Featured Link

Featured Link: World Book Trade (e-books, awards, videos)

Friday, April 16, 2010

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Eponyms. "Eponyms are words or phrases that come from people's names. So the watt was named after the Scottish engineer James Watt, and the Montessori method came from the name of Italian educator Maria Montessori. Try to identify these eponyms from the clues supplied" Answers here.

1. A scale for expressing the magnitude of earthquakes, named after an American seismologist (first name Charles). The scale ranges from 0 to 10.
2. An engine, or a vehicle driven by one, or a heavy mineral oil, named after the German engineer (first name Rudolf) who designed the engine.
3. A dessert consisting of meringue topped with fruit and whipped cream, named after a Russian ballerina (first name Anna).
4. A shallow, circular dish, usually of glass, used especially for growing bacteria, etc., named after a German biologist.
5. A woodwind musical instrument with a brass body, keys, and a single reed mouthpiece, invented by a Belgian whose first name was Adolphe.
6. A nervous disorder characterized by spasms of the facial muscles, shoulders, and extremities, sometimes accompanied by grunts, barks, or words, especially obscenities, named after the French neurologist who described it.
7. A high-jumping technique whereby the jumper clears the bar headfirst and backwards, named after the winner of the men's high jump at the Mexico Olympics in 1968, who perfected the technique.
8. A popular term for any minor error, or muddle, in speech or writing that appears to reveal an unconscious wish or preoccupation, named after an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist.
9. A city and port in Macedonia (northern Greece) named after his wife by Cassander, one of Alexander the Great's successors.
10. In ice skating, a jump where the skater takes off from the inside back edge of one skate, spins up to three times in the air, and lands on the outside back edge of the other skate, named after a Swedish skater (first name Ulrich) who devised it.

No comments: