Regency Slang Quiz #4

Anne here, with a little bit of fun for the holiday season — my fourth Regency Slang Quiz. As usual with my quizzes, you'll need a pen and paper to note down your answers, then click on the link at the bottom to check your results, and come back and tell us how you went.

1) To be a trifle disguised means:—
    a) you’re wearing a mask, not a full costume
    b) to be slightly drunk
    c) to be short of money
    d) to be acting shiftily

2) If you make a cake of yourself, you are:—
    a) overdressed, with too many jewels
    b) overdoing things
    c) pretending to act sweet (but you’re not sweet at all)
    d) making a fool of yourself

3) If you are pitching the gammon, you’re:—
    a)  playing Toss-the-Ham, an old Christmas game
    b)  telling lies
    c)  playing cricket, using a traditional pigskin ball
    d)  making a surreptitious bet on a horse

4) If you’re drawing the bustle too freely, you’re:—
    a)  spending too much money    
    b)  tying your corset strings too tightly
    c)  padding your bosom to look bigger
    d)  eating too much

5) If you ring a fine peal over someone, you:—
    a) flatter them enormously
    b) boast about them to others
    c) scold them and tell them off
    d) spoil them with presents

6) To offer someone a bag of moonshine means: —
    a) to become unofficially engaged
    b) to talk a lot of nonsense
    c)  to offer a handsome bribe
    d) to offer them an IOU

7) To shoot the crow means:—
    a) to be cheated at cards
    b) to leave in a hurry without paying
    c) to be very drunk and throw up
    d) to be given short change

8) To be high in the instep means:—
    a) to be light on your feet and dance very well
    b) to be related to royalty (however distantly)
    c) to wear shoes with lifts in them
    d) to be haughty or proud

9) To tell Canterbury tales means:—
    a) to tell lies
    b) to tell traditional Christmas stories
    c) to tell a funny story
    d) to make jokes

10) To cut a wheedle means:—
    a) to serve someone a slice of wheedle-cake
    b) to dance a reel
    c) to ingratiate yourself with someone by lying
    d) to push into into a queue or line 

11) To have a fit of the blue-devils means:—
    a) to hallucinate
    b)  to have a panic-attack
    c)  to be deeply hungover
    d)  to be depressed

12) To be cucumberish means:—
    a) to feel queasy and ill
    b) to be cool and in control
    c) to be short of money
    d) to have plenty of money

Now you have made your choices, click here and find out the answers. Then come back and tell us how you went.

And if you enjoyed this, you could always try some of my previous quizzes. 

Regency Slang Quiz No 1, Regency Slang Quiz No 2, Regency Christmas Quiz, Ten Lords a'Leaping Quiz, Dickens & A Christmas Carol Quiz .

Comments

[Cynthia Rinear Bethune]

Missed 4 and 7...don't think those have come up in my Regency education!

[Janice]

That was fun :)

You got me also on #7 - to shoot the crow. I think I was thinking of to shoot the cat so I picked (c) :)

[Haidee Sell]

Drat it all, I only missed the last one. Never heard cucumberish before

[Christine Ernest]

Signs of a misspent youth...reading all those Regencies paid off...as did re reading all those Heyers...10/10

[Mike]

I started reading Heyer about 60 years ago so this was pretty easy, 10/10. No 7 threw me for a moment as I first read it as "stone the crows" and "cucumberish" strained the memory a bit (I think its from Frederica).

[Any J]

4 and 12 were the odd ones out for me, but I guessed right on one of them.

[Mary T]

Only had #7 and #12 wrong. I can't believe I did that well. I love these quizzes.

[Jenny Haddon]

Didn't remember to shoot the crow. Actually, not sure I have ever come across it before. Not the sort of thing Heyer's chaps do, normally. Unless it was that cad, Sir Montagu Revesby?

[Beverly Abney]

I missed 7,9,and 12. And here I thought I was so up on Regency slang. Noticed that many of us missed #7.

I think your quizzes are lots of fun.

[Sue McCormick]

I missed 7, and I had 2 choices for 12 (the second choice was the correct one). I believe that means I scored 10 1/2.

