I’m quite the fan of word games, puns, and almost anything related to the written or spoken word. The English language is a real minefield for immigrants to navigate and truthfully it’s just as tough for some of us home grown types. Todays quiz will test your knowledge of our language with trivia on words and phrases and how they came to be. As always the answers will be listed below.

• What is the measurement of “one foot’ based on?

• Who invented word “carport”?

• What ails you if your suffering from a bilateral preorbital hematoma?

• What are you afraid of if you have ergophobia?

• In Japan, what automobile part is known as a bakkumira?

• What is poliosis?

• What is the chief symptom of someone suffering from oniomania?

• What is the origin of the word hoax?

• What does Iwo Jima mean in Japanese?

• How did the common airgun become known as a BB gun?

• How did “bloomers”, ladies pantaloons, get their name?

Answers

One third of the length of King Henry I’s arm, Frank Lloyd Wright, A black eye, Work, A rearview mirror, Graying of the hair, Uncontrollable urge to buy things, Its a contraction from hocus pocus, Sulfur Island, From it’s Ball Bearing ammunition, From suffragette Amelia Bloomer.