Seasonal Idioms
Many people determine that once the holidays are over, they will turn over a new one of these.
What is leaf?
When people want to turn over a new leaf, they want to give themselves a fresh start or change their ways— maybe break a habit or form a new one.
Casablanca is set in this country.
What is Morocco?
While the movie is set in Casablanca, a city in Morocco, it was filmed mostly on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California, using leftover sets from The Desert Song and Now Voyager.
The Oval Office is in this wing of the White House.
What is the West Wing?
The Office of the First Lady is in the East Wing.
You’ll find these roasting on street corners in New York City in December.
What are chestnuts?
You can smell them all the way down the street. You might also hear Louis Armstrong singing “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire).”
Z is one of the two letters with the highest number of points, and this is the other one.
What is Q?
Z and Q are each worth 10 points when you make a word with one of them.
Good things come in this sized package.
What is small?
Many think this phrase refers to packages holding expensive jewelry or watches.
Three Coins in the Fountain was filmed on location in this country.
What is Italy?
The Trevi Fountain is in Rome, and visitors often make a wish while tossing a coin into it. Other movies filmed on location that include the Trevi Fountain include Roman Holiday and La Dolce Vita.
This country gifted the Statue of Liberty to the United States as a show of friendship.
What is France?
It was gifted to the United States at a ceremony in Paris on July 4, 1884. The American ambassador received the gift on behalf of the country.
These are a hybrid of mandarins and sweet oranges and sometimes are referred to by their brand names, including Halos, Cuties, and Sweeties.
What are clementines?
They are sometimes confused with tangerines because they both belong to the mandarin family and are easy to peel, but they are not the same fruit.
Scrabble playing pieces are called this.
What are tiles?
The 100 tiles are drawn from a bag.
When snow is on the ground on Christmas Day, we say it’s this kind of a Christmas.
What is white?
Charles Dickens introduced the idea of a white Christmas in England long before Irving Berlin and Bing Crosby popularized the phrase in North America.
Notting Hill is set in this country.
What is England?
Julia Roberts plays an actress who is filming on location in London. The movie was filmed in locations throughout London, including Notting Hill.
Astronaut is a combination of two words: astro and naut. Astro means this.
What is stars?
Naut means “sailor,” so astronauts are sailors of the stars.
This native North American berry is grown in bogs and is readily available at the grocery store in December.
What is cranberry?
Cranberries are staples at many holiday tables.
Each player takes this number of tiles for their first move.
What is seven?
Before play starts, each player pulls one letter out of the bag, and the player with the letter closest to A goes first.
During the holidays, when we confront people lacking holiday spirit, we might say, “Don’t be a (this person).”
What is a Scrooge?
“Don’t be a Scrooge” could also be said to those who are behaving in a miserly way.
The TV series Northern Exposure is set in this U.S. state.
What is Alaska?
The series is set in Cicely, Alaska, which claims a population of 213, but it was filmed in the little town of Roslyn, Washington. Every year, the town holds a Moosefest in honor of Northern Exposure.
The 10 highest mountains in the United States are all in this state.
What is Alaska?
The highest is Denali, which was once called Mount McKinley.
This white, cruciferous vegetable is in season year-round but best in fall and winter.
What is cauliflower?
The longer it cooks, the sweeter it is.
This is the publisher of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.
What is Merriam-Webster?
Noah Webster published his first dictionary in 1806 with just 37,000 words, and it included 500 new words never before added to a compendium.
When you give an anonymous gift, you might be known as this kind of Santa.
What is secret?
The concept of Secret Santa may have begun in Scandinavia, where people would leave gifts on someone’s doorstep, knock on the door, and then run away before they were spotted.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was filmed in this country.
What is India?
In the film, a group of retirees travel from London to India, hoping to call a luxurious hotel their retirement home. Instead, they find a ramshackle hotel run by a young man with more enthusiasm than business sense.
This is the only letter that doesn’t appear in the periodic table of elements.
What is J?
There are 118 elements, and each is represented by one or two letters.
These vegetables look like white carrots.
What are parsnips?
British colonists brought parsnips to the New World. They have escaped gardens and now grow wild.
You can swap your tiles by doing this.
What is giving up a turn?
You can swap some or all of your tiles.