10Q (Apr 23, 2024)

1. Occurring 12 times in the singing of the Portuguese version of a well-known seasonal song, what does the line "Uma perdiz numa pereira" translate to in English?

2. This question is linked in a way to the previous one. Siphonophorae (from Greek siphōn 'tube' + pherein 'to bear') is an order of marine creatures that appear to be individual organisms. But each specimen of a siphonophore is in fact composed of multiple zooids that have independent but symbiotic functions. Carl Linnaeus described the first siphonophore in 1758,and named it after a type of warship that he felt the visible part above the water resembled. What did he call it?

3.  The visual below shows a chart drawn up in 1930s Germany to categorise the population into Germans, 'mixed blood: first degree', 'mixed blood: second degree', and Jews. Citizens had different rights and duties depending on which of these categories they fell in. The rules were known as the [X] Laws, after the city in which they were decreed in 1935, a city that was the scene of actions of a redeeming nature a decade later. Name the city [X].

4.  Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is a transparent thermoplastic, commonly known as acrylic. The material was developed in 1928 in various laboratories, but was first brought to market in 1933 by the Rohm and Haas Company, under the trademark [X]. It has since been sold under many different names, including Acrylite, Lucite and Perspex. What was the original trade name [X]?

5. Vasco da Gama gave this region the name [X] because he sailed parallel to its coast around Christmas in 1497, while searching for a route from Europe to India. A city established there by Europeans in 1824 was first called Port [X], and later renamed after the man referenced in the pic below, who was the governor of the Cape Colony at the time. That made it one of those unusual place names with an apostrophe in it, but that was dropped later. What was the remaining 6-letter name of the city, which is now the 3rd most populous in its country?

6. Deriving from a corresponding term where two people are involved, what 5-letter neologism refers to such showdowns as the one between Blondie, Angel Eyes and Tuco at the end of 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; the climactic ending to 'Reservoir Dogs' involving the characters Mr. White, Nice Guy Eddie, and Joe Cabot; and the swordfight between Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and James Norrington in 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'?

7. At the end of the monsoon months of Septermber and October, especially on moonless and foggy dark evenings, hundreds of disoriented birds descend on this village in Assam, many of them crashing to earth and dying. Until recent efforts at education reduced the practice, those that survived were often beaten to death with bamboo poles by locals who believed the phenomenon to be the harbinger of evil spirits. Name the village.

8. Which 1995 movie that won 5 Academy Awards was based on an epic poem by 15th-century British minstrel Blind Harry, titled “The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace”?

9. This 11-letter French word, which made its way as it is into English in the 19th century,  literally means 'clear-seeing'. Separated into two approximately equal parts, and with an 'e' then added at the end of the first part, it was the name of a medium who became the Black Widow, the first costumed, superpowered female protagonist in comic books, making her first appearance in August 1940 [pic below]. The character is not related to later versions of the Black Widow. What's the word?

10. There is no evidence of any Native Americans actually having used this 3-word phrase in reference to the afterlife. Its earliest appearance is in the last chapter of James Fenimore Cooper's most famous novel, 'The Last of the Mohicans', published in 1826. The title character Chingachgook says (after the death of his son Uncas), "Why do my brothers mourn? why do my daughters weep? that a young man has gone to the _____ _______ _______; that a chief has filled his time with honor?" Fill in the blanks.

 

Answers
1. "A partridge in a pear tree" – the song is the Portuguese version of 'The 12 Days of Christmas'; the name Pereira means 'pear tree'
2. Portuguese man o' war
3. Nuremberg
4. Plexiglas
5. Durban, after Benjamin D'Urban

6. Truel
7. Jatinga
8. 'Braveheart'
9. Clairvoyant – the character's name was Claire Voyant
10. Happy hunting grounds