The Phrase A Week Christmas Quiz

Phrases and Sayings Home

1. 'Give up the ghost' comes from Dickens' Christmas Carol The Bible Charles the First's speech before his execution 2. 'Namby Pamby' was A soft cheese A parodying name for the poet Ambrose Philips A nursery rhyme character 3. 'Flotsam and jetsam' were The spots seen after looking at a bright light A 19th century musichall act The debris remaining after a shipwreck 4. 'The bee's knees' was A reference to the nectar on bees legs A Chicago nightclub A nonsense term 5. 'Smithereens' is/are Small shards of metal Another name for 'The Doldrums' A town in Ireland 6. The nonsense phrase 'A Spaniard in the Works' was coined by Reverend Spooner John Lennon Lewis Carroll Salvador Dali 7. The first person described as a 'living legend' and 'a legend in her own lifetime' was Queen Elizabeth I Marlene Deitrich Florence Nightingale 8. 'Umbrage' was first A type of medicine A town in the west of England A shady area 9. 'Grin like a Cheshire Cat' was coined by Lewis Carroll False True 10. 'Left in the lurch' comes from The French card game lourche The name of a prison cell in the Tower of London A bride left jilted at the church's lych gate Left for dead at the side of the road 11. 'Sprucing up' derives from A variant of 'spicing up' Decorating a Christmas tree The wearing of fashionable leather jackets 12. 'The green-eyed monster', referring to jealousy comes from The Incredible Hulk Shakespeare's Othello One of the seven deadly sins Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd 13. 'The first water' referred to Highest quality diamonds The practice of offering water first to the King in the English court The first bottle of brandy taken from a barrel 14. 'Humble pie' was Named after the Victorian stable keeper James Humble A variant of 'umble pie', i.e. a pie made from innards The first meal served to monks after Christmas 15. 'Brass monkeys' were the stacks of cannonballs used on marine fighting vessels True False 16. 'Go off at half-cock' comes from Cock fighting Horse racing Firing a gun by mistake 17. 'Heinz' 57 varieties' was coined by Mr. Heinz after the number of varieties of canned food he sold False - Heinz had 60 varieties at the time False - it was coined by someone else True 18. 'Below the salt' referred to Sailors buried at sea People of low status who didn't sit at the high table Scholars expelled from Eton College 19. 'In the offing' derived from The name of the outer ring of an archery target The name of the area of sea outside a harbour A short form of 'in the offering' 20. 'Never-Never land' was A region of Australian desert An invention of J M Barrie Derived from 'not Netherland' - a 17th century English term meaning 'far away'. 21. 'Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year' was Coined by US advertisers in the 1920s The text on the first Christmas card A traditional greeting by members of the German Royal Court 22. 'Beg the question' means Prompt a question to be asked Make a question irrelevant 23. 'Baker's Dozen' originated as Thirteen - the number of ounces in a standard loaf The title of a 1930's film Thirteen - the extra loaf added as bakers' insurance against giving short weight 24. 'Off with his head' was coined by William Shakespeare Lewis Carroll King Henry VIII 25. 'Rack and ruin' derives from A reference to sunken ships, which becaome covered with bladderack seaweed A variant of 'wreck and ruin' The names of the two jesters at the court of Henry VIII 26. A 'whipping boy' was A corruption of 'weeping boy' A boy who took the punishment when an English prince did wrong The Malayan term for victim - 'wai ping' 27. 'At loggerheads' originated from Fights between head-butting stags A fight using a weapon called a loggerhead The English coastal town of Loggerheads 28. The phrase 'Catch 22' was in common use before Joseph Heller's 1961 novel True False 29. The phrase 'taken aback' derived from Nautical language Being led backwards in a blindfold Surprise at being stabbed in the back 30. 'A cock and bull story' originated From cock fighting terminology At the Cock and Bull coaching inns in Buckinghamshire In France, with the term cock a l'ane, meaning fanciful story 31. 'The beast with two backs' became part of the language in The 20th century The 17th century The 18th century The 19th century 32. The incendiary bomb, the 'Molotov Cocktail' was The name of a cocktail first and bomb later Named after the Soviet premier Molotov Named after a Malayan bird 33. 'Doolally' derives from 'Druel Alley' - the address of the Bedlam Clinic in London A sanatorium in Deolali, India The Irish eccentric George Dooley 34. 'Run Amuk' comes from The Old English for 'run a mile' The Malayan word 'amok', meaning frenzy The Norse word 'runeamic' meaning pillage 35. A 'tinker's damn' derived from the repairing of pots and pans True False 36. 'Woe is me' was first used in The Bible Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Shakespeare's Hamlet 37. The term 'Kangaroo court' originated in England USA Australia 38. The word 'posh' derives from 'Port out, starboard home' False True 39. 'Hook, line and sinker' refers to Fishing tackle The three pirates in Peter Pan A cocktail made from honey, orange and gin 40. The 'Teflon President' was first applied to Abraham Lincoln Ronald Reagan Bill Clinton 41. A 'dead ringer' was originally a horse substituted in order to gain advantage in a race True False 42. 'Turn a blind eye' originates with Jesus forgiving men's evil Nelson deliberately refusing to see a signal at the battle of Copenhagen Tailors turning jackets to hide worn out material 43. 'Drat it' comes from The translation from Latin of 'All is lost' A euphemistic version of 'God rot it' A curse uttered on seeing a rat 44. 'Currying favour' derives from The flavouring of curry The name of a mythical French horse A variant of 'carrying favour' 45. The phrase 'Salad Days' was coined by Mrs Beeton Noel Coward William Shakespeare 46. 'A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle' was coined by the feminist Gloria Steinem False True 47. 'Stealing one's thunder' was originated by The writers of Greek mystery plays Norse mythology The English playwright John Dennis 48. 'Boxing Day' got its name from Sporting events held on the day after Christmas The giving of gifts in boxes at Christmas The mating habits of hares 49. 'Hold your horses' was An instruction given by a horse race starter A line from Shakespeare's Henry V The last command given at the Battle of the Somme 50. 'He who can does; he who cannot, teaches' is a quotation of Oscar Wilde Margaret Thatcher George Bernard Shaw Charles Dickens