My friends, today is the last day of January and, as usual, I am posting our January questions asking you to choose the best. I hope, you remember that each of us should choose 5 best questions. Let's see whose question will win this month!

January questions.

Round 1 (Dan).

Question: Perhaps, you know that Santa has 10 reindeer. Some of them are female. So, how many females are in Santa's team and what their names are?

Answer: There are 5 girls: Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Cupid, Olive.

Round 2 (Dan).

Question: You should say the English proverb instructing against wrong attitude to gifts.

Answer: “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”.

Round 3 (Dan).

Question: There is an old tradition in Ukraine to cook the particular number of dishes on Christmas Eve. My question is: how many dishes should be on the Ukrainian table that evening?

Answer: 12 dishes, one for each apostle.

Round 4 (Dan).

Question: In one prosperous Ukrainian village, one poor, but very courageous guy, a blacksmith, fall in love with a very capricious confident secured girl. She hadn't wanted to hear about his feelings until one Christmas Eve some playful devil decided to steal the Moon and to stop all fun in there. The blacksmith caught him unawares and wanted to kill him. But the devil promised the guy to get the only one thing the girl wanted him to get so that she would agree to marry him. So, the question is : what was that thing? Hahaha!

Answer: the Queen’s shoes.

Round 5 (Dan).

Question: Many centuries ago there lived a young woman whose beauty attracted so many men. But once she fell in love with an alien and the others tried to take the revenge. It was the meanest action in the ancient war history. After it, the city she lived in and the tool the warriors used became a legend and the saying of the world.  What was the name of that lady and what ancient city she lived in?

Answer: Helen of Troy.

Round 6 (Dan).

Question: Here is the passage containing a few idioms (in bold). You should rewrite it replacing the idioms with their synonyms, just regular words or expressions. The sense of the passage must be saved.

He is broke. He can hardly make ends meet. But if his new idea works out, he will not be in the red in the long run.

Answer: He is out of money. He can hardly satisfy his needs. But if his new idea is successfully realized, he will not be in debts at last.

Round 7 (Onee)

Question: I'm a dicotyl plant. A part of me can be eaten raw or cooked. But, many people hate me because I have pungent odor. Another part of me can be served as fodder or green manure. What am I?

Answer: Parkia speciosa, Sator Beans.

Round 8 (Dan).

Question: Ancient Greeks and later, ancient Romans, celebrated one very special winter holiday many centuries BC. In AD, this period still remains a holiday. So, my question consists of three:

1. What winter period do I mean (from... to..., at least, approximately)?

2. What did ancient people celebrate and what was the name(s) of that holiday?

3. What is the scientific term for this winter period?

Answers:

1. 1.   Ancient times: Dec 17 – Dec 23. Present times: Dec 20/21 – Dec 24.
2. 2.   Roman: Saturnalia, Greek: Cronus holiday. They celebrated the end of cropping.
3. 3.   Winter solstice.

Round 9 (Mishaikh).

Question: He was a Persian Ruler. Invaded Dehli (Indian Mughal Empire) and captured it. Just on a rumor that he had been assassinated by a female guard at Red Fort some of the civilian dared to killed some of his soldiers. He got furious, unsheathed his sword and ordered general massacre until he sheathed his sword back. It was 22 March 1739. 30,000 unarmed men, women, and children were slaughtered within a span of six hours. You have to tell the name of this Persian Ruler.

Answer: Nader Shah.

Round 10 (Onee)

Question: This is one of the World Heritage Sites.

My question is: Who found the existence of this site so the world know about it? The name of this site also from the content of the book he wrote. 

Answer: It is well-known temple Borobudur firstly described by Sir Thomas Raffles.

Round 11 (Risty)

Question: You often use it when you have it, but to rest on it is not a good choice. It is a kind of things you sit on comfortably. What is it?

Answer: an ottoman.

Round 12 (Onee).

Question: The process that indicates the end of the star is called ....

Answer: Supernova explosion.

Round 13 (Peppo).

Question: Name those two who made an awkward handshake. you may be familiar with the one on the left.

Answer: Hitler and Mussolini.

Round 14 (Dan).

