Streeeetch Your Mind!

Please read each question carefully and select the correct answer. The answer key will be provided in the upcoming issue. Streeeetch your mind!

WEIRD WORDS

1. What is “bubble and squeak”?

a) The characteristic sounds of a tuba
b) A dish of cabbage and potatoes
c) A cat and a mouse team
d) An after-dinner whiskey and a cigar

2. What is a quadruped?

a) An animal having four feet
b) A polygon of four sides
c) The main lawn of a university campus
d) An extinct Australian animal related to the kangaroo

3. Studying with the most exigent of professors is a rewarding learning experience as long as your efforts are recognized and appreciated. What does “exigent” mean?

a) Famous
b) Intelligent
c) Unusual
d) Demanding
e) Extraordinary

4. The assassination of the group leader only served to “foment” passions, which led to a full-fledged revolt. What does foment mean?

a) Deaden
b) Rouse
c) Cajole
d) Curb

5. The mother watched with a fast beating heart as her young daughter sauntered on stage with an air of insouciance. What does “insouciance” mean?

a) Confidence
b) Boredom
c) Nonchalance
d) Hesitancy

6. What does it mean if someone is given ‘carte blanche’?

a) They are fired from their job
b) They are given a huge salary increase
c) They are granted full discretion- ary power
d) They are exiled from the country
e) They are stripped of all power

7. If someone is acting “foppishly”, they are being:

a) A tyrant
b) A cry baby
c) Foolish
d) Wise
e) Greedy

8. What does “ab ovo” mean?

a) All alone
b) Rest in peace
c) By the way
d) From the beginning

9. If someone has a “sanguine” personality, she/he is:

a) Lazy
b) Excitable
c) Manipulative
d) Optimistic and cheerful
e) Uncommunicative

10. A “somnambulist” is:

a) A court jester
b) A sadomasochist
c) A beverage with a sedative effect
d) A sleepwalker
e) An acrobat

Key to No. 6

Answers:

Who said it?

1. b) Hunter S. Thompson; 2. a) Lenin; 3. b) Archimedes; 4. e) William Shakespeare; 5. a) Thomas Edison; 6. d) Oscar Wilde; 7. c) Woody Allen; 8. b) Al Capone; 9. e) Voltaire; 10. c) Zsa Zsa Gabor