Go to theallusionist.org/444 to listen to the quiz and play along. You can also use the online score sheet here which will give you all the answers at the end.
Just to warn you, though, the transcript below contains spoilers for the quiz questions. OK? OK.
This is the Allusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, sell on eBay a big bag of language, lightly used.
Four Letter Word season continues, and this time we do not require explicit tags or content warnings, because our four-letter word is QUIZ! Or rather, today we have a quiz about four letter words.
Play along while you listen: gather paper and pencil, or use the interactive scoresheet at theallusionist.org/444 (that’s the digits 444).
While you’re there, hit the Events tab because there are a few things coming up: the Allusionist live show Souvenirs is playing in Montreal June 9th, on 3rd July in Vancouver I’m part of a special one-off live show with the podcast Material Girls, and also in Vancouver on 16th October I get to interview Samin Nosrat at an event for her new cookbook Good Things, what a delight and a thrill!
Samin featured in another Allusionist quiz all about food, and you can listen and play along with that and all the previous quizzes, seven quizzes in total all packed with etymology and amusing linguistic facts, including a swearing quiz, a creature-themed quiz, and one where you listeners set the questions.
Also on the Allusionist’s forever home theallusionist.org you can find a playlist of episodes that are relevant to Pride month but just as relevant every month. We’ve got the secret gay language Polari, the origins of terms like queerbaiting and rainbow-washing, being a birth parent when you’re a trans man, listeners’ stories of changing their names as part of their gender journeys, ace aro terms, new queer vocabulary in Icelandic and Scots, old queer vocabulary in Māori, there’s No Title bringing unbeatable arguments for use in combat with singular they whiners, and there’s the story of how the word ‘pride’ was chosen for Pride.
Alright, are you ready for quiz? That’s a practice question, no points.
On with the quiz.
Today’s quiz is four sets of four questions, each of which are multiple choice with of course four answers to choose from.
Round 1
Question 1:
The word ‘light’ is an alternate term, dating back at least 800 years, for which four-letter body part?
A. Brow
B. Lung
C. Hand
D. Nose
The word ‘light’ is an alternate term for which body part: a. brow; b. lung; c. hand; d. nose?
Answer: B. Light is a term for ‘lung’! Because lungs are light organs rather than heavy organs, and indeed the word ‘lung’ itself meant “not heavy”.
Also on the topic of body parts,
Question 2:
The word ‘foot’ has not just represented the appendage on the end of a leg, or the 12”/30.48cm length, or the unit that forms a line of poetry, or the bottom of something, or dregs, or the pitch length of organ pipes, but also all of the following things except one. Which one of the following four things is not sometimes known as a foot?
A. A person
B. A unit for weighing lead
C. Kombucha SCOBY
D. Genitals
Which one of these things is not sometimes known as a foot: a. a person; b. a unit for weighing lead; c. kombucha SCOBY; d. genitals?
Answer: C. Kombucha SCOBY is not known as a foot, although SCOBY is an acronym! It stands for Symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast.
All of the other answers are sometimes feet.
In Middle English ‘foot’ is a metanym for a person, like how ‘head’ is a person if you’re doing a headcount. A person was a foot and a nobody was a non-foot.
In England between the late 13th and late 16th centuries, foot or fotmal was a unit to measure the weight of lead, equivalent to about 70 Merchant’s Pounds. A Merchant’s Pound was the equivalent to 9,600 wheat grains. I take it that it was clear from context whether one wanted to buy a foot of lead by length or by weight.
And ‘foot’ was a euphemism for genitals in the Bible, although it did sometimes also mean a foot.
Question 3:
‘Nepo baby’ is two four-letter words, short for ‘nepotism baby[tism]’. In nepotism etymology, which family member is the component ‘nepo’ referring to?
A. Father
B. Grandmother
C. Nephew
D. Cousin
Which family member is putting the ‘nepo’ into ‘nepotism’: a. father; b. grandmother; c. nephew; d.cousin?
Answer: C. The family member the word nepotism is referring to is nephew.