Question: In the box is a small stuff, but it can be HIGH and it can be LOW. Also, it can DIE. What is in the box?

Answer: a battery.

Round 15 (Nsottin).

Question: how do Americans call the following item used to load patients into an ambulance, for instance?

Answer: a gurney.

Round 16 (Mishaikh).

Question: Below is a stanza from a famous poem.  You have to tell the names of the poem and the poet:

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: -
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company!
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.

Answer: It is a verse by William Wordsworth "I lonely wondered as a cloud" or "Daffodils"

Round 17 (Dan).

Question: I'd like you to tell me the word Americans use when they (or someone else) make a mistake, fail, mismanage or mishandle a situation. The word is a verb.

Answer: to screw up.

Round 18 (Dan).

Question: I think you all know what an academic cap looks like:

It is a rectangular cap with a tassel. My question consists of four;

1. What is another name of this cap?

2. What is another name of the tassel?

3. Who can wear the orange tassel?

4.  In the USA it is a must to wear a tassel on the left or right. It depends on the level of study. What side do graduates wear it?

Answer:

1. 1.   A mortarboard.
2. 2.   A liripipe.
3. 3.   A graduate in engineering. Otherwise, it may be one of the school colors.
4. 4.   On the right.

Round 19 (Mishaikh).

Question: This is a game in which one person or side must find a rhyme to a word or a line of verse given by another. You have to give the name of this game.

Answer: CRAMBO.

Round 20 (Dan).

Question: How do Americans call a person who is good at or skilled in mixing cocktails?

Answer: a mixologist.

Round 21(Mishaikh).

Question: The act of ignoring someone because you are angry at him or her. What idiom is used in English to express this feeling/statement. This idiom is a two word phrase.

Answer: The silent treatment.

Round 22 (Onee).

Question: It can create big energy by the existence of daylight.

Answer: a solar cell.

Round 23 (Mishaikh).

Question: Again an Idiom (two-word phrase)

(noun) a trial of something, a rehearsal of something before it happens:

What is it?

Answer: a dry run.

Round: 24 (Onee).

Question: It happens to all mammals. To children, it happens more than to adults. It also may happen to the unborn child. It could happen because of (one of them is) consuming alcohol.

Answer: hiccup.

Question 25 (Nsottin).

Question:

How do British call this container for liquid? (In the picture is a small metal barrel for beer).

Answer: a keg.

Round 26 (Dan).

Question: an American word defining our typing with one-two fingers. It is a compound word.

Answer: hunt and peck.

Round 27 (Nsottin).

Question: It's a kitchen tool used by our grandmothers for flattening the dough but also believed to be used for 'flattening' disagreements with husbands coming back too late from the pub. What is it?

Answer: a rolling pin.

Round 28 (Dan).

Question: an American word for a very funny joke that makes everybody laugh.

Answer: a boffola.

Round 29 (Nsottin).

Question: What do British say of someone who's sleeping so hard that is seems nothing can wake them. It's a short description, like a saying...

Answer: to sleep like a log.

Round 30 (Dan).

Question: How do we call a person who is a master of dinner-table conversations, the life of the party?

Answer: deipnosophist.

Round 31 (Risty).
Question: If you expressed my square negatively I may be defined irrelevant but still I exist, in your unrealistic mind. In a language, they refer me fictitious and make-believe but still I exist, maybe in your wildest dream, don’t be so confused I’m only a normal adjective.

Answer: an imaginary unit.

Round 32 (Dan).

Question: Why do Americans consider April 15 as the saddest day of a year? I'd like to add this question is about modern life, it is not historic.

Answer: In America, April 15 is a deadline to file the Federal income tax returns.

Round 33 (Nsottin).

Question: what is it called in English the little window in the beneath picture?

Answer: a transom, a ventilator window.

Round 34 (Mishaikh).

Question: Following are the expressions/meanings of a word. You have to tell that word.
1.to widen in scope; increase in size or intensity; enlarge; extend.
2.to make great or greater in power, wealth, rank, or honor.
3.to make (something) appear greater.

Answer: to  aggrandize.

Round 35 (Tanya).

Question: Look at the picture.

