All About Bones Trivia Quiz

Answer: it is military slang for doctor

Starfleet adopts many nautical terms. In 19th century U.S. military history, a ship's doctor was referred to as "sawbones" as amputation was the most frequent treatment for shattered limbs. An alternative explanation is that McCoy was divorced before joining Starfleet and "The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I got left is my bones." This latter explanation does not appear until the 2009 J.J. Abrams "Star Trek" motion picture.

Answer: craps/dice

One of the names for a pair of dice is knucklebones which relates to a much earlier time when dice were made from the knucklebones of animals. Bone, once dried and cleaned, is sculptable and produced cubes with slightly rounded edges and flat surfaces receptive to carving pips in them.

Hence the gambler's expression "throw dem bones." Modern dice (they've been around for about 8000 years) are made of ivory, plastic, metal, ceramic, whalebone, and wood. When dice were introduced to America from Europe, the French in New Orleans called their dice game "crapaud" meaning "toad" which was then abbreviated to "craps."

Answer: a collector of household discards

A rag-and-bone man was a person who went door to door collecting discarded rags, bones, bottles, bits of metal and anything else of (small) value. Other names for people who did this work include ragpicker, ragman, and junkman. Successful rag-and-bone men used a horse and cart; less successful ones used handcarts or carried their finds on their backs. "Steptoe and Son" was a British television situation comedy about a bone-and-rag man.

It was the basis for the American television programme "Sanford and Son."

Answer: a cemetery

Long before there were any airplanes to be parked, the term "boneyard" was used as a colloquialism for a cemetery. The earliest published example is in 1839. Graveyards were at one time marked with skull and crossbones. The connection is plain.

Answer: radio disc jockey

Bobby Jones started hosting a country-western music radio programme in Austin, Texas, but was moved by his national parent company Clear Channel (now iHeart Media) to Nashville. He came to greater prominence as a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars" (where he and his partner Sharna Burgess won first place) and as a judge on television's "American Idol."

Answer: the front of one into the side of the other

A T-Bone automobile accident is one in which the front end of one vehicle contacts the side (driver's or passenger's) of another vehicle. The result is called T-Bone because the resultant wreckage, seen from above, often describes the capital letter T.

Other terms for a T-Bone accident are broadside and side-impact collision. It is impossible to say who is at fault in a T-Bone accident without knowing much more about it. Such accidents are particularly dangerous in that automobiles afford relatively less protection from impact from the side.

Answer: She's a forensic anthropologist

In the TV series "Bones" (2005-2017), Emily Deschanel plays a forensic anthropologist partnered with FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth played by David Boreanaz. There is comedy mixed with the police procedural aspects of this programme. The premise is that a forensic anthropologist is able to lend scientific expertise to the investigation of crimes involving human remains. Dr. "Bones" Brennan works for the Jefferson Institute Medico-Legal Lab, which is fictional but possible.

Answer: two bones clacked against each other

The bones are a folk musical percussion instrument made of wood or, originally, from the rib bones of a cow or pig. Modern bones are made of wood (often shaped to look like real rib bones); spoons are sometimes substituted. A pair are held in one hand and caused to clack one into the other.

Some players place them on either side of the middle finger; there are other methods and who is to say whose is correct?

Answer: He's a boy detective.

David Adler is the author of over 200 children's books. One of his best-known series features Cam Jansen, a schoolgirl detective with a photographic memory. There are over 50 titles in the series. Another series is about Jeffrey Bones, schoolboy detective. These books are for young readers; there are clues hidden in the illustrations by Barbara Johansen Newman.

Answer: part of a comedic musical trio

The classic American minstrel show was popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The most famous was the Christy Minstrels, for whom Stephen Foster wrote, who played Broadway for a decade. In the typical form, there were three central characters: Mister Interlocutor in the middle and his endmen -- Mister Tambo and Mister Bones -- on either side. Mister Tambo played the tambourine; Mister Bones played the bones.

The programme was of dances, jokes and songs. Some minstrel companies were white men in black face; others were black men in white face.

Answer: kill an enemy to show loyalty

The term "make my bones" appears several places in "The Godfather" and also in the US television series "The Sopranos." The concept is of proving one's loyalty, credibility and reliability by killing an enemy of the mob family. By killing, the victim is made into bones.

The killer thereby becomes a "made man" entitled to the respect and protection of the mob. The language used by Mafia members for these persons is typically "uomo d'onore," or "uomo di rispetto."

Answer: Brother Cadfael

The "Chronicles of Brother Cadfael" begin in May of 1137 at Shrewsbury Abbey in Shropshire. Cadfael is a retired man at arms who had become the apothecary for the Benedictine monastery. He tends the herbs necessary to his craft, consults with the midwives of the village and offers investigative services to Sheriff Hugh Beringar. There are twenty books in the series, beginning in 1977. Cadfael was played by Derek Jacobi in the British television series (1994-1998).

Answer: He was hit in the head with a baseball.

Buhner (b. 1964) played right field (1987-2001). Playing high school baseball in Texas, he lost a fly ball in the lights and was hit in the head by the ball. His coach, Jim Mallory, said it was a good thing that Jay had such a bony head. He was called "Bone" thereafter. He hit .254 lifetime with 310 home runs and 964 RBIs. He won a Golden Glove in 1996.

Answer: thin, scrawny, emaciated

Since the 15th century, this metaphoric phrase has been used to describe people or animals which are malnourished, extremely thin, emaciated. It carries none of the positive connotations of "slim" or "svelte" or "slender." It is hyperbolic since a creature cannot exist without some musculature under the skin and over the bones. An occasional variant is the singular "skin and bone."

Answer: orthopaedic surgeons/surgery

A skull and crossbones is a front-on depiction of a human skull above two equal-length long bones crossing each other. From the Late Middle Ages, this symbol has represented death and has been used as a "memento mori" -- a reminder that life is short and death is inevitable.

It serves this purpose when it appears at the foot of some crucifixes. It is common to see skull and crossbones on containers of chemicals (acids, poisons, corrosives) which are potentially harmful. The attempt to replace this symbol with "Mister Yuck" has not been particularly effective.

A black flag with a white skull and crossbones is called a Jolly Roger in English nautical parlance. Since the early 18th century, it identifies a pirate ship. The most common symbol associated with orthopaedics is the caduceus used by all branches of the medical arts.

Another is a bent tree which has been braced to make it grow correctly.