The English term comes from the Italian ‘nepotismo’, derived from the Italian for nephew ‘nepos’, and it was originally referring to Popes and bishops showing favouritism to their nephews, instead of sons as their vows of celibacy meant they weren’t supposed to have son, although, cough cough, the nephews might have been sons rebranded. It wasn’t just nephews or pseudo-nephews who benefited: for instance, Pope Paul III made his grandsons, that is unofficial, off-label grandsons, into cardinals in 1534, they were 14 and 16 at the time, big first job, that, but there’s a LOT of drama in that family - murder, tax war, ship theft…
Anyway in 1692, Pope Innocent XII issued a papal bull designed to stop the nepotism by preventing popes from giving offices, money and property to… more than one relative - yes, they were still allowed one nepo-cardinal.
Onto
Question 4:
Each round of this quiz concludes with an eponym question, and here is this:
John Venn’s name is famous from Venn Diagrams which he has the credit for inventing, even though they’re really just tweaked diagrams previously come up with by the likes of Leonhard Euler more than 100 years before, and they weren’t even new then, actually. Classic Stigler’s Law of Eponymy. Venn himself called the diagrams ‘Eulerian Circles’. But what did John Venn really invent?
A. A machine for bowling cricket balls
B. A machine for scrubbing your back in the bath
C. Rotary lawnmowers
D. Tumble dryers
What did John Venn really invent: a. machine for bowling cricket balls; b. a machine for scrubbing your back in the bath; c. rotary lawnmowers; d. tumble dryers?
Answer: A. John Venn invented a machine for bowling cricket balls, to, I quote a contemporary newspaper report from 1909, “do away with the drudgery of bowling”. You could do away with the drudgery of batting too, and then you’ve done away with the drudgery of playing cricket. Yeah, I said it!
Another John Venn credit: in August 1887, at the Cambridge Working Men’s Liberal Club’s second annual flower show, John Venn won first prize in the hanging baskets competition.
Round 2
OK, round two, are you ready? Regardless, here we go:
Question 5:
‘Bevy’ started out as a collective term for what?
A. Quails
B. Bees
C. Rubber duckies
D. Rowboats
‘Bevy’ was a collective term for a. quails; b. bees; c. rubber duckies; d. rowboats?
ANSWER: A. ‘Bevy’ was a collective term for quails, and also on occasion for other creatures including larks, pheasants, roe deer and ladies.
Question 6:
The adjective ‘limaceous’ pertains to which four-letter creature?
A. Crab
B. Lion
C. Wren
D. Slug
‘Limaceous’ pertains to a. crab; b. lion; c. wren; d. slug?
Answer: D. The adjective ‘limaceous’ pertains to the four-letter creature the slug. The word ‘slug’ originally meant a lazy person, and then got applied to the slow-moving creature.
Question 7:
The acronym ‘G.O.A.T’ - greatest of all time - was attributed to which sporting legend’s spouse?
A. Serena Williams’s husband Alexis Ohanian
B. Pelé’s wife Assíria Lemos Seixas
C. Muhammad Ali’s wife Lonnie Ali
D. Eddie the Eagle’s wife Samantha Morton
Which sporting legend’s spouse gets the credit for the acronym G.O.A.T. - “greatest of all time”: a. Serena Williams’s husband; b. Pelé’s wife; c. Muhammad Ali’s wife; d. Eddie the Eagle’s wife?
Answer: C. The person to whom the acronym G.O.A.T. is attributed is Muhammad Ali’s wife Lonnie Ali, from when in 1992 she corporated the company Greatest of All Time, Inc. (G.O.A.T. Inc) for licensing Muhammad Ali’s intellectual properties for commercial purposes. The company has since been sold and renamed Muhammad Ali Enterprises, but still operates GOAT products and gets into quite a few trademark disputes with over companies doing GOAT-named things.
Eponym time!
Question 8:
The petri dish is named after the German physician Julius Petri, but he didn’t come up with it; he just tweaked the invention of his boss, the microbiologist Robert Koch. So it could have had the four letter name ‘koch dish’. But Robert Koch wanted to name it what?
A. Germ frisbee
B. Jelly plate
C. Cell circle
D. Moist Chamber
Robert Koch, inventor of the petri dish, wanted to name it: a. germ frisbee; b. jelly plate; c. cell circle; d. moist chamber?
