Question - 694

What got its name from this sketch?

Question - 590

Connect.

Answer: Tourette's syndrome. Only Divya Shankar got it. Bravo!

Question - 549

Connect.

Answer: The connect is Banana Republic. The clothing retailer of the same name originally started as a travel-related store with a travel/tropical-themed catalogs and magazines (top left). The term was first used to describe a dysfunctional, agriculture-dependent country by the American writer O. Henry in his book "Cabbages and Kings" (top right). The bottom cartoon is Herge's famous depiction of such a country, San Theodoros, in the Tintin comics. Iam, Dinesh, matti tapaninen, and mekie got it. Nice job.

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.

Question - 422

The first visual shows a famous cartoon. The second visual parodies the two most prominent characters associated with the first cartoon and is drawn in the same style as the cartoon. Identify all and the etymological connection.

Answer: The cartoon is the yellow kid, from Richard F. Outcault's Hogan's Alley. The two characters are Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolf Hearst. Their papers ran the cartoon and were known as yellow kid papers. Soon, the name yellow journalism came to mean the papers' practice of taking sensationalism (even down to fictionalized stories) and profits as priorities in journalism. anon, Mitun, Kaushik, Hasan, Schmetterling, Raghu, rajesh, nice try, Amresh and Ajinkya got it. Well done.

Question - 382

This phrase originated from the device whose operation is illustrated in the first visual. The most (in)famous example of this phrase is associated with the woman shown on the right. Identify the woman and the phrase.

Answer: The phrase is "Deux ex Machina", literally "God from the machine. The device shown is a mechane which was used in Greek theater to lower Gods on to the stage. Since the Gods usually appear out of nowhere and were often used by Greek playwrights to resolve thorny plot issues by appealing to their supernatural powers, the term has since come to mean a plot device that appears out of the blue and solves seemingly insurmountable difficulties. Euripides notoriously used the machine to lower Medea (the woman on the right), a mere mortal , onto the stage. Prachi, P, Srivats, Corina and Hirak got it. Well done.

Question - 381

This term's origin can be traced to the movie whose poster is shown in the upper right. It may have been used to refer to the man in the left though he rejected the term. The scene in the bottom right can be taken as a clue to the term. What term?

Answer: The statue is that of the famous surfer/swimmer Duke Kahanamoku (look him up in Wiki. Very interesting guy), who introduced surfing to the world. The movie is Gidget, one of the first surf culture movies which spawned several sequels and TV spin-offs. The screen shot is of course from Pulp fiction. The term I was looking for was Big Kahuna. Kahuna is a Hawaiian word that means a healer. In the context of surfing, the big kahuna is the best surfer on the beach. The term traces its origin to the movie Gidget where Cliff Robertson is nicknamed that. It might have been used to refer to Duke though he rejected it since he knew its original meaning. The Hawaiian burger joint from where the burgers come in that famous scene from Pulp Fiction is the Big Kahuna. A couple of you had other equally valid (except for the oblique Pulp fiction bit) connects. Raghu, Hirak, Rajesh K, Keshav, Mrinalini, Krithi, Ramji, Iam and P got it. Well done.

Question - 380

Connect the man on the right to the event on the left. There is a slightly obscure technical term that owes its origin to the connection. Brownie points if you get it too.

Answer: The painting depicts the last day of Pompeii before it got buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Pliny the Elder who was a naval officer in a nearby area at that time attempted to sail into Pompeii both to observe the eruption directly and to help some friends who were stuck there. He met his demise in the city that day though not due to any effect of the volcano. The common assumption is that he had a heart attack while in Pompeii. In volcanology, eruptions of a certain degree of violence are characterized as Plinian in his honor (Krakatoa was an ultra-plinian). Hari, Srivats, Mekie, P (great answer for the technical term), Corina and Manix got it. Well done.

Question-355

A term is associated with this specific group of people. While this is a general term it has an Ann Arbor connection. What?

My sincere apologies for the parochial nature of the question. Extra credit if you crack this w/o the Ann Arbor hint.

Answer: Gandy Dancers. Arising from the way people look while working on the railroad. The Ann Arbor restaurant that is located in the old train station takes its name from this term.

Answered by: Raghu, Rajeev, Manix, Jaggi, K, Anand and Karthik. Extra credit to Anand who I know has no AA connection.

Question - 340

This practice of cooking gives rise to what term? familiar in a totally different context.

Update: I am going to let this question slow cook for another day.

Hint #1: The Caribbean
Hint #2/3: Term for a certain bunch (of people)

Answer: Buccaneer. Coming from the French boucanier, which referred to pirates of Caribbean who cooked meat on a wooden grille or boucan.

Answered by: Me-Be, Mekie and Rahul Trivedi.