These things were traditionally used in Russia and Ukraine for centuries. They are still used by some villagers, but most of modern people have no idea what they are. So, you should tell me:

1. What are these things for?

2. What English words can we use to define them?

Answer: an oven fork and a bread peel.

Round: 36 (Nsottin).

Question: can you figure out how this vegetable is called? It is to be eaten only after short boiling, though quite delicious in my personal opinion. Any of the several English names will do.

Answer: turnip greens or broccoli Raab.

Round 37 (Tanya).

Question: How do we call a person spending much time before a computer screen? (It is modern snag).

Answer: a mouse potato.

Round 38 (Mishaikh).

Question: How do we call a person spending much time before TV?

Answer: a couch potato.

Round 39 (Muskan).

Question: It is a Place, a man has reached there just once, nope, it is not moon, it is on earth still we couldn't courage to go there twice, even not set foot on its ground. The discovery of this place resolved puzzles of earthquakes by giving us theory of tectonic plates.. 

One more clue The eastern pacific ocean ridge is its counter part. 

Not only the great theory of tectonic plates came out of it, resolving mystery of this place gave us idea that earth's magnetic field reverse in every 30 thousands years, north becomes south and vise-versa. 

Answer: It is the place Lieutenant Don Walsh traveled underwater for seven miles to reach the deepest place on Earth. That is the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

Round 40 (Mishaikh).

Question: It was a 1967 Franco-British Second World War crime mystery film. There were two main characters, one was played by Omar Sharif. You have to tell the name of the actor who played the other main character.

Answer: Peter O’Tool.

Round 41 (Dan).

Question: In the box is a small thing. If we don't have such things, none of our electric equipment will work. What is in the box?

Answer: a socket or a wall outlet.

Round 42 (Muskan).

Question: It was a famous monument, on the Silk Road. If I stand in front of that place now, I see a big hollow, almost 53 meter long, around it there are caves where people live, the place where I am standing is barren. Guess the monument. 

Answer: it was Solsol, one of the statues of Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afganistan.

Round 43 (Dan).

Question: This royal man is well-known in European history, especially in French history. All his life was an intrigue and his getting the throne led to the change of dinasties in France. He didn't rule for long and was killed by an assassin. What is the full name of that king of France?

Answer: Henry IV, Bourbon.

Round 44 (Miskan).

Question: I am talking about lead character from a famous novel.

He is sick from days, delusional, he feels miserable but what he did next is all this story about. He killed someone, he is a murderer, he did all being delusional but he was quite lucky and a bit good with getting away from blame, will he confess the murder ever? The story is all about how this happened, his agonizing ordeal of feeling guilty and dilemma to confess or not, to justify his action or  to accept that it was all evil what he did. 

Answer: Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky. The character: Raskolnikov.

Round 45 (Dan).

Question: It is a part of American national wear, a type of a tie consisting of a cord worn around the neck with a large ornamental fastening at the throat. What is an American word for it?

Answer: a Bolo tie.

Round 46 (Muskan).

Question: This is a type of flute, an ancient instrument, they say it was in use even almost 12000 years ago. It became again popular in gaming community when a game having the name of instrument in the title got released. 

Which instrument is this?

Answer: an ocarina.

Round 47 (Dan).

Question: How do we call a keen user of the network? (It is a single slang word).

Answer: a netizen.

Round 48 (Mishaikh).

Question: It is the thirteenth novel of the writer in which, it depicts the personal growth and personal development of an orphan (a boy).  The novel is set in Kent and London in the early to mid-19th century and contains some of the writer’s most memorable scenes, including the opening in a graveyard. 

You have to tell:

1. the name of this character (boy’s nickname in the novel).
2. The name of the novel and
3. the name of the writer. 

Answer:

1. 1.   Boy's name: Pip, Phillip Pirrip 
2. 2.   Novel: Great Expectations.
3. 3.   Author: Charles Dickens.

Round 49 (Muskan)

It is my favorite sitcom, it is a show about nothing!!

Answer: Sienfeld.

Round 50 (Dan).

Question:

It is teethless, but it bites,

It is fistless, but it fights,

It is freezing, but it burns.

What is it, who knows, my friends?

Answer: frost.

Please, be active!