Numero Uno: Mixed Bag

When you answer the quiz, write your name as part of the comments if you are doing this anonymously. Some questions have bonus marks as indicated in the questions themselves. 
Oh and please do not Google the answers. 

1. This dinosaur which waddled around ‘India’ in the early Middle Triassic period has been described as a “love-child of a rhino and a komodo dragon”. It’s name, deriving from a unique feature on the male counterparts, a combination of Sanskrit and Greek, being ------------- indicus. FITB (the blank part is a combo of Sanskrit and anc. Greek and is the exact number of letters)

2. This 6'2" British actor was in school (eton) with Eddie Redmayne. In a school production of A Passage to India, Redmayne played the female lead and the other guy played the front leg of an elephant carrying Redmayne. Name the actor whose posterior has a Twitter account to itself.

3. A Japanese university entrance exam (subject: geography) featuring a specific fictional creature not only left students baffled but reportedly started a diplomatic row between Helsinki and Tokyo. The question asked was (in case you cannot read Japanese) where these creatures hail from. The characters, wildly popular in Japan, feature in a series of children’s novels by Tove Jansen, a Finnish Swede (she wrote in Finnish). All the more bizarre then that the row is between Helsinki and Tokyo and not Stockholm and Tokyo. Anyway, name the hippo-like creature, 2nd from top in the left column.

4a. Ancient Greek words such as leukos (root of leukocyte, for example) and khloros (root of chlorophyll) were commonly understood as standing for certain colours. Give me the colours.




4b. Subsequently linguists have demonstrated that Greek experience of colours vary from present-day understanding of colour. The most famous example of this being the Homeric description of the sea as “wine-dark” instead of blue. It is now believed that Greek colour names are better understood, in many cases, as values and qualities (as opposed to tint) of the object/subject being described. So why would an ancient Greek man, in terms of race understood by us as caucasian, feel insulted if you used “leukos” to describe him?

5. What or who is Permit Patty (most often seen as #permitpatty)? You can give a rough description, exact proper nouns are not required.

6. What are creepypastas? Hint: They have nothing to do with Italian cuisine. Bonus points for giving etymological origins

7. The origins of this ‘archaic’ word in English is the Old English word wiht denoting a living being. It is related to the modern Dutch wicht (little child) and German wicht (creature). From 19th century onwards, however, the word takes on a new meaning in English language, in the context of a certain kind of literature. Among the most famous proponents of this new meaning are JRR Tolkein and GRR Martin. It also appears prominently in the young adult steampunk series Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. What’s the good word, and its present day meaning?




8. The first two novels of the “Trilogy of Rats” were published in the author’s home country in 1979-80 but were not widely available (as his other works are) to readers worldwide till a recent translated edition came out in 2015 (It had been translated earlier but was not widely available). Who is the author whose passion for marathons resulted in his non fiction work What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (2007)? For bonus points name the three books in the Trilogy of Rats. (1 point for each name)




9. Written by Henry Yule and Arthur Coke Burnell and first published in 1886, Hobson-Jobson is a historical dictionary of Anglo-Indian phrases. The full name of the book is Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive.
The name Hobson-Jobson is itself an Anglo Indian phrase of yore used to describe festivals. It is derived from (misheard!) chants during a Muslim festival. Which festival and what chant gave rise to Hobson-Jobson?




10. Talking about Anglo Indian phrases, this one is a staple in some Bengali households in Kolkata still: pishpash or pish-pash. What is it?




11. Presumably most people have heard about white Australian popstar/actress Kylie Minogue. While her first name seems fairly Anglo-American, it is actually a Nyunga Aboriginal word for a quintessentially Australian artifact. Incidentally, the name of this Australian artifact as it exists in English is a loan from the Dharuk Aboriginal language. So what is kylie in English/Dharuk?

ANSWERS

1. Shringasaurus indicus. Shringa is the Sanskrit for horn. Sauros (σαῦρος) is ancient Greek for lizard. Hence the love child of rhinoceros and komodo dragon.

2. Tom Hiddleston. Come on people Benedict Cummerband is only 6'. Relatively low-key compared to this guy and his ridiculous Proust-quoting habits.

3.  Moomin or Moomin troll. 

4a. Leukos=white

      Khloros= green

4b. Leukos is a feminine attribute, used to describe women. In ancient Greece women were not citizens and not allowed to venture outside homes. Their whiteness was a result of lack of exposure to sun. Manly men of course, would be out adventuring and fighting, and hence acquire a tan. This excellent article from Aeon tells you more, in case you want to read more about understanding of race in ancient Greece. 

5. Permit Patty is the nickname given to a white woman from California who called the cops on an 8-year-old black girl selling water outside her apartment block to fund a trip to Disneyland. 

6.  Creepypastas are images or stories in the horror genre shared across the internet. The word originates from "copypasta"--the act of copying and pasting, how these horror legends become widely known. The photo is a still from Tim Burton's film adaptation of Ransom Rigg's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, showing a hollowgast. While in the book, hollowgasts look like humans with tentacles coming out of their mouths, the film version has been based on the most widely known creepypasta: slenderman. 

7. Wights. Variety of undead in fantasy genre. The word first made it's appearance in the present meaning is around 1869 with  the publication of William Morris' translation of the Norwegian Grettis Saga. Incidentally, in both Game of Thrones and Miss Peregrine's series, the wights have something to do with the whites of eyeballs. 

8. Haruki Murakami. Hear the Wind Sing (1979); Pinball, 1973 (1980); A Wild Sheep Chase (1982). Incidentally, the Rat is the name of a character.

9. Muharram. Ya Hassan, Ya Hossein. (NOT ya ali, that's, among other things, a Bollywood song. Point taken about Muharram not being a festival, there being nothing festive about it). THe transformation of the original chant followed this path, apparently: Hosseen Gosseen, Hossy Gossy, Hossein Jossen and, ultimately, Hobson-Jobson

10. Oxford living dictionaries defines it thus:

A soup or stew containing rice and small pieces of meat, especially chicken.

But I do believe Annie's right in that recipes vary. Oxford dictionaries is further puzzled about etymology (though I think it sound very close to mish-mash) though it notes that the first documented usage comes from Augustus Prinsep, who lends his name to the rather pleasant Prinsep Ghat in Calcutta. 

11. Boomerang