October 12, 2008



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Photo by Camerique/Retrofile

Quiz: The Way We Word

By Richard Lederer, March & April 2005

Still remember the lingo of your youth? Go back in time and see if you can put the right meanings to these pieces of American culture





1. The opening sentence of the main article here reads, “Back in the olden days, we had a lot of moxie.” “What this country needs is a lot of Moxie” was a slogan used for a:

  cereal
  soft drink
  beer
  candy bar

2. A doozy may be the shortening of the Duesenberg, a classy and expensive 1920s and ’30s:

  tuxedo
  yacht
  racehorse
  car

3. “Holy moley!” was the signature exclamation of:

  Batman
  Robin
  Superman
  Captain Marvel

4. Kilroy was here became the most popular piece of graffiti during:

  World War I
  World War II
  the Korean War
  the Vietnam War

5. “Is it bigger than a breadbox?” was popularized on the television quiz show:

  What’s My Line?
  Let’s Make a Deal
  The Price Is Right
  Double Your Money

6. The phrase iron curtain was first spoken on March 5, 1946, by:

  Franklin Roosevelt
  Harry Truman
  Joseph Stalin
  Winston Churchill

7. Fail-Safe was the title of a 1962 novel that inspired the film:

  Goldfinger
  Peyton Place
  Dr. Strangelove
  The China Syndrome

8. Regarding the term third world, the first two worlds were:

  Venus and Mars
  Communist and non-Communist countries
  The United States and Britain
  English-speaking and Spanish-speaking countries

9. “You look like the wreck of the Hesperus” refers to a poem by:

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
  Edgar Allan Poe
  Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  Emily Dickinson

10. “And awa-a-ay we go!” was a signature statement of:

  Milton Berle
  Sid Caesar
  Jack Carter
  Jackie Gleason