A Handy Quiz

Answer: 28

"Phalanges" is the plural of "phalanx". On each hand, there are three in each finger (3x4=12) plus two in the thumb, making 14 in all. So, the two hands have a total of 28 (2x14). (The toe bones are also called phalanges, so there are 56 phalanges in the whole body).

Answer: metacarpals

The metacarpals connect the wrist bones (carpals) to the finger bones (phalanges). In the foot, the metatarsals connect the tarsals (ankle bones) to the phalanges in the same way.

Answer: Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn was the second of Henry's six wives (after Catherine of Aragon). She married Henry secretly in 1532 and officially in 1533. She was beheaded in 1536. The idea that Anne had six fingers may just be a popular myth, as there is no good contemporary evidence referring to it.

Answer: Thing

Thing (Thing T. Thing, to give its full name) would carry out useful services in the household - such as lighting cigars, changing the TV channel or fetching the mail. Cousin Itt and Uncle Fester were other members of the Addams family.

Answer: all of them

All the tetrapod vertebrates (the four-limbed vertebrates - amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) have limbs that have developed from the five-fingered pattern. However, this often becomes much modified - for example, the horse's hoof has developed from the third digit, with the others being reduced (and lost) during embryonic development.

Answer: lunula

The word lunula means "little moon". It is the visible part of the nail "root" which grows and replaces the nail (the nail itself consists of dead cells that have become impregnated with the hard protein, keratin). The eponychium is the technical name for the "cuticle" of a nail.

The epidermis is the outer layer of skin. A ligule is a structure in a grass stalk. It's normal if the lunulae are not visible, especially in the nail of the little finger.

Answer: Ulster

Sometimes people say Ulster when they mean Northern Ireland, but Ulster is actually one of the four Gaelic Provinces of Ireland: three of its nine counties are within the Republic of Ireland; and the remaining six form Northern Ireland, in the United Kingdom.

An interesting legend suggests the origin of the Red Hand symbol. It supposedly refers to the conquering of Ireland by three Spanish brothers (Heremon, Heber and Ir) around 500BC. One of them, keen to be the first to get onto the island and conquer it, is said to have cut off his hand and thrown it ashore before the others could land.

Answer: The Lizard's Tale

In this story, an artist loses his hand in an accident - the hand then takes on a murderous life of its own . The film version was directed by Oliver Stone, and starred Michael Caine and Andrea Marcovicci.

Answer: Guns N'Roses

Bumblefoot, aka Ron Thal, released the album "Hands" in 1998. "Bumblefoot" is also the name of a disease found in birds and in small mammals (such as guinea pigs). It is a bacterial infection of the feet (...and no doubt of the hands too, if they had any).

Answer: a hand containing no card higher than a nine

The chance of getting a Yarborough on any particular deal is about 1 in 1827 (although I seem to get them more often than that). Tradition says that the Yarborough is named after Lord Yarborough (1809-1862), a frequent card player. He knew what the probabilities were, and he offered £1000 to anyone at his table who was dealt a Yarborough - provided that they gave him £1 before the cards were dealt.

He was of course betting with the odds, and so he made a steady profit.