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Word Quiz

1.     tuxedo                                                                                          
        men's formalwear with black satin lapels, silk-striped trousers and cummerbund

        Where does the word "tuxedo" come from?  (choose the one best answer)

A.    
From its rather obvious resemblance to Aptenodytes Tuxidoa, the tuxedo penguin.
B.    
Coined by Mark Twain, who once ridiculed formalware as "tucksied and tailored."
C.    
After 16th-century hero Commodore Maximillian Tuxedor, 3rd Earl of Cummerbund.
D.    
Worldwide wedding wear made its 1886 debut in Tuxedo Park, upstate New York.

tuxedo answer




2.     negligee
                                                                                         
        a woman's nightgown or camisole, often of soft or delicate fabric

        Where does the word "negligee" come from?  (choose the one best answer)

A.    
Named after Lady Neglee, a consort of sorts in the courts of Henrys VII and VIII.
B.    
From "an egligee" (harem word for "eligible"), the "n" transfers through metathesis.
C.    
It was originally the ceremonial veil which was hung from the neck of a protegee.
D.    
Derived from Latin "neglegere," meaning "to neglect" referring to the housework.

negligee answer



3.     pumpernickel
   
                                                                                                   
        a dark, sourish bread made from coarsely ground whole rye grain

        Where does the word "pumpernickel" come from?
 
(choose the one best answer)

A.    
A tribute to this modern manna's so-secret ingredient: roasted pumpkin seeds.
B.    
From the German words pumpern, meaning "break wind," and nickel for "goblin."
C.    
Named for a Bavarian style of kneading, in which air is pumped inside the dough.
D.    
During the 1920's in New York, it was the plumpest loaf you could get for a nickel.

pumpernickel answer



4.     sabotage                                                                                                           
        willful destruction of property or obstruction of operations, deliberate subversion

        
Where does the word "sabotage" come from?  (choose the one best answer)

A.    
Named after the WWI combat tactics of Generalissimo Maximillian Sabota.
B.    
Latin finance term meaning "at risk;" opposite of arbitrage, meaning "riskless."
C.    
Derived from the Old French word for shoe, sabot, a kind of wooden clog.
D.    
Coined during mutiny court-martial of South American ship, the S. A. Botage.

sabotage answer




5.     karaoke
                                                                                       
        an audio / video sing-along system which plays music and displays lyrics

        
Where does the word "karaoke" come from? 
(choose the one best answer)

A.    
Adapted from the Brazilian call-and-response song style known as Carioca.
B.    
Contraction of the modern-day Japanese words for "empty" and "orchestra."
C.    
Named for a WWII-era entertainer named Carrie, who was from Oklahoma.
D.    
Literary reference to The Legend of Karoki, a city now known as Okinawa.

karaoke answer




6.     gargoyle                                                                                                        
 
        a roof ornament or spout, often in the form of a crouching, grotesque beast

        
Where does the word "gargoyle" come from?  (choose the one best answer)

A.    
Italian slang for "pygmy," it's the opposite of "gargantuan" which means "gigantic."
B.    
From the signature of Austrian architect Greg Argoyle, who also gave us the socks.
C.    It's an Olde English contraction of "garish" and "guile," they were to fool the spirits.
D.    
Derived from the Middle French word gargouille, which referred to the "throat."

gargoyle answer


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