Question - 542

This cartoon (allegedly) depicts the origin of what commonly used phrase?

Answer: The phrase is rule of thumb. According to Wikipedia, the cartoon satirizes British judge Sir Francis Buller for allegedly ruling that a man may beat his wife, provided he use a stick no thicker than his thumb. Matti Tapaninen, mekie, Jamie, Firebringer, Dinesh, and Anirudh Patil got it right.

Question - 541

What French expression originated from this piece of art? (Aside: the expression may resonate with many quiz/trivia aficionados)

Answer: The expression is Le Violon d'Ingres or Ingres's Violin. It refers to a hobby or pastime that one excels at. It is a reference to the French painter Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres who was also an excellent violin player. Matti Tapaninen, Vetti, tsp, Dinesh, and Hirak got it right. As Hirak points out, the expression did not really originate with this piece of art.

As most of you would have noticed, the blog updates have been non-existent this last month and sporadic for a good while before that. I am having difficulty finding good questions consistently and would like to take a break from the blog for a while. If any of you are interested in running the blog in the meantime, please let me know. If no one comes forward, I am hoping to return to the blog after a hiatus. Those of you who would like a notification when the blog does resume, please leave an email ID in the comments section of this post. Of course, I won't publish the comments but might use your IDs if I want to launder some money I inherited from a Nigerian relative. Since you can't be too careful with the bots, leave your ID as "name AT domain" or in some such format.

Its been great fun and I loved running the blog. I am still as into quizzing as ever and if you are in the bay area, do check out our monthly "Bay Area quiz club" meetings (send me an email if you would like to know when/where the club meets).

For now, I leave you with one more geeky farewell/question.