A Regency Slang Quiz

Anne here, with a fun little quiz for a change of pace.

How good is your knowledge of Regency slang? 
Do this quiz —you'll need a pen and paper — then check your answers and come back and tell us how you went.

1) An ape leader is:
	a) Someone recently returned from Africa
	b) A champion boxer
	c) The leader of a pack of dowagers 
	d) An ageing spinster
	
2) "Doing it much too brown" means:
	a) Overcooking the dinner
	b) Trying too hard to make a false story convincing
	c) Having too much to do with the stables
	d) Failing to balance the colors you're wearing.

3)  Blue Ruin is:	
        a) An alcoholic drink ie. gin
	b) A tragic story
	c) A house that's listed for demolition
	d) A man too far gone and collapsed in drink
	
4)  A rum cull is:
	a) A suspicious man
	b) An alcoholic drink
	c) A drunken rower
	d) A selection process whereby two out of every five are removed.

5) A hum is:
	a) A sound made by bears
	b) A false rumor
	c) A dance step
	d) A fastening for a corset

6) A barque of frailty is:
	a) A bamboo-hulled pleasure boat
	b) A simple-minded person
	c) A ship in a bottle
	d) A woman of easy virtue

7) A nonpareil is:
	a) A leader of fashion (male)
	b) Someone shunned by society
	c) A ban, something forbidden
	d) A fool

8) To be castaway means:
	a) To have eaten too much cheese	
	b) To be lost in the worst part of a city
	c) To hang out frequently at the docks
	d) To be drunk

9) Which one of these is NOT a term for being drunk:
	a) to be shot in the neck
	b) to have eaten Hull cheese
	c) to be jug-bitten
	d) to give a tinker's damn

10) To be in dun territory means:
	a) To be on your enemy's land	
	b) To be lost in the worst part of a city
	c) To be in debt
	d) To be in friendly territory

I hope you had as much fun doing this as I did making it up.

To get the answers and check your score, click here. Don't forget to come back and tell us how you went.

Comments

[HJ]

I definitely have a misspent youth (reading Georgette Heyer) - 100%!

[Anne Gracie]

HJ, a youth spent reading Georgette Heyer could NEVER be regarded as misspent. ;)
Well done!

[Helen]

This was fun and I scored 7 out of 10 not too bad I think

They are really good

Have Fun
Helen

[Jo Banks]

Definitely too many hours with my nose in Georgette Heyer - 100% That was fun thankyou it cheered up a rather boring morning.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Helen -- 70% is not too bad at all. Well done you!

Jo, I think I'm going to be spotting those who grew up on Heyer.
The next time I'll have to spread my sources.

[Penelope]

Years of reading Heyer paid off with 10/10!

Ape-leader is from the Shakespearean period, with Katarina in Taming of the Shrew referring to herself as leading apes in hell=dying unmarried.

[Anne Gracie]

Yup, this quiz is really a Cunning Plan to identify those who grew up reading Heyer
Thanks Penelope.

[Shannon]

I too had a mispent youth (100%)... and continued my youthful bad habits in to adulthood. Although as a result of this site, I have actually sat down and read contemporary or two.

[Janis Susan May]

Relieved to have scored 100%, since I am releasing THE FAIR AMAZON, my third traditional Regency in three weeks...

[Lil]

I obviously spend too much of my time in the Regency period. 100% and I only discovered Heyer a few years ago!

[Anne Gracie]

Excellent, Shannon -- I'm glad we're rubbing off on you. :)

Good luck with your book, Janis.

Lil, there is NO such thing as spending too much time in the Regency. Well done on catching up with Heyer. How appalling to think you might never have read her.

[Judy]

80% The two I missed, I'd never heard or read before. What a pity, clear evidence I need to read more Regency. :-)

[Sharon Sherry]

Yay. 100% correct. Glad I have been paying attention. Thanks for the fun.

[Lucy]

Another Heyer-reading 100-percenter here. :D

When I read Ben Franklin's list of slang for drunkenness, I was somewhat disappointed to find that Heyer had already used all the best ones!

[Samantha]

100%. I guess if I'm ever transported back to the regency I will be able to understand what they are talking about! :)

[Maria M.]

100% here - this was easy.

By the way, I recently saw a book on Amazon with similar questions, though not on the regency slang, called A Regency Quiz Book.

