Finals

Written Round on Etymology
 6 questions
 +10/0 normally
 +15/-5 on stakes

1.
 Ankyloglossia is a congenital anomaly that may decrease mobility of a certain human body part
and is caused by an unusually short, thick membrane connecting the underside of the concerned
part to the region beneath it.
 This condition is known by a common name, which has also entered English Language to
describe certain situations where a person is not able to express himself/herself, usually due to
nervousness.
 What name?

2.
 Merriam Webster gives the meaning of ____ _____ as : an illusory or fantastical plan, hope or
story.
 This word is now part of our lexicon, but it was coined to describe the visions and fantasies one
would have while smoking opium using a ____.

3.
 This term is used to describe the amount of effort that someone is putting into some activity or
to go all out in trying to work for something and to be pushed to the limit.
 The origins of this word lies in the fact that the throttle handle for the planes would have a ____ at
the top which would be pushed all the way to the panel while accelerating quickly by pilots,
which would result in the throttle lever (____) actually touching the panel (____)

4.
 This phrase is used today in the context of disclosing a secret, for eg. You let the ___ ___ __ ___
___when you disclose a secret someone had been trying to hide.
 This term was originally used for trickery, when people used to sell their suckling pigs wrapped
inside a bag and the tricksters would use a different animal to cheat through the exchange and
later when the bag would be checked, the deceit would be out in the open, literally having the
___ ___ __ ___ ___

5.
 In the 17th century, pubs served beer in pints and quarts. If a patron was being unruly, he’d be
warned by the bartender to X.
 This is the actually origin of the phrase that our parents and our teachers would use to tell us to
not forget to be polite and courteous and we thought it was because of some other reason that
they used this phrase.

6.
 _____ is a corruption of the French word for ribbon, ruban. This used to refer to how this finally
appeared like a ribbon after all signatories had signed a document in a circular fashion so that no
name appeared at the top and all the signatories were equally responsible.
 Today, this is used as a stage or a type for an entire tournament where all teams have to play
against all the other teams in the group so that all teams end up competing against all the other
teams at least once.

Dries Round
+10/5 on the pounce
+10/0 on the bounce
Question goes to the next team in case it is unanswered

1.
 The Scientific American talking about a very famous and iconic scene in a 2008 movie, starring
one of the most famous portrayals of a character, explaining that a specific type of injury may
look very bad but is very rarely fatal:
 “It has two options: it either breaks through the back of the orbit or follows the path of least resistance. If
the object enters with enough force, it can exit the back of the orbit, as the bone is relatively thin there. If
the force is lower however, the path of least resistance is directed by the bony brain anatomy. A small
diameter object would enter the orbit, pass through the superior orbital fissure, follow grooves in the
sinuses, and enter the brain underneath the frontal lobes, near the cerebellum and close to the brain
stem. If treated quickly, partial to complete recovery describes most of these cases.”

Pencil Scene in the Dark Knight

2.
 Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison had a big fight about what should be the standard form of
electricity: AC or DC. Edison championed DC and Tesla supported AC.
 Edison went all out against Tesla and AC. He recommended AC for a particular device to
demonstrate its dangerous nature. William Kemmler, a convicted murderer, was the first user of
this device.
 What device?

3.
 Just yesterday, Nat Geo released a special article to shed some light on a mystery that has never
come close to being solved and has been subsequently picked up by almost all major news
organisations.
 The article talks about finding the bones of a Caucasian human on the island of Nikumaroro in
the Pacific in 1940, about 3 years after the last transmissions were received which signalled that
the people involved were going to try to reach an island close to 350 nautical miles but vanished
on-route.
 This article claims that the mystery behind this person’s death, someone who achieved a first as
well as broke the glass ceiling in a lot of ways, is now finally, for all intents and purposes solved.

4.
 The sickle celled anaemia, a disease where the blood cells generated by the body are deformed
and can’t produce haemoglobin is a genetic mutation that is passed down through weak
succession, meaning, both parents need to have a copy of the gene for it to be passed.
 In spite of this, this mutation has survived for 7300 years in the human DNA and scientists today
have an explanation for this as follows:
 In people who have one of this pair of genes, the mutation is relatively unharmful and doesn’t affect the
healthy functioning of the human, but a parasite that preys on haemoglobin can’t survive this and in
early Africa, there would be lots of still lakes owing to rainfalls which would result in standing water where
the vector for this parasite would lay their eggs
 Which disease is thus said to be countered as part of natural evolution because of this mutation?

