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a.

It’s believed that it was invented by a theatre manager in 18th Century.

b.

He bet he could invent a new word in a single day.

c.

He wrote the word quiz around the city.

d.

Nobody knew what it meant and asked each other what it meant!

Hi, everyone. And welcome back to one of your favorite segments【词源考古研究所】...

Do do do do ~ do`

I haven't said the English name yet.

Sorry.

【It means what? 】

Do do do do ~ do`

Welcome to the show, 安澜.

Thank you. Hi, everyone.

You're in high spirit today. So I'm assuming we're talking about a fun word today.

We're talking about I have to say an activity I really enjoy doing.

So it must be quite boring then.

It’s actually... we’re talking about quizzes.

Quizzes, Q-u-i-z.

Quiz can mean测验测试或这种什么问答. I like quiz in the sense of when it’s a fun quiz. I don't particularly like quiz when it's given by teachers.

I remember when I was at school, we used to have lots of pop quizzes. So just these type of quizzes, the teacher would say right, books away. I'm gonna test you.

No preparation. 这种随堂突击测验, I hated that.

I really, really hate that.

This is why now I'm a teacher, I don't give that.

Actually that's why when I was a teacher, I used to give those all the time.

You are such a horrible human being.

I know.

All right, quiz doesn't sound English. Where does it come from?

There is a famous story which to be honest, I think is a myth, most people think it's a myth. It's believed that it was invented by a theater manager in the 18th century.

You would be surprised how many words are invented by people working in theaters.

Now he bet that he could introduce a word into the language within 24 hours.

That was before social media time and the internet, how could he do that?

What he did was, he went out according to the story, he went out and hired a group of street children, so children that lived on the streets, homeless kids, okay. To write the word quiz which was a nonsense word.

He created a nonsensical word.

He paid these children to write the word on walls around the city of Dublin.

So when people woke up, they'll be like, what is this words? What is this word written all over our walls?

Exactly. Within a day the word became quite popular. People were asking, what does it mean? What is it, quiz? And then according to the story, it acquired the meaning. Since no one knew what it meant, everyone thought it was some kind of test.

Oh, because they were asking each other what does it mean?

所以问答测试的意思就出来了.

Exactly.

I'll try that in Beijing, but I probably get arrested for graffiti.

Exactly. So according to the story he won the bet.

Honestly, it would work today like the age of social media, if you have enough influence, you could just get people to use #quiz, #quiz. And then it goes viral and people start using this meme.

Absolutely. But unfortunately, this story is probably not true. It probably comes from slang to mean someone who's a bit strange or eccentric. And then it became a joke and then it became test.

That's the same with etymology, right? The origin of words就是词源这边很多都是urban myth, 很多都是debatable, controversial sources. Like where did these words actually come from and they are at least anytime in check etymology or origin of the words and phrases. There are always at least two three sources, each claiming to be the orthodox.

Exactly. But I like that story, even though it's probably not even true.

Talking about quizzes, apart from the one that you are talking about pop quiz, pop, p-o-p quiz就是随堂这种随机突击的测试, which is really annoying, but you also have fun quizzes, for example, pub quiz.

Yes.

That's not just a British thing. I guess that's like a English speaking country in general you have pub quiz.

Exactly, I know they have them in America as well and I know they have them in Beijing because I've been to a few pub quizzes in Beijing.

Pub quiz顾名思义就是在酒吧酒馆里面做的那种就是答题赢奖品的那种quiz.

They have a quiz night, for example, some of the bars in order to draw in clients, they sort of organize these pub quiz. They have a pub quiz night every week or every month. And then you go in and then you form a group. For example, you go in with your friends, you can form your own team, name your team. And then you answer questions.

Exactly. It's actually a way of pubs trying to get customers for quieter nights like Wednesday or Tuesday night, but it is very, very popular and particularly in more local pubs as well, you have pub quiz teams that have been around for years, just a group of friends who always do pub quizzes together.

It becomes really, really competitive.

I guess it's just a way to pass time really, and also pub quiz is the generally trivia quiz.

Trivia你去查的话就是这种有琐事的意思.

Actually trivia are just these random pieces of knowledge. Yes. For example, which year was microphone invented?

Or then in the UK it's normally things about who won the World Cup in such and such year.

And you're not allowed to check on your phone obviously.

Yeah, so that is actually a big thing, when you go to a pub quiz, if you see someone kind of using the mobile phone, everyone will get very angry or even go into the toilet because some people they nip into the toilet to get the answer.

I would say this is so pathetic, but that sounds exactly like the type of thing I would do because you want to win so much.

But the thing is it's not just pub quizzes are popular, in the UK, quiz shows are so popular.

Quiz shows were popular in China 20 years ago. Quiz show就是那种专门答题赢奖的那种节目. 我觉得在国内火的时候, 大概是20年前, 至少15 20年前, around turn of the century that was very popular. There were a few very famous TV presenters that basically got their fame because they were hosting quiz shows. Even nowadays in the UK you still see so many quiz shows. Why do you think that is? Is it just because of the aging population, older people like it or is it?

I think traditionally we've just always liked it. So we've had some really famous quiz shows, for example, University Challenge where you have teams from different universities competing with each other.

The most famous is called Mastermind.

Mastermind I've heard.

And also nowadays there's a new one called The Chase that is also a quiz show, isn't it?

Mastermind is actually one of the oldest and most famous and it's a really weird story of how it was invented because the creator he was captured by the Germans during the Second World War.

So Mastermind it's almost like an interrogation. And so everything is dark, someone is in a seat and they're asked all these questions really, really quickly.

And the reason why it's like that is because it reminded him of when he was captured by the Germans during the Second World War.

That is very dark.

Yes.

And he likes reminiscing about that experience?

He use it to create a show that in the 1970s and it's still going on today.

And I bet many countries have bought that... bought the TV rights to replicate that show.

Absolutely.

This is why some quiz shows they all look alike, but they just like different versions of the same show in different countries.

So you do actually see that. It's a bit of a cultural meme in the UK.

Quiz, quizzes, so 安澜, I have to ask, do you like quizzes or have you ever won any prizes in like a pub quiz, say?

Not so much in the pub quiz. I'm really good at the history. I'm really good at the geography...

You’re rubbish in pop culture.

I'm rubbish when it comes to football, pop music and TV.

And to be perfectly honest because they don't want to make questions too difficult. They generally asked those type of questions, but I've lived out the UK for so many years. I don't understand...

...any of the reference.

or I don't really know many of the references anymore.

I'm good at like pop culture reference, but I'm rubbish when it comes to sports. I'm also rubbish when it comes to history, so I guess we can team up.

Absolutely.

Now we just need someone who's good at sports.

Well, yes.

All right. And to end today's show, we're gonna ask you, are you good at any of these quizzes or let's say trivia quizzes where you need to know a lot of really random information and pieces of knowledge. And also if you want to put in a request for any specific words or phrases you want us to talk about in the segment, let us know. Thank you, 安澜, for coming to the show.

Thanks, Lulu. Thanks, everyone.

We'll see you next time.

Bye, bye.