Short Break

I am taking a short break from posting due to being busy with other things for a while. However, I hope to be able to visit my favourite Blogs and comment!

New Year Quiz Answers

In the spirit of peace in the world I declare the quiz a four-way tie 

Sorry if it was a bit too hard!

1. Linguistically, what do Blackpool in England and Dublin in Ireland have in common?        DUBLIN means 'Black Pool' in early Gaelic.
2. What is the antonym of oriental?         OCCIDENTAL
3. Which are the only two countries to have an X in their names? MEXICO and LUXEMBOURG
4. What do these words have in common: Tungsten, Gauntlet, Moped and Ombudsman? They were all borrowed into English from SWEDISH.
5. Which Oscar-winning film was based on Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella, Heart of Darkness? APOCOLYPSE NOW (Marlon Brando's rebel character had the name Kurtz - taken directly form Heart of Darkness)
6. The name of which city is derived from an indigenous word for "stinky onion" (probably garlic). CHICAGO is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language.
7. Philadelphia means "brotherly love". Which capitol city in the east was also once known as Philadelphia in Biblical times? AMMAN in Jordan was once known as Philadelphia in the ancient world. 
8. Which word, not in use before the 1980s, can be defined thus: “A style of design and fashion that combines historical elements with anachronistic technological features inspired by science fiction”? STEAMPUNK.

I'm listening to The Beatles singing If I Fell. Apart from fabulous multi-voice harmony, it is musically interesting for an early key-change; very unusual and very inventive after about 18 seconds of a song! Listen here.