HELM Tryouts (with answers)

Transcript

Text from the slides — answers included, so no peeking if you're playing along!

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   History · Etymology · Language · Mythology
   HELM Tryouts

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   Join ‘Quizzers of IITB’ GC for updates on upcoming events

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   1. H
   The X Movement was a Chinese anti-imperialist movement, in 1919.
   Students gathered at a place, now famous for another reason.
   They were protesting a recent decision, agreed upon by countries, to allow
   the Empire of Japan to retain territories in Shandong that had been
   surrendered.
   What is this decision? Also ID the place where they gathered.
   Also, on this date, fans of a particular MELA franchise celebrate this day, in
   such a way that you can figure the date out :)
   ID franchise.

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   ANSWER1. H
   Decision: The Treaty of Versailles (Paris Peace Conference, 1919)
   — the “Shandong Problem”, Articles 156–158
   Place: Tiananmen Square, Beijing
   Franchise: Star Wars
   X = the May Fourth Movement — students marched on 4 May 1919 after
   Germany’s Shandong concessions were handed to Japan instead of
   returned to China.
   Tiananmen is now better known for the 1989 protests and massacre.
   4 May = Star Wars Day: “May the Fourth be with you.”

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   2. E
   The disease gets its name from Italian for ‘bad air’, as the term originally
   denoted the unwholesome atmosphere caused by the exhalations of
   marshes, to which the disease was formerly attributed.
   The capital city on the other hand gets its name from Spanish for ‘good air’,
   as the Spanish sailors were granted good winds by ‘Holy Mary of the Good
   Winds’.
   ID the disease and the city.

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   ANSWER2. E
   Malaria (Italian mala aria, “bad air”)
   Buenos Aires (Spanish, “good airs”)
   Miasma theory blamed malaria on marsh vapours until the mosquito–
   Plasmodium link was established in the 1880s–90s.
   The city’s founding name was Ciudad de la Santísima Trinidad y Puerto de
   Santa María del Buen Ayre, after the sailors’ patroness Nuestra Señora del
   Buen Ayre.

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   3. L
   A ‘double placename’ prominently features the names
   of two or more constituents in double-barrelled form
   rather than inventing a new name. There are 7
   sovereign states with a ‘double placename’ derived
   using a particular conjunction in their official titles.
   ID both these countries with a double placename in its
   official title:
   a) The larger island was named after ‘The Father, Son,
   and the Holy Spirit’ by Columbus while the smaller
   one gets its name from the product pictured here.
   b) The larger island was named by Columbus after his
   own patron saint while the smaller one gets its name
   from Spanish for snow.

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   ANSWER3. L
   a) Trinidad and Tobago
   Trinidad = the Holy Trinity; Tobago from tobacco (the product pictured).
   b) Saint Kitts and Nevis
   St Kitts = St Christopher (Columbus’s namesake saint); Nevis from Nuestra
   Señora de las Nieves — the cloud-capped peak looked snowy.
   The conjunction is “and” — the others: Antigua and Barbuda, Bosnia and
   Herzegovina, São Tomé and Príncipe, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and
   the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

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   4. M
   Although they are used synonymously the key distinction between the two
   is that one refers to a complex branching multicursal puzzle with choices of
   path and direction, while the other has an unambiguous route to the center
   and back, and presents no navigational challenge.
   The first word comes from a Middle English word meaning “to perplex” or
   “to bewilder”, while the second is rooted in Greek mythology, where a hero
   (later linked to a famous thought experiment about identity) navigated such
   a structure with the help of a ball of thread.
   ID both words
   Also ID the word derived from the aforementioned ball of thread

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    ANSWER4. M
    Maze (multicursal) and Labyrinth (unicursal)
    Clue ← clew, a ball of thread
    Maze from Middle English masen, “to confuse/bewilder”.
    Theseus navigated Daedalus’s Labyrinth with Ariadne’s thread to kill the
    Minotaur — and gave his name to the Ship of Theseus paradox.
    Because the clew led Theseus out, “clue” came to mean anything that
    guides you to a solution.

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    5. H
    About this piece, George Wingfield Digby wrote in 1957: “It was designed to
    tell a story to a largely illiterate public; it is like a strip cartoon, racy,
    emphatic, colourful, with a good deal of blood and thunder and some
    ribaldry.”
    The Simpsons memorably parodied this, in their episode, “E Pluribus
    Wiggum”, shown on the next slide.
    WAITA? Give some context as well if you can

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    5. H

    ▶ Video (YouTube) — play it in the viewer

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    ANSWER5. H
    The Bayeux Tapestry
    A ~70 m embroidered cloth narrating the events leading to the Norman
    Conquest of England — Harold’s oath, the invasion, and the Battle of
    Hastings (1066).
    Likely commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William the Conqueror’s
    half-brother; Harold is famously shown with an arrow in his eye.
    The Simpsons used it as the episode’s couch gag: in tapestry style, the
    Flanders family steal the Simpsons’ couch and the Simpsons win it back.