5.
 Choko Oohira is a teacher in Japan with a very unconventional subject to teach. She teaches
people of all ages allowed to work in a job in a certain activity that is present all over the world,
especially as part of all big sports events all over the globe but especially so in Japan where it is
part of the daily life and culture. Because of how lucrative this industry is, this activity, even
though it doesn’t need them to talk, it does require people to be polite, courteous and in
character.
 She teaches people to dance, to pose and to greet, among other things. The people who take
these classes come from all walks of life mainly because the looks and gender doesn’t matter in
this activity.
 What does she teach?

6.
 A bar that has opened up recently in New York city by an Austrian couple.
 The name of the Bar as well as the menu of cocktails (vis in next slide) are a tribute to whom?

7.
 Norman Potter’s photography career began in 1948 at the age of 16 with Central Press Photos, a
London agency. Over the years, he made his way up the ladder from assistant to apprentice.
 On May 6th, 1954, he was 22 years old when he was sent to shoot the Oxford University-British
Amateur Athletic Association track meet. It was known that X had been trying to break a record
because he’d already made one attempt before that.
 The conditions were unfavourable with a fierce crosswind blowing and the cinder track sodden from
rain. Since most people thought X had no chance on this date, only Norman Potter and two other
photographers stayed back to document the end of this event.
 X eventually ended up achieving his goal and the photograph that Norman Potter clicked ended up
becoming one of the photos picked by Life magazine in 2003 as “100 Photographs That Changed The
World”
 What did Norman Potter photograph and why is it back in public consciousness?

Roger Barrister’s Under 4 minute mile run

8.
 During World War II, Dwight D Eisenhower met with Georgy Zhukov, right around the time this
company was making a splash across the world. Dwight got him to try something and Zhukov
was hooked.
 However, after the war, since this company was seen to be a poster-child for US imperialism, it
was banned in the USSR and Zhukov, who still wanted to get some of it, he called the US
President Harry Truman to send him a secret stash. Truman agreed and called in the top officials
of this company to manufacture 50 cases without the iconic look and identifying feel of it after
which the bottles looked completely different (vis in the next slide) but maintained the same taste
and flavouring.
 Which company?

9.
 Rich ‘RJ’ Rappaport is considered to be the man with the largest volume of cash in existence and
is called The King of ____ Cash but is ot listed on Forbes list of Richest people alive and for a very
good reason.
 His company RJR Props has worked with multiple record labels as well as TV and movie
production houses and you’ll have seen the impact of his work if you have followed 50 Cent, Lil
Wayne, Eminem, Kendric Lamar, Walter White (in Breaking Bad) to name very few.
 Why is he not on the Forbes list and what does his company do?

His company works in fake cash

10.
 The earliest recipe for this ubiquitous food item came out of China, where salt, pepper and fish
guts had to be mixed together and left in the sun for 20 days before becoming ready. The British
and other European colonisers loved the item and when they went back to their homeland, they
brought it with them.
 Over time, they added modifications such as strawberries, walnuts, peaches and various other
versions to sell as their own brands.
 It wasn’t until 18th Century that this item was brought over to the US where the US manufacturers
tried mixing it with a fruit(not a vegetable) which turned it into a completely vegetarian item and
by the end of 19th Century, this variant was named the National Food _________ of the US which is
the version we all use today almost every day.
 Which food item?

Postal Stamps Round
 Special Postal stamps
 Just identify the inspiration behind the stamps
 +10/0
 +10 for a full house

1.
 Formed in 1988 in the aftermath of the
assassination of PM Indira Gandhi, this
armed force unit is the Indian equivalent of
the US Secret Service providing security to
the PM and former PMs and their immediate
family members.

2.
 This scientist born on 12th March, 1872 in
Konigsberg, Prussia is famous for formulating
something ubiquitous in his chosen which we
have made extensive use during our JEE
days.

3.
 Released in 1999 in the United States, the
postal stamp is based on Arnold Skolnick’s
logo for the event which has been by Rolling
Stones as one of the 50 Moments that
Changed the History in its Genre.

4.
 ID the 1492 event that this postal stamp
commemorates.
 Released in 1869, this stamp is currently
valued at around $275,000

5.
 The author of the book that is arguably
considered to be the philosophically the
most challenging bestseller of its time.
 ID this author who has given to the world in
her books the ideology of objectivism

Columbus landing in the Americas

1.
 In 1947, a Bedouin boy in the West Bank, herding contraband goats lost one and scrambled up a
cliff to search for it. Instead, he discovered a lost long cave.
 Inside the caves were discovered “something” that allowed historians to confirm the accuracy of
the transmission of something over thousands of years ago.
 Most of what was discovered can be today found in the Shrine of the Book, a wing of the Israel
Museum in Jerusalem.

