Unutterably Silly Quiz

[orlok]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

5. How much wood could a wood-chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?

Six? .....

[orlok]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

5. How much wood could a wood-chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?

None on Groundhog Day (groundhog is another name for a woodchuck), as he would be stuck in that box while everyone waited for his weather prediction...

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by orlok

1. Getting a bit obtuse here...but if the "man" and the subject of "his" were two different people, then indeed any man could marry "his" widow, other than the deceased.

A stretch too far, I think. 'his' clearly refers to 'a man'.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by orlok

4. No, not if I was standing on its head.

1 point. It doesn't make sense but it made me laugh.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by orlok

Six? .....

6 tonnes? 6 grams? a nice try, but not good enough.

Originally Posted by orlok

None on Groundhog Day (groundhog is another name for a woodchuck), as he would be stuck in that box while everyone waited for his weather prediction...

One point. Nice one.

[pdurrant]

Shayne Parkinson: 2.5 points
orlok: 2 points
Bookpossum: 1 point
Bilbo1967: 1 point
Glorfindel: 0.5 points

I'll leave the quiz for the rest of today, in case anyone wants to try for another point or two to overtake Shayne.

You won't score points without posting!

And finally - a quiz where even late-comers have a chance to win!

[orlok]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

1. Can a man marry his widow's sister? Answer and explanation.

A stretch, but...if a man was lost at sea, say, and after a number of years declared legally dead (after something like 7 years?), then when he miraculously returned alive, he could divorce his "widow" and marry her sister.

[Shayne Parkinson]

Oh, I do like that one, Orlok! Very clever.

This is a real stretch, but "widow" can also mean a woman abandoned by or separated from her husband. The older meaning of "grass widow" was a discarded mistress. A man could certainly marry the sister of such an unfortunate woman.

[Bookpossum]

Aw gee, don't I have two points? (Not that it matters as Shayne is still ahead!)

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by orlok

A stretch, but...if a man was lost at sea, say, and after a number of years declared legally dead (after something like 7 years?), then when he miraculously returned alive, he could divorce his "widow" and marry her sister.

Very nice. A very solid point to orlok.

Originally Posted by Shayne Parkinson

This is a real stretch, but "widow" can also mean a woman abandoned by or separated from her husband. The older meaning of "grass widow" was a discarded mistress. A man could certainly marry the sister of such an unfortunate woman.

Yes, I'll give a point for this one too.

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

Aw gee, don't I have two points? (Not that it matters as Shayne is still ahead!)

Quite right, my mistake!


Shayne Parkinson: 3.5 points
orlok: 3 points
Bookpossum: 2 points
Bilbo1967: 1 point
Glorfindel: 0.5 points


I declare Shayne Parkinson the winner.

For 1. I was thinking of the case where a man marries a widow, who could then be described as being his widow, rather than just any widow. After she dies, he could marry her sister.

For 4 I was hoping for "If I did that my mum would send me straight upstairs to bed", the last half of a poem from Spike Milligan's "A Children's Treasury of Milligan", although I see I did get one word wrong in my quotation (his head, not its head).

For 5 I didn't have anything in mind in particular, so I was pleased to get some suggestions!

Over to Shayne for the next quiz!

[Shayne Parkinson]

Thanks, Paul! A nice range of questions.

I may not be around much this week, so could one of the other medalists take this up, please?

[Shayne Parkinson]

Well, I'm back - from a successful research trip rather than from Mordor. So I'll pose a question after all.

What do these bands have in common?
- The Bangles
- The Kinks
- Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Kings of Leon

[doubleshuffle]

The same thing as the original Dire Straits, I'd say.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

The same thing as the original Dire Straits, I'd say.

They all have siblings in their line-up?

[doubleshuffle]

Yeah, that's what I was getting at. Let's see if it's also what Shayne Parkinson had in mind...