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    6. E
    After the Norman invasion of 1066 a new law was created, declaring that in
    the cities at 8 o’clock fires had to be covered to prevent conflagration.
    Soldiers would stand on the city walls shouting a French word that meant
    “cover the fires”, but locals who did not understand French heard ‘X’
    instead, and thus the word X was born.
    At first it simply referred to the practice of having a set time for covering
    fires and going to bed, before evolving into the present-day definition of X.
    ID X.

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    ANSWER6. E
    Curfew
    From Old French couvre-feu, “cover the fire”.
    Originally the evening bell signalling hearths be banked for the night; it later
    came to mean any order to stay indoors after a set hour.

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    7. L
    Due to certain linguistic characteristics shared by the following set of words,
    what are they known as? (explanation works if you don’t know the exact
    terms)
    a) pentasyllabic, definable, unhyphenated, nonpalindromic, harmless,
    nontrivial, unabbreviated, asexual (in English but not in French, Spanish, …)
    b) chicken, inflammable, feasted, deteriorate, chariot, abnormality, action,
    devilish, falsified, plagiarist, strives
    c) Koala Bears, Panama Hats, Strawberry, Coconut, Bombay Duck, Isle of
    Dogs, The Hundred Years’ War

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    ANSWER7. L
    a) Autological words (homological)
    Each describes itself — “pentasyllabic” has five syllables, “unhyphenated” has no
    hyphen, “asexual” has no gender (unlike in French/Spanish). Opposite:
    heterological.
    b) Kangaroo words
    Each hides its own synonym (a “joey”) in order: chick·en, flammable, f·e·d, rot,
    cart, anomaly, act, evil, lied, liar, tries.
    c) Misnomers
    Koalas are marsupials; Panama hats are from Ecuador; strawberries aren’t
    berries; coconuts aren’t nuts; Bombay duck is a fish; the Isle of Dogs isn’t an
    island; the war lasted 116 years.

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    8. M
    X originally belonged to the God Surya, who wore it around his neck. It was said
    that whichever land possessed this would never encounter any calamities such
    as droughts, floods, earthquakes or famines, and would always be full of
    prosperity and plenitude.
    When God Surya himself appeared before Satrajit, father-in-law of Y, in an
    indistinct and fiery shape, Satrajit asked him to appear in a less blinding form.
    For this, the sun god took off X from his neck, and Satrajit saw him possessing a
    dwarfish stature, with a body like burnished copper, and slightly reddish eyes.
    Satrajit got X as a boon.
    Later this X played a major role in Y’s marriage to Jambavan’s daughter and
    subsequently that of Satrajit’s daughter.
    ID X and Y.

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    ANSWER8. M
    X = Syamantaka Mani (Syamantaka jewel)
    Y = Krishna
    Satrajit’s brother Prasena wore the gem hunting and was killed by a lion;
    Jambavan slew the lion and took it. Accused of theft, Krishna tracked it
    down and fought Jambavan.
    Jambavan yielded and gave Krishna the gem and his daughter Jambavati; a
    remorseful Satrajit then gave his daughter Satyabhama in marriage.

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    9. H+E
    S5E6 of Silicon Valley sees Dinesh mocking Gilfoyle with a series of puns.
    Dinesh asks a coder reading a book if it is by Gilfoyle's favourite author
    (6,5,6). What pun (6,5,6) does he make? A fantasy author's middle initials
    are altered to indicate that he makes a lot of blunders.
    He later asks a bunch of coders if they were talking about Toy Story
    because Gilfoyle's favourite character is (4,9). What pun (4,9) does he
    make? It alters the name of a central character to include a term (in plural)
    for a common coding defect.

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    ANSWER9. H+E
    George Error Martin
    George R. R. Martin → “R. R.” read aloud becomes “Error”.
    Bugs Lightyear
    Buzz Lightyear → “Bugs”, the plural of the coder’s favourite defect.

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    10. M
    Captain Hendrick Van der Decken was the captain of a ship that sailed
    between Netherlands and East Indies. During one of the voyages to
    Amsterdam, the captain thought of establishing a settlement near the Cape
    of Good Hope as a respite from the rough waters.
    When the ship neared the Cape, a heavy storm surrounded the ship.
    Though the crew requested him to turn back, the captain ordered them to
    go forward even if it meant sailing “until doomsday”. This angered the Gods,
    who trapped his soul onto the ship where he sails it for eternity.
    This serves as a legend for which famous entity, whose name contains a
    nod to the captain’s origins?

