp for the weekend, Julie, his mother, told him, "You can't have your cake and eat it too".

The missing word is "fish". There are other fish in the sea means that there will be another opportunity to do or get something after one has been missed. It is often used to mean that there will be another boyfriend or girlfriend after you've broken up with someone.

The saying became popular in the nineteenth century after Stephen Foster (1826-1864) wrote a song entitled "There Are Plenty of Fish in the Sea".

"There are other fish in the sea", Julie pointed out to Andrew, because his school friends had planned a trip to see the new film the following weekend, and he wouldn't be missing that.

The missing word is "judge". Don't judge a book by its cover means that appearances can be deceptive. The story may be great, even if the picture isn't very exciting. Equally a person who doesn't dress smartly, or look beautiful could well have a heart of gold, and be a staunch friend.

One of the phrases earliest appearances is in George Eliot's "The Mill on the Floss" (1860); it gained popularity from "Murder in the Glass Room", a 1946 murder mystery by Edwin Rolfe and Lester Fuller.

Jenny complained that the new girl at school didn't wear the same clothes as the rest of her friends. "Don't judge a book by its cover", Julie told her daughter, "Get to know her better before making a hasty decision".

The missing word is "lining". Every cloud has a silver lining means that even bad things can have good consequences.

The phrase originated in "Comus: A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle", a poem written by John Milton in 1634.

Tom grumbled to Julie that he couldn't have the week off work that he had wanted, but his boss had said that he could have two weeks off in the following month instead. "Every cloud has a silver lining", Julie told her husband, cheerfully, "Now we can have a week away, and get some jobs done around the house for my Dad".

The missing word is "milk". Don't cry over spilt milk means don't worry about something that can't be changed. It may be something physical that is broken and can't be mended, or it may be an event that you couldn't get too because the transport wasn't working.

Some people attribute the expression to James Howell, in "Paramiography (Proverbs)" (1659), where it appears as 'no weeping for shed milk'.

Jenny's little brother, Robbie, was crying because his toy car had been dropped, and was broken. "Don't cry over spilt milk", she said as she mopped up his tears and gave him a hug, before he went off to find a different toy.

The missing word is "nail". To hit the nail on the head means to get something exactly right. It might be that a problem has been identified correctly, or it could refer to finding a perfect solution.

Not very surprisingly, the expression comes from carpentry, describing the best way to drive a nail into a piece of wood.

"You've hit the nail on the head", Julie told Tom, after he suggested that Fred should join the local dance group to combat his loneliness.

The missing word is "rocket". If someone says that it's not rocket science, they mean that whatever it is isn't very complicated to understand.

Rocket science is a study that developed after the Second World War, and it was seen as extremely complex by the general public. The phrase 'it's not rocket science' appeared during the 1980s, in America, to describe coaching football.

"It's not rocket science", Tom replied. "Fred is benefiting from the social interaction, as well as the physical and mental exercise. It's just what he needed".

The missing word is "straw". To say that something is the last straw means that the speaker has lost patience.

It comes from the saying about the straw that broke the camel's back being the final one. A similar phrase was used in the United Kingdom in the middle of the seventeenth century, with the last feather breaking the horse's back. The straw and the camel may come from a reference in 'Dombey and Son', written by Charles Dickens in 1848.

"That's the last straw", said Julie as Andrew came home from football again with another bag of muddy kit. "It's high time you learnt how to use the washing machine!"

The missing word is "words". Actions speak louder than words may suggest that it is better to believe what people do than what they say. Or it may simply mean that they show what they mean by their actions. Another interpretation is that it's better to do something than talk about it.

The idea was mooted in the Bible; in chapter 3 of the first letter of John, he writes 'Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth'. An English clergyman, Thomas Manton, writing in the seventeenth century, used the phrase 'actions, which speaker louder than words'. Although St. Anthony of Padua is thought to have used a similar expression in the thirteenth century.

Julie was really happy when Andrew and Jenny brought her breakfast in bed, and Robbie followed them carefully carrying a vase of flowers. When Tom said he'd arranged for them to have lunch out for her birthday, she thought about how actions could speak louder than words at times.