Words & Etymologies
ANIMALS - German settlers in Texas called this animal “panzerschwein”
What is an armadillo?
CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - A 2000 Library of Congress exhibit called this 1900 work “America’s greatest and best-loved homegrown fairy tale”
What is "The (Wonderful) Wizard of Oz"?
CURRENT TELEVISION - Fittingly, the last name of the family at the center of this drama is from French for "king"
What is Succession?
WORLD CAPITALS - An annual event called Winterlude includes skating on the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in this city
What is Ottawa?
THEATER - In November 1864 John Wilkes Booth & his brothers were fittingly part of a performance of this Shakespeare play
What is Julius Caesar?
GEOGRAPHY WORDS - From the Latin for “key”, this word for a type of isolated country applies to Vatican City, which has keys on its flag
What is an enclave?
NOVEL CHARACTERS - This character from an 1851 novel "was intent on a audacious, immitigable, and supernatural revenge"
Who is Captain Ahab?
BLOCKBUSTER MOVIES - Released in 2017, this movie is the highest-grossing film in the U.S. that's set during World War I
What is Wonder Woman?
LANDMARKS - 96 miles in total during its 3-decade existence, the most well-known part of this was about the same length as an Olympic marathon
What is the Berlin Wall?
19TH CENTURY BRITISH AUTHORS - She called herself “the daughter of two persons of distinguished literary celebrity” in an introduction to one of her novels
Who was Mary Shelley?
CLASSIC TV SITCOMS - "I Love Lucy" used the French word "enceinte" in a 1952 episode title because CBS didn't want this word used
What is 'pregnant?'
AMERICAN AUTHORS - The year before his 1809 birth, his parents acted in “King Lear”, leading scholars to believe he was named for a “Lear” character
Who is Edgar Allan Poe?
THE BUSINESS OF TELEVISION - The day it debuted in 1980, this network with an Italian name aired a Carnegie Hall celebration of Aaron Copland’s 80th birthday
What is Bravo?
MONARCHIES - The future Charles I suddenly became next in line to the throne of Austria in this year
What is 1914?
COLORS & HISTORY - A blue pigment & a shade of blue popular in shirts are named for these, the 2 opposing nations in an 1870-71 war
What are France & Prussia?
SCIENTIFIC ETYMOLOGY - 2 of the 3 men for whom armalcolite, a dark gray mineral discovered in 1969, is named
Who are (two of) Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin?
NOBEL-WINNING NOVELISTS - Falsely accused of murder, a character in his 1948 novel becomes “tyrant over the whole county’s white conscience”
Who was Faulkner?
70s MOVIE SCENES - Writer Dan O’Bannon based a scene in this film on his own Crohn’s disease, which felt like things inside him fighting to get out
What is Alien?
EPONYMOUS LANDMARKS - In 1960 the ashes of this aviator were spread over the Venezuela natural wonder he famously sighted decades earlier
Who is Jimmie Angel?
MUSICALS - 4 songs from this 1968 musical made the Billboard Top 10, including one with an astrological theme that was no. 1 for six weeks
What is Hair?
THE WORDS OF VICTOR HUGO - This object “is the ultimate expression of law, & its name is vengeance; it is not neutral, nor does it allow us to remain neutral”
What is the guillotine?
AMERICAN AUTHORS - “Camelot”, “The Pilgrims” & “A Postscript by Clarence” are chapters in a classic novel by this author
Who is Mark Twain?
LITERARY MOVIE ROLES - Among the actresses who have portrayed her are Greta Garbo twice, Vivien Leigh, Tatiana Samoilova & Keira Knightley
Who is Anna Karenina?
THE 20TH CENTURY - The code name for a historic meeting at this city was “Argonaut”, after the heroes who searched for the Golden Fleece on the Black Sea
What is Yalta?
17th CENTURY WRITING - This 17th century work quotes the Book of Job, “Behold the giants groan under water, and they that dwell with them”
What is "Leviathan"?