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    ANSWER10. M
    The Flying Dutchman
    A ghost ship doomed never to make port, said to haunt the Cape of Good
    Hope; sighting it is an omen of doom.
    “Dutchman” nods to the captain’s Dutch (VOC) origins. The legend inspired
    Wagner’s opera Der fliegende Holländer and Davy Jones’s ship in Pirates of
    the Caribbean.

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    11. H
    After Usain Bolt smashed both the 100m and 200m world records at the
    2009 IAAF World Championships, the German capital city’s mayor marked
    the occasion with an unconventional present.
    Bolt was handed a ‘souvenir’ which stood almost 12 feet tall, 4 feet wide,
    weighed almost 3 tonnes and was later shipped off to the Jamaican Military
    Museum. Painted on its surface was Bolt sprinting on the event’s blue track,
    alongside the words NEW WR.
    What is this unusual souvenir?

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    ANSWER11. H
    A segment of the Berlin Wall
    Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit presented the ~2.7-tonne slab after Bolt ran
    9.58 s (100 m) and 19.19 s (200 m) at the 2009 Worlds in Berlin.
    2009 also marked 20 years since the Wall fell — Bolt was “tearing down
    barriers” of his own.

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    12. M
    “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that
    would be like the splendor of the mighty one …”
    X recalled that this quote came to his mind upon witnessing a certain event.
    Many years later, in a 1965 TV interview he mentioned a more famous
    second quote, which he also thought of at the moment.
    X is falsely attributed with having uttered these words, while his brother
    claimed that all he said was, "It worked."
    Who is X, and what was the quote?

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    ANSWER12. M
    X = J. Robert Oppenheimer
    “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
    Both lines are from the Bhagavad Gita (Ch. 11), which Oppenheimer read in
    Sanskrit; the event was the Trinity test, 16 July 1945.
    He said in the 1965 NBC documentary The Decision to Drop the Bomb that
    the verse came to mind; brother Frank recalled he only said “I guess it
    worked.”

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    13. H+E
    ‘The ------- Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural
    Restitution’ is a 2020 book by Dan Hicks, Professor of Contemporary
    Archaeology at the University of Oxford.
    Fill the blanks with a pun on a place where “you will see the curated spoils
    of Empire”, referring to the nature of how they sourced their stuff.

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    ANSWER13. H+E
    The Brutish Museums
    British Museum → Brutish: the Benin Bronzes were looted in the 1897 British
    punitive expedition against Benin City.
    Hicks argues for their restitution to Nigeria; many institutions have since
    begun returning pieces.

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    14. H+E
    K is an American educational technology company that produces learning
    apps and provides language certification. K offers courses on 43 languages,
    even constructed languages such as Klingon.
    Very aptly for their species of company, their weekly, company-wide
    meeting is called a “L”. Do not get confused with its tiered namesake,
    extremely more significant on a larger scale.
    Luis von Ahn, who founded K, also founded another company M (before K).
    Now owned by Google, M has probably come really close to solving an
    existential question, one that we all have to answer from time to time.
    Give K, L and M.

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    ANSWER14. H+E
    K = Duolingo
    L = Parliament
    M = reCAPTCHA
    Duolingo’s mascot is Duo the owl, and a group of owls is a parliament — not
    to be confused with a (bicameral, “tiered”) national Parliament.
    reCAPTCHA, acquired by Google in 2009, keeps asking us the existential
    question: “Are you a robot?”

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    15. L
    Canting arms are heraldic symbols that
    represent the bearer's name, often through a
    visual pun or rebus.
    Ex. A Scottish noble family (Bowes-Lyon …
    bows and lions)

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    15a. L
    Which poet received the following canting
    arms from their grandfather?
    The coat of arms shows a connection with
    the sea, where the figure met his tragic fate
    later in life.

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    ANSWER15a. L
    Percy Bysshe Shelley
    The arms carry whelk shells — “shell” for Shelley — inherited via his
    grandfather, Sir Bysshe Shelley, 1st Baronet.
    Shelley drowned in 1822 when his boat, the Don Juan, sank in a storm in the
    Gulf of La Spezia.

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    15b. L
    Which writer had the following canting
    arms, representing the family name which
    came from a Gaelic word meaning "haste"?
    The three deer running at full course were
    used as a symbol of agility, appropriate for
    the writer and his quick satirical wit and
    maybe also his sojourns.

