10Q (Feb 12, 2024)

1. In 19th-century Britain, a 'fawney' was a colloquial word for a finger ring. A confidence game called the 'fawney rig' developed that involved the con artists dropping what looked like a golden ring on the street, and rushing to pick it up the moment a bystander went for it. They would then offer to keep the ring in exchange for half of what they could get from it. Some marks would take this to indicate that the object was a valuable one, and would instead bargain for it at a price. Money having changed hands, the conman would vamoose, and the poor sap who took the ring would later find out that it was just brass. What common word in English has its roots in the 'fawney rig'?

2. The vertical picture at left in the composite below shows kuzhi paniyaram (close-up at top right) being prepared in Tamil Nadu in a specialised cast iron pan. The photo at bottom right is of an European breakfast item called poffertjes. Which colonial power brought the poffertjes pan used for making these mini pancakes to India, and left it behind to be adapted into a paniyaram pan?

3. Shot from an unusual perspective, what is the picture below a photo of?

4. Shown below is a Bouguer [X] anomaly map, showing variations in [X] around the earth. Positive anomalies occur in areas coloured red. Negative anomalies are found in areas coloured blue.The anomaly is named after French scientist Pierre Bouguer (1698-1758), a prodigy who became a professor of hydrography at the age of 16. Among his many discoveries was the fact that small regional variations in [X] could be related to the varying density of subterraneous rocks in the subsurface. What is [X]? Also, what is the unit 'gal' a shortening of?

5. The surname of this Goan artist comes from the Portuguese word for 'mosque' For half a point, give me that word; for full points tell me the artist's full name.

6. The actor Milla Jovovich, fluent in four laguages, helped director Luc Besson develop the Divine Language that her character Leeloo speaks in this 1997 sci-fi movie. To get the character to sound natural when speaking it, Besson and Jovovich would hold conversations and write letters to each in the language as practice. Which movie?

7. The photo below is of Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of [X], aka Lord [X], who was Secretary of State for India in 1866-67 and again from 1874 to 1878. He went on to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, holding that position for three stints between 1885 and 1902. A city founded in 1890 in what was at the time one of Britain's African colonies was named Fort [X] after him. In the 1920s, later the name was shorted to just [X] and the city became the capital of the colonial country. In 1982, on the second annivasary of the country's independence from the UK, it was renamed [Y]. What are [X] and [Y]?

8. The meme below purports to be the origin story of what 3-word Hindi phrase, which is the chorus line of a song from 'Soorma', the 2018 biopic of hockey player Sunny Singh?

9. The rule articulated in this 1985 episode of the weekly comic strip 'Dykes to Watch Out For' are commemorated as what 'test' named after the strip's creator?

10. The last sailing ship to serve as a flagship of the Royal Navy, this vessel was launched in November 1821 at Bombay Dockyard and named HMS ______ after an Indian river. Fill in the blank.

Answers
1. Phony
2. The Dutch
3. The Guggenheim Museum atrium
4. Gravity, Galileo
5. Ted Misquita (the Portuguese word can also be spelt 'mesquita')
6. The Fifth Element

7. Salisbury > Harare
8. Goodman di laaltein (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNhpBpLGyAE)
9. Bechdel test, after Alison Bechdel
10. HMS Ganges