Q 01/05

Which horror novelist's writing memoir declares that the road to hell is paved with adverbs?

A) Dean Koontz

B) Stephen King

C) Anne Rice

D) Clive Barker

Answer · why

B) Stephen King

Stephen King made the claim in On Writing, adding that he would shout it from the rooftops. The 2000 book is half autobiography, half guide to the cra...

Q 02/05

Which American humorist wrote the maxim 'As to the Adjective: when in doubt, strike it out'?

A) Ambrose Bierce

B) Will Rogers

C) Mark Twain

D) Dorothy Parker

Answer · why

C) Mark Twain

Mark Twain put the line in Pudd'nhead Wilson, where every chapter opens with sayings from the title character's calendar. The townsfolk take the calen...

Q 03/05

Which European language capitalises every noun, not just the names of people and places?

A) German

B) Dutch

C) Swedish

D) Polish

Answer · why

A) German

German capitalises all nouns, so 'the house' is written 'das Haus'. Danish followed the same rule until a spelling reform abolished it in 1948.

Q 04/05

Which company's name entered the Oxford English Dictionary as a verb in 2006, against its owners' wishes?

A) Xerox

B) Hoover

C) Google

D) Skype

Answer · why

C) Google

Google entered the dictionary as a verb on June 15, 2006. The company has discouraged the usage, fearing its trademark could turn into a generic word ...

Q 05/05

Which word game by Leonard Stern and Roger Price labels its blanks 'noun', 'verb' and so on?

A) Mad Libs

B) Balderdash

C) Boggle

D) Scrabble

Answer · why

A) Mad Libs

Mad Libs went unnamed for five years, until its creators overheard an actor in a New York restaurant say he wanted to 'ad-lib' an interview.