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    ANSWER15b. L
    Jonathan Swift
    Swift = haste; the three bucks “courant” (running) cant on the name.
    Fitting for the sharp satirist of A Modest Proposal — and the “sojourns” are
    Gulliver’s Travels.

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    16. M
    There are many varieties of this story. Some say that the Jade Emperor, the
    one who rules the heavens, called a 'race' on his birthday to create the
    ______. Others say that it was in fact the Buddha who did it. The Great Race
    is a famous fable told to children across China every Chinese New Year.
    The race involved crossing a great river, which would prove challenging for
    many of the participants. But despite this, the first few participants crossed
    the river using their intelligence, strength, swiftness, sensitivity,
    graciousness, cleverness, friendliness and other traits. The emperor thus
    honoured them, due to which they are still relevant even today.
    How were these participants honored / how are they still relevant today?

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    ANSWER16. M
    The Chinese Zodiac — each of the first 12 animals got a year
    named after it
    Order of finish: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey,
    Rooster, Dog, Pig — the 12-year cycle used to this day.
    The Rat won by riding the Ox and leaping ahead at the end; the Cat, pushed
    into the river by the Rat, never made it — hence cats chase rats.

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    17. E+M
    Often associated with the tree of life, the X of Kashmar is worshipped in
    Zoroastrianism. It is regarded to be what coniferous tree that the Greeks
    noticed grew in abundance on a Mediterranean island?
    Yggdrasil is the central world tree in Norse cosmology. It is considered to be
    what hardwood tree Y of the olive family whose twigs were carried by
    children to school in parts of England on a particular holy day?
    Give X and Y.

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    ANSWER17. E+M
    X = Cypress
    The legendary Cypress of Kashmar, said to have been planted by Zoroaster;
    the name traces to Cyprus, where the tree grew abundantly.
    Y = Ash
    Yggdrasil is described as an ash (Fraxinus, family Oleaceae). On Ash
    Wednesday, English children carried ash twigs to school — those without
    risked having their feet stamped.

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    18a. Quad 1 (H+E)
    Darkest Dungeon is a videogame that sees the player enlist the help of
    various character classes.
    What is the name of this class (8) that is a holy warrior fighting with
    righteous fury against the forces of evil?
    Although the game lacks a specific timeline, the class's real-life
    counterparts could have been active in wars any time from 1096 to the
    1300s.

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    18a. Quad 1 (H+E)

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    18b. Quad 1 (H+E)
    Darkest Dungeon is a videogame that sees the player enlist the help of
    various character classes.
    What is the name of this class (6,6) from Darkest Dungeon that is a
    mercenary targeting specific enemies to turn them in for a reward?
    Historically, such private agents worked for bail bondsmen, capturing
    fugitives and criminals for a commission.

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    18b. Quad 1 (H+E)

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    18c. Quad 1 (H+E)
    Darkest Dungeon is a videogame that sees the player enlist the help of
    various character classes.
    What is the name of this class (5) from Darkest Dungeon that is defined by
    the horrible disease ravaging the skin and nerves?
    The class's name is often also used metaphorically for someone shunned
    by society, with the face mask being a reference to a film depiction of King
    Baldwin IV in Kingdom of Heaven.

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    18c. Quad 1 (H+E)

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    18d. Quad 1 (H+E)
    Darkest Dungeon is a videogame that sees the player enlist the help of
    various character classes.
    What is the name of this class (9) from Darkest Dungeon that is a
    competitive sharpshooter using a type of long gun?
    If you knew the answers to all other questions in the quad, your answer for
    this one should be right on target to join this class yourself. A small group of
    these have also been featured elsewhere in pop culture.

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    18d. Quad 1 (H+E)

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    ANSWER18. Quad 1 (H+E)
    a) Crusader · b) Bounty Hunter · c) Leper · d) Musketeer
    Crusader — the Crusades ran from 1096 (First Crusade) into the 1300s.
    Bounty Hunter — bail-enforcement agents chasing fugitives for a cut.
    Leper — leprosy (Hansen’s disease); the mask echoes Edward Norton’s
    Baldwin IV, the “Leper King”.
    Musketeer — the Arbalest’s alternate skin; the quad’s four answers make
    you one of The Three Musketeers… plus d’Artagnan.

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    19a. Quad 2 (H)
    Which language of the Indo-European
    language family, originally spoken during
    the Old Iranian period (c. 1500–400 BCE), is
    named after the central text of a religion
    whose adherents exalt the all-wise deity
    Ahura Mazda?