[Rosemary]

Wasn't sure about #4 so I skipped it, and got #12 wrong. So 10 out of 12.

[Terri Fleming]

Yay, perfect score. Obs read too much Heyer/Austen in my youth. Writing 'Perception' and the linked novel had me falling in love with the language all over again.

[Ellen Ziegler]

I got 9 correct, Yay !!!(and 3 wrong!) I got #4, #10 and #12 wrong...not too bad!

[Laura from Rome]

I got seven answers out of twelve!!! Actually I was sure just about to make a cake of oneself and to have a fit of the blue-devil the others I guessed...I’m rather proud of myself and on the whole I found the quizz extremely educational, I wish you will repeat it, I love to learn new expressions!

[Karlene]

Thanks to a Georgette Heyer education, I got all of them right! This was fun!

[Samantha]

10/12, missed 4 and 12.

[Anne Gracie]

Well done, Cynthia. Heyer uses #4 a bit, but I think #7 caught a lot of people.

[Anne Gracie]

Heh heh, Janice, so my cunning misdirectional plan with the cat worked. Half the fun I get in making up these quizzes is coming up with alternative answers that are plausible.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Haidee -- and well done! I think Heyer uses "a trifle cucumberish" in one of her books. Can't remember which one, though.

[Anne Gracie]

Excellent, Christine. I've always thought Heyer is an essential part of any education.

[Kareni]

I got eight correct. Clearly I need to read a few more regency romances!

[Anne Gracie]

Great work, Mike. #7 threw a lot of people, I think. "Stone the crows" is more Bazza McKenzie than Heyer or other Regency writers. You might be right about "cucumberish" and Frederica, but I can't recall. I think the phrase used was about someone who was "a trifle cucumberish' but which book it was escapes me.

[Anne Gracie]

Well done, Amy. #7 was the tough one for most people.

[Anne Gracie]

I'm so glad you enjoy them, Mary — I like making them up, too.

[Anne Gracie]

Jenny, I have a great long document where I've gathered regency slang from a range of sources. For these quizzes I tend to use mostly the ones that Heyer used, but not always, so "shoot the crow" might not have been Heyer. With 4 Regency Slang quizzes behind me, it's getting a bit tight.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Beverley, I'm glad you enjoy them. I have fun coming up with the various alternatives and do my very best to slide in a few tricky choices. Yes, #7 stumped a lot of people.

[Anne Gracie]

Sue, I'd give you the half point for sure. Thanks for playing.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Rosemary. Well done.

[Anne Gracie]

Sorry, Terri, but there is No Such Thing as having read Too Much Heyer/Austen -- in your youth or otherwise! She says peering beadily through her lorgnette! And congrats on 'Perception.'

[Anne Gracie]

Well done, Ellen. #4 was another one that tricked a fair few people. My evil misdirection with that gorrrrrgeous embroidered corset.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Laura, I enjoy making up the quizzes, and I'm VERY impressed you did so well. But a lot of these expressions are very old fashioned, and most modern people wouldn't know them. But if you want to do more, there are links to my other quizzes at the bottom of the page.

[Anne Gracie]

Well done Karlene, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Heyerites tend to shine at this kind of quiz. As they should.

[Anne Gracie]

Well done, Samantha.

[Anne Gracie]

Kareni, a lot of these come from Georgette Heyer, and it's no hardship at all to read her.

[Vicki L.]

I was pretty sure I was going to get 7 wrong and why, yes, I did (grin). I couldn't remember ever seeing that phrase before.

The other one I got wrong was #12. Obviously I need to go read lots of books and then study that phrase since I missed it. And I've seen it used quite a few times before. Tsk tsk on me... So 10 for 12.

It was a fun quiz... Maybe you need to try one where you have the right answer, almost right answer and tell us to pick the complete OPPOSITE of the true meaning. That will really mess with us!

[Anne Gracie]

Vicki, you're inviting me to mess with your heads even more?? (cue for evil laughter) I'm glad you enjoyed it. I do have fun coming up with tricky alternative answers. I got #7 from a Regency Assembly site with a lonnnng list of Regency slang expressions.

