Q 01/05

What do bananas, tomatoes and grapes have in common that strawberries and raspberries lack?

A) Stone fruits

B) Botanical berries

C) Citrus hybrids

D) Nightshade family fruits

Answer · why

B) Botanical berries

Botanical berries are fleshy fruits produced from a single flower with one ovary, so cucumbers and aubergines qualify too. Strawberries, despite the n...

Q 02/05

What do the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup have in common, far from any blacksmith's forge?

A) Bones in the ear

B) Valves in the heart

C) Tendons in the wrist

D) Lobes in the brain

Answer · why

A) Bones in the ear

Bones in the ear, known in Latin as the malleus, incus and stapes, pass sound vibrations on from the eardrum. The stirrup is the smallest and lightest...

Q 03/05

What do July and August have in common, having once been called Quintilis and Sextilis?

A) Named after Roman gods

B) Named after Roman festivals

C) Named after Roman leaders

D) Named after Latin numbers

Answer · why

C) Named after Roman leaders

Named after Roman leaders, the months honour Julius Caesar and Augustus. The Senate renamed Quintilis in 44 BC, the month of Caesar's birth, and Sexti...

Q 04/05

What do the sandwich, the cardigan and the wellington boot have in common in their naming stories?

A) Royal Navy flagships

B) London tailoring firms

C) Victorian stage plays

D) British aristocrats

Answer · why

D) British aristocrats

British aristocrats gave all three their names: the 4th Earl of Sandwich, the 7th Earl of Cardigan and the 1st Duke of Wellington, who had his shoemak...

Q 05/05

What do the everyday words scuba, laser and radar have in common in the way each was coined?

A) They began as brand names

B) They began as acronyms

C) They began as surnames

D) They began as Latin verbs

Answer · why

B) They began as acronyms

They began as acronyms: laser stands for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Once the words behind an acronym fade from memory, i...