FunTrivia Humanities Mix: Vol 23 Quiz

Answer: deplorable, detestable

If something or someone is execrable, there can be none worse. The adjective crossed from the Old French into English in the 14th century. It derived from the Latin "exsecrabilis" meaning accursed. It can be used to mean hateful, inferior, deplorable, miserable, of poor quality, odious, damnable, or abominable.

Not much used in everyday speech, it is frequently used by art critics to describe a movie, a novel, a painting, a musical performance or recording or some other work of art. Maybe they think it makes them sound more intellectual.

Question by player FatherSteve

Answer: Decidophobia

Decidophobia was first mentioned in a book entitled, "Without Guilt and Justice", written in 1973 by Walter Kaufmann. Acrophobia is the fear of heights. Obesophobia is the fear of becoming fat, and neophobia is the fear of anything new.

Question by player Trufflesss

Answer: A type of tropical fish

Gouramis are a family a small freshwater fish (Osphronemidae) distributed in the wild from Pakistan to the Malay Archipelago. They have a lung-like labyrinth organ which allows them to gulp air and extract oxygen for respiration, a feature which enables them to live in bodies of water which are poorly oxygenated. Gouramis are popular as aquarium fish, with species including the kissing gourami, the paradise fish, the dwarf gourami, and the Siamese fighting fish.

Question by player Wizzid

Answer: dogleg

Generally used in the context of a road, a dogleg is a sharp angled bend, so called because its shape resembles a dog's hind leg. The term can also mean a staircase with a sharp turn at a half landing. In golf, a dogleg is a bend in the fairway from the tee to the green so that the green is not visible from the tee. If there are two such bends this is known as a double dogleg.

A cat's paw means a person unscrupulously used by another to carry out a task, and horsetail and wolfsbane are both plants. Wolfsbane, also known as monkshood, belongs to the genus Aconitum and is highly poisonous.

Question by player Jennifer5

Answer: a defensive barrier atop a roof

Parapets have traditionally been used for protection, and they serve this purpose in two main ways. The first is as simple as having a barrier on the sides of a roof so people don't accidentally fall off. The second is to serve as a barrier against ranged weapons during times of war. Parapets were often crenelated so that soldiers atop the battlements could fire projectile weapons with more ease. Nowadays, parapets mostly just serve the first purpose.

Question by player trident

Answer: Latin

The Romance languages come from Vulgar Latin, the common language spoken in the Roman Empire. After the Roman Empire fell Latin split apart into various dialects, which eventually evolved into separate languages. Romance languages include French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish and Catalan, which is spoken in the Spanish region of Catalonia.

While they are different in many ways, they sometimes have similar vocabulary and grammar due to their shared descent.

Question by player OJR1

Answer: a vehicle with wheels

The tern "velocipede" applies to any wheeled vehicle propelled by human effort. The stereotypical image is an early bicycle with a large front wheel and a small rear wheel. The name drives form the Latin words meaning "fast foot".

Question by player debodun

Answer: Arabic

The Arab civilization has given the world many useful things. Where would we be without algebra? Arabic has also given the words alcohol, giraffe, and zero to the English language.

Question by player shahzy1022

Answer: yurt

In the days of Genghis Khan, the conquering Mongols used huge yurts on rolling platforms for housing as they blazed a path of conquest across Asia. "Ger" is the Mongol name for these structures. The yasa was a law code designed by Temujin (Genghis Khan) as he unified the various Mongol tribes. Yew is a type of tree, and a yawl is a sailing boat.

Question by player shvdotr

Answer: He was a lowdown cheap little punk!

On the death and (unknown to the guests) consumption of Eddie, this song is sung by his uncle, Dr. Scott. This strange and addictive film was first shown in 1975 and has since become the quintessential 'Midnight Movie' playing continuously around the world longer than any other film in the twentieth century. Richard O'Brien wrote the book and lyrics and played the character Riff Raff. Tim Curry played Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a "sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania." Eddie was played by Meatloaf.

Question by player alexis722