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Free language trivia questions and answers.

If you are taking a class in pistology, what are you studying?
A: Faith.

What are pilchards called in their younger schooldays?
A: Sardines.

What are the plastic or metal tips on shoelaces called?
A: Aglets.

What does a culicidologist study?
A: The mosquito.

What is a formicary?
A: An ant hill.

In citizens band (CB) slang, what's a bear bite?
A: A speeding ticket.

What's a long ton?
A: It's a unit of weight in Great Britain, the equivalent of 2,240 pounds. America's 2,000 pound ton is known as a short ton.

What is the meaning of the Chinese phrase "gong hay fot choy"?
A: "Wishing you a prosperous New Year."

What is the origin of the word "stentoria," meaning "extremely loud"?
A: Stentor, a Greek herald during the Trojan War, whose "voice of bronze," according to Homer's "Iliad," was as "loud as the cry of 50 other men."

What are you afraid of if you have peccatophobia?
A: Sinning.

How did the term "red-letter-day" originate?
A: In the fifteenth century if became common practice to print important feast days, saints' days and holidays in red ink on ecclesiastical calendars and in almanacs. Since these were memorable, happy days, "red-letter-day" came to mean any lucky day or day recalled with delight.

What is the meaning of the Swahili word Kwanzaa--the name adopted for the annual celebration of African-American history and culture?
A: It means "first fruits." The celebration, based on African harvest festivals, runs from December 26 to January1.

When the State Department refers to "vertical transportation units," what is it describing?
A: Elevators.

What is the meaning of deinos and sauros, the two Greek words paleontologists combined to name the long-extinct dinosaur?
A: Deinos means "terrible" or "terrifying"; sauros, "lizard."

What is a dactylogram?
A: A fingerprint.

What is vog?
A: A Hawaiian cousin of smog--it's a fog caused when sulfuric volcanic fumes mix with oxygen.

What is the meaning of the Sioux word Tonka, which was adopted in 1947 as the name of the toy company known for its sturdy toy trucks?
A: Tonka means "great".

What is the origin of the expression "upper crust"?
A: Etiquette in days of yore required that the choice top crust of a loaf of bread be presented to the king or ranking noble at the table.

In logging slang, what's a "jackpot"?
A: A messy pile of logs.

Why do we call seedy saloons "dives"?
A: When the word "dive" first came into use in New York City in the mid-1880s such an establishment was usually located below street level in a run-down row house, requiring patrons to descend into the building's depths.

In trucking circles, what's meant by a "bumper sticker"?
A: A tailgater; a driver who is following another vehicle too closely.

Free Language Trivia Questions and Answers

Free language trivia questions and answers.