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    19b. Quad 2 (H)
    Which Northwest Semitic language, that
    originated in Ancient Syria, was the lingua
    franca of the Near East from the 3rd century
    BCE to the 7th century CE and used to write
    the Talmud, the central text of Rabbinic
    Judaism?

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    19c. Quad 2 (H)
    Which classical Middle Indo-Aryan
    language of the Indian subcontinent was
    used to compose several religious texts of a
    particular religion, including a namesake
    canon which is also referred to as the
    Tipitaka ("Triple Basket")?

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    19d. Quad 2 (H)
    Which Austronesian language with about
    3.5 million speakers is used for the
    traditional performances and rituals
    associated with a form of Hinduism
    practiced at the namesake island whose
    holiest site is the Besakih Temple?

54. 54

    ANSWER19. Quad 2 (H)
    a) Avestan · b) Aramaic · c) Pali · d) Balinese
    Avestan — language of the Avesta, scripture of Zoroastrianism.
    Aramaic — Jewish Babylonian Aramaic is the main language of the
    Babylonian Talmud.
    Pali — language of the Pali Canon (Tipitaka) of Theravada Buddhism.
    Balinese — used in the rituals and performances of Balinese Hinduism; Pura
    Besakih is its “Mother Temple”.
    Link: each is a liturgical language tied to a religion’s sacred texts or rites.

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    20a. Quad 3 (H/E/L)
    Deriving from an Old Turkic word meaning "elder brother", what title was
    reserved in the Ottoman era for senior military officers, such as the
    commander of the Janissaries?
    It appears today as part of the title of the imam of Nizari Ismailism, one of
    whom started a coveted award for architecture.

56. 56

    20b. Quad 3 (H/E/L)
    Deriving from a Persian word meaning "master", what title was often used
    for teachers or professors during the Ottoman period?
    The title is associated with a wise character who appears in a number of
    humorous Muslim folktales, and the Persian cognate of the title is used for
    Sufi masters.

57. 57

    20c. Quad 3 (H/E/L)
    Deriving from Turkish for "head" or "chief", what title was a high rank in
    the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors
    and generals?
    Aside from being associated with the dictatorial Young Turk triumvirate, the
    title was also assumed in the past by rulers of Egypt and Morocco.

58. 58

    20d. Quad 3 (H/E/L)
    Deriving from an Arabic word meaning “burden bearer", what title was
    given to the de facto prime minister of the sultan in the Ottoman Empire?
    The honorific was also bestowed upon high-ranking ministers, governors,
    and political advisors in many kingdoms and empires of the Near East.

59. 59

    ANSWER20. Quad 3 (H/E/L)
    a) Agha · b) Hodja (Hoca) · c) Pasha · d) Vizier
    Agha — the Janissary Agha; today in Aga Khan, whose Aga Khan IV
    founded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (1977).
    Hodja — Nasreddin Hodja of the folktales; Persian cognate Khwaja, used
    for Sufi masters (e.g., Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti).
    Pasha — the “Three Pashas” Talaat, Enver and Djemal; also a title of rulers
    of Egypt and Morocco.
    Vizier — from Arabic wazīr; the Grand Vizier was the sultan’s chief minister.

60. 60

    21a. L
    ChattyFeet has a line of sock designs
    dedicated to literary authors, with word plays
    on their names.
    a) Which writer inspired this sock design,
    which aptly represents both the author and
    one of his most famous works? (5)

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    21b. L
    b) Described as being so comfortable that
    every woman must have a pair of her own.
    The design's name is a wordplay that
    removes a letter from the author's name to
    refer to the sock's material.
    ID the design’s title. (5)

62. 62

    21c. L
    c) Which writer inspired this sock design by
    ChattyFeet, that may give one the feeling of
    being under constant surveillance?
    Reviews describe it as an appropriate gift for
    one's elder sibling. (5)

63. 63

    21d. L
    d) Which writer inspired this sock design,
    with the macabre design depicting a corvid
    at a windowsill?
    The design's name is a wordplay that
    replaces the author's last name with the part
    of the foot that the sock snugly wraps
    around. (5)

64. 64

    ANSWER21. L
    a) Ernest Hemingway — sold as “Ernestoe Hemingway”
    Grey beard plus fish on a sea-blue sock: The Old Man and the Sea.
    b) “Virginia Wool”
    Virginia Woolf minus the f = wool; “a pair of her own” riffs on A Room of One’s
    Own.
    c) George Orwell
    The all-seeing eyes are Big Brother from Nineteen Eighty-Four — hence the
    “elder sibling” gift.
    d) Edgar Allan Poe — “Edgar Allan Toe”
    The raven at the window is The Raven.