[Joan]

Missed 6 and 9, neither of which I remember from Heyer's books...guess I'll have to re-read all of them this winter.

[Anne Gracie]

Yes, Joan, that will be a terrible hardship, I'm sure. LOL Thanks for playing.

[Carol Knight]

I also missed 4 & 7 and also 12. And I have all of Heyer books. Started reading them in the early 60's so probably my memory is fading. But some of the answers were regular Australian sayings. We must have got that from The Brits.

[Becky Tatar]

10 of 12 correct. I missed 7 and 12. I don't remember seeing those before.

[Teresa Broderick]

Got 11 of 12 and it was 12 I missed. Delighted with myself!!
Great fun Anne and thanks for doing it.

[Janet]

I too missed 12, but I got all the others right!

[Karin]

I thought I would get 100% on this one, but I missed #7(shooting the crow) and #12(cucumberish). It sure sounded like queasiness was the right answer to 12, because you would have a cucumberish(green) complexion. So you did a good job fooling us with the alternate answers!

[Carrie]

I missed 3

[Pilcas]

Only got 7 & 12 wrong!

[Quinn Fforde]

I got them all right until 12.

[Anne Gracie]

Carol, I think you're right, some of those expressions would be familiar to non-Heyer readers here.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks for playing, Becky. #7 and #12 were the ones most people had trouble with.

[Anne Gracie]

Glad you enjoyed it, Teresa. #12 I think appears in Frederica, but don't hold me to that.

[Anne Gracie]

Janet, so many people missed that one. I do try to slide in some very plausible-sounding false answers, too.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Karin, I do try my evil best to fool you all. And those two were the ones that had most people struggling. Thank you for playing.

[Anne Gracie]

That's still pretty good going, Carrie. Well done, and thanks for playing.

[Anne Gracie]

You and most of the others who posted their results, Pilcas. I do try to come up with tricky alternatives, but I think with those two the correct use wasn't well known and my false answers triumphed. Thanks for playing.

[Anne Gracie]

Well done -- and #12 stumped quite a few people. Thanks for playing.

[Linda S]

Missed number 12. I remembered that Heyer used it (maybe more than once) but couldn't remember the context! Good quiz, Anne. These are always fun.

[Anne Gracie]

Linda I have a vague idea it was in Frederica, but I could be wrong. And it's an expression where my tricky alternative choices seem to make much more sense. Thanks for playing.

[Anne Sherrard]

7 and 12 tripped me up, I don't think I've seen either anywhere in my 35+ years of reading regency.

[Simone]

9 of 12, and I was handicapped, because I'm german and read Heyer mostly translated. I got some original e-books and Heyer in english is more fun! Thank you for the quiz and the puzzle and a happy Christmas to you!

[Anita Ponting]

I was wrong on just 12. Not too bad. Good fun.

[Lucy]

I also got tripped on #7, for the same reason as a few other people--mixed it up with "shooting the cat." (The Toll Gate) I got #12 all right, even though I can't remember the reference just now. Thought at first that it was Laurence, in Black Sheep, but that didn't pan out. :-)

[Lucy]

And ... found it! Vincent, in The Unknown Ajax, was "a trifle cucumberish."

[Anne Gracie]

Oh, brilliant, Lucy -- thanks so much for tracking it down. I knew it was in Heyer, but I couldn't remember where. But yes, Vincent, in The Unknown Ajax. I should have remembered -- The Unknown Ajax is one of my favourite Heyers, and I don't know how often I've reread it. Thank you..

[Anne Gracie]

Well done, Lucy. And excellent detective work.

[Anne Gracie]

Well done, Anita

[Anne Gracie]

Simone, that's brilliant work! Wrestling with obscure Regency-era slang is hard enough for native English speakers, let alone reading Heyer in another language. Colour me impressed.

[Anne Gracie]

Anne, Lucy (below) has identified cucumberish from an exchange in Heyer's The Unknown Ajax. Shoot the crow is also from Heyer but I can't recall which book.