[J Prince]

100% A Mispent life. Guess I can blame Hyer as well as many others.

[Janga]

Fun! I scored 100% too. I certainly spent many hours with Heyer, but the hundreds of other Regencies I've read over the years certainly reinforced the Heyerisms.

[Donna]

100% - and I only discovered Heyer and Regency romances a few years ago. But worse than knowing what all of these mean is I find myself using Regency slang and phrases from time to time! Oops!! :-D

A fun quiz. Thanks, Anne.

[Mari]

100% Thanks for the fun post!

[Margaret Dean]

100% ... but then, the language is one of the things I love best about Heyer!

[Alison]

9 correct. The one I missed I had never heard, but then, I have not read Heyer, only hundreds and hundreds of other historical romances.
This was fun. Hope you do it again, sometime.

[Jane]

100% correct. Another who cut her teeth with Heyer. This was fun!

[Anne Gracie]

I don't know whether to chuckle at all the "misspent youth reading Heyer" comments or start up an "out and proud reader of Heyer' group. LOL

And clearly I made this quiz a little too easy for many of you. The 10 Lords a Leaping quiz I did at Christmas was too hard. Maybe next time I do this I'll get it just right. (more bear references) Did anyone note the tiny wave to Winnie the Pooh in the questions?

[Louis]

Yep, I read Heyer also...

Still I missed the first one but got all the rest.

Nice quiz.

[Lilian Darcy]

The only one I wasn't sure of was "Ape Leader." What a fun quiz! Thank you, Anne!

[peg sw]

Perfect score for another Heyer reader! Fun quiz.

[Barbara Elness]

I guess you could say I read a lot of Regencies, i got 100%. :D

[Malvina Yock]

8/10. Not too shabby. What fun!

[Jenny]

Yep - another Heyer reader with 10/10. Just goes to show all that reading paid off!

[Maureen]

10/10 - are we sad, or what!!

[Joanna]

Another Georgette Heyer reader I also got all 10 correct

[LouisaCornell]

Heyer led me astray as well. 10/10. Now ask me what certain slang words used today mean and I confess myself to be CLUELESS ! I have to have my niece and nephew translate more often than not.

[Ann]

Great fun, thanks Anne. 100% for me too, another Heyer fan

[Artemisia]

100%. Heyer fan. Think about "blue ruin" every time I see a bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin.

[Rebecca]

Another 100% and, as I am sure was the case with other Heyer readers, I didn't even have to think about the questions.
Thank you--definitely a bright spot today.

Rebecca

[Michelle K]

I don't like Heyerdahl, only read 2 of her books. But I still scored 100%!

[Ella Quinn]

Yey!! I got all of them as well. It has to be my intimate knowledge of Heyer.

[Jan Clemson]

Yep! 10/10 - did I have another - Regency- life? As a questionable bloke??? Thank you Anne, that was fun. The cant is such a major part of the atmosphere which GH created.

[Janice]

You picked easy ones :( 10 for 10 :)

[Anne Gracie]

I'm so pleased you've all been enjoying this. And yes, I do seem to have made it too easy — but I am thrilled so many people scored so well. I shall put my thinking cap on and come up with another — hopefully slightly more challenging quiz. Stay tuned. . .

[Karin]

Too many Regencies for me also, I got 100%! Also, I recall that "quiz" had a totally different slang meaning back then.

[Linda S]

100%, another Heyer fan here!

[Faith @ Demon for Details]

Oh! Oh! Oh! Is there still room in the 100% club? I wanna play, too. This was so much fun ... called forth lots of my favorite Regency scenes in living cover. Thanks, Anne.

[Lynne Wood]

100% here, although I think I must be 'dicked in the nob' for reading so much Heyer!!

[Jennifer Kloester]

10 out of 10 - such fun! thanks Anne. I don't think there's any such thing as reading too much Heyer!

[Beryl Gale]

100%! Such wonderful creative expressions!

[Christine]

10/10...Many happy hours reading Heyer..still have an almost complete collection that has travelled with me for many, many years. It has resided in eight different homes over the years and I started collecting when I was 15 which was 42 years ago!

[Anne Hoile]

100% your readers (and me) are singularly devoted to the regency period. Keep those stories coming!!