Language Trivia Q & A Includes Questions About Brontology, Picogram, Undecennial, Omega, laser, Carport, and More!

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Language and words trivia concerning omega, picogram, wohelo, brontology, carport, curricle, and more.

Fun trivia questions and answers - Language and Words.

In America's horse-and-carriage days, what was a curricle?
A: A two-wheeled chaise usually drawn by two horses running abreast.

What was the original meaning of ezel, the name seventeenth-century Dutch artists gave to the three-legged stand we know today as an easel?
A: Ezel is Dutch  for "donkey." The artist's stand was so named because like a donkey, it too carried a burden.

What is pseudogyny?
A: :The use of a woman's pen name by a male writer. When a female writer uses a man's pen name it' pseudandry.

What is brontology the study of?
A: Thunder.

What is the last letter of the Greek alphabet?
A: Omega.

What is the measurement, "one foot," based on?
A: One third the length of the arm of king Henry I (1068-1135) of England.

What is the word "laser" and acronym for?
A: Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.

Who invented the word, "carport"?
A: Frank Lloyd Wright.

What do the letters "Z", I, and "P" stand for in zip codes?
A: Zone Improvement Plan.

What ails you if you have a bilateral perorbital hematoma?
A: You have a black eye.

In ballet, what's a promenade?
A: A slow turn of the body, pivoting on the heel.

A milligram is a thousandth of a gram.  What's a picogram?
A: A trillionth of a gram.

What is the meaning of the Greek word kosmetikos, from which we get the word cosmetics?
A: Skilled in decorating.

The first two letters of what three words were combined to form wohelo, the watchword of the Campfire Girls?
A: Work, Health, and love.

What do noologists study?
A :The mind.

What is the meaning of the Latin term ad hoc?
A: "For this"--in the sense of "for this task only."

What is the unfriendly meaning of the acronym NIMBY?
A: Not in my backyard.

In mining, what is a manway?
A: A passage wide enough for just one person.

How do the British pronounce the name Beauchamp?
A: BEE-cham.

What is an undecennial?
A: An eleventh anniversary.

The Pennsylvania Dutch call it schmierkase. What do most of us know it as?
A: Cottage cheese.

What is a parsec?
A: It's a unit equal to 3.26 light years or 19.2 trillion miles, used in astronomy to measure interstellar space.

In space lingo, what does the acronym EVA stand for?
A: Extra-vehicular activity, which refers to all movement outside the spacecraft.

What is trokenbeerenauslese?
A: A German wine made from vine-dried grapes so rare that it can take a skilled picker a day to gather enough for a single bottle.

What is a valetudinarian?
A: A professional invalid--a sickly person who thinks constantly and anxiously about his or her health.

How did the loosely woven fabric we know as gauze get its name?
A: From the city of Gaza, in Palestine, where it was first made.

In agriculture, what is a windfall?
A: Ripening fruit knocked down from a tree by the wind.