Test Your Knowledge

1)Kangaroo Words

Every schoolchild knows that kangaroos carry their babies in their pouches. Fewer people know about kangaroo words, which carry their own baby words with the same meanings.For example, the kangaroo word illuminated contains the synonym lit among its letters. Similarly exists hides the word is and deceased includes dead.Try to find synonyms in the following words:

   1. Amicable.                                               amiable.

   2. Appropriate (adjective).                        apt.

   3. Salvage (verb).                                      save.

   4. Hostelry.                                                 hotel.

   5. Encourage.                                            urge.

   6. Recline.                                                  lie.

   7. Before.                                                    ere.

   8. Instructor.                                               tutor.

   9. Separate (verb).                                    part.

  10. Catacomb.                                            tomb.

  11. Indolent.                                                idle.

  12. Precipitation.                                        rain.

  13. Deliberate (verb).                                 debate.

  14. Observe.                                                see.

  15. Transgression.                                     sin.

  16. Unsightly.                                             ugly.

  17. Destruction.                                          ruin.

  18. Masculine.                                            male.

  19. Umpteenth.                                           nth.

  20. Because.                                               as.

Can you find two synonyms inside these kangaroo words?

  21. Alone.                                                    lone, one.

  22. Container.                                             can, tin.

  23. Frangible.                                             fragile, frail.

  24. Falsities.                                                falsies, lies.

  25. Perambulate.                                        amble, ramble.

  26. Expurgated.                                          pure, purged.

2)Three in One-Words are sometimes composed of other words. The word dustbin consists of dust plus bin, while together may appear to include three separate words: to, get and her. To reverse the process, which word can be made out of the letters in the three words moor, root, and tow? The answer (or at least, one answer) is tomorrow. In the puzzles below, try to find the eight-letter words which can be made from the letters of the sets of three words.

Example: Soon, sun, toil. - Answer: Solution.

1. Riot, rite, tone. - interior

2. Agent, gnat, stage. - stagnate

3. Filth, hot, tool. - foothill

4. Gone, nuts, rote. - sturgeon

5. Lids, new, rind. - swindler

6. Rim, sty, tins. - ministry

7. Lies, stone, tonsil. - insolent

8. Quit, tone, unit. - quotient

9. Emit, lime, stern. - minstrel

10. Ale, lake, link. – alkaline

3) Malapropisms - A malapropism is the mistaken use of one word for another. It is named after Mrs Malaprop, a character in Sheridan’s play The Rivals (1775), who was fond of using malapropos (i.e. inappropriate) statements like ‘Illiterate him, I say, quite from your memory’ (meaning ‘obliterate’) or ‘My affluence over my niece is very small’ (meaning ‘influence’). Can you correct the mistakes in the italicized words in these sentences?

Example: The muscles around the stomach are known as the abominable muscles.       Answer: Abdominal (‘abominable’ means ‘detestable’).

1. A prospectus is someone who searches for gold.

prospector ( a prospectus is a brochure advertising a school, enterprise. Etc.).

2. After a long air flight, it is reassuring to get your feet back onto terracotta.

terra firma (terra firma means solid ground or dry land; terracotta is unglazed earthenware)

3. I couldn’t change his decision: it was a Fiat accompli.

Fait accompli (a fait accompli is something that has been done and cannot be altered; a Fiat is a make of car).

4. I can assert the truth of it, without fear of contraception.

contradiction (contradiction means denying the truth of something; contraception is the intentional prevention of pregnancy).

5. You can darken your eyelids with cascara.

mascara (mascara is make-up used particularly to darken the eyelashes; cascara is a laxative).

6. If you swallow poison, you should take an anecdote.

antidote (an antidote is a medicine that counteracts a poison; an anecdote is a short account or story).

7. I was prostate with grief.

prostrate (prostrate means lying down; prostate is a gland in male bodies).

8. She ate with a veracious appetite.

voracious (voracious means greedy or ravenous; veracious means truthful).

9. The garden was brightened by the red flowers of saliva.

salvia (salvias are scarlet flowers; saliva is a liquid secreted in the mouth).

10. A triangle with all its sides equal is called an equatorial triangle.

equilateral (equilateral means having all sides equal; equatorial means of or near the equator).

11. He was on the horns of an enema.

dilemma (someone on the horns of a dilemma is faced with equally unattractive alternatives; an enema is an injection into the rectum).

12. The doctor had told him he had very close veins.

varicose veins (varicose veins are not necessarily close together: they are swollen).

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Buxone Out Of The Box February 25, 2020