Q 01/05

Which leaf, often found growing beside stinging nettles, is the traditional folk remedy rubbed on a nettle sting?

A) Fern

B) Dock

C) Clover

D) Thistle

Answer · why

B) Dock

Dock is the classic cure, yet no chemical effect has ever been shown: the rubbing may simply distract the nerves, or the relief may be a placebo.

Q 02/05

Which Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale has a princess knit stinging nettle shirts to free her enchanted brothers?

A) The Snow Queen

B) The Wild Swans

C) Thumbelina

D) The Little Mermaid

Answer · why

B) The Wild Swans

The Wild Swans has Elisa gather the nettles in graveyards and work in total silence, her hands blistering, because a single spoken word would kill her...

Q 03/05

A French idiom about not pushing your luck warns against shoving which relative into the stinging nettles?

A) Granny

B) Uncle

C) Cousin

D) Godfather

Answer · why

A) Granny

Granny, or mémé, is the one in the French saying, which warns against abusing a situation; orties is the French word for nettles.

Q 04/05

Which itchy skin rash has the medical name urticaria, from the Latin word for the stinging nettle?

A) Shingles

B) Eczema

C) Hives

D) Psoriasis

Answer · why

C) Hives

Hives was first called urticaria by Scottish physician William Cullen in 1769, because the classic raised, itchy rash is the one that follows a brush ...

Q 05/05

Which British cheese is wrapped in stinging nettle leaves before maturing, giving it an edible rind?

A) Double Gloucester

B) Wensleydale

C) Caerphilly

D) Cornish Yarg

Answer · why

D) Cornish Yarg

Cornish Yarg is named after Alan and Jenny Gray, the farmers who found the old recipe in their attic: Yarg is simply Gray spelt backwards.