Answer: D. Robert Koch wanted to name his invention ‘moist chamber’. So perhaps Julius Petri was doing a lot of people a favour by getting the eponym even if he didn’t deserve it.
Round 3
And now round 3 of the quiz.
Question 9:
The mineral onyx’s name is an ancient Greek word that originally meant which part of the body?
A. Tooth
B. Fingernail
C. Eyeball
D. Kneecap
In ancient Greek, ‘onyx’ meant a. tooth; b. fingernail; c. eyeball; d. kneecap?
Answer: B. Onyx is an ancient Greek word that originally meant the fingernail, because the version that is pink-coloured with white streaks was thought to resemble a fingernail. Hmm, I think they more resemble a melting humbug.
Question 10:
‘Brat’ is not only the word to define summer 2024, it’s also a slang for a child, and has been for 500 years. Before that, ‘brat’ meant what?
A. A cloak
B. A puppy
C. A wart
D. Flatbread
Before it meant a child, ‘brat’ meant: a. a cloak; b. a puppy; c. a wart; d. Flatbread?
Answer: A. ‘Brat’ was a cloak, made of coarse material. The first appearance of the word to mean a child may have been in the Flyting poems of William Dunbar from the turn of the 16th century, that we talked about a few episodes ago, but people aren’t sure whether he did mean a child or the rough cloak. Easy to mix up.
Question 11:
‘Rube’, the insult for an unsophisticated person, comes from what?
A. A playful riff on ‘cube’, which was a way to call someone square but even squarer than square
B. An ironic reference to Rube Goldberg machines as the opposite of something simple
C. A euphemism for ‘boob’
D. An abbreviation of the name Reuben
‘Rube’ comes from what? a. a playful riff on ‘cube’; b. ironic reference to Rube Goldberg machines; c. a euphemism for ‘boob’; d. an abbreviation of the name Reuben?
Answer: D. ‘Rube’ is an abbreviation of the name ‘Reuben’. But the cube thing really was a way to say someone was so square, they were square squared.
Eponym time, a Led Zeppelinym:
Question 12:
The band Led Zeppelin played one show on 28 February 1970 in Copenhagen under a different name, four letters long, which was what?
A. The Bomb
B. The Blob
C. The Nobs
D. The Leds
Led Zeppelin’s band name for one night only was a. The Bomb; b. The Blob; c. The Nobs; d. The Leds?
Answer: C. The name Led Zeppelin played one show as in 1970 in Copenhagen was The Nobs - N.O.B.S. - after their European promoter Claude Nobs. Why? Well, Led Zeppelin’s name contained the eponym ‘Zeppelin’, after the Zeppelin airships’ inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who was nobility from the town Zepelin in Germany.
In the late 1960s Led Zeppelin got big and Ferdinand von Zeppelin’s granddaughter Eva von Zeppelin was not happy that they were making money from her family name. And when she saw the cover of their first album, which has a picture of the Hindenburg airship exploding on it, she was even more angry because she felt this was very disrespectful to her family name.
So then she threatened legal action to prevent them using the name, nd to prevent them playing a scheduled show in Copenhagen under their name. The easiest way around it all was for them just to use a different name for that concert in Copenhagen, hence The Nobs.
This wasn’t even the first time Led Zeppelin had dealt with legal issues over the band’s name; they had been called The New Yardbirds because they evolved from the remains of the band The Yardbirds, until a cease and desist letter from a former Yardbird prevented them from using ‘The New Yardbirds’, so they came up with the name Led Zeppelin. It was a play on ‘lead balloon’, ‘lead’ with the A removed so that people didn’t pronounce it ‘leed’, and zeppelin as a synonym for balloon.
Onto our fourth and final round.
Round 4
Question 13:
The word ‘gunk’ as in ‘goo’ was originally a trademarked term for which product?
A. A cleaning solvent
B. A strong-smelling cheese
C. Fruit puree baby food
D. Indelible ink
‘Gunk’ was originally a trademarked term for a. a cleaning solvent; b. a strong-smelling cheese; c. fruit puree baby food; d. indelible ink?
Answer: A. Gunk was a cleaning solvent - the Gunk brand has been going for more than seventy years, I think.