2.
 Using a slow-motion camera and a series of experiments, mechanical engineers at University
California Berkeley, showed why this everyday event occurs.
 They found that this “event” occurs in a matter of seconds. They found that the force of it striking
the ground stretches and then relaxes it while a second force caused by the leg swinging acts on
the ends, like an invisible hand, thus causing something.
 What were the researchers trying to understand?

3. ID the word
 Named the word of the year by New York Times for the year 2010, this portmanteau word was
inspired by an essay by Rebecca Solnit and published on TomDispatch.com
 In the essay, Solnit told an anecdote about a man at a party who said he had heard she had
written some books. She began to talk about her most recent, on Eadweard Muybridge,
whereupon the man cut her off and asked if she had "heard about the very important Muybridge
book that came out this year"—not considering that it might be (as, in fact, it was) Solnit's book.
 Solnit did not use the exact word but she described the phenomenon as "something every
woman knows".

4. What were these 3 escape tunnels called?
 At the German run Stalag Luft III PoW camp, many captured members of RAF were imprisoned.
These enterprising servicemen decided to dig their way out of this heavily guarded prison by
digging up 3 tunnels so that just in case one of them was discovered the rest would still be there.
 So that they could discuss this project in front of the German guards without arousing their
suspicions, they decided to name them ___, ____ and _____.
 The expression, “___, ____ and _____” is usually used to refer to any group of unspecified people,
especially nonentities with no distinguishing characterstics.

5. Identify this portmanteau term
 This word, popularized by Neil deGrasse Tyson, combines the city where this phenomenon
occurs and the second part refers to a prehistoric monument located in Wiltshire in England,
which was constructed so that the rising sun, seen from the center of the monument at the time
of the summer solstice, aligns with the outer "Heel Stone"
 The phenomenon is an event during which the setting sun or the rising sun is aligned with the
east–west streets of the main street grid of the city. The sunsets and sunrises each align twice a
year, on dates evenly spaced around the summer solstice and winter solstice.

6. ID what is depicted in the map

7. FITB
 To technically be allowed to use the right to call itself _____ _______ in its advertising and any
other way, members of must follow these specific rules
 design made-to-order for private clients, with one or more fittings;
 have a workshop (atelier) in Paris that employs at least fifteen staff members full-time;
 have at least twenty full-time technical people, in at least one workshop (atelier); and
 present a collection of at least fifty original designs to the public every fashion season (twice, in
January and July of each year), of both day and evening garments.
 Today the term has taken on further popular meanings referring to non-dressmaking activities,
such as production of fine art, music, etc. The term in French means “high sewing” or “high
fashion”

8. What landmark change or decision?
 In their book Freakonomics, the authors talk about what is now popularly called Donohue–Levitt
hypothesis, which is a hypothesized reduction in crime in the decades following the landmark
decision in 1973 that legalized something, a practice that is still banned in countries like Ireland.
 The hypothesis states that this landmark rule change was the reason that there were lesser at risk
children in the streets who would normally become criminals.

Roe v. Wade legalizing abortions

9. ID this much beloved gentleman
 This renowned gentleman is best known for a product he created when he bought out an
establishment in Tennessee from Reverend Dan Call in 1863 and set up his own
“production”company.
 In 1905, the 60 year old master was in his office trying to open his safe, but couldn’t remember
the combination. Out of frustration, he kicked the safe, crushing his big toe. The toe later became
gangrenous which 6 months later went on to kill him. His last words were, “One last drink,
please”.

10. Identify this former Olympic sport
 The Olympic motto of “Swifter, Higher, Stronger” applied perfectly to this sport which was a part
of the Olympics in 1896, 1904, 1906, 1924, 1932.
 Competitors began in a seated position on the floor and used only their hands and legs to do
something that could have stretched from 25 to 46 feet.
 The event was so grueling that many competitors never even “reached the top” and the gold
went on to the American, George Eyser.

11.
 Before the creation of this division, the person’s personal staff worked on the second floor of
what is now the Executive Residence. However realizing that the existing offices in the mansion
were insufficient to accommodate the family and staff so this location’s stable, greenhouse and
tennis court. Having undergone major renovations, the last one led by Eric Gugler, it has added
considerable office space including one particular office that is best known to us for being the
site of some of the most historical announcements.
 ID this famous place which was perhaps immortalized for us courtesy an Aaron Sorkin
production.

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