Speaking of cleaning products:
Question 14:
‘Soap’ comes from the Latin word ‘sapo’, first recorded by the historian Pliny the Elder in his Historia Naturalis around 77 CE. Back then, it was a substance made of goat suet mixed with ash. What did Pliny the Elder say people were using it for at that time?
A. Dyeing their hair red.
B. Treating scrofula.
C. Cleaning their teeth.
D. Greasing cart wheels.
What were people using sapo for, according to Pliny the Elder: a. dyeing their hair red; b. treating scrofula; c. cleaning their teeth; d. greasing cart wheels?
The answer is: either A or B. You can have a point whichever of those you chose. Pliny the Elder did not know people to be greasing cart wheels with sapo, nor cleaning their teeth or their bodies with it.
Question 15:
The etymology of ‘accolade’ means to embrace which four-letter thing?
A. A book
B. A swan
C. A neck
D. A tree
‘Accolade’ means to embrace which four-letter thing: a. a book; b. a swan; c. a neck; d. a tree?
Answer: C. ‘accolade’ meant to embrace someone around the neck, the same ‘col’ as in ‘collar’. The word appeared in English in the late 16th or early 17th century, and back then referred to being made a knight, via embrace and/or a sword tap on either shoulder.
And our final question and final eponym:
Question 16:
The Mariko Aoki Phenomenon is the phenomenon where, when you go into a bookshop, you are gripped by the urge to do what?
A. Nap
B. Cry
C. Dance
D. Poop
The Mariko Aoki Phenomenon is being gripped by the urge in a bookshop to do what: a. nap; b. cry; c. dance; d. poop?
Answer: D. The Mariko Aoki Phenomenon is the phenomenon where when you go into a bookshop, you are gripped by the urge to poop. The phenomenon is named after Mariko Aoki, who wrote about it in a letter to Book Magazine in 1985 which spurred loads of people to chime in to say they too feel like they suddenly need to poop in bookshops!
She later elaborated on it: that it happens irrespective of the topic of books, but never happens to her in second-hand bookshops or libraries, and it also didn’t happen when she worked at a printery so it can’t just be caused by the smell of the ink, and it’s sudden onset, and only after an hour of being in the bookshop. So those are the criteria to assess whether you too are beset by the Mariko Aoki phenomenon, or your trip to the bookshop coincided with an unrelated bowel movement, which doesn’t count.
That’s our quiz! Now add up your points - a possible maximum of sixteen - and go ahead and multiply it by four, because why not. What did you score, between zero and 64? Let me know.
<applause> Wow, very impressive!
Or:
That’s pretty good!
Or:
Well done for trying, it was mostly a guessing game, and anyway, you don’t need points to prove your worth.
If you like this show, please recommend it to someone! Like:
[threatening voice] “Listen to the Allusionist OR ELSE!” - I don’t recommend that, nobody wants to be bullied - “DO IT!” - oy, no! “If you don’t listen to the Allusionist, better watch your back” - this is entirely the wrong tone to strike.
But a recommendation to someone who says they’re seeking a podcast? Perfect. Dropping the name into an online discussion about which fact-based podcasts to listen to that won’t make you feel terrible about the news? That would be so kind, thank you!
A podcast I can recommend to you is my other show Answer Me This, brought out of retirement for one last job: the job of providing amusing trivia. Find it in the podplaces and at answermethispodcast.com.
Your randomly selected word from the dictionary today is…
rostellum, noun: a little beak; a beaklike outgrowth from an orchid column; the forepart of a tapeworm's head. — adjective rostellar or rostellate. [Latin rostellum, diminutive of rostrum, beak]
Try using ‘rostellum’ in an email today.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The music by the singer and composer Martin Austwick of palebirdmusic.com.
Our ad partner is Multitude. To sponsor this show, get in touch with them at multitude.productions/ads and I’ll write and deliver you an ad, you know I will.
Find @allusionistshow on Instagram, Facebook, BlueSky and YouTube. And you can hear or read every episode, getmore information about the topics and guests, and see the full dictionary entries for the randomly selected words, donate to the show to keep it going and in return get perks including membership of the Allusioverse community, and keep track of the events that are coming up, like the live shows; all of that is at the show’s forever